What Is The Internet?

The Internet (or internet) is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email.

Most traditional communications media including telephone, music, film, and television are being reshaped or redefined by the Internet, giving birth to new services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). Newspaper, book and other print publishing are adapting to Web site technology, or are reshaped into blogging and web feeds. The Internet has enabled and accelerated new forms of human interactions through instant messaging, Internet forums, and social networking. Online shopping has boomed both for major retail outlets and small artisans and traders. Business-to-business and financial services on the Internet affect supply chains across entire industries.

Internet is a short form of the technical term internetwork,  the result of interconnecting computer networks with special gateways or routers. Historically the word has been used, uncapitalized, as a verb and adjective since 1883 to refer to interconnected motions. It was also used from 1974 before the Internet, uncapitalized, as a verb meaning to connect together, especially for networks.  The Internet is also often referred to as the Net.

The Internet, referring to the specific entire global system of IP networks, is a proper noun and written with an initial capital letter. In the media and common use it is often not capitalized, viz. the internet. Some guides specify that the word should be capitalized as a noun but not capitalized as an adjective.