So, for my last post in 2010 I thought I’d put an idea out there that’s been germinating for a while. How about an A to Z of social web game changers? The thought evolved from a recent brainstorm with a bunch of media/creative/web people. We were supposed to be talking about something altogether different but got side-tracked to thinking about how certain people/innovations have been instrumental in driving the social web agenda. Of course in the brief time we allowed ourselves to get carried away (that is, after all, what brainstorms are about, we told ourselves!) we all had different views on who or what had had the biggest impact.
It struck me that we had the makings of an A to Z; a living document that would, with ongoing contributions from readers, grow organically to become a record of the people that have driven such change in our lives online. Most of the people listed are social web technology innovators but we’ve included the key players that made the web possible in the first place. That might be going back a way now but we’d be nowhere online without them. So, here it is. A starter for 10. Plugin by Adam Maltpress. Initial content by various. A mixture of household names and unsung heroes. What do you think? Who have we missed? Can you help us plug the gaps (we struggled, not surprisingly, to come up with game changers for a few letters)? Who gets your vote for most significant web pioneer of all time?
View by letter or view the whole shabang at a glance. Leave ideas/comments below and feel free to ping us alternative or better links. I won’t be updating it over the holiday period but will catch up as soon as I’m back on track after the New Year. Remember – we know it’s neither comprehensive nor perfect! We could have carried on adding and tweaking links ad infinitum but hey, this is the collaborative web – it”ll be much fun with your input!
- Michael Arrington
- John Barger
- Tim Berners-Lee
- Jeff Bezos
- Andrew Black
- Sergey Brin
- Chris Brogan
- Stewart Butterfield
- Robert Cailliau
- Jason Calacanis
- Steve Case
- Vinton G. Cerf
- Steve Chen
- Dennis Crowley
- Chris DeWolfe
- Jack Dorsey
- Doug Engelbart
- Caterina Fake
- Shawn Fanning
- David Filo
- Janus Friis
- Bill Gates
- Mark Getty
- Rob Glaser
- Seth Godin
- Scott Heiferman
- Steve Huffman
- Chad Hurley
- Cameron Christopher Jaeb
- Steve Jobs
- Jawed Karim
- Ken McCarthy
- Matt Mullenweg
- Craig Newmark
- Alexis Ohanian
- Pierre Omidyar
- Larry Page
- Mark Pesce & Tony Parisi
- Kevin Rose
- Joshua Schachter
- Naveen Selvadurai
- Brian Solis
- Isaac 'Biz' Stone
- Jimmy Wales
- Jerry Yang
- Niklas Zennström
- Mark Zuckerberg
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I'm an avid communicator. Love writing, planning and co-ordinating projects and campaigns. Sometimes work solo but mostly team up with associates of 
Tim Berners-Lee all the way!
Oh dear – you’ve left off two of the most influencial social media evangelists – Chris Brogan and Brian Solias. And what of Seth Godin and Jason Calacanis? Please consider adding these esteemed individuals to your list.
Thanks Paul. Guess we focused more on tools but all your suggestions are without doubt game changers. Taking a break over Christmas/New Year but will add them when I’m back online. Happy Christmas!