28 replies to this topic

[1dmf]

Hi,

I watched a documentary last night about the internet, its beginnings, the way it has changed, and the way it is evolving.

What was interesting, though of no suprise, was the considered creater of the WWW (Tim Berners-Lee), started the internet on the premise of enpowering individuals and to allow the free, easy transfer of information and ideas, and the first geek communities embraced the technology and its ideaology, such as 'The Well' in the early 70's, however, big corporations have now dominated the internet and silenced the individuals.

So now the dust has settled, and a few big brands dominate the internet, where do we go from here?

The program claimed, of the millions of blogs which started from @ 2005/6 , over 90% are now dormant, the main cyber communities are now Facebook, Bebo, MySpace & Twitter, but for how long?

Is this it? , is this what the internet has boiled down to a few poxy website ran by a global corporation?

Did the internet really empower anyone? , can you read millions of blogs in your lunch break? Do you really want to spend the rest of your life virtually poking people and tweeting text messages?

Have we suffered from freedom of information syndrome?

Do we suffer from loss of accuracy of information to make it free and 'communitised' such as Wikipedia.

Is the internet still a place for freedom of expression, freedom of choice and freedom of individuality, or is has it simply become another advertising channel for big corporations to saturate and dominate and sanitise with their own views, brands and agenda?

What's your thoughts?

[Jill]

Is the internet still a place for freedom of expression, freedom of choice and freedom of individuality, or is has it simply become another advertising channel for big corporations to saturate and dominate and sanitise with their own views, brands and agenda?

It's both!

There are still zillions of thriving smaller communities beyond twitter and facebook. I don't see those going away.

Yes, it's commericialized now too, but not everywhere is. (Heck I still haven't given in to ads here on the forum, although I think about it a lot!)

[Randy]

I think it's still both too. There is just so much out there, and how you view it depends a good deal on ones perspective.

For instance, if you're looking Big Picture then yes it looks like a couple dozen rather large companies control a good portion of the 'net. But as you start drilling down these same companies reach gets smaller and smaller. For instance, if a monster like Google only has influence over a nominal percentage of traffic when you look at everything and not just search. The figure I've seen is roughly 30% worldwide, which while being a hugely dominate position is still nothing. Especially if you remove their search traffic.

Brief aside... Why would you remove search traffic? Because for all any of us know someone in a two person office is already developing the next Google. If someone did and if it got out there and was truly better, the same way Google was better than all of its predecessors back in the late 90's when it was the commonly held belief that Yahoo and Alta Vista were the dominate players, Google would stand to lose a major portion of their traffic.

And even with these as a given, when you break it down farther the little guy comes up bigger. Today anybody can start a blog or whatever and get exposure. The system (and human nature) is basically set up to help the cream rise to the top. So if a few thousand someones had something really interesting to say, something that lots of people found value in, those few thousand people are going to cut into the big boys traffic.

For good or ill I can remember the days when the big boys had a lot more control, or more correctly put the days when it took a yeoman's effort on the part of an individual to simply get a site online. That's just not the norm today. The barriers to entry are considerably less than they were 10 or even 5 years ago.

Will the big boys take advantage of their current position? Yes, they will and they should. It can actually be helpful when they do.

But by the same token there are always going to be fiercely independent developers out there. Developers who will refuse to take the cash and run because to them the thing they've put heart and soul into is more important to them than quick wealth.

Both have their place.

[Shlomo]

Hello, 1dmf.

You refer to several topics.
I found it important that you're mentioning
Tim Berners-Lee.
He is a very important person in the web history.
And one of his inventions was the whole design of the HTML software.

Shlomo

[maleman]

Tim Berners-Lee

I thought Al Gore invented the Internet!

Is the internet still a place for freedom of expression, freedom of choice and freedom of individuality, or is has it simply become another advertising channel for big corporations to saturate and dominate and sanitise with their own views, brands and agenda?

Money talks and everything else walks.

[harpsound]

The net was set up for information and communications.
It is still there and is very strong.
It has added other layers too - business, entertainment, advertising from the old world mass media monopolies.

The important thing to understand is that the Internet is destroying mass media (MM) and its methods of marketing.
MM still has legs but it is slowing down.
Big companies are using MM content on the web.
BUT it is not economic and as MM shrinks this content will disappear.
Monopolies (MM) are highly profitable.
The internet (distributed media) is not.
The Internet is breaking monopolies.

In 10 years you will not have this conversation as there will be many more Internet businesses than Google.
The MM will be limited to reruns.

S

[1dmf]

Interesting thoughts guys.

I found the documentry interesting, and it raised some good arguments. Lets hope there will always be room on the internet for individuals and not dominated by big corporations.

How it will end is interesting, because if the internet is the big leveller, that gives everything away free to everyone, capitalism is going to have a tough ride, what are we going to do when everything is free, or will that never happen?

N.B. Jill -> glad you haven't started to try and monetise via adverts, it's a slippery slope to a site

[Mhoram]

I think it's a pretty huge stretch to say that "big corporations have now dominated the internet and silenced the individuals." That's what people claimed was going to happen, but it hasn't. Matt Drudge was just some guy who had friends in newsrooms who thought it was cool to leak him stuff and then see it online. Instapundit was an experiment from a college law class. Michelle Malkin was just another conservative commentator among many until she focused on her online presence well before most others in her field. Many of the big corporations online today started in dorm rooms and basements, and many of the future online biggies are there now.

And what individuals are being silenced online and how? The hippies who are spiritual descendants of the creators of The Well certainly have their online presences today, and those have a lot more potential to reach people than a soapbox on a street corner ever could. Good grief, I run into furries online, and not on purpose. I don't see anyone's expression being suppressed out here.

Right now, this minute, if you have something to say that people will find interesting, you can start a blog somewhere like Blogger for free, or set up your own domain with Wordpress for a few bucks a month, and talk to anyone who will listen. If your content is good enough, there's nothing stopping you from being the next Drudge or Instapundit or Tyler Durden or whoever. Thirty years ago, you couldn't do that unless you could afford to set up a printing press, and the cost of reaching thousands, let alone millions, scaled upward in a hurry.

[Jill]

@Mhoram, I totally agree!

[1dmf]

nice!

Keep the spitit alive!

[Hic]

Actually, what you are saying is true .. I've seen myself many very active communities (and especially forums ) , I've seen many of them die .. or at least the activity dropped a lot ..

I discovered that a while back .. so I just wanted to see if the attitude of people changed when surfing the internet .. I asked many people in real life and using the web , and come to the same conclusion as you ..

Some people now don't even try to surf the internet, this word become absurd, some people have facebook as a default starting page of their browsers, and they barely look for something else ..

I'm afraid that it's just the beginning ..

[ArtphotoasiA]

wow so many questions we have here...


so now the dust has settled, and a few big brands dominate the internet, where do we go from here?

Giving internet to every one made internet as everyone want.... just another big kind of television.... finish


Is this it? , is this what the internet has boiled down to a few poxy website ran by a global corporation?
Sure it is... any doubt on that? just see google... in the real world things are any different? is not all under big coorporations? Yes it is so why you aspect internet to be diffrent.


the millions of blogs which started from @ 2005/6 , over 90% are now dormant, the main cyber communities are now Facebook, Bebo, MySpace & Twitter, but for how long?
is hard to write a good usefull blog and also manage a forum... but still there is some good... all other cyber communities and so called socials to me in my humble opinion is just useles egoboost rubbish for teenage's or similars with really social behaviour problems that will make zombies of next generations.... better go out and live real life!


Did the internet really empower anyone? , can you read millions of blogs in your lunch break? Do you really want to spend the rest of your life virtually poking people and tweeting text messages
No one, just companies and coorporations as been empowered by the net. Why? Becouse finally there were probably few to be empowered. No critical mass probably.


Do we suffer from loss of accuracy of information to make it free and 'communitised' such as Wikipedia.
Sure thing.... good contents are not there, must search and somethimes hardly search for them among billions of rubbish pages.


Is the internet still a place for freedom of expression, freedom of choice and freedom of individuality, or is has it simply become another advertising channel for big corporations to saturate and dominate and sanitise with their own views, brands and agenda?

Freedom still exist but is quite useless and as not channeled at all, is overfloaded by corporations and maketing and ads.

[harpsound]

You guys are singing the mass market (MM) meme.
The web will not change for you until your viewpoint changes.
You see the web as small in big places.

Trust me but the web is huge in small places.
There is a ground swell of small businesses arising.
Big corporations from the industrial MM economy with the urge to control are enjoying some success but if you look at their economics they do not make sense.
They burn through venture capital and make their profits on the stock market.
They are heading to a fast exit.

Take a look at 37signals - they are profitable - they are more representative of the future.
The distributed web is growing quickly.
You either get very wide like Amazon or you get laser focussed in your niche.
The web is bifurcating out of the MM model into a distributed niche model.
Think of a bazaar of global proportions.
Products aimed at wide audiences are failing.
Products and services custom to you are growing fast.

The unfortunate consequence of all this that a large group of the populace will resist this shift and will become ever increasingly marginalised.
Talk to the 20 somethings - they get it.

Goodbye industrial revolution.
It cannot happen fast enough - it is killing this planet.
Welcome to a new way of doing things.

S

EDIT: Just came across this - says it well....

Edited by harpsound, 08 February 2010 - 12:05 AM.

[layerpad]

Yep, read in the news recently that blogging has dropped dramatically thanks to twitter/facebook etc.

[ArtphotoasiA]

Yep, read in the news recently that blogging has dropped dramatically thanks to twitter/facebook etc.

I really do not like that........... now the net is just a big square with everyone shouting nonsense!!! will not go anywhere.

Yes... it is a Bazar...

Bloggers at least were responsible for their own website or blog.... social users are not.... just newby shouting.