The importance of the internet
2008 February 15
by Matt Hames
We talk a lot about the internet here at share marketing. Because the single greatest tool for sharing is the computer. So when this study came out, I was immediately intrigued:
In a study called Counting on the Internet, these are the subheads:
Most expect to find key information online
Most find the information they seek
Many now turn to the Internet first
“With over 60% of Americans now having Internet access and 40% of Americans having been online for more than three years, the Internet has become a mainstream information tool.”
It’s not like this is news. But seeing the numbers confirms something that we’ve known for a long time. The Internet is a big part of our life. The writer’s ended their strike because they will now be paid if I watch an episode of Life on my computer. I watched them all online.
Pew says people look online first for answers. Soon, they’ll look to the computer for more things than we can think of. My 2-year-old already thinks of it as a phone. She uses Skype to see her family. Other things we have names for like TV, Radio, phone, datebook, watercooler, atlas, game console….all these things no longer have one meaning. You can do it all online.
The computer can be, and already is a TV (where you can find programming that isn’t on TV), movie theater (check out Jaman), Radio (podcasts, ie radio shows from around the world, played anytime you want), phone (with camera), watercooler (Facebook). Next week, the computer might be something we only imaged — like a place to try on clothes that fit your avatar — with your friend from another time zone. Who knows?
Now this isn’t meant to be a post talking about the greatness of the computer. It’s meant to confirm something we already know: when thinking about reaching people, we can’t ignore the computer.
More and more, our target isn’t.
So why do we? When a job comes into an agency, why doesn’t someone always ask how it will translate online?
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Advantages and Disadvantages of the Internet
Internet has been perhaps the most outstanding innovation in the field of communication in the history of mankind. As with every single innovation, internet has its own advantages and disadvantages. But usually, greater magnitude of advantages outweighs its disadvantages.
During his evolution journey from Neanderthals to Homo erectus and then to Homo sapiens, man has come long way. Because of his continuous quest for more and more amenities and facilities, the nineties have seen a major turn around with the invention of computers. 10 years ago, the term internet was practically anonymous to most of the people. And today internet has become the most ever powerful tool for man throughout the world. The internet is a collection of various services and resources.
Although, many people still think e-mail and World Wide Web as the principle constituents of internet, there is lot more in store than e-mail, chat rooms, celebrity web sites and search engines. It also became the best business tool of modern scenario. Today internet has brought a globe in a single room. Right from news across the corner of the world, wealth of knowledge to shopping, purchasing the tickets of your favorite movie-everything is at your finger tips. Internet has great potential and lot to offer… however, like every single innovation in science and technology, internet has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages
Communication:
The foremost target of internet has always been the communication. And internet has excelled beyond the expectations .Still; innovations are going on to make it faster, more reliable. By the advent of computer’s Internet, our earth has reduced and has attained the form of a global village.
Now we can communicate in a fraction of second with a person who is sitting in the other part of the world. Today for better communication, we can avail the facilities of e-mail; we can chat for hours with our loved ones. There are plenty messenger services in offering. With help of such services, it has become very easy to establish a kind of global friendship where you can share your thoughts, can explore other cultures of different ethnicity.
Information
Information is probably the biggest advantage internet is offering. The Internet is a virtual treasure trove of information. Any kind of information on any topic under the sun is available on the Internet. The search engines like Google, yahoo is at your service on the Internet. You can almost find any type of data on almost any kind of subject that you are looking for. There is a huge amount of information available on the internet for just about every subject known to man, ranging from government law and services, trade fairs and conferences, market information, new ideas and technical support, the list is end less.
Students and children are among the top users who surf the Internet for research. Today, it is almost required that students should use the Internet for research for the purpose of gathering resources. Teachers have started giving assignments that require research on the Internet. Almost every coming day, researches on medical issues become much easier to locate. Numerous web sites available on the net are offering loads of information for people to research diseases and talk to doctors online at sites such as, America’s Doctor. During 1998 over 20 million people reported going online to retrieve health information.
Entertainment
Entertainment is another popular raison d'être why many people prefer to surf the Internet. In fact, media of internet has become quite successful in trapping multifaceted entertainment factor. Downloading games, visiting chat rooms or just surfing the Web are some of the uses people have discovered. There are numerous games that may be downloaded from the Internet for free. The industry of online gaming has tasted dramatic and phenomenal attention by game lovers. Chat rooms are popular because users can meet new and interesting people. In fact, the Internet has been successfully used by people to find life long partners. When people surf the Web, there are numerous things that can be found. Music, hobbies, news and more can be found and shared on the Internet.
Services
Many services are now provided on the internet such as online banking, job seeking, purchasing tickets for your favorite movies, guidance services on array of topics engulfing the every aspect of life, and hotel reservations. Often these services are not available off-line and can cost you more.
E-Commerce
Ecommerce is the concept used for any type of commercial maneuvering, or business deals that involves the transfer of information across the globe via Internet. It has become a phenomenon associated with any kind of shopping, almost anything. You name it and Ecommerce with its giant tentacles engulfing every single product and service will make you available at your door steps. It has got a real amazing and wide range of products from household needs, technology to entertainment.
Disadvantages
Theft of Personal information
If you use the Internet, you may be facing grave danger as your personal information such as name, address, credit card number etc. can be accessed by other culprits to make your problems worse.
Spamming:
Spamming refers to sending unwanted e-mails in bulk, which provide no purpose and needlessly obstruct the entire system. Such illegal activities can be very frustrating for you, and so instead of just ignoring it, you should make an effort to try and stop these activities so that using the Internet can become that much safer.
Virus threat
Virus is nothing but a program which disrupts the normal functioning of your computer systems. Computers attached to internet are more prone to virus attacks and they can end up into crashing your whole hard disk, causing you considerable headache.
Pornography:
This is perhaps the biggest threat related to your children’s healthy mental life. A very serious issue concerning the Internet. There are thousands of pornographic sites on the Internet that can be easily found and can be a detrimental factor to letting children use the Internet.
Though, internet can also create havoc, destruction and its misuse can be very fatal, the advantages of it outweigh its disadvantages.
By Jayashree Pakhare
Published: 3/2/2007
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Internet gains advantage over newspapers as a news source
Submitted by Amandeep Dhaliwal on Mon, 12/29/2008
The ‘Internet & American Life’ project of the Pew Charitable Trust has revealed that the use of Internet as a source of news has surpassed the conventional news source- the newspapers – for the first time in December. With 24 percent of the people surveyed in September 2007 saying that they depended on the Internet as their chief source of news, the number has lately gone up to 40 percent!
Though TV still continues to be named the main source for international and national news - it being the choice of 70 percent of people questioned - it has, nevertheless, fallen below lower than the earlier lowest 74 percent in 2004.
In the survey, in which 1,489 adults were questioned from December 3-7, while the questions were largely involved with perceptions of the main news stories of the year, there were also quite a few questions focused on the ‘source’ of news of the participants.
The reason for the recent growth in favor of Internet happens to be the coverage of the presidential campaign – most of which was sustained by social networks. Regarding the top news stories of the year, Pew found the order to be thus: the economy, the rising gas prices, and the Wall Street bailout.
Despite all the findings of the study, even though some interesting stories are within the free and easy access of the Internet community, the resources for in-depth investigations still are a privilege that rests with experienced news staff!