The History of Digital Marketing Essay Example

The History of Digital Marketing With the invention of the Internet, the world is progressively getting smaller and smaller. Back in the early 1990’s, the Internet began being used as a way for people to communicate with one another, search for information, and purchase things in an online forum. That was the beginning of the digital marketplace, which ultimately led to the need for digital marketing. There has been a great progression throughout the digital age. When looking at the growth of the Internet, it begins with “web 1.0.” The “early web allowed us to search for information and read it. There was very little in the way of user interaction or content contribution” (Getting, 2007). Essentially the early Internet was used as a “read-only” form of communication and was very one sided. The first clickable banner ad ran in 1993, and Hotwired became the first company to buy banner ads in large quantities in 1994 (Spotlight, 2011). From that moment, marketing made a shift into the digital age. Each year, new technology was added into the digital marketing place. Google was founded in 1998. Blogger.com came into existence in 1999. Blackberry launched their email program (Spotlight, 2011). Then the social networking sites such as LinkedIn, MySpace, and Facebook began popping up, allowing companies new ways to expand their network and new forms of communication and means of gathering information about potential clients to come into existence. One of the most telling signs of change came in 2006, when Time Magazine named “You” as their Person of the Year. With a tagline reading, “Yes, you. You control the Information Age. Welcome to your world” (Time, 2006), Time made the statement, or perhaps even a prophecy, about the upcoming shifts the world would experience in the upcoming years. Acknowledging that the “new web” is more than the dotcom blast of the 90’s or a way for scientists to share new information. Time said:
“The new Web is a very different thing.