The resulting software, Netscape Navigator, became the first widely used browser, moving the internet from an abstract concept to a network that was accessible to everyday people. The precurser to the modern browser was Mosaic, originally developed as a temporary project by the the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC) and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).Īfter his graduation from UIUC in 1993, Marc Andreessen teamed up with Jim Clark, the founder of Silicon Graphics, to produce a commercial version of the browser. Images were still beyond reach, but since most connections were dial-up, that wasn’t much of a limitation at the time. Nexus was a graphical user interface (GUI) that allowed users to view text on web pages. The first step in this journey came in 1990, when the legendary Tim Berners-Lee developed the first-ever web browser called “WorldWideWeb” – later renamed Nexus. In the early ’90s though, when the web was in its infancy, the crude, boxy interfaces were a revolutionary step in making the internet usable to people with access to a computer. Today, aside from the occasional pop-up box, we barely notice them.
Simply put, web browsers are the software applications that act as our portal to the internet. Today’s bar chart race video, by the YouTube channel Data is Beautiful, is a nostalgic look back at how people used to access the internet, from Mosaic to Chrome. Since the first rudimentary interfaces were created in the 1990s, a number of browsers have entered the market, with a select few achieving market dominance over our access to web content. Web browsers are a ubiquitous part of the internet experience and one of the most commonly used digital tools of the modern era. Shares may appear cheap given the recent sell-off, but longer-term investors should still approach the name with caution.Internet Browser Market Share (1996–2019) So is Facebook another Netscape? Perhaps. The company must boost revenues to satisfy investors, but if it gets too aggressive on advertising, rival social networks from larger conglomerates like Google - which do not face the same constraints - could rapidly poach Facebook's user base. Despite Facebook's near monopoly status, it is limited in what it can do. Without another business to rely on, Facebook would be unable to compete. Google, with a functioning and profitable search business, could afford to keep Google+ advertisements to a minimum - in much the same way as Microsoft was able to offer Explorer for free. If at some point Facebook goes overboard with advertising it could kill the service and drive its users to another social network - perhaps Google+ (NASDAQ: GOOG). However, it wouldn't be without historical precedent - Facebook stole much of Myspace's user base by offering a superior service. With so much tied to personal accounts, users may be resistant to abandoning Facebook for another service. Although these changes do not appear to have threatened Facebook as of yet, it isn't hard to foresee how further moves could discourage users and make them open to switching. The company recently demonstrated such a move in New Zealand, allowing its users to purchase increased visibility for their status updates at a small cost.įacebook has also moved to become more aggressive in its approach to advertising, altering its privacy settings and allowing advertisements to appear in users' news feeds. While it seems unlikely that Facebook would ever outright charge users for its services, it may begin to offer small services for a fee. The question for investors is whether or not the company will be able to increase revenues in the future. Still, Facebook does make money and plenty of it. With more and more people using the Facebook mobile app exclusively, the company is facing a major problem in the long-run.Įven without its mobile problems, questions remain about the usefulness of Facebook's desktop ads. To date, the biggest knock on Facebook is that it has been unable to make money from its mobile app (smaller screen advertisements are more burdensome on users). Although Facebook has reached almost a billion people and remains the second most visited site on the entire internet, it may be unable to effectively monetize its success.