"What we've seen is people finding interesting new ways to use the Web to showcase their information and their expertise; particularly in niches in all kinds of subjects where it's really just opened the door to new uses of the Web," said Miller.

Whether it is sharing photographs on Flickr.com, showing off an amateur video on YouTube, or looking for a mate on Match.com, Web sites have also become a way to bond and belong.

"The history of humanity is the history of being part of a group, having a group mentality, and the Internet makes a whole other set of those groups possible," said Grinter. "And they don't have to be physically proximate to you, you can create content for people who are physically distant," she said.