This morning the social web was abuzz with the phrase “This Will Be Huge.” Those four words are applicable to so many situations that what it may have been referring to was a mystery to us. Perhaps, everyone on the Interweb was partaking in a worldwide pizza making contest and had used entirely too much dough prompting them to announce “This will be huge,” or maybe they were celebrating National Viagra Day. Either way, further investigation was warranted. What we came upon was neither food nor Erectile Dysfunction related.
It seems that Internet industry monster Google has released a new beta application called “Google Maps Navigation.” The free GPS turn-by-turn navigation system has made such an immediate impression, the stock of GPS makers such as Garmin and TomTom more or less have hit the deck, and Mashable’s article on the release was passed around like hotcakes at a Sunday brunch buffet. While we have no doubt that Google’s new beta map app will change the face of humanity forever, this announcement prompted us take a look at other web innovations that have revolutionized the way we interact with the world around us. While we think that Google Maps Navigation will certainly be huge, it might never eclipse the following five internet advances.
1. Online Fantasy Sports- Prior to the widespread availability of the Internet, true sports nerds would check the box scores the day after a sporting event and tally statistics before mailing out weekly results to fellow dedicated geeks . Online Fantasy Sports leagues hosted by Yahoo!, ESPN, and CBS Sports now give millions of less dedicated people worldwide the opportunity to partake in the sports version of Dungeons and Dragons, by wielding the sword of immediate updates on any given Sunday, Monday, Tuesday….etc.
2. Emoticons- Winking and making overt tongue motions at your friends was never really widely accepted in most social circles, mostly because winking is a bit creepy. Thanks to emoticons women and flamboyant men can give cutesy responses to their friends and straight men can have their sexuality put in question when they use an emoticon to react to the news that their fantasy football trade has been approved. Grammarians though tend to frown upon this practice, as it’s an easy way out of self expression via the eloquence of words.
3. Ebay- Before Ebay you had to hope to find that rare A-team mug you never knew existed at a yard sale or flea market. Now with this internet auctioneer, you don’t have to leave your house to find buried treasure and you can get that A-Team mug for the low price of $3.84 plus shipping, unless that bastard in Dubuque, Iowa continues to up his bid.
4. Email- Prior to the advent of email, horses had jobs. Postmen rode around the country on thoroughbreds racing against time and postal vans to get urgent final notice bills to people with rapidly declining credit scores. Now a simple online notification in your inbox alerts you that you should probably pay your bill or someone’s going to repossess that sweet new race-car bed you pretended to buy for your kid, even though you’re single. Also, thanks to its easily archived nature, Email allows you to keep track of all of the dumb things your friends say over the years and offer them irrefutable evidence of it later.
5. Youtube/Blogs- Everybody thinks they have a great sense of humor or that they have something important to say. This is probably the most fatal assumption made by human beings. Before the existence of Youtube/Blogging, the only place you had to deal with people on the negative side of the funny or importance spectrum broadcasting themselves was at a friendly gathering, political rally, or a Dane Cook show. Now anyone can air their grievances or bring the “funny” by showing off their wacky personality or misguided opinion via their own web channel and reach millions! Talk about being huge.
