It’s 25 years since Tim Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web
By Jamie White – Head of Communications
Today marks the 25th birthday of an invention which has changed humanity forever, and created a new virtual world within a generation.
On March 12th, 1989 British computer scientist, Tim Berners-Lee, wrote a paper outlining a design which would become the World Wide Web. It launched publicly just two-and-a-half years later, on August 6 1991.
His intent was a simple file-sharing service for scientists, but, instead, it paved the way for the tech giants to simplify the things we do on a daily basis.
There are now more than 600 million websites and more than 20 million photos are exchanged every minute between users.
The UK currently sits at the top of the table with the highest percentage of broadband owners in Europe at 83 per cent.
It also holds the highest number of people buying goods online (77 per cent) and the highest number people using the internet week by week (87 per cent).
In 1995 only 14 per cent of Americans told the Pew Research Center they used the internet. That number jumped to 46 per cent by 2000 and stands at 87 per cent today, with smartphones and tablets becoming the latest web platforms.
The internet has given rise to celebrities whose fame and achievements may have otherwise gone unknown in a previous age. Some of the individuals who have been made famous with the help of the world wide web, include:
Justin Bieber – The Canadian pop star’s talents were first discovered on YouTube, where he amassed a following of millions, before being signed by Usher’s Raymond Braun Media Group.
Psy: The creator of the Gangnam Style dance craze had the first video to reach a billion views on YouTube in 2012.
Arctic Monkeys: The Sheffield-born rockstars were the first artists to ‘go viral’ before the term itself was known.
Commander Chris Hadfield: The former commander of the International Space Station went viral after he recorded a video of a version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, and used social media to upload videos and pictures of his daily life to his followers.
Harlem Shake: An Internet meme in the form of a video in which a group of people perform a comedy sketch accompanied by a short excerpt from the song Harlem Shake.
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