Internet culture, also known as cyber culture, is defined as culture that has emerged from
the use of computer networks for communication, entertainment, and business (The Gale
Group Inc., 2002). Internet culture is facilitated through activities, games, and
applications (The Gale Group Inc., 2002). Some key examples that have shaped Internet
culture over the last several years are social networks, blogs and vlogs, chat rooms. What
is interesting about Internet culture is how quickly it has evolved from the time
computers became popular to now. In 2008, when I became a teenager, the Internet had
peaked, social networks were just being created, and the Internet in general was a newer
phenomenon. Since 2008, Internet culture has changed and is something that continues to
develop. In this paper, I will explore how Internet culture has evolved and it’s importance
in our society.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term cyber culture was first used
in 1963 (Oxford University Press, 2001). However, cyber culture and the use of its
definition did not occur consistently until the late 1990s. The reason for its emergence in
the late 1990s was due to the public commercial use of the Internet (The Gale Group Inc.,
2002).
Internet culture is demonstrated through many applications, such as social
networks, blogs and vlogs, and chat rooms. First, I will be talking about social networks.
Social networks first became popular with the launch of Friendster, which promoted the
idea that people could talk online and created the concept of an online community
(Digital Trends Staff, 2013). Within the first year, Friendster had more than three million
register users. In 2003, shortly after Friendster launched, LinkedIn and MySpace
launched (Digital Trends Staff, 2013). I believe MySpace was the first major social
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networking site that paved the way for what is now Internet culture. MySpace was
important for society, because it gave people the outlet to post about how they felt,
connect with people around the world, watch music videos, and upload videos and
pictures. MySpace did a great job at targeting younger demographics and effectively
made their social networking site seem exciting and fun to join. People felt as if they
weren’t “relevant” or “cool” if they didn’t have an account on MySpace.
Facebook was then and is still now the first social networking site that comes to
mind when thinking of social networking sites. According to the Digital Trends Staff
(2016), Facebook promotes both honesty and openness. I agree completely with this
statement and believe Facebook’s promotion of honest and openness has allowed our
society to evolve. I believe without Facebook, many thoughts and ideas would never be
