Things evolve. They must. Change or die.
But to what extent and in what direction must they change, and do they change? They change to the users, the will of the people. Although I don’t want to be envisioned as a street bum walking around with an ‘A-board’ over him yelling, “The End Is Near,” I predict that the internet as we know it today will change to the point of dissolving and something completely new will take its place.
Travel Knowledge
The impetus for this change is the way we do business today and the number of users who are not just customers of that business but are quickly becoming business people themselves.
Noted author and economist Paul Pilzer brought to light ‘planned obsolescence’ in his book “God Wants You To Be Rich.” He speaks of the demise of carburetors to pave the way for fuel injection, the demise of the LP record and the 8-track to give way to the cassette, and then on to the CD.
He then broadens his argument from specific items of commerce to whole industries. He uses the movie “The Graduate” to illustrate how the ‘next big thing’ was then – plastics. At that point, Pilzer predicts that transportation is the next big thing for us for large regional hubs supporting and supplying just-in-time manufacturing. Large ‘super trucks’ supply the regional manufacturers from hub to hub.
We already see the outcomes of Pelzer’s predictions. Plastics are largely considered a nuisance in landfills, and plastic bags are being outlawed at grocery stores. A few recyclers are in place for plastics. They are still expensive to set up and run, but demand will override costs, and someone will find a way to make them very profitable. An end to plastics in landfills will emerge.
In the transportation sector, we see a push for more rail freight. This alleviates multiple trucks on crowded highways with a single rail car. A major drawback is the timing—the speed a vehicle can get from a specific place to a particular destination versus rail freight.
- Make Peace With the Life You Did Not Get
- How to construct a dynamic internet site with the use of WordPress
- Niagara Falls – Luxury and Coziness at the Kilpatrick Manor B&B
- Freelancer Tips To Maximize Your Profits
- Teacher gifted computers with the aid of an Indian Company
Currently, the trains need to have the freight offloaded to trucks. But what if those railcars were sent to radio-friendly super hubs.’ And the smaller expediter trucks took it from the regional super hubs to the end-user, just in time. The current trucks would grow slightly to support the large warehouses being built now in the industrial parks. That would give rise to the time for upgrading the necessary rail systems to supply these super hub warehouses. Talk to a commercial realtor. The warehouses are being built because they are profitable! Pilzer’s predictions are coming true.
A concern of rail support for super hubs is arguably the retail segment. Manufacturing can ‘order out’ the goods and raw materials needed for everyday operations. However, retail and most service industries operate on a much tighter producer-to-customer schedule. That will be addressed when the rail supply system to the super hubs takes off. For retail, marketing follows manufacturing. What happens in manufacturing is mirrored in retail marketing.
And so it will be with the internet and internet marketing. It isn’t the relationship of instant internet marketing to the offsetting stockpile of products necessary to supply that marketing. It’s the internet use and the marketing itself. To paint you a point of reference for this prediction, I want you to picture a medium-sized town where the local manufacturing plant, or ‘the mill,’ pulled out of town. The plant was the lifeblood of the community. The associated service industries were there to give the wage earners and their families a place to spend money. To buy the goods and to improve their stations in life.
Then, one day, the plant shuts down. The mill pulls out. And then what happens? The high-priced wage earner goes to work (or tries to go to work) at the minimum wage job. Suddenly, they cannot afford even to buy the things they are selling. They are at a maintenance level of income. The downward spiral has started.
In a few short years, those communities will be unable to support themselves. Vacant buildings become constant reminders of the trouble the town is experiencing. Even worse, they then become bastions of illegal activities. It’s never pretty. I’m illustrating the displacement of the high-paid worker to the low-paid position. And the massive influx of those workers. The service industry can only absorb so many. Then, as the remaining displaced workers can no longer afford to patronize those service establishments, they, too, go out of business.
A giant financial shot in the arm is needed to breathe life into that community. More service-level jobs will not do it. The entrepreneur thinks that a McDonald’s is a sure bet everywhere else and, therefore, will be a good bet in the downward spiraling town for a shock and a disaster. In the physical world, you can see that. Anybody would see that the city is on the skids, and the economic base probably won’t support [in this case] another fast-food restaurant. But in the internet world, the virtual world, we cannot see that.
We see the ‘jump on the bandwagon’ mentality of the overeager internet entrepreneur and the subsequent overpopulation of the online marketplace. “If he made money at it, I can, too!” I can sit in my pajamas and conduct business at the same level as a Fortune 500 company with untold numbers of employees.
Just look at all the success stories I’ve read online about it!” The lure of easy money without the ability to truly do accurate research is more than most can resist. And so they pile on it like players in a rugby scrum. Internet business start-up kits and affiliate programs make it super simple to begin an online marketing career. But without the prerequisite training that usually accompanies a traditional business, the pajama-clad entrepreneurs start seeing a bumpy road. Then, they instinctively begin reaching out for help. Talking to other internet marketers, on forums, and in comments on blogs and websites. Aggressive marketers read the need for help building whole sales programs around offering assistance to new internet business people for a price.
The person in need has sent out a request and asked a question, not in private, to a trusted or even proven business adviser but to anyone who may be viewing that URL—anyone and everyone. Marketers offer answers with more sales attached. If the idea is new, competitors see it and try to adopt the next big idea in their marketing.
All the while, there was no clear indication of or care for results. Everyone is talking about it, promoting it, and suddenly selling it. It doesn’t have to be a new product; it can be a derivative. A how-to-use book, a ‘better mousetrap’ product, a product or program review – for a price.
We’re all talking about it to no end. But are there any actual sales? For the original product, or for the many, many offshoots that almost instantly try to jump on the bandwagon? There sure is a ‘buzz’ about it. And buzz means sales! Right?
Social media is blossoming into the ‘talker not.’ News pages have to have a social media presence so we can talk about the stories. Corporations must have a social media presence to talk about their products and thus build brand awareness. Individuals have a social media presence to talk about themselves, and we can see – them. It is all about ‘them’ in social media.
OK, I see you. Does that mean I’m going to buy from you or your business? Let’s talk about it some more… Internet businesses are now seeing the ‘buzz’ happening in social media, and to get in front of the customers, they will contribute to every social media platform available.
In light of that, whole industries adapt their businesses to meet the change. Google is changing how they weigh your web offering and penalizing those sights that want to tell you about it rather than offer any substantial product or service. The talking stops there.
Article factories are being penalized. The kind that reviews and reports on a product or service to sell you that item or generate ad revenue from page hits. If you don’t have a product, you’re not in business. You’re just talking about it. And while that may garner you a certain income, the tides are turning against you being famous for just ‘talking about it’. The blurred lines that exist today will soon become crystal clear. Social media will be, indeed, a social platform. The business will emerge again as a traditional, albeit electronic, business. Those who like to talk about it will be content to have a platform where they can talk all they want.
