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The Internet Is Dead

September 10, 2009 in Marketing Tools,Social Networking with 21 Comments

The-Internet-Is-DeadOkay, the title of this post may be a bit dramatic and sensational…it’s not that The Internet is dead, it’s just that it doesn’t exist the way it used to.  Instead of being a destination, it is now a container.  No longer do you “get on the internet”, although technically speaking of course you are connecting to the network of computers that does comprise what we call The Internet, but that event is no longer an event itself.  Instead, most people are going to a smaller internet inside the larger container called “The Internet”, and these smaller internets are now destinations of their own.

I recall sitting in a meeting just over a decade ago where I was discussing (okay, arguing) the merits of Th Internet and having a presence there.  The topic du jour was whether or not this company should spend “ridiculous” amounts of money to build a website.  ”After all,” said one particular stodgy gentleman, “we could take all of that money and instead spend it on a larger yellow pages ad.  THAT would be a good use of advertising, and bring us more people”.  You know what?  He meant that, sincerely.  He truly thought that a big, full page ad in the Yellow Pages would bring more business in than some silly, new fangled, johnny-come-lately web site.  The Internet, in his mind (and many others around the table) was a silly place for kids to play, not a place for serious business.  ”The Internet” was still a destination, but not one to be taken seriously.

I have spent the last year in many meetings that are similar to that time 10 years ago.  The food is similar, the conference room is situated in roughly the same manner, and many of the leaders of the organization are present. However, we’re not talking about building websites…instead, the argument is whether or not to spend money on consultants, interns or agencies to monitor and produce content in places like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.  Of course all of these groups have websites (although I’m sure they were embroiled in similar discussions 10 years ago), and “the internet” doesn’t even come up in conversation, because it is no longer a destination, it is a container.  It now contains the smaller internets, the individual networks like Twitter that ARE a destination.  Invariably somebody around the table will say something like, “Why don’t we just take the money we would be spending on Twitter and Facebook and instead put it into radio ads, or advertise in a magazine or local newspaper, or better yet, let’s revamp our website?”  What they don’t understand is that the world changes, and with the introduction of user generated content, the way an organization can (and should) communicate with their current and future customers has also changed…forever.  I’m happy to report, by the way, that not one person in any of my meetings over the last year has mentioned the Yellow Pages.

No longer do you need to be on “The Internet”, because it’s too nebulous, the internet with the capital “I” simply doesn’t exist to most of the world (although certainly any sys admin reading this will want to disagree), instead we have smaller internets, and companies need to focus on those to attract, engage and retain customers.  It takes some effort and strategy.  You have to change the way you think about marketing and business in general, and you might even need to do a company wide re-org to accomodate the new staff.  Nobody said it would be easy, but then again, you didn’t get into business because you thought it would be easy, did you?

If your current marketing stategy is to focus only on The Internet by offering a website, you have just become the company that is still trying to buy a larger Yellow Pages ad.

About Matt Singley: I run this joint. Always looking for feedback, and if there is something you want me to write about, just let me know! Thanks for stopping by.


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21 Responses to “The Internet Is Dead”

  1. MicheBel September 10, 2009 at 2:35 pm #

    This is one of the best posts I’ve read about the state of where we are now. And putting it in the context of those long-ago meetings really gives it perspective. I, too, sat in many such meetings. It was like pulling teeth to get companies to invest in the Internet back then.

    So very much of the same skepticism and dismissal of places like Twitter and Facebook today. They just don’t get it. Mostly, they don’t get what a HUGE sea change is happening. (Even bigger right now, I’d say, than previously.)

    And I think that’s why everyone (well, so many) are perplexed right now, cause they can’t figure out what the frack is really happening.

  2. Justin Warren September 10, 2009 at 5:50 pm #

    Ah, hindsight is a wonderful thing, no?

    10 years ago, spending more money on a Yellow Pages ad probably did result in more sales, depending on the company in question and their target market.

    It’s easy to simplify the issue as “Haha! Silly old codger. Live in the now, man.” Remember the dot-bomb? A lot of people spent big on the Internet back then, and lost big.

    Show me the numbers. Show me the SCIENCE! Prove I’ll make more money if I buy your pet form of advertising, and maybe I’ll spend my money with you. This applies to print, TV, radio, websites *and* twitter et al.

    “But it’s so coool!” doesn’t cut it. This is Serious Business, after all.

  3. Joe Alanís September 11, 2009 at 1:33 pm #

    Interesting article but too repetitive. Nice ideas though ;)

Trackbacks/Pingbacks:

  1. Tweets that mention The Internet Is Dead » Matt Singley | Social Media Optimization -- Topsy.com - September 10, 2009

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by lyneka little. lyneka little said: RT @mattsingley: The Internet is Dead. Also, why is your company *still* buying ads in the Yellow Pages? http://bit.ly/2oDHPy [...]
  2. The Internet Is Dead « Joe The Flow - September 10, 2009

    [...] The Internet Is Dead Okay, the title of this post may be a bit dramatic and sensational…it’s not that The Internet is dead, it’s just that it doesn’t exist the way it used to.  Instead of being a destination, it is now a container.  No longer do you “get on the internet”, although technically speaking of course you are connecting to the network of computers that does comprise what we call The Internet, but that event is no longer an event itself.  Instead, most people are going to a smaller internet inside the larger container called “The Internet”, and these smaller internets are now destinations of their own. I recall sitting in a meeting just over a decade ago where I was discussing (okay, arguing) the merits of Th Internet and having a presence there.  The topic du jour was whether or not this company should spend “ridiculous” amounts of money to build a website.  ”After all,” said one particular stodgy gentleman, “we could take all of that money and instead spend it on a larger yellow pages ad.  THAT would be a good use of advertising, and bring us more people”.  You know what?  He meant that, sincerely. [read] [...]

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