While it was wordy, the use of www and "world wide web" added a certain cuteness and folksiness to the technology. This, along with the very simplicity of setting up a web page, helped fuel its adoption. WWW indicated that the technology was about community and universal access, and early art appearing on the web fed into this. The smiling-fat-spider-on-a-web and the Earth-meshed-with-circuits may have not seemed so inviting if it were just a web and not The World Wide Web!
Plus it sure was enjoyable to watch people on television stumble through double-U double-U double-U dot...
Plus it sure was enjoyable to watch people on television stumble through double-U double-U double-U dot...