Web everywhere

Recently I was chatting with a Director at a global advertising agency about changes in the media landscape. The impact that the internet was having. She mentioned that the internet only affected a certain portion of the population – not all target audiences. The younger generation, the web savvy, the technophiles…

I retorted with the following:

Once upon the web was a thing you had to visit. First it was in military installations, then Universities. Eventually it was present in only very large corporates on selected computers. Later, on every desk in every company. Afterwhich  every computer in every home had it. And now it’s on our latops, in our cafes, in our pockets, it’s the GPS that directs our cars and powers the touch screen shopping mall directory. Next year all TV’s sold will be web enabled – 5 billion channels. It’s on every digital display in our lives.

It came to us, it removed the original demographic bias. The web is everywhere and permeates our entire existence. It has changed advertising forever.

The web is no longer and thing or a place. It is omnipresent.

14 thoughts on “Web everywhere

  1. No, Steve. It is omnipresent for you, and for me, and for every reader of your blog… but it isn’t for my Dad, or yours, or a considerable chunk of the population who rarely get online.

    I am constantly reminded of this by a wife who doesn’t have the time or inclination to get online while at work, nor the energy to do it when at home…

    Yes, internet use if growing. Yes, it is becoming easier and easier to access (and perhaps for some of us, harder to avoid). But it is not everywhere and it has not usurped other media completely. There are still people sitting in cafes, in lunchrooms, at breakfast tables and on public transport reading newspapers and magazines. Radios still blare. TV sets still flicker…

    There is still big market opportunities for real-life non-virtual delivery of goods, services and messages.

    I would hope some entrepreneurs are still looking at these sapces…

  2. You missed the key point, in that the web was a thing we went to, to use. Now it is wherever we want it, and or powering anything we use electronically, including the blaring radios you speak of, the the flickering televisions you mention. Our parents are using it without even realizing it.

    My dad with his TomTom
    Your dad looking at the big screen at the MCG
    and soon, both of them will be watching internet driven TV channels (next year) on whatever topic they like (my dad watching documentaries on horses, and your dad watching old North Melbourne grand finals)

    Steve.

  3. I’m with Andre. The internet is there, if you turn it on and look at it. Factory workers don’t work at a desk, gardeners don’t have their hands free etc etc… Otherwise it’s just a pile of stats people wanting to leverage for $$$. “look how many people love my blog etc etc” whatever dude – how many mates do you hang with at the bar, on the weekend, compete in social sports with…. Wow what shoes is that footy player wearing, what’s sitting on the work kitchen table – newspaper – magazines…

    The internet is supposed to broaden our minds, but the thing that bothers me, is people will start only seeking personal interests, to the point they don’t even know that their local Esplanade is about to be hacked into a developers wet dream, because they were too worried about the Blog hits. Rather than talking to barista making their morning hear starter. Better yet, let bullying nations attack other sovereign soils and depose their leader, because the bully needs oil…

    Anywho – internet will only save us, as you see it brother sammartino, when it becomes ubiquitous with every facet of life, from waking in the morning and taking a dump, to pulling up the sheets and laying your head to rest. It’s the convergence of technologies and the built environment – my wet dream as an Industrial Designer.

    Soap Box all yours now Steve.

  4. I’m with you Steve.

    When I was a pup, I spent some time on the Factory floor, and other blue collar places. IMO people tend to down grade these peeps, when in fact they are the ones who could probably have their lives revolutionised by it. Think of the builder who needs to organise his chippies, brickies, sparkies and plumbers.

    From my view, many of thee peeps are hooked right into iPhones, Blackberries. Sure it’s not all of them, but its becoming more and more pervasive. They even make some tabloid publications in the lunchroom obsolete. )

    My parents all use the Interwebs daily, my grandparents marveled at it – god bless ’em.

    Broadband mobility is will change all this, however some will need to cling to the tower, likely your friend in advertising peddler. And guess what, tech allows people to tune that shit out.

    Sure, people still listen to the radio, my wife and I even do. But the quotients are changing, and rapidly.

    Sam.
    @samotage.

    …btw, the response was?

  5. No, you claimed it is omnipresent. That implies it it everywhere and THE major influence.

    I argued it is not.

    Saying that TomTom or a stadium scoreboard uses the internet is misleading… you might as well be argued for the omnipresence of electricity or light. Sure it’s become a bigger conduit for data and information, but it doesn’t signal the death of other sources.

    The context for this was the views of the internet as a medium for reaching consumers and eyeballs.

    You’re right that the web is no longer just for the tech savvy, and that its tentacles stretch beyond the desktop. You’re right that its usage is increasing fast.

    But you venture into hyperbole to imply the death (or irrelevance) of other media…

  6. I think the key here is that the Internet is easily accessible for all, but not everyone uses it for business. Many just use it for a few bits and pieces, not to make purchases, consume, rent, read, etc.

    They use it to keep in touch with people, to research items they plan to buy from a shop and to use Google.

  7. I think the reality is somewhere in between.

    Andre is correct in saying that the internet “is not everywhere and it has not usurped other media completely. There are still people sitting in cafes, in lunchrooms, at breakfast tables and on public transport reading newspapers and magazines. Radios still blare. TV sets still flicker”.

    However, Steve is also correct in his assertion that “the web is everywhere and permeates our entire existence. It has changed advertising forever”.

    How are both right? Let me get off this fence for the splinters are hurting – here’s an example.

    People are no longer relying on traditional newspapers as a source of news. Newspapers have been transferring their content online and we have seen the exponential expansion of citizen journalism – all of which is free and doesn’t leave your hands inky. As the newspapers grapple with how to stop the leak of revenue, they have had to look at ways to change their business model. One easy (and lazy) route has been to reduce the cost of investigative journalism, which has directly impacted the quality of news for everyone – and affects everyone regardless of how they source their information.

  8. I see the points on both sides; however I have to lean more to the ‘director at a global advertising firm’ and Andre.

    In terms of the advertising vehicle the internet has not overtaken all other media, except in certain demographic, and yes the ‘Crumpler Bag, any apple product, latte slipping, twittering blog creating market’ that you are in Steve is one of them, and let’s face we are probably all in this market, but the sign of a half decent marketer/media strategist/advertiser is to remember that everyone isn’t just like yourself, and you need to think like the consumer, not make the consumer think like you.

    Yes, certain demographics do prefer to read their iphone than The Age, or read urbanspoon rather than epicure. But television and newspaper are still THE mass media in this country, why, because there is only a few players in the market, the ‘internet’ is not a medium like The Age is a medium, you can’t just buy ‘The Internet’ particularly the way you are taking about it, your assertion that a GPS in your Dad’s car is the ‘The Internet’ is like telling me a street directory is a newspaper because they both use paper to distribute the information.

    You always seem to forget your personal experience with Rentiod, you have always found that the biggest spike in traffic and enquires come when you have been on A Current Affair which is on mass media, a program watched by close enough to 1.5 million people every night, in fact I notice the fact that you have appeared on ACA is in your blurb for The Hive Meetup, a internet organised event which currently has 69 confirmed guests, plus yourself, which would be 70.

    Finally some stats for you from Roy Morgan, I think you’ll find the internet is not as omnipresent as you think it is, worth noting the very generous timeframe that Roy Morgan gives for the internet as well

    Amount of people with internet connection at home – all people 76%, for over 50’- 68%

    Have used the internet in the last 3 months – all people 80%, Over 50’s – 67%
    Amount of people who watched commercial television in last Day – all people 93%, Over 50’s, – 93%

    Visited theage.com.au in the last 4 weeks – 1.0 million people

    Average Daily readership of The Age Newspapers (M-F) – 699,000
    Average Daily readership of The Age Newspapers (Sat) – 919,000
    Average Daily readership of The Age Newspapers (Sun) – 697,000

    And for over 50’s

    Visited theage.com.au in the last 4 weeks – 254,000 people

    Average Daily readership of The Age Newspapers (M-F) – 337,000
    Average Daily readership of The Age Newspapers (Sat) – 436,000
    Average Daily readership of The Age Newspapers (Sun) – 328,000

    Much like Mark Twain’s demise, as you can see the death of mainstream media has been greatly exaggerated.

  9. No one said TV was dead or newspapers were dead. The point was that the advertising landscape has changed forever, and the internet is not a thing that sits on personal computers. This seems to be lost in your all to fervent defense of traditional media as you call. it – and yes A GPS is the internet, it is powered by the internet and advertising will start blaring from them some time early next year.

    Horses and water.
    Steve.

  10. For all those who argue against the omnipresence of the Internet; invest $1,000 in fairfax or news ltd tomorrow. How much will it be in 5 years time? My money is on Craig, not Rupert.

  11. The internet isn’t everywhere….yet, but its day is coming. We are all early adopters, I remember bringing a gen 2 iPod to work and people wondered what is was and why anyone would want it. Today iPods and iPhones (essentially non-intimidating microcomputers), Android, Blackberries are everywhere.

    I’ve seen the internet go from command line lynx, through NCSA Mosiac to now 3 URLs on the back of a bus for a movie. Change is coming, my life is almost entirely digital now, I watch maybe 2 hours a month of “tv” as traditional media would term it. I’m an edge case at the moment but each year brings it a little closer.

    The movement from mass market to a mass of niches is underway and I dont think it will be stopped. There have been many comments around the iPad that techos dont “get it” as they cant plug in this or that gizmo. But I think it is the sort of device that will connect with those who dont know any of that computer/internet stuff.

    The web culture is anti-ad, but recognises that content comes with cost. I think if advertisters can aim to value add to potential customers instead of shoving a flash add in their face that they cant click around they will have a future; the 1950’s approach is gone.

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