Is the web waking up with a hangover?
18 years ago yesterday the public web was released. So, is it waking up with a headache this morning?
Well, considering that there are over 110 million individual web sites in existence (no one really knows the exact figure) and over 30 billion web pages, the web is surprisingly well ordered and managed.
Part of the reason for this is that, at the end of the day, it is ‘joe public’ who control the web. They decide what they want to see and, more importantly, how they want to see it. Poorly designed site, sites that don’t work, sites that aren’t updated frequently, sites that are slow, sites that are incorrect are quickly ignored by users whilst those that do work, are used more frequently. By being used more frequently, search engines index them more frequently and they then appear higher within search results. Good sites are a self funding phenomenon.
Information sites aside, social networks (sites where ‘joe public’ sets up their own profile, tells the world what they are up to and organises it at the same time) number over 200 with the big players; MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, accounting for over 1 billion web pages alone. These sites have succeeded because their interfaces are clean and sharp and offer users flexibility in function whilst controlling the overall structure of their profile pages. This leads to uncluttered and accessible, if, at times aged, content.
But increasing numbers of users are even improving at their own online housework. Whilst their ‘real life’ houses might be gathering dust around the mantlepiece, some users have picked up their virtual dusters and taken responsibility for the integrity and quality of content on the web, becoming good ambassadors of content. YouTube self-moderation shows that ‘entertainment’ portals are increasingly coming under the domain and ownership of the ‘protectorate of good content’. Wikipedia proves this as a case in point with millions of pages managed by a Wikipedia-team of 12 people and a world team of millions of users.
Users have been empowered to act and control the quality of the web because, at the end of the day, they are the ones who use it. They want the best from the web and they will get the best from it, by voting with their clicks and, where able, editing the content.
So, 18 years in, does the web wake this morning with a headache? No, I think it’s largely in pretty good shape and will probably welcome a drink from me - even at this hour of the morning
Tags: the shape of the web, user managed sites, web 18 years old
