Internet Zen |
As the agricultural society grew into the industrial society, so we are seeing the transition to an information society. (It has also been called a learning or knowledge society.) Within each time period an infrastructure was developed to support the core needs and values of the society. In the agricultural society, barter was a satisfactory medium of exchange. However, with the advent of the industrial age, new economic systems had to be developed to support the new, more mobile and diverse society. A communication infrastructure was also developed by each society to meet the unique needs of each society. The print medium grew up in the agricultural society to communicate within the local community. As the industrial society grew, the print medium expanded its geographic coverage. However to fully meet the needs of the industrial society, radio and TV were required as a form of mass communication. They are tools to sell mass products to a mass society.
Today, the Internet has been invented by an information society to meets its need for
disseminating information. Therefore, to view the Internet as an extension of mass
marketing is giving the Internet characteristics it does not have, nor was it intended to
have. The Internet is not "mass" oriented, but "individual"
oriented. Attempting to treat the Internet as just another mass medium is foolhardy.
Negative email press and spam will surely kill any attempt at mass marketing on the
Internet. It is better to change marketing direction toward personal one-on-one
relationships. This will be a difficult transition that starts with the need to
address the
following issues:
- what information to provide and its form
- search engines and other techniques to allow people to find you
- knowing what people want to know.
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Last modified: June 18, 2007