The Internet
Internet seems to be everywhere. Because of my interactive media strategies unit I am forced to stop and think about all the changes in the last couple of years in relation to society’s habits and needs.
Nowadays we take the internet for granted. We need to find information on how Russians drink Vodka and not gin we look it up. Need to find out why penguins are identical to humans when it comes to mating and “raising” their cups? Google it and you will find the answer. Gosh… even the word google is now a verb, adjective, noun…. What has the world come to?
I was reading an interesting article today (even though not entirely convinced of its veracity) that Google beat Channel4 in terms of ad revenue this year. How could we actually believe a couple of years ago that a search engine would actually surpass one of the biggest TV broadcasters in the UK in terms of ad revenue? The truth is: we would not. Some might argue it’s because the internet if the future of advertising and the only way to reach the consumer with relevant and personal information. In my opinion it is just a buzz that will eventually calm down. Let’s be real: the 8” TV spot will never die…even with TIVO and Sky+ people will always have TV adverts. Maybe they will loose on impact and the prices will have to come down, maybe they will not be seen anymore as the main form of advertising but I don’t believe they will one day die forever.
The internet does allow for a lot of interaction with the consumer…just the mere thought of having the consumer searching for the advertising is fascinating and so tempting that I can’t help but smile.
The way I see it the internet brings lots of advantages to the society, not just as individuals but also as consumers, social beings and much more. We are now closer to everyone; we don’t need to have 3000 encyclopaedias because with a touch of a finger we can access pretty much everything. We have the right of free speech and access to information we are actually using it now, with blogs, wikis, my space. We can keep in touch with those far away and manage our friends and times like never before. We can be alone without ever being lonely. That has to be good right?
Not necessarily…. We now know someone from the other side of the globe better then we know our next door neighbour. We don’t trust anyone to the point Americans bother to advertise things like the billboard below.
We suspect of everyone but we somehow believe that we can trust everyone just because we are safe behind a computer screen.
Sites like second life are inundating our society… for those of you that haven’t been there I advise you to go and try it on, it is a quite scary social experience but at the same time fascinating and one can’t help but think what has society come to that we actually actively choose to “go out and socialise” virtually rather than going out and talk to real people that you can touch and see. We can be a much more “people” society but we are certainly not a real flesh one. I remember a couple of years ago talking to someone and imagining how cool it would be having a TV programme where someone had to survive for 3 months without living their home. Well… now you need to convince yourself it is really needed to leave your house because you can have literally everything delivered to your door….groceries, clothes, films, friends………
Is the internet just another fad that on a couple of years will go away? Doubtfully… in my opinion it will settle down into just another medium with great potential just like TV and radio, with its strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and drawbacks.
Feel free to comment…. After all that’s the whole point of a discussion and will, once more, demonstrate the great power of the internet.
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