The Most Influential Women in Web 2.0

In the ever-evolving world of Web 2.0, women have often been pioneers, redefining the way we interact online. We tracked down the most influential of these.

01 /12
In the ever-evolving world of Web 2.0, women have often been pioneers, redefining the way we interact online. Fast Company tracked down the most influential of these. Our list wasn't chosen by star power, nor by career altitude. Rather, we feature the biggest innovators
02 /12
Who she is: Lead developer and co-founder of social networking site Pownce.

What she's done: Twenty-five-year-old Culver has made it possible for people to form a community through which they can quickly and easily swap large media (like files, movies, photos) without crashing their systems. She built Pownce with Django, a high-level Python Web framework.
03 /12
Who she is: CEO and co-founder of slide sharing site SlideShare.

What she's done: Sinha created a site that enables slideshows to extend beyond limited office or educational use, and makes it possible to share them online. Slide sharers can comment, favorite, download and build on the community's slides.
04 /12
Who she is: Vice President of Search Products and User Experience at Google.

What she's done: Mayer was a major player behind many of Google's most popular interactive services, including Gmail, the first email program to follow a threaded-message model; Orkut, which Mayer claims was the first social network that wasn't angled towards dating; and iGoogle, which allows you to personalize your Google page.
05 /12
Who she is: COO and co-founder of online video site blip.tv.

What she's done: Kaplan's work made blip.tv possible. She manages all the site's business development and operations and raised the first two rounds of funding. She's also the company's face, widely recognized on the Web 2.0 conference circuit.
06 /12
Who they are: Co-founders of blogger community site and conference BlogHer.

What they've done: Page, Des Jardins and Stone have transformed the concept of blogging from simply an avocation into a business for many female bloggers. They set up BlogHer, initially a conference to provide empowerment and create community by bringing women bloggers together offline. Now BlogHer is a full-time blogging site and community for women on the Web to come together online, regardless of subject matter.
07 /12
Who she is: Co-founder of community site Zivity.

What she's done: Banister turned the Hot-Or-Not phenomenon into a profit-making enterprise as well as an online community of oglers and attention-seekers. For a subscription of $10 a month, members can vote on--and connect with--their favorite models, who submit their own photos and get 40% of the proceeds.
08 /12
Who she is: CEO and co-founder of social networking site Ning.

What she's done: Before Bianchini launched Ning in 2004, people didn't have the ability to fraternize with others who shared their interests in quite the same way, or on the same scale. The site currently has about 325,000 social networks, growing at a rate of about 2000 a day, with new ones from DoodleKisses (a club for Labradoodle and Goldendoodle owners) to Give it to me Raw (a community for raw food lovers.)
09 /12
Who she is: Co-founder of photo sharing site Flickr.

What she's done: The co-founder of Flickr (now owned by Yahoo), Fake was one of the pioneers of the site-based photo sharing model. Before Flickr, sharing photographs meant sending them piecemeal as email attachments. The site is now widely used as a photo repository by individuals and companies alike.
10 /12
Who she is: President and co-founder of Six Apart.

What she's done: Trott was instrumental in creating the easy-to-use tools that turned Grandma into a blogger. Along with her husband, Ben, she founded and designed Six Apart's products, including Movable Type (blogging software), TypePad (blog hosting service), Vox (blogging platform and community) and LiveJournal (which allows you to create a free blog, private journal, discussion forum or social network).
11 /12
Who she is: Evangelist for the OpenID community.

What she's doing: Hamlin propagates the use of one identity (one screen name and one password) for use across all websites. Her cause: to simplify the online experience and encourage mobility between sites. She spreads her message via conferences (like SuperNova and Web 2.0 Expo) and Internet Identity workshops.
12 /12
Who she is: Co-founder and editor in chief of the Huffington Post.

What she's done: Huffington transformed news delivery into a conversation. With posts from hundreds of bloggers, including big name celebrities like Alec Baldwin, Adam McKay and Jamie Lee Curtis, Huffington's site has succeeded in securing reader engagement and commentary on an unprecedented scale.

Saabira Chaudhuri 11.07.08 11:45 AM

In the ever-evolving world of Web 2.0, women have often been pioneers, redefining the way we interact online. Fast Company tracked down the most influential of these. Our list wasn't chosen by star power, nor by career altitude. Rather, we feature the biggest innovators

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