Since its founding in 1989, the World Wide Web has touched the lives of billions of people around the world and fundamentally changed how we connect with others, the nature of our work, how we discover and share news and new ideas, how we entertain ourselves and how communities form and function.

The timeline below is the beginning of an effort to capture both the major milestones and small moments that have shaped the Web since 1989. It is a living document that we will update with your contributions. To suggest an item to add to the timeline, please message us.

1989

1990

42% of American adults have used a computer.

World’s first website and server go live at CERN, running on Tim Berners-Lee’s NeXT computer, which bears the message “This machine is a server. DO NOT POWER DOWN!”

Tim Berners-Lee develops the first Web browser WorldWideWeb.

Archie, the first tool to search the internet is developed by McGill University student Alan Emtage.

1991

Researchers rig up a live shot of a coffee pot so they could tell from their computer screens when a fresh pot had been brewed. Later connected to the World Wide Web, it becomes the first webcam.

1992

The term “surfing the internet” is coined and popularized.

Tim Berners-Lee posts the first photo, of the band “Les Horribles Cernettes,” on the Web.

The line-mode browser launches. It is the first readily accessible browser for the World Wide Web.

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

Only 3% of internet users say they got most of their information about the 9/11 attacks and the aftermath from the internet.

The average internet user spends 83 minutes online.

Jimmy Wales launches Wikipedia. Users write over 20,000 encyclopedia entries in the first year.

2002

55 million people now go online from work and 44% of those who have internet access at work say their use of the internet helps them do their jobs.

Social networking site Friendster.com launches, but is quickly overtaken by Facebook.

Microsoft launches Xbox Live, its online multiplayer gaming service.”Critics scoffed at the idea, noting how uncommon broadband connections were at the time.”

2003

2004

2005

2006

just setting up my twttr — jack 🌍🌏🌎 (@jack) March 21, 2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

We’ve confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO. This Tweet does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale. — Twitter (@Twitter) September 12, 2013

2014