10. SixDegess.com

What Was It: Social Networking Website.

Launched: 1997.

What Went Wrong: Though the social-network wave has swept the world now, back in 1997 people could not find the idea to be interesting.

Who Adopted The Idea Later: Several social networking websites such as Friendster, MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook etc.

Summary: During the times when people were not even aware of the term social-networking, SixDegrees came with a concept of enlisting friends and family and posting bulletins on one’s connections,  a concept that most of the social networking websites use today. Unfortunately, it fell prey to the hard hitting times.

9. Ask Jeeves

What Was It: Search Engine.

Launched: 1996

What Went Wrong: Ask Jeeves fell into the hands of under-developed technology.

Who Adopted The Idea Later: Almost all search engines including Google, Bing follow the same model.

Summary: As Jeeves was the first website to come up with the idea of building a search engine that would provide answers to questions posted in natural languages. Its searching algorithm was based on semantic search that is the basic principal that Google adapted. Now, Ask.com has replaced Jeeves which has beenr sent for a ‘retirement’.

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