CNN has conducted a poll to highlight the most significant events on the web, featuring the following 10 nominees:
1. Google – the colossal search engine.
2. Hotmail – the first free email service, currently boasting 215 million users.
3. The Dot-Com Boom and Bust – trillions of USD made and lost during the Internet bubble’s rise and fall from 1995 to 2001.
4. Tsunami and September 11 – websites flooded with commentary and amateur videos about these two human disasters.
5. The Bill Clinton/Lewinsky Scandal exposed by Matt Drudge in 1998. The birth of blogging – a form of “personal online diaries” that are regularly updated.
6. Live 8 Concert on AOL – 5 million people watched the online concert for the poor in July 2005, setting an Internet record.
7. Pioneering music site Napster was shut down in July 2001.
8. Skype – a free long-distance calling service that disrupted the telecommunications market, acquired by eBay for $2.6 billion in September 2005.
9. Webcams and photo sharing.
10. Wi-Fi – wireless Internet connectivity.
