I hate to break it to you, but the old days are not coming back. We are in a technological threshold of the like that has never been seen before. For all of you that thought the internet boom is over after what happened in the late 90’s, think again.
Now that all the hype is gone and people are becoming more accustom to the web, the web is changing things forever. The Gutenberg press was the most prolific invention of the last millennium, causing an unprecedented revolution in human knowledge and technology. The coming decades will make that invention and Reniassance look like the stone age. Are you ready?
Entire industries are having to restructure their thinking to be able to compete in a new market place. With people connected to the internet reaching 3 billion, what do you think that does for globalization?
There is no room on this little page to even begin to explain it….but I’ll give you some things to think about.
1. Mass collaboration - Right now, (as I’m typing this, and as you’re reading it), there are people all over the world working on things like the Human Genome Project (Human DNA mapping); Linux software development (free ever improving software platform enabling small companies to compete with the giants); the giants being able to R & D at lower costs; Wikipedia.com (free online encyclopedia); not to mention the countless scientists and doctors working in union on everything from nanophysics to Alzheimer’s. Our knowledge base is growing, and people are gaining more access to it.
Companies like IBM and even Microsoft are removing the fences around some of their prized code (or patents) that are theirs and making them publicly available with the hope that people will create modified products to work within their products. Why because they are generous, or don’t want to get left behind?
2. Education - I like to think of the internet as the sum of all known human knowledge accessible to anyone. Take a look at this, MIT Open Courseware. This is an example of the educational impact of the new revolution. Anyone anywhere (with a computer + internet access) can access MIT’s curriculum online without paying a penny in tuition fees. By logging on to ocw.mit.edu, you can engage with the content and faculty of one of the world’s leading universities, studying everything from aeronautics to zoology. That is one powerful example of many to the power of a universal knowledge tool available to all. How about all the others not mentioned? I like to think of the internet as the sum of all known human knowledge accessible to anyone.
3. Choices - In 1980 if you wanted to watch something, how many options did you have? Three or four? What about in the 90’s 50 to 100? Now with the internet there are so many niches (options) that it will make your head spin. What happens when you have over a million choices of where to direct your attention. What about stuff to buy? You can go online and find anything. And this also poses a problem, with infinite choices, how will you ever find make a choice?
4. The Long Tail - People in the TV/ movie business, and the selling of products have always been focused on the masses. What will the next big hit be? Who will have the # 1 record this year? What will be this year‘s cabbage patch or beanie baby? All of these industries are failing to produce the way they used to based on the big hit. The new mass market is micro markets or niches. Some new phrases I’ve heard used in reference to this is "selling less of more" and "the long tail" coined by Chris Anderson. Netflix and Amazon.com are perfect examples of this. While they sell their share of the popular stuff, the stuff that they sell/rent 1 per quarter of really adds up when they amount hundreds of thousands of units.
5. Change - Me coming from a small water garden business can probably add dozens of more examples to this list But I can guarantee you this….constant and momentous change is now the norm so embrace it.
Surf the web. Send your friends and family some emails. Join some social media networks. Find stuff that interests you. Subscribe to some feeds.
Obviously be careful with giving personal information out like your SSN, and credit card codes. And monitor your children.
The web and technology are all our younger generation has known so they are not afraid to embrace it. Some of us older folks are going to have to force ourselves to adapt.