Before the advent of online social networks, there was no real "meeting place" in the virtual world for students. There was hardly any instantaneous, easy way (except AIM and MSN Messenger) to even keep in touch with your classmates once you left college. Online chatrooms were the next best thing, but Facebook and other social networking sites allowed users to communicate when they wanted, even if the person they were trying to reach wasn't there. To see a message in an online chatroom, for instance, required physical presence; compare that to the email and phone alert options that Facebook and other social networking sites provide to their members.
Google and Wikipedia have revolutionized the way in which current information is available to Internet users. In the days when Encarta sent out that CD filled with already outdated information, reliability was uncertain. Today, users can rest assured that the information on Wikipedia is up-to-date and (mostly) accurate. Searching has never been easier too, thanks to Google. Type in a word or phrase and fractions of a second later, thousands of hits are returned.
YouTube gave the people of the world a voice...and a face! Throughout my four years at college, YouTube has provided supporting evidence, visual aid, and entertainment for many presentations. As YouTube's positioning indicates, it truly is where you can "Broadcast Yourself" for the world to see. In this regard, marketing of self has never been easier but never so difficult in that there are so many messages cluttering the webwaves on the daily.
So, as you navigate through the pages of the Internet, just think of how mediocre your experience would have been had these innovations--the Fantastic Four--remained thoughts, and not products of a great idea!
