Will the disaster of the Facebook IPO be the final nail in the coffin of the Internet?
No I don’t think so. However, I do think that the Internet and all that is lumped together under it and the various “e-” terms are going to be redefined. That’s good for media convergence.
Why you ask? The “e-” stuff was gaining overwhelming momentum in the plan to move to new media without—in many cases—there being a valued reason to move to new media, other than the view that, “Well I need to be there because everyone else is there.”
The NEW Internet will over the next few years become a strong part of any media and marketing convergence plan—an integrated and converged part, I might add. It will be a strong part, but not the only part.
The days of print is dead and there will be NO other media but “e-” media are over. It is an integrated and converging, device-sensitive world, and the proof of that argument has already started to be developed.
A question that must be asked is, “Can print and its related media be considered a device?”
I have stated before that the answer is, “Yes”—device, screen, tool, all integrated in one media.
Need proof? Just click on any or all of these links:
- “Print’s Role in the Multimedia Context”
- “Direct Mail: Alive And Kicking”
- “Direct Mail Still Works and Consumers Still Want It”
- “2012 Direct Marketing ROI Forecast”
- “Nicholas Carr: 2012 Will Bring the Appification of Media”
At the Internet Week events held in New York City, I spoke to a few people who also are starting to wonder if the Internet, web 2.0 and the like are more than a bubble. To be a bubble, you need to have a surface to contain the air inside the bubble and the air or gases that make up the bubble. I am not sure which is missing—the outer skin or the interior “gas”—but I do have my own opinion.
A friend and creative associate who also attended the event was somewhat stunned to hear the “captains of the Internet” starting to doubt there’s gold in “e-” commerce. On the other hand, he was quite impressed by the presentation by Jim Taylor, vice chairman, Harrison Group.
Taylor’s presentation—“Devices, Consumption and the Digital Landscape 2012”—was for many a dynamic view of the future’s future. See for your self.
I have been telling many people in the industry that the stuff is about to hit the fan and the fan blades will provide a new pie chart of what we will use in the world of media, media convergence and marketing. This report is the beginning of the new stuff.
No, the Internet will never be dead, nor will print collateral, magazines, newspapers and other offline technology. The Internet—like the print and the offline media arena did—will need to change. Change is good and that kind of change is good for media convergence. Device-centric or not, with what is happening, media convergence can now be viewed as a valid new media.
Remember media convergence is composed of the cloud/computing, communications, content and the consumer/customer, as I have been saying for a while now. Without the customer, the other three “Cs” are getting an “F.” If what many of the studies I have been reading are correct, then consumers are looking EVERYWHERE—not INTERNETWHERE—to link, touch engage, contact and, yes, buy. Everywhere is a small word with a very large meaning, particularly in media. Media that they the customer/consumer are defining and shaping to meet there own demands.
Media needs to provide a measured ROI, and if digital media cannot deliver or the user wishes to have an ad-free digital environment, then think where the ads, messages and other communications will need to placed.
Want to guess where? Email me at thad.kubis@tifmc.org.
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Thad Kubis is an unconventional storyteller, offering a confused marketplace a series of proven, valid, integrated marketing/communication solutions. He designs B2B or B2C experiential stories founded on Omni-Channel applications, featuring demographic/target audience relevance, integration, interaction, and performance analytics and program metrics.