Are Web Brands Built to Last?

Building an Internet-native brand is akin to constructing a skyscraper on a fault-line: you can build and build and build, but one day, the Earth will shake and things can come crumbling down. That’s why, for all its success, the Internet has not spawned as many top-tier, lasting brands as you’d think. This past week saw two Internet brands try to rebuild what were once two large Internet skyscrapers: Hotmail and Digg.

It’s easy to forget now, but Hotmail was once an Internet titan, claiming a Facebook-like 800 million users. That all changed as nowadays having a Hotmail account is equated, as one Digiday staffer said, with being either foreign or old. Its user base is less than half its peak, trailing Gmail, which only came on the scene in 2004. Microsoft decided to ditch the Hotmail brand in favor of another shaky digital brand, Outlook. But Outlook has stood the test of time. Gizmodo calls Outlook the most functional Web client ever seen. Showing that Hotmail Outlook has moved into the 21st century, Fast Company points out the deep social integration features in Outlook.