Between the time AOL was "the Internet" and the time Google was "The Internet", it was Yahoo. They introduced webmail to the masses, they pushed user-generated

Between the time AOL was "the Internet" and the time Google was "The Internet", it was Yahoo. They introduced webmail to the masses, they pushed user-generated content into the masses via their purchase of geocities. Yahoo Groups was the replacement of usenet as more control was needed for community management. As a free lancer at the time, every other idiot idea I was approached with was "can you build me a site like Yahoo, but for _____" . Usually the blank was porn or real estate. I think another thing they are underappreciated for is the industrialization and scaling of placing web ads via ad networks. As with many big leaders, they weren't the inventor of many of these things -- they often purchased a smaller company or copied a first mover, but brought the idea to "prime time".