How have websites evolved?

HOW HAVE WEBSITES EVOLVED?

It’s not until you look back at the history of a website that you realise just how much it has evolved. Hindsight is a beautiful thing! With that being said it’s time to delve back in time to see how 5 of the most popular websites have changed over time.

eBay

eBay 1998
Then

Back in 1995, eBay was launched and little did anyone know that this website would change the way we shop forever. Back then it was called ‘AuctionWeb’ and it was created by a gentleman called Pierre Omidyar. The very basic text-based shopping website was the first of it’s kind in the world. In 1996, Pierre added feedback facilities but it wasn’t until 1999 that the website went worldwide. Now, 17 years later, it has been reported that the site now has over 165 active users, with an annual net revenue of 8,979 million dollars. We bet Pierre never saw that coming when he launched the site! If you compared the site then to now, you wouldn’t think it was the same company.

Ebay
Now

Facebook

Facebook-design-at-launch
Then

Facebook was founded in 2004 as “The facebook” and it was the brainchild of Mark Zuckerberg. The sites main premise was to connect Harvard University students. Within 24 hours of it being launched over 1000 students signed up to the site. It then extended to other Boston universities and eventually all universities in the USA. The site was one of the first social media platforms that connected people and is still one of the most noteworthy right now. It is reported that the site has over 1.86 billion monthly active Facebook users, which means it has an 17% increase year over year. The site has now become sleeker, easier to use and there is a lot more you can now do on it.

Facebook Now
Now

Twitter

Twitter-design-at-launch
Then

Twitter was created in 2006 and the first tweet was posted by Jack Dorsey (one of its founders) on March 21st of that year, which read “just setting my twttr”. It was then launched to the public in July of that year. The design concept has remained the same but many aspects of it have changed with the times. In 2008, the site was reported as having 1.3 million registered users. Which is amazing, considering this was just two years after its launch. Now the company has 3,900 employees, 500 million tweets sent every day and it has 310 million monthly active users. What a way it has come!

Twitter
Now

Google

Google
Then

Back in 1997, Google.com was registered as a domain. The name being a play on the word “googol”, which is a mathematical term for the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros. It all began as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who were P.H.D. students at Stanford University. However, the website was not founded until 1998 and no one knew that it would eventually become the most popular search engine in the world. The design has remained basic but it is now much more polished, ridiculously quick and always changing. By 1999, a year after its launch, the site was already answering 3.5 million search queries. The site now receives over 40,000 search queries every second, which is over 3.5 billion searches per day!

Google
Now

LinkedIn

LinkedIn-design-at-launch
Then

LinkedIn has become the go-to site for recruiters and for job seekers. But the website now is a far cry from what it was in 2003. Back then, it resembled a PowerPoint presentation and it was receiving around 20 sign-ups a day. But in 2010, it appeared to go through a hyper-growth, receiving 90 million members and 1,000 employees around the world. Now, the site has a sleek design but it has still retained the colour scheme of the original site. It is reported that 467 million users use the site and there are 2 new members every second!

LinkedIn Now
Now

All sites, including ours, have evolved and it’s interesting to see how these five sites have done just that. Only time will tell how the usage of these popular sites will change and continue to evolve. Contact us for more information on web design in and around Birmingham.

Daniel Ricardo