Top 10 Internet Moments Of Decade: Obama, iPhone Make Webby Award List (PHOTOS)

The Webby Awards has released its list of the top 10 Internet moments of the decade, from 2000 to 2009.

The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, based in New York, has presented the Webby Awards since 1996 and recently announced the most influential moments on the web of the past decade.

See the slideshow below to see the list of the Webby Awards' 10 most influential Internet moments of the decade.

David-Michel Davies, the executive director of The Webby Awards, said in a statement:

The Internet is the story of the decade because it was the catalyst for change in not just every aspect of our everyday lives, but in everything from commerce and communication to politics and pop culture. [...] The recurring theme among all of the milestones on our list is the Internet's capacity to circumvent old systems and put more power into the hands of ordinary people

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Read the full description of each item on the top 10 list at the Webby Awards site here.

 

Think there's a momentous Internet moment that should have made the list? Know another Internet occurrence that deserved a spot among the most influential of the decade? Tell us!

Top Internet Moments Of 2000s

Click participate, enter a description of what YOU think was one of the top Internet moments of the 2000s (and why), and click submit!

Craigslist Expanding (2000)

Craigslist expanding outside of San Francisco (2000): the site's move to nine other US cities (it's now in over 500) sent "chills down the spines of newspaper publishers everywhere.

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Comments

[Pharmachick]

08:44 PM on 11/21/2009

I mostly agree with the list ... except that I do not think that twitter OR Facebook (in their current incarnations) will survive, so I question their lasting impact, if not their "game-changing" influence.

Already, there are many people that are signing off both Facebook (as happened also to mySpace and friendster) and also some indications that twitter may be fading too.

I am sure that a new advancement will fill the vacuum, and as mentioned above, both t and FB were game-changers by introducing new concepts. But sometimes I think these lists should be more of a hat-tip to lasting acheivements.

[MediaSlackers]

05:47 AM on 11/20/2009

(Continued. Apparently there is now a 250 word limit on our communications.

Things that should be on this list:

- The plane landing in the Hudson proved to the world that CNN no longer 'breaks' news. You want real Twitter effect? Look at this event and the wave that one picture created. Other examples like this could be bundled into this category.

- 9/11 This disastrous event created all the reasons in the world for the government to tighten its grip and regain control of our communications (i.e. Patriot Act). Enough said.

- The rise of IP masking shareware (i.e. Vidalia) that has allowed millions and millions of people to view the full Internet and not just their governments' version of it.

- iTunes or more importantly the Apple iTunes Store. This launch was significant because it showed that companies got it. The music industry finally stopped trying to fight technological innovation and instead provided the platform their customers wanted in order to consume their product. Now if only the film and television industry would figure out the same thing (there are certainly examples they have finally started), it will make irrelevant the P2P software platforms that far exceeded the baseline set by Napster (i.e. geographically obtuse and open to all).

- Most importantly, as yesyesyes mentioned: This decade isn't over yet. Let's make sure that net neutrality stays on our side and perhaps make the safeguarding of the open Internet the number 1 moment of the decade.

[MediaSlackers]

05:45 AM on 11/20/2009

Things that shouldn't be on this list:
- Napster being shut down. That was only a big deal for people who didn't find a replacement.
- The iPhone (mobile email started it all with the Blackberry in the '90's, but that's besides the point). Palemoon has it right: Overcharging for access on a device that is essentially closed, does not make a big moment in Internet history. Great phone? Perhaps. Game changer? No.
- Facebook. Yes it did social networking better, but others came first and created that wave. How many people were first on MySpace or Friendster (yeah, remember that?)...?
- Iran? Please... Better examples of citizen journalism using technology and the Internet can be found much before that... And with greater efficacy. (That reminds me, I need to change my Twitter location back as it is still stuck in Tehran.)

More to come:

[empiricalWeb]

09:55 PM on 11/19/2009

Things that should not be on there :

Iphone launch
Wikipedia ( sucks, as does every other wiki clone )
Napster being shut down ( only to give way to hundreds of others of p2ps)
Twitter and Iran? Come on!
FaceBook : the last net bubble.

[Palemoon]

09:10 PM on 11/19/2009

Some of these don't belong on the list. The iPhone, what does that crippled device have to do with the internet? You have to pay extortion fees to a spy company in order to even get cellular access to the internet. Unless of course the "moments" in question are low moments that show the internet in a bad light, which is what the Facebook/Twitter "moment" does also. And whoever come up with the idea that Napster was shutdown needs to study American history. Not only was it not shutdown, but it's a tool of the RIAA to try and sell us music that we don't want even attempting to embed it within Windows Media Player.

Another disastrous low point, the Iran Revolution. Sure, initially it was fueled by the internet, but it was no "Twitter Revolution" by any stretch of the imagination. People don't realize that the Iranian Government used Twitter to snuff out the Revolution. Remember?

[yesyesyes]

08:41 PM on 11/19/2009

Decade ain't over yet

[ramblingjohnny]

03:20 PM on 11/19/2009

HTML 5 support in most modern browser should be number one if you ask me.

[Lex10]

03:11 PM on 11/19/2009

Webby awards are stupid

[LMPE]

02:48 PM on 11/19/2009

I assumed that George Allen's macaca comment was going to be a choice.

[Politiqo]

01:53 PM on 11/19/2009

iPhone launching has completely changed the way digital media is handled and has combined media devices and crunched them into one powerful, stable machine. Truly took the world by storm.

[seattle music]

04:44 AM on 11/20/2009

I love my iPhone, but I think the Kindle and its imitators will turn out to be a more cataclysmic cultural change in the long run.

Being able to access any written content in the world -- from the latest thriller to a cookbook to Euripides -- via a hand-held device that adults can read (most people over 45 cannot read a so-called smart-phone screen), that school kids can throw into their backpack (no more 40-lbs. of text books to cart around) will, I believe, within a few, short decades make the sale of paper books an anachronism for collectors, like those people who still have a few old 78's and a gramophone around from grandpa's days.