 During the period 1997 to 2001, the first speculative investment bubble related to the Internet took place, in which "dot-com" companies (referring to the ".com" top level domain used by businesses) were propelled to exceedingly high valuations as investors rapidly stoked stock values, followed by a market crash; the first dot-com bubble.However this only temporarily slowed enthusiasm and growth, which quickly recovered and continued to grow.The changes that would propel the Internet into its place as a social system took place during a relatively short period of no more than five years, starting from around 2004.