Illustration by Jillian Tamaki
As you might expect, many of the internet’s most-visited websites are established old-timers. Yahoo!, the Microsoft Network, eBay and Amazon.com were all founded in 1995 — forever ago in cyber-time. Even Google, a relative latecomer to the party, has blown out the candles on its seventh birthday cake.
These titans survived the dot-com collapse of 2000-01 by perfecting the basic tools that the planet’s internet surfers most often need: a strong majority of us use search engines, web-based e-mail is a near necessity and our 2006 online shopping purchases are expected to surpass $200 billion US.
A different breed of megasite has emerged during the last few years. Think of the web’s old guard as TV networks — they provide mainstream programming for amorphous audiences — and its young turks as cable channels, offering niche content to avid subscriber bases.
The leaders of this new school excel at creating online communities. MySpace, YouTube and Flickr function as self-contained planets in cyberspace; Blogger is chief architect of the blogosphere. All of them encourage their users to contribute content, engage in conversation and form personal relationships. It’s a totally different tao of building traffic: Yahoo! takes you places, MySpace means you’re already there.
Settle in, and get a load of the big stars of the net’s new wave...
Motto: “A place for friends”
Global traffic ranking (English-language)*: No. 4
Canadian traffic ranking: No. 8
What is it? A social networking site; youth culture’s current equivalent of MTV in 1981 — the greatest thing, like, ever. MySpace provides a free, semi-private network of blogs. Its services include photo, video and music hosting, internal e-mail and instant messaging. MySpace “friends” link user profiles. They can post messages on each other’s pages, or gab at subsites for special interest “groups” (Where the Party At?, I Sleep Naked, etc.).
Who uses it? People of every age and persuasion, but make no mistake — the kids run things. A quarter of MySpace’s 80 million registered members claim to be between 14 and 17 years old (although there is no verification process to identify youngsters trying to hang with the cool crowd... or adults slumming with bad intentions). At skate parks and shopping malls, “What’s your MySpace?” is the new “What’s your cell?”
Online since: July 2003. Last summer, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation purchased MySpace’s parent company, Intermix Media, for $580 million US. Insert incredulous, youth-oriented slang here: _______!
Rivals: orkut, Facebook, Friendster, LiveJournal
Love: MySpace’s popularity skyrocketed after co-founders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe convinced indie musicians to use it for self-promotion. The site lets them post MP3 and video files, photo galleries, tour schedules and personal journals. An estimated 1.8 million bands now maintain MySpace pages — including, most likely, many of your favourite acts. It’s the net’s best place to discover new music.
Hate: Record labels are hip to MySpace’s hype, and have begun paying for featured listings. Many punk bands have balked at the site’s Terms of Use, which take a hard line on copyright ownership. Also, is a MySpace friend really a friend? If you have 1,001 names in your “extended network” but still spend Friday nights eating chocolate cake alone in your underoos, I’d reckon not.
Motto: “Push-button publishing”
Global traffic ranking (English-language): No. 10
Canadian traffic ranking: No. 13
What is it? A tool for publishing weblogs. Blogger uses a simple, three-step process to create new blogs. Afterwards, posting updates can be as effortless as sending e-mail.
Who uses it: At last count, Blogger has been used to create 15.6 million blogs — more than a third of the blogosphere’s total. The site attracts every kind of author, from landscape architects to taxi drivers to hip-hop gossips to fashion gods.
Online since: August 1999, although there was nothing mega about Blogger until blogs moved into the mainstream a few years ago. The site fell to death’s door when the internet bubble burst, but held on long enough to attract Google’s attention in 2003. It has thrived under the search engine’s stewardship.
Rivals: Xanga, Movable Type, TypePad
Love: Blogger’s publishing tools are so smart, almost any bozo can use them... which, come to think of it, helps explain the suckitude of several million blogs. Er, let’s stick to the positives. Blogger’s robust help section will smooth any publishing hiccups, and its Adsense tool allows painless incorporation of Google’s advertising program. Which, in ideal cases, leads to bloggers actually making money from their musings. Imagine that.
Hate: Blogging in the ’00s is like DJing in the ’90s — just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it right. If your life is a movie, by all means, dish. Otherwise, do the World (Wide Web) a favour and find another hobby.
Motto: “Broadcast yourself”
Global traffic ranking (English-language): No. 15
Canadian traffic ranking: No. 17
What is it? A mammoth repository for online videos. YouTube uses Flash technology to serve a vast array of film and TV snippets, music videos and — best of all — homemade clips. Consider it America’s Funniest Home Videos on the Barry Bonds workout plan.
Who uses it? Viewership is estimated in the many millions, although the exact number is unclear. Here’s what’s known: every day, YouTube visitors watch about 40 million videos, and add 35,000 more to the site’s collection.
Online since: February 2005 — and, um, still waiting on a long-term business model. Advertising is a recent addition, but the site is believed to be spending as much as $1 million US per month on bandwidth.
Rivals: Google Video, Revver, That Video Site
Love: Where to begin? A few current faves: Rock 'N' Roll High School, Bus Uncle (beware of potty mouth), Football skills (beware of soundtrack) and Invisible Boards.
Hate: Posting copyrighted material is officially prohibited, but abounds in practice. What often happens is really good TV — Saturday Night Live’s “Lazy Sunday” skit, Stephen Colbert’s speech at the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner — appears on YouTube and goes viral (i.e., spreads like wildfire) within hours. Lawyers take notice; letters are written; the clips get pulled. (In the case of Colbert, the footage quickly resurfaced on Google Video, per paid agreement with C-Span, its original broadcaster.)
Motto: “The best way to store, search, sort and share your photos”
Global traffic ranking (English-language): No. 34
Canadian traffic ranking: No. 25
What is it? The motto is drab, but puts the point across. Flickr is an online warehouse for digital photographs. Its social-networking services allow contributors to post, tag and group their pics. Comment boards and blog services foster hearty criticism.
Who uses it? Photo buffs — from rank amateurs to long-time pros — use Flickr to put the whole world on display. There is no better place to go underground in Berlin or get lost in the mysteries of Yemen — both within reach of a few mouse clicks.
Online since: Vancouver’s Ludicorp launched Flickr in February 2004. Last March, the research and development firm sold the site to Yahoo! for something in the range of $15 million to $40 million US. (If you’re noticing a trend here — established megasite purchases developing megasite for boffo bucks — congratulations, you’ve identified a fundamental law of internet business practice. If you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em.)
Love: Almost everything. Flickr’s secret algorithm for determining an image’s “interesting”-ness somehow selects the community’s most fantastic photos for maximum exposure. For hours on end, the site overwhelms with one fabulous shot after another.
Hate: Next to nothing. The only quibble is hard-to-find RSS feeds. Otherwise, Flickr is as close to perfect as the Internet gets.
* Traffic rankings compiled from Alexa.com.
Matthew McKinnon writes about the arts for CBC.ca.
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