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The Wicked Web We Weave...
First a warning - as the author of this article, I have to admit to being over 50, which may influence my outlook slightly! Although I’m reasonably technical, MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Second Life and many other Internet activities leave me cold. I have joined Facebook, but struggle to see its value in comparison with other ways of keeping in touch with others.How many of you are the same? Or even worse? Have you even got as far as joining Facebook? Whatever your level of familiarity and empathy with things happening on the web, you can’t afford to ignore them all. Becoming adept in the use of web-based communication and networking tools is one of the most useful skills you could develop at the moment.
Learning from the past
One problem is that the sheer volume of new and very varied developments relating to the Internet has caused (and continues to cause) confused thinking:
- In the early days, keen technical developers and adopters overestimated its initial impact. This led to the dot.com boom and all the cries of “Told you so!” when it all went wrong.
- Since then, we have become used to a wide range of technology failures, and we have become over-familiar with the capabilities of the Internet.
As a result, most people now underestimate its potential future impact. This is probably going to be even greater than those early evangelists could have dreamt.
Looking to the future
This trend has two major implications for those in Insight teams:
- Our role is to lead the way in understanding consumer and market behaviour. As the web is the largest single catalyst for change in the coming years, if we don’t become experts in understanding and monitoring its impact, we won’t be doing our jobs properly.
- Secondly, it is going to change the way in which companies interact with their customers, potentially making many aspects of current insight work redundant. Consider how Lego is accessing the creative power of its customers with its Mindstorm products, and you can see that new product development may have little need for research in the future.
So, however we feel about the Internet, all Insight teams must make a positive effort to use it more. We must all read blogs – why don’t you set up your own? Get onto Facebook and join various groups – if only to see what others are doing and how it could affect us all.
Most of all, recognise that our age affects our view of the web. So learn from your kids (if you have any). Actively encourage the younger members of your team to take the lead in monitoring its impact, and in keeping the rest of your team up to date. This is one of those situations where age really can learn from youth!
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