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Between the 1940s and 50s, computers began to take shape. They were large machines that filled an entire room and made simple calculations. It wasn't until the 1960s that the concept for the Internet began to take shape.
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Leonard Kleinrock published a book on the theory of packet-switching. This would later prove to be a crucial component in the creation of ARPANET.
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In August 1962, J.C.R. Licklider of MIT discussed his idea for a "Galactic Network", a system in which computers all over the world connected to the network could access information at any time.
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By the end of 1969, the ARPANET system took shape, and four computers were connected to it; the Internet began to ultimately take shape.
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Originally, there were only 4 computers connected to ARPANET, but then more and more computers connected to the network. Over time, it became more and more difficult to integrate into a singular Internet.
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In October, a large, successful demonstration of ARPANET was held at the ICCC (International Computer Communication Conference). In July, ARPANET developers created an email utility, starting off the modern email system as we know it.
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By 1985, the Internet was a well-established technology, supporting a large community of researchers and experts. Daily computer communications were being made by other communities. Email also became very popular during this time.
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In 1991, a man named Tim Berners-Lee introduced the World Wide Web; a system that could send information like before, but was also a "web" of info that could be accessed by anyone.
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While the World Wide Web is the system that we still use today, it has undergone many changes. Students at the University of Illinois developed a complicated browser known as Mosaic, which allowed a simple way for people to browse info on the Internet. Recently, social networking and commercial sites have become popular.
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Around November 1996, instant messaging became really popular among internet users. IM services such as ICQ (I seek you) allowed users to communicate. This would later be the basis for popular services such as AOL.
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In 2003, the social networking site LinkedIn was introduced, mainly used for communication between businesses and business partners.
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In 2004, Facebook launched. Originally, it was used exclusively by campuses as a form of communication before being released to the public two years later. Today, it has over a billion users.
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In 2005, the video-sharing website YouTube launched. Today, thousands of videos are released every day.
