15 sites that changed the world.
15 sites that changed the world since the WWW was created 15 years ago. The question is: are there 15 sites that changed the Middle East?
On August 6, 1991, Tim Berners-Lee posted the first bit of data on the “World Wide Web,” an Executive Summary of the World Wide Web, outlining his vision. It make for every interesting reading. Unlike many statements of visions for the future that seem to always contain a Jetsons-like vision for the future with robots and flying saucers, his document is much more realistic.
To follow a link, a reader clicks with a mouse (or types in a number if he or she has no mouse). To search and index, a reader gives keywords (or other search criteria). These are the only operations necessary to access the entire world of data.
To celebrate the 15th anniversary, The Guardian’s website ran an excellent story about “15 websites that changed the world.”
All the usual suspects are there - eBay, Amazon, wikipedia, Friends Reunited, etc., and it offers a great analysis of all of them, and what made them great. It should be required reading for everyone in our industry.
But what about the Middle East?
Looking at these sites, I thought to myself “what about the Middle East?” Do we have 15 sites created in our part of the world that really changed things, or left their mark?
As far I’m concerned, the quick answer is no. While there are a lot of sites that have done well in the Middle East and developed into thriving and vibrant presences, I can’t think of any that actually did anything groundbreaking that changed the Internet. There are a lot of sites like Al Bawaba, AMEinfo, Bayt, Maktoob that do deserve a tip of the hat for developing successful, profitable online communities that we have all benefitted from, both as individuals and as professionals in the online industry. However, did anyone ever create a “killer app”?
I’m curious to hear what everyone else has to say.
comments
Sumair
December 27th, 2006 at 6:36 amI am a user of AMEinfo and feel it is definitely a very useful tool for me. I don’t believe it would be categorized under killer apps if it was catering to users anywhere else in the world as it’s audience is very limited but in middle east, where internet is still in its infancy because of the number of users and the restrictive policies of telecom operators had imposed on internet uasge, AMEinfo would certainly be in the top five.
In ME, internet is still not used much for e-commerce. I think it will just take time for the general public to realize the convenience online commerce brings. While in UAE, there was not a single website that I used regulalry which originated from the ME. Once public usage/awareness increases (in particular online activities), I do see quite a few websites emerging which would become essential part of ME internet users’ online activities.