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CNN Sunday Morning

World Wide Web Turns 10

Aired August 26, 2001 - 08:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, happy birthday World Wide Web. You're 10 years old now, and some have already declared you dead, but that seems premature. Millions of people still turn to you every day for information and entertainment.

Joining us now to look forward to the Webs future are Bill Syken, senior reporter for "On" magazine, and Eric Mueller, he's the co- founder of the largest gay Web site on the Internet.

Good morning, gentlemen.

ERIC MUELLER, THEMEPARK.COM: Hi, good morning.

BILL SYKEN, "ON" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, Bill, let's start off with you and talk about how the Web has definitely effected people's lives. I know you have a lot of rags to riches stories you can talk about.

SYKEN: We do. At the 10th anniversary of the Web, we at "On" magazine decided to take a look at the way it's effected people's lives and we sought out some, you know, interesting and unusual stories that show even though the Internet, you know, stock market is kind of deflated, this is still an incredibly powerful medium.

PHILLIPS: Bill, give me an unusual story.

SYKEN: Well, for example, we have a couple who was a waiter and a bartender in Key West. They wanted to found their own resort in he Bahamas, even though they had no experience running anything like that. They put up a Web site and simply through that Web site were able to raise three-quarters of $1 million and now they have their own resort simply through the funding they raised through that Web site.

PHILLIPS: Do they serve conch-fritters?

SYKEN: Unfortunately, I haven't been yet, but I hear they've got some good food down there.

PHILLIPS: OK. Maybe after plugging them you'll now get a free invitation.

Eric, let's talk about how the Web effected your life.

MUELLER: I would say it effected my life, yeah.

PHILLIPS: All right, well, tell us about the Web site that you started and how did you get the idea? Kind of give us the groundwork, here.

MUELLER: Well, the basics are, back in 1989 I was living in Anchorage, Alaska and I was a gay teenager, but I didn't really deal with it at that time. I didn't know, kind of, what to do about it.

So, the first time that I ever told anybody that I was gay or said the words, you know, "I'm gay," was on-line actually. I sort of found my community and made my first tentative steps as a gay person through an on-line service.

PHILLIPS: All right, and, so you got this idea, tell me, so -- here you're feeling comfortable, you're finding an avenue where you're feeling accepted and starting relationships. Where did your business idea come -- at what point did it come to you?

MUELLER: Well, actually I was one of a team of even that started Planet Out. The main founder was a fellow named Tom Riley (ph) in San Francisco and when he heard about, you know, how I had learned to sort of connect with other people on-line and after I came out on-line and learned about, you know, what it was like to be gay without ever sort of interacting with another person for awhile, he said, well, that's the kind of thing that we want to be ale to give to others.

So, then we started the site to help people in other small cities, like Anchorage, and anywhere else, who, you know, maybe can't find any other gay people locally.

PHILLIPS: Well, did your family embrace the venture, Eric?

MUELLER: Yeah, I think they were supportive, yeah.

PHILLIPS: Did they log on?

MUELLER: Yeah, I know they looked around. It's great, because Planet Out is really inclusive. In addition to all the stuff for gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gender people, there is also an area for straight people. So, you know, we welcome parents and friends and whoever wants to come along and join the party.

PHILLIPS: So, Bill, what about this wireless Web idea? Has this taken off? Where are we with that?

SYKEN: We've still got a ways to go with that. I mean, what's out there now is still fairly limited, but a lot of people still think that that is the future of the Web, is that it's going to migrate off the PC and into wireless, handheld devices, like your phone. I mean, people are a little further along on that in other countries and in Finland and in Japan. But, we've still got a ways to go here in the U.S.

PHILLIPS: Well, Eric, what would your advice be to somebody who basically wanted to stop waiting tables and become a millionaire, like Bill was telling us? How would you advice somebody?

MUELLER: I would say, you know, get online and look around and see what the opportunities are that aren't being met and, you know, make something happen.

PHILLIPS: Bill Syken, Eric Mueller, thanks so much, guys, for sharing two success stories, the magazine and then your Web site.

MUELLER: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, guys.

SYKEN: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right.

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