Some of today’s most popular websites have drastically changed since their early days on the World Wide Web.
How many of your favorite, popular websites have transformed? Amanda Zantal-Wiener answers this question in her Hubspot blog, “Blast From the Past: 7 Websites That Were One Thing, But Now They’re Another.”
Amazon
Launched in 1994, Amazon’s original model was “Earth’s biggest bookstore.” Founder Jeff Bezos first chose to sell books because they are low-cost and universally in demand. Today, the site sells a lot more than just books. The full eCommerce operation offers a wide range of products, entertainment programming, media downloads, and even grocery delivery.
Netflix
Reed Hastings and March Randolph co-founded Netflix with the intention of creating an easy way for people to rent and return movies. Since then, Netflix has evolved into one of the most prominent internet television networks in the world.
Facebook, originally called “Thefacebook,” was initially an exclusive online network for Harvard students. It later expanded to other U.S. colleges before going public in 2006. Facebook is now one of the largest social networks in the world, averaging 1.18 billion active users.
Youtube
Surprisingly, Youtube had very brief beginnings as an online dating site that allowed members to post and share personal videos. The website’s original intention was to serve as s “a video version of HOTorNOT.com,” a site in which users would rate the attractiveness of complete strangers. Now, this is no longer the case, and Youtube allows billions of people to discover, watch, and share originally-created videos.
Change is inevitable. Sometimes your ideas don’t go according to plan, and sometimes it’s for the better. These examples show that it can be beneficial to look at your brand or website and ask yourself what can be improved or what needs to change.
