There were many mentions in my Twitter feed today of Wired’s provacative article “The Web is dead. Long live the Internet.”.
It sounded like that old adage “Rock n’ Roll is dead.” I think that just means it’s changing. What wasn’t so clear in this article was why has this become an issue now? Is it Google’s new policy on Net Neutrality? The freak out over iPads? Steve Jobs insisting that most Internet users simply want to consume (which, unfortunately wouldn’t completely disagree with)?
It just seems – like bad posturing on the wrong issue. This isn’t about the hardware – app versus browser, HTML5 versus XML. The Web is the sum of the content, culture and commerce we’ve generated on it. It may have moved past the “gold miner” stage in it’s development, but we all know (paritucularly if we’re in the field of digital marketing) it’s constantly evolving.
Here, we’ve confused technology with user behaviour. The technology is catching up to what we have wanted with “The Web” for some time. A handy tool that is easily accessed to us at any point in our daily lives. We’ve always expected the Web to make information gathering and media consumption more convenient. With mobile devices, tablets and eReaders like the Kindle, that access point is literally at our fingertips 24/7.
It’s not even about social media and conversations about brands – it’s providing tools to consumers that they will use and need. Foursquare may be a social game, but it also provides reviews and tips from the community about venues in the city. No need to search for a new restaurant, just have your smartphone generate a list according to your current location. It’s personalized – and it’s all done on the device side, not the organization side.
In the evolving Web, social media will still be paramount in marketing but , but it won’t be merely about brand engagment or listening to the consumer. It may also be about providing a truly personlized experience beyond what “listening” can do and provide real time solutions to engage the user with the brand.
That is, if we can keep up.
