On the 6th of August 1991, a new world was born when a scientist working at CERN laboratories in Geneva Switzerland made the very first website. The scientist was Tim Berners-Lee and little did he know the profound impact his innovation would have on the world.

Within a very short period of time websites moved from being just a place to share research data, into a huge global network for sharing information on absolutely everything, from stock market prices to the latest celebrity gossip.

In the 90s most members of the general public connected to the internet through their phone lines with analogue modems. It was called a dial up connection, as the computer would literally dial a number to call a server and sing a strange digital song down the phone line.

In the early days of dial up, connections where quite slow and expensive, meaning most people would only connect to the internet briefly, do what they had to do and sign off again. Websites had few if any pictures, certainly no videos and were generally a whole lot more boring than they are today.

Within a very short period of time communication technologies improved dramatically, allowing faster digital signals to be sent through telecommunications networks. These new technologies allowed people to remain online at all times and increased bandwidth, which led to website designers being able to incorporate rich media into their sites like pictures and videos.

By the mid to late 90s there were hundreds of online businesses that were referred to as the dot com companies. Many of these companies went bust when the dot com bubble burst, but a lot of them have become massive brands and play an important role in many people’s lives. Companies such as Amazon and eBay have changed the way people shop.

Although people were able to make their own websites, post in forums and chat in online chat rooms, it really wasn’t until the noughties that the internet began to drastically change the way humans communicated and socialised. Social networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook became massively popular and had a dramatic effect on the way people would socialise and communicate.

In recent times social networking sites - as well as the internet in general - have been used to overthrow dictatorships, as well as mobilising workers strikes and public protests. It has been claimed that the internet is now the most important invention since the printing press due to its dramatic impact on human activities.

These days the internet can be accessed through people's mobile phones as well as at home. People talk to friends, work, shop and find entertainment in an online world. Human society is becoming more and more connected every year, while broadband and phone connections are getting faster and faster as people live out more of their lives in a digital space.

The internet is bound to become even more important in the years to come and 1991 may become year zero as far as future generations are concerned.

Fiona Roy writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.