8. Google acquires YouTube and legitimizes social media
You can argue Google's $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube in 2006 was more about bringing television to the Web than offering legitimacy to social media. Either way, it was a milestone for the tech industry.
If Google or another big suitor had not gobbled YouTube, it's not hard to imagine the video-sharing site, despite its popularity, failing because of rising costs and litigation with content owners. Google offered a buffer for YouTube (still does) while it worked on becoming more than a neat idea.
The eye-popping price tag, which even Google CEO Eric Schmidt acknowledges was mighty steep, also helped spark a run on Web 2.0 investments and primed the market for other social-media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter.
Of course, the great question with these social-media companies is profitability. Facebook, for example, recently announced it turned cash positive, but any accounting student will tell you that's not the same thing as being profitable. Still, if any company can provide a model for turning a hugely popular social-media site into a cash machine, it will be Google.
Caption by Jim Kerstetter
Caption by
CNET Reviews staff
/ Photo by Google screenshot