April 08, 2005
Flashback: The changing face of interactivity
NOTE: Digging through some old files, I found this little ditty. I've got all sorts of nuggets like this, sitting in emails and documents. Warts and all. Ah youth. So, I'll share them from time to time. This was originally written in November of 1998. (Notice the annoying double spaces after the periods. How late '90s.) So enjoy the thoughts of a much younger and idealistic me, and ask yourself "have things really changed, so much?" I mean about the Web, not me, silly.The first generation of the web was the mythology generation. People told of their history. Companies explained their philosophies. People used it as if they were reading brochures.
The second generation was the catalog generation. People lined up to hock their wares and advertise their services. A few even provide the means of establishing contact.
We're now ensconced in the third generation of web sites: those that build community. Everything from customer support to helpful tips to find a friend is coming online as the world population searches for community niches into which they fit.
Some recent polls have shown that increased use of the Internet results in an increased feeling of loneliness. The means of curing that loneliness is finding company, and for the time being, the community appears to the panacea that users accept.
These days web users are looking for more than spinning logos and rapidly fading animations, they are looking for interactivity. Not with machines, but with other humans.
In the rapidly expanding definition of web development, we are quickly preparing to move from brochureware and customer support to the building of communities associated with products and businesses. Every web site has the potential to build a community. The challenge is not gathering the community. The challenge is in sustaining the community.
Don’t get me wrong. The newbies entering the web everyday still need the basic information. They want to know the company principals. They want to know the latest press releases. They want to peruse the online catalog. But, the users of the web are thirsting for more.
What's this idea of community? If one person is interested in it, I'm willing to bet that at least 1,000 other people are, as well. We hold in our hands the ability to connect these people. Regardless of distance; regardless of time.
Show a guy from El Paso a white Ford truck and ask him to tell you about it. I can guarantee you'll get an earful. I can guarantee.
Why is it the direction companies will be moving their sites? Resources and capital. I don't care how much Billy in Omaha wants to start out a Web Board on why
There are children entering school who have never known a world without the web. There are executives retiring today on heretofore unimaginable business success thanks to the web.
It's much more than "How do you keep people interested?"
All this talk of one-to-one marketing is going to go the way of push. No one wants a personalized experience. They want other people who share their views to provide information. And they want that information confirmed or refuted by the experts.
The next stage of the web is the 24/7 town meeting. No one's opinion is quashed because it is too far left or too far right.
That's inviting pandemonium, you say. Is it?
I get 200 e-mails a day of how do you do this how do you do that. Do I really care about the content of the messages? Some of it is interesting, but what is incredibly compelling is the nature of the beast and the community of online newsgroups, online chat groups, and list-servs. They are the most dynamic and democratic communities ever assembled.
This isn't anything new.
NOTE: And then it trails off into gibberish. Well, less intelligible gibberish, as it were.
Flashback: The changing face of interactivity
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