My Web World

As the World Wide Web celebrates 25 years, we’re celebrating our own little internet milestone here at Platform with the launch of our new website.

Inspired by Management Today’s article -12 Websites That Changed The World http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/bulletin/mtdailybulletin/article/1283017/12-websites-changed-world/ – I started to think about the websites that have changed, shaped and made my life a whole lot easier. I could go on forever, there are so many sites I use regularly for work and leisure.  So I have limited myself to the top five – here they are in no particular order:

Google – Obvious I know, but what did we do without search engines? I can remember pre-internet PR where getting information was a huge challenge and something clients would pay a lot of money for. We used to scan the papers and magazines every day to track stories and coverage – agencies had whole cutting and reading teams doing just that. Things my team consider simple today, like getting hold of company information or a competitor’s press release, were covert operations. Internet search is amazing and Google is the Daddy. Where will it take us next?

Ocado – You have to eat but you don’t have to drag yourself around the supermarket anymore. And for me these guys still do grocery shopping better than anyone because of their superb web and mobile device presence.

TopTable/OpenTable – When you want to eat out these sites and their excellent mobile apps will get you a table booked quicker than you can say garcon. I get annoyed with restaurants that are not on them.

TripAdvisor – I love this site. Wouldn’t travel without it – invaluable. I enjoy contributing to it too . To date I have done 33 reviews, had 35 helpful votes and even exchanged messages with 3 people asking me for specific advice on places I’ve been. That makes me feel good about myself.

Amazon – It started with books, but thinking about the wide variety of stuff I buy through Amazon is amazing. Prime and OneClick are extremely sticky services. A quick look at my account shows the breadth of the 13 purchases I made in the past six months – 17 books (5 print, 12 Kindle), MacBook Pro charger, apron, electric rollers, sunscreen and a cuddly toy (joking). Now as it moves into the world of entertainment with online video and more, Amazon is poised to become my (and more than 20 Million other Prime customers) portal of choice. Watch this space!

I also want to give a special mention to:

Wikipedia – Love it or loathe it, you have to take your hat off to the Goliath achievement of Wiki in putting information (not always accurate) into the hands of the masses. No more shelves of Encylodpeadia Britannica for the digital natives.

And finally the website I really dislike:

Facebook – Who cares if you just ate a donut, like One Direction or went to Starbucks. I don’t want to be your friend. I know my friends, I can count them on two hands, and that’s how I like it. I am proud to be part of an exclusive group that has NEVER joined Facebook. There should be a name for us – Face-Offs, we could start a club, be each other’s friends. Ah!

Written by Gay Bell.