As the internet grows larger, and we ease into IPv6, could it also be shrinking at the same time. The amount of content is increasing, but are the places we truly access the content shrinking? Before you answer one way or another, check out this news regarding AOL purchasing The Huffington Post.

Think of any term off the top of your head. Now, go use a search engine and see what the results bring you. I'm guessing most of the top results will be from Wikipedia, an eHow inquiry, or other large content based websites. With Huffington Post being bought by AOL, the internet just became a smaller place.

If you stop a second to truly thing about such a notion, the change happened quite subtlely. It used to be that you could be taken all over the place when searching for a topic online. Specialty sites were rampant, and mega content sites were rarely present. Not anymore.

You can look at this transition as either a positive or negative. Or if you're a critical thinker like myself, you can see the benefits and detriments all at once.

If you support a smaller internet, you more than likely enjoy the convienence of having your information in a smaller variety of locations. This can lessen your bookmark load, and knowing sites that are reliable is always a plus. Another benefit of mega sites is they can provide more stable work for potential writers, marketers, and designers.

Many of those who abhor mega sites tend to think of the 'spirit' of the internet. The whole point of the internet is to provide a diverse, and vast amount of information for people to access. If you take away the many locations for them to do so, you're creating a monster that kills so much of what people love about the world wide web.

Personally, I think mega sites are an inevitibiliy. I don't think we'll ever reach a point to where these are the only sites. However, as small up starts get bought out and the eHows, Wikipedias, and AOL/Huffington mergers continue, we can expect the internet we once knew to change forever.

The ideas presented in the WebProWorld newsletter editor's note do not reflect the thoughts, and ideas of the WebProWorld community.

| JohnnyV |