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How quickly we forget!
According to an an article in the Silicon Alley Insider this week, Twitter, Facebook, and Google Owe Everything to AOL. This was the message that the new AOL CEO, Tim Armstrong (former Google SVP) had for the AOL troops.
How true.
The article referenced AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), buddy list, and keyword search as predecessors to Twitter, Facebook, and Google, respectively.
But, does anyone remember Compuserve? Or Prodigy?
Even AOL had its predecessors.
Innovation, not unlike the scientific process of discovery, often comes by advancing, adjusting, re-combining, or re-inventing innovations that came before.
The hard part is understanding how, when, and to what extent to leverage the lessons from the past in addressing the needs of the present (and the future) – something we try to consider every day in the publishing industry!
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Maybe we all owe it to Spike: http://www.usenix.org/publications/login/1999-2/isp.html
Or really we owe it all to DARPA:
https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/jcthomsonjr/web/j561/timeline.html
I, for one, certainly do not miss the days of 2400 baud modems!
Fortune favors the prepared mind. Not that one needs to be on the bleeding edge of technology to be successful, but understanding its ramifications and applying them quickly is one of the keys to success in any industry. That is where AOL succeeded (years ago) and where others are now leading.
Posted by Todd Carpenter | Mar 24, 2009, 5:30 pm