Here are the best websites that have launched this decade:
10. Yelp
Launched: 2004
What did we do before sites like Yelp? Trust food critics? The problem with reviews is that they really boil down to one person's opinion. And even if that opinion comes from an educated source, it might not be the right opinion for us. That's why Yelp is one of the best websites this decade. Rather than trust what a single person has to say about a restaurant or auto repair shop, we can see what everyone things about it.
9. Google News
Launched: 2002
Google has launched a lot of great websites and innovations in the past decade, but Google News tops the list. Aggregating news sources from all over the world with categories ranging from local and world news to technology to sports and pairing it with the world's most comprehensive search engine has created the ultimate website for any news junkie. Now no matter how broad or how specific, you can find the news.
8. Digg
Launched: 2004
Spearheading the rise of social news, Digg has created an empire out of digging the best articles on the web while burying the worst. You can think of it as combining the best elements of Google News and Yelp -- Digg takes anything from the web (submitted by the users) and lets everyone vote on the quality, thus making it a great site for finding the best articles on the Internet. Even after Yahoo got into the game with Yahoo Buzz, it couldn't topple Digg, making it one of the decade's best websites. (Learn more about Social News.)
7. Hulu
Launched: 2007
In just two short years, Hulu is already becoming a household name. While YouTube is a great resource of user-submitted videos, Hulu is where you go for full-length television episodes and movies. Hulu is a joint venture between NBC, Fox and ABC/Walt Disney and offers video streaming to the United States. In addition to watching on your computer, Hulu can be streamed to the TV via MediaMall's PlayOn software.
6. Flickr
Launched: 2004
The ultimate photo hosting and sharing site, Flickr brought the idea of remote hosting to the average user. Gone are the days when you shared your Thanksgiving photos by burning them onto a CD and sending it out to friends and family. Nowadays, we simply upload them to Flickr and mass email the link. Easily one of the best websites for photo hosting and sharing, Flickr has become a popular resource for bloggers and journalists due to the ability to mark photos with the appropriate creative commons licensing agreement.
5. Skype
Launched: 2003
With an estimated 521 million accounts enjoying free Skype to Skype calls and some of the most inexpensive long distance on the planet, it's a wonder that some people still haven't discovered the popular Voice over IP service. While it is true that it requires an Internet connection, it works fantastically and offers video conferencing as well as phone calls. You can even buy a special Skype phone to plug into your computer if you miss the old days of picking up a phone and dialing. (Learn more about Skype.)
4. YouTube
Launched: 2005
The site that redefined the viral video, YouTube is a user-submitted video hosting and sharing site that allows you to watch anything from movie trailers to television clips to music mashups to stupid pet tricks. YouTube also hosts premium channels like the Oprah channel, and you can even learn to play an instrument simply by searching for how-to videos on YouTube.
3. Wikipedia
Launched: 2001
The bane of all Encyclopedia Britannica salesmen, Wikipedia launched at the beginning of the decade and led the charge of crowdsourced information. An encyclopedia written and edited by the people, it has quickly grown to become the world's most extensive source of basic information on just about any subject. Easily one of the best websites of the decade, Wikipedia has become something of a phenomenon, showcasing some of the best (and worst) that crowdsourcing has to offer. (Learn more about Wikis.)
2. Facebook
Launched: 2004
While MySpace was becoming the social network of choice for the younger crowd, Facebook was quietly transforming itself from a social network aimed at college students and high school students into the defacto standard of social networking for all ages. In the past few years, it has not only surpassed MySpace as the most popular social network, it has also branched out with the Facebook Developer Platform and Facebook Connect, a universal login system. (Learn more about Social Networking.)
1. Twitter
Launched: 2006
You can't turn on the television without hearing something about Twitter these days, so it should come as no surprise that that popular service comest out on top as the best website of the decade. Starting out as a microblogging website, Twitter has grown into a social messaging platform that has redefined how we find and even report on news. This was never more evident than during the political unrest in Iran following the presidential elections, when even after being banned in Iran, Twitter was used as the main source of news about the unrest. (Learn more about Twitter.)
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