Web History

  • AOL Messenger Launched

    AOL launches its Instant Messenger chat service and begins welcoming users with the iconic greeting “You’ve got mail!”
  • First Browser

    The line-mode browser launches. It is the first readily accessible browser for the World Wide Web.
  • Images can be displayed on the web

    Marc Andreessen proposes the IMG HTML tag to allow the display of images on the Web.
  • Yahoo! is created

    Yahoo! is created by Stanford University graduate students Jerry Yang and David Filo. They originally named the site “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web.”
  • Microsoft releases Windows 95 and the first version of Internet Explorer

  • Wikipedia is Launched

    Jimmy Wales launches Wikipedia. Users write over 20,000 encyclopedia entries in the first year.
  • YouTube is founded

    YouTube is founded on Valentine’s Day. The first video, an explanation of what’s cool about elephants, is uploaded by co-founder Jawed Karim on April 23. Google acquires the company a year later.
  • Apple's App Store is Launched

    Apple launches its App Store with 552 applications.
  • CIA Scandal

    Former CIA employee and NSA contractor Edward Snowden turns over thousands of classified documents to media organizations, exposing a top-secret government data surveillance program.
  • Majority of Americans own smartphones

    A majority (56%) of Americans now own a smartphone of some kind.