The concept of Internet first came to life in 1960s and served mainly for military purpose, yet the true evolution of the Internet has not began until it got commercialized in 1990. Since then, the Internet has made it to every household and became beneficial in many ways. In this article we will discuss the progress and uses of the Internet pertaining to entertainment industry, especially the aspect of Internet Videos.

Step 1 – Raw Data

If we were to step back fifteen or twenty years ago, we would be rather disappointed. The internet was a baren wasteland for an average user. Internet websites were dull, internet speeds were slow and the primary focus of evolution at this stage was the quantity of data. Like an empty jug, the Internet needed to be filled up with all sorts of information before it would be deemed useful. During this stage, all sorts of data, was being poured in by financial firms, household users and governments. Like an infant, the Internet was picking up all sorts of knowledge both useful and useless, there was no order and most people had limited or no access to it. Yet this was a much needed step and laid a foundation for the World Wide Web. This opened the door for people to develop both hardware and software in order to make use of this miracle. HTML script came to life during this stage and led to the development of websites and gave birth to the all familiar aspect of URL address. The phone lines became a gateway for data communication.

Step 2 – Visual Evolution

About 10 years ago, the Internet evolved drastically. The development of high speed internet was at the beginning stage, the first videos surfaced on the Internet. Websites like Alta Vista, Google and Yahoo have made their presence known; they served as Yellow Pages for Internet Data. Any average user was able to browse the net and find any queries without much difficulty. The focus has turned from raw data to Visual development. New video formats have been created; websites had improved Graphics and video. However, the Internet speeds were not nearly fast enough to support large quantity of videos and therefore, Video evolution was still only beginning. The focus during that period was primarily on Internet Gaming, Picture Sharing and Networking. Games like Ultima Online and others brought people together through the Internet in ample numbers. Alta Vista, Google and Yahoo were frequently used in order to find various images to satisfy the curious mind. Programs like ICQ and AOL messenger put a damp on Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of telephone. Now people were able to communicate with each other regardless of the distance. Yet this was only the beginning

Step 3 - Video Expansion

In February 2005, a new miracle was born, and its name was YouTube. For the first time, people were able to view videos without spending countless hours searching for them using typical search engines. Users were uploading videos with dramatic speeds, which in turn allowed for development of various video formats, video players, editors and other tools to support the ever-growing Internet Video. During that period, video embedding was brought to life. Video embedding allowed any armature website to have video content without spending money on hardware. Other websites like Metacafe, Veoh, and Dailymotion came to life providing similar services. Today even social networks like Myspace and Facebook, realized the importance of videos, and have adjusted theior sites in order to support it.

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