A very interesting post last Tuesday on Wired by Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff “The Web Is Dead, Long Live The Internet”.
According to Wikipedia the Web (or World Wide Web) is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet and the Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks. In other words, the Web is the HTML content and the Internet is the hardware.
So what Chris and Michael say is that the good old HTML web page is dead, but the (other applications using the) Internet is more alive than ever.
Dramatic
The graph on Wired indeed looks dramatic for the Web. But this graph represents the “proportion of total US internet traffic”. It is the percentage of the Web that has decreased. At the same time however (the period of 1990 to 2010) the use of the Internet and the total Internet traffic has grown dramatically.
So although the Web now only represents 23% of the total Internet traffic (in the US), the absolute amount of Web traffic may well have continued to grow. I think it is therefore safe to say the Web is not dead at all. Or at least not dead yet.
Different
The constantly growing amount of information, the size of the Web, has made it almost impossible for us to find the information we are interested in. Therefore we more and more rely on platforms, interfaces and apps that present this information in a ready to use format.
We stop ‘searching’ and we start ‘getting’. Or, as Chris says, the screen comes to us, we don’t have to go to the screen. We use Facebook, Twitter, RSS-feeds, all kind of different apps and more new services to keep ourselves informed. At the same time it is no longer only our PC that we use to get the information. All kind of other (mobile) devices have been developed to stay connected.
Your problem
Although I think the Web is not dead and will still be around for quite a while, the changing Internet landscape does create a challenge for (B2B) marketers. Because we cannot deny the role the Web is playing is decreasing compared to for instance video and peer-to-peer.
That means that also the role of your good old website as part of your marketing activities is decreasing. Because not only more people pay more attention to other Internet channels. These people do also no longer have the time to search for your products or your website. The ‘screen’ has to come to them.
You have to change they way you inform your customers and the way you find new customers. You have to go where your customers are and you have to make your information available in a format that automatically reaches your customers, without them having to search for it.
This is your real problem. The Web is not dead and you don’t have to dump your website yet. But having a website is no longer enough. You have to do more and you have to make it easier. Much easier.
Related links:
> The Web Is Dead – on Wired
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