We’re all connected-whether we like it or not. We have seen our world through the eyes of astronauts, and there is no going back. Globalization is as much a product of space flights, satellites, air transportation, and the telephone as it is a product of our (relatively recent) capacity to communicate and coordinate our actions at long distances using technology. It really is just one world.
Online shopping is slowly creeping up on us, with eBay and Amazon the main competitors. 5 years ago, technology wouldn’t have allowed for this, let alone 10 years ago, so in another 10 years we’re set for a total transformation of the shopping experience. You can now even head to this helpful site to get discounts on your online shopping – something which you can’t do in-store! As people get used to changing their shopping habits, it will be interesting to see what else changes.
The idea that we are shaped by our tools and practices is not new. We’ve constantly evolved in concert with the capabilities and functions of our tools-from the early hominid species using fire to cook food to the nuclear physics and biotechnologies of today. As soon as someone invents a new capability, someone else invents a new practice to utilize the potential of that capability-until eventually all of us believe the new ability is just a normal aspect of life as we know it.
The Internet is exponentially expanding our awareness of our connectedness: it has and is rapidly transforming the way we relate to others and to the world. When the internet first started, it was nothing like the sonic fiber setups we have now. The internet came through our phone lines and disrupted our ability to stay connected as we could not take calls while it was active. Now we have phones accessing the global internet and feeding us content from creators in all corners in life. With social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace, we now have the ability to share intimate details of our lives with multiple people from around the globe with a mere swipe of our finger.
Even a decade ago, we relied on email as our primary means of communicating with many people in (what we then considered) real time. Now we can join networks, simultaneously discuss what’s important to us with large numbers of people and look for, develop and share friendships, insights and experiences faster then ever before.
I’m intrigued by how the Internet is shaping our world. One of the more interesting ideas I came across was presented in Cluetrain Manifesto: the end of business as usual. The manifesto’s authors (Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger) proposed that the Internet is a means to shift the nature of business communications and marketing. Marketing could become highly customized, one-to-one, Internet-based conversations that would transform the relationships between companies and their customers, between the company’s employees, and within the marketplace.
Although the advertising and marketing industries do their best to use online tools to ‘personalize’ their offerings to customers, we’re still inundated with mass-produced messages, interesting special effects and seductive glitz. I think what’s not yet evident is that many of the early attempts to apply traditional advertising logic to the Internet have been doomed to failure: the world itself is changing from the old paradigm of control and prediction to one of individual responsibility, with human beings coordinating their actions to create the future in real time. Experienced site visitors have learned how to and that allow customer input to develop innovative product and service offerings will waste less and achieve more with their resources. For example, I think of eBay’s adding Skype to their offering and Nike’s line of Nike+ apparel that accommodates the ability to securely wear your iPod while running.
At the end of the day, it’s what serves us best that wins in the marketplace.