With the diminishing cost of computers and Internet access, the world wide web has rapidly spread like wildfire. The Internet began as just a small network of computers for sharing information among an elite group of academics, but it is now a part of the daily routines of millions of people around the globe.

In the early days, a lot of attention was placed on internet service providers (ISPs). America Online (AOL) soon became infamous for their infinite supply of floppy disks that were being sent through the mail. Email also took center stage, and prompted the onset of email marketing, mailing lists, and spam. These days, affiliate programs, freeware, and online promotion dominate the marketing space.

Innovations to computer technology have benefited the Internet as well. Multimedia, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and graphic designs are all strong industries that are supported by the web.

Recently, a greater deal of people have been looking at the Internet as a means to make money. There are a wide variety of opportunities in the areas of advertising and marketing, web development, and e-commerce. Another emerging field is domain name registration. A group of people, known as domainers, are seeing domain names as a form of virtual real estate. In fact, some domains have been sold for thousands and millions of dollars.

We are seeing signs that the average citizen is now beginning more comfortable with using the Internet. This can be seen by the increasing number of blogs, e-books, and social media sites like MySpace and Facebook.