The internet isn't very old, not even 20 years yet for the 'real' web.
In that time though there have been a number of phenomenon-menom..s; I'm not talking about chain emails promising money from Bill Gates, or Nigerian bank scams either. The real thing:
1. David 'Don't Hassel The Hoff' Hasselhoff
The original master of Knight Rider and Baywatch himself has since 'appeared' in many online satire, some of it his own. And yes, he does own rights to 'Don't Hassel The Hoff'. He's also the highest selling music artist in Germany...
2. Chuck Norris
Fact: Chuck Norris can divide by zero.
Fact: There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Chuck Norris lives in Oklahoma.
Fact: Chuck Norris knows the last digit of pi.
These 'fact's any many many more have sprung up all over the internet surrounding this mythic martial artist. But the question you have to ask is, if so many 'facts' exist where did they come from in the first place?
The answer is of course "a roundhouse kick to face".
3. Star Wars Kid
A tragic tale of embarrassment, turned into viewing for millions of people. Take one unfortunate adolescent doing lightsaber tricks and film him. Put it on the internet. Add visual fx. Put on internet again. Create an internet legend. Get sued. Terrible or funny? You decide.
4. Rickrolling
From Wikipedia:
Rickrolling is an Internet meme involving the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up". The meme is a bait and switch: a person provides a Web link they claim is relevant to the topic at hand, but the link actually takes the user to the Astley video. The URL can be masked or obfuscated in some manner so that the user cannot determine the true source of the link without clicking (and thus satisfying their curiosity). When a person clicks on the link given and is led to the web page he/she is said to have been "Rickrolled"...
5. Ok Go "Here It Goes Again"
You might know it as 'the treadmill song'. A genius music video and a great song too.
6. Strongbad/Homestarrunner
Very clever and funny animations created from user submitted emails, to Strongbad. Made famous mostly by word-of-mouth, so much so that there is now a computer game (plus other merchandise).
The list goes on. It really does.
"So what?" you ask.
Because this leads me into another internet phenomenon - Google.
Google is celebrating it's tenth birthday at the moment (huzzah). Starting small with their search engine (strangely called 'Google') they have expanded beyond belief into nearly all aspects of web-life:
- The aforementioned search engine, so popular that the word 'Google' is now a verb and a noun. Where would we be without it?
- YouTube, bought by Google for the tidy sum of 1.6 billion US dollars; and one of the most popular sites on the net (and already used a bunch of times in this post)
- Google AdWords. Where Google gets it's income from. They appear on many many websites, but you might not have noticed
- Google Maps and Google Earth. The reason you can surf the web at work; because it's 'educational'. Also really brilliant for finding directions; like to this amazing place!
- Gmail and Blogger. Almost unlimited online email, and a blog site (which you are reading from)
- A recently released web browser 'Chrome', which had some trouble with the user licence but will probably take off (I still like Firefox though)
- A recently announced touch phone to rival Apple's Ipod
- Everything is free! (well not the phone...probably)
- They aren't Microsoft
- They have a sense of humour
I'll finish with a warning - I'm thinking of writing my next post(s) as a serious look at Christian religion and living. There may be a dramatic shift in tone. You have been warned.
Posts
