The Internet and Interpersonal Communication

Hospital executives and other healthcare professionals who want to continue to use the Internet to compete will benefit from an understanding of the highlights of the Internet's evolution as a communications tool.

Those who say that a healthcare executive who is conversant with the history of social media has a competitive advantage are correct — because understanding the evolution of how people use the Internet will help you refine your Internet strategy intelligently.
This history happens to be interesting as well. How many of the following people, companies, and social media tools do you recognize from your own personal experience with the Internet?

What follows is certainly not a complete history — these are just the notes I refer to when I want to keep some perspective. Most of the links are to Wikipedia, which has a convenient table of social networking sites.

What follows will take some time to digest, but understanding it could give you an advantage over your competitors.

In Part One, we look at social networking on the Internet prior to the launch of the World Wide Web.
In Part Two, we pick up the story with the invention of the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee.

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