When I spoke at Opera Software’s Web Standards Conference, I started with “it is a good time to be a geek”.
And it is. Where we were once unpopular and cast as social misfits, many of us shape the world our children will grow up in. The beauty of this is that it doesn’t take many geeks to change the world. Small groups like 37 Signals are making web applications used by tens of thousands around the world. Websites like Digg start off as merely ideas made alive on the digital canvas by single individuals, then somehow changing the way we all read, learn and look at the world around us.
The traditional frameworks - businesses, governments - need to understand that the control they once had over information is now largely defunct. They stand at a crossroads of either coming clean or engaging in tainting the waters with misinformation, re-establishing the old methods of communication as authoritative.
Nice piece there Lucian, though a little sweeping if I may say so. My recent post on advertising expenditures show that many are still mired in the MSM world. However, I am optimistic that it only takes a spark to get a fire going….
Hi Walter, read your article on how expenditures are increasing on mainstream media. I believe it was written with the assumption that mainstream ads are in direct competition with the online medium.
insert dramatic music here with low, low voice They are not.
The online medium affords prolonged conversations and dissemination of information. Ads are but a punch - some strong enough to make an impact, but websites are more like 12 rounds of Evander Holyfield.
Many organisations make the mistake of not understanding this part of the medium and choose to launch websites any chance they get, without planning for its longevity.
Good material for another post. :)