Comments for Poll: Best Internet Bigco of 2006

Poll: Best Internet Bigco of 2006

2006-12-12T01:42:48Z

As a follow-up to our previous post covering the top Web Trends of 2006, we'd like to get your vote for Best Internet Bigco of 2006. Long-time R/WW readers will know that at the end of each year we write a post noting our top Web companies of the year. In 2005 the best bigco was Yahoo, while in 2004 it was Google. Who will it be in 2006? Well this is where you can influence the decision ;-) I'll reserve the final editorial judgment for our 2006 Best Of post, but I'm keen to know what you all think!

Comment from Josh on 2006-12-11

2006-12-12T03:09:08Z

Google will probably end up the people's choice ... but I think Amazon's web services suite is one of the more compelling things to come out of the big companies this year. (I realize many of the services have been around for awhile, but it wasn't until this year that they really came together in a meaningful way.)

Comment from Ted on 2006-12-11

2006-12-12T03:49:01Z

I also voted for Amazon. I think they're truly on to something. Google really did very little in 2006.

Comment from Jon on 2006-12-11

2006-12-12T04:20:54Z

Agree. Amazon rules. Plus,Aamazon is a couple of years older than google and yet it feels like Amazon can still walk and talk like true innovators do.

Comment from Tom O'Leary on 2006-12-12

2006-12-12T10:27:43Z

YouTube stands out this year from a user perspective. They simplified the process for user-generated multimedia content. As a result, they received more attention from MSM than did many larger corportates, with several national networks using clips from their site as a regular part of their programming (YouTube clip of the week on Good Morning America, etc.)

Perhaps not BIG on the back end, they, and others like MySpace, Digg and Flickr should certainly be recognized for their contributions to the evolving social media space on the Internet.

All the best

Tom

Comment from website traffic on 2006-12-12

2006-12-12T11:05:12Z

Google really boosted things this year imo.
They buy everywhere, they build more an more...

Comment from David Lenehan on 2006-12-12

2006-12-12T11:16:56Z

Apple and Google have impressed the most, apple continue to successfully 'go it alone', and Google for their constant innovation. I don't think eBay have done that much this year, Microsoft are just copying Google feature for feature, Amazon have brought out some amazing services this year(s3 etc) but as far as their online shop goes they have stopped sending most of their products to Ireland (where im from) which is a real pain. Yahoo, as ever are floating around in the clouds!

Comment from Seth Wagoner on 2006-12-12

2006-12-12T12:57:47Z

"Best" is such an ambiguous term. :-) Google have continued to do interesting things, Apple is still the coolest of the cool, but the real standout for me this year was Amazon and their web services, because they're actaually doing something revolutionary and unexpected (well, for a bookstore, anyway!). Essentially they're trying to commoditize scalability, which is a pretty neat trick. Sure, maybe Sun got there first, but Amazon is actually making it affordable.

Comment from franticindustries on 2006-12-12

2006-12-12T14:33:58Z

The sheer volume of Google's new services towers over the rest, making it hard to pick out anyone else.

Comment from Derek Coleman on 2006-12-12

2006-12-12T16:15:48Z

Yep, Google has been doing a good job polishing that "golden code" of theirs. The YouTube deal was huge, plus they appear to be leaning towards working closely in the mobile implementations of a lot of their services lately.

Comment from Tom O'Leary on 2006-12-12

2006-12-12T16:46:45Z

YouTube's success peaked before Google took their wallet out, so I can't attribute the YouTube phenomenon to Google (at least for this past year). As a matter of fact, since Google has stepped in, there seems to be some stammering (not Google's fault). Copyright issues and of course, the disappearance of all of that great Daily Show footage.

Comment from Bob King Neverland III on 2006-12-12

2006-12-12T18:54:23Z

One vote for amazon.com. My dumb ex-wife would disagree. This is not why I dumped her, but for different reasons all together.

Comment from Mike Riversdale on 2006-12-12

2006-12-12T20:50:14Z

Meebo

Next to my mail system and my blog it's my most used "Web 2.0" service and I love it. Connecting people (via info, maybe) is what it's all about

Comment from Richard MacManus on 2006-12-12

2006-12-13T00:25:05Z

Meebo more counts as a 'small co', so definitely in the running in that category ;-)

I'm quite surprised Google is so far ahead in peoples reckoning. But the juggernaut does keep rolling on.

One bigco I didn't include - and hasn't been mentioned so far - is AOL. Be interested in peoples thoughts about them too. They have done good things with their AIMSpaces and other 'open' initiatives. Not enough imho to warrent being best bigco - but noteworthy.

Comment from ipanema on 2006-12-12

2006-12-13T01:30:48Z

I still go for Yahoo & Google. :)

Comment from Abhishek Sharma on 2006-12-13

2006-12-13T12:00:09Z

I would go for Google and Amazon...

Comment from Richard Chang on 2006-12-16

2006-12-16T18:16:46Z

I'd like to vote for Tencent. My opinion is clearly biased though since I work there :)