Definition: Internet time

In the early days of the public Internet, Internet time referred to the breakneck speed with which companies scrambled to gain traffic and market share on the Web. A new business could come and go within a matter of weeks. Subsequently, the term implies the ever-increasing pace of daily life due to instantaneous publishing on blogs, video sharing and social networking sites.

As an example, in the April 27, 2007 issue of "The Week" magazine, Ellen Goodman of the Boston Globe highlighted Internet time with an incident involving Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. At a recent hearing, Justice Ginsburg was trying to find her shoe that had slipped off under the table, which caused her to be the last person to stand up. A blogger wrote about it, and within hours, rumors were buzzing that Justice Ginsburg was ill and going to retire.

It Affects Everything

The Microsoft antitrust trial was brought about largely due to the speed with which Netscape cornered the market with its Web browser and Microsoft's reaction to it. This headline appeared November 15, 1998. (Article headline courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer).