ABSTRACT
The evolution of the Internet has been a step-by-step process of technological development, and each technological advance has made it easier to communicate with others. As time has progressed and Internet technologies have become more sophisticated, the use of those technologies for communications has required greater skill and knowledge to communicate effectively with other people via the Internet. After all, making a technology easier to use does not necessarily mean that people understand what the technology does or how they can use it. Each step in mastering each new tool means that people gain technical familiarity and experience that they can apply to the next Internet technological development. This chapter will discuss the evolution of the Internet and the web through the development of email, bulletin board, forums, and blogs. When blogs developed, there were some important differences between previous technological developments and blogs, and those differences resulted in blogs being very successful publishing and communications tools. The differences between forums and blogs illustrate the reasons for the blog’s successes in the area of helping blogs to get top rankings in search engines. Blogs are not just tools for getting a top ranking; they also allow companies to connect personally with customers through individual employees.
