It never occurred to me to try and understand where YouTube, or Facebook or even Google came from. It was always just, there! These videos taught me so much and left me feeling quite sheepish for not knowing the outstanding history that resides beneath the World Wide Web.
One of the first comments Heilemann makes in The True Story of the Internet: Internet Search was, “Imagine a world without Google.” Not only can I not imagine a world without Google, I absolutely do not want to. I’m constantly “Googling” facts and if I didn’t have that at the ends of my fingertips, it would be a completely different reality. We are told that, “just 10 years ago there was no Google, and five years before that there was no way at all to search the Internet.” Although I know that to be a fact, it’s hard to completely process. The documentary takes us back to where Yahoo! began its growth that created a ripple effect for other search engines. I find it interesting that initially Yahoo! was just a good idea and nothing more. A great idea isn’t enough to become a great company; it requires a lot of money. After Michael Moritz provided Yahoo! with an investment they were able to grow rapidly. It’s also fascinating how a war amongst different search engine brought forth Google who were able to turn search into something magical.
The segment, The True Story of the Internet: People, made me feel rather nostalgic. The way Heilmann described how we used to go out and buy an entire CD just for one song brought back a few memories. I used to spend my weekly allowance buying CDs just to listen to one song. This video brought forth the importance of human communication and how not only the web has changed the world but how the world is changing the web. Before the “big shots” would control how we communicated, now communication has changed so much as it has enabled people power. Everyone now has their own personal broadcast tower where they can communicate with the world. For example, YouTube allowed people to share online videos, which ultimately brought forth the web 2.0. These videos were incredibly interesting, especially for something that was not very aware of the story behind the Internet. I’ve always been happy to use my apps and browse the web; never did it occur to me where it all came from and its back-story.