September 5, 2007Is the Internet - or its users - Dead and Boring?
Filed Under: New Marketing
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Mark Cuban, the twinkle-toed maverick that he is, posits that the Internet is Dead and Boring.
In his post, he declares the following:
...the net has become...[a] utility. It has stopped evolving. Your Internet experience today is not much different than it was 5 years ago.
Some people have tried to make the point that Web 2.0 is proof that the Internet is evolving. Actually it is the exact opposite. Web 2.0 is proof that the Internet has stopped evolving and stabilized as a platform.
The days of the Internet creating explosively exciting ideas are dead. They are dead until bandwidth throughput to the home reaches far higher numbers than the vast majority of broadband users get today.
The Internet is boring. That is not a bad thing. In fact its easy to make the argument that its a great thing. That it has become the utility that the people who worked to get it started firmly believed it would. That it finally is the platform for any number of mundane applications that are easy to write and that anyone can use and trust. Just like wheels, printing presses, cars, TV, radio, electricity, water.....
Let me start by putting on (when was it ever off?) my marketing hat and agreeing with the boring part, but most certainly not the dead contention. Interactive agencies are for the most part, acquisition factories (literally and figuratively). The number of fierce and original independents is becoming anemic and in its place is an army of 1984-like clones, intent on replicating, duplicating and imitating old school worst practices in and across new platforms.
In a previous life, I used to be an evangelist on the part of nascent online creative, but for the most part I haven't seen a thing of interest in recent times...not coincidentally the same period that I haven't seen (or remembered) a single 30-second spot that caught my eye, kept my attention, won my heart and opened my wallet.
Boring is right on the money. Perhaps dead is actually dead on as well. We're quickly approaching a mainstreaming of the Web and with it, will come the inevitable commoditization of creativity and first mover advantage.
Now back to Mark. He's really referring directly to the Web as a "universal dial-tone", much like the tone you hear when you pick up those relics called land-lines. He's referring to the land line in context of game-changers like wi-fi, VoIP, in-world audio, dynamically switching iPhones (between wi-fi and the Edge network)
I completely agree with the challenge to upgrade and fast-track the ability to improve bandwidth. Upload times still horribly lag download times and until they equalize, perhaps the web experience will be dead and boring.
I also think that until we are able to make sure we put an internet connection (high speed, wireless) in the hands of every single consumer/citizen (and yes, that means a computer of some sort to accompany the connection), we will stay stuck in the dead and boring zone.
I'm not sure I agree with underplaying the impact and potential of Web 2.0 however. That said, I would contend that many Web 2.0 plays are just money making scams at worst - or perhaps I should say, more solid bubble reincarnations.
If, as the saying goes, life is what you make it, then so too is the Web. And perhaps Mark's assertion that the web is dead and boring is really nothing more than a transferred epithet and if that is the case, then perhaps it is us that are dead and boring.
Time to prove Mark wrong and if we do, we will all be the better for it.
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Comments
I'd have to say if it's boring it is indeed the users who are boring. I'm not bored with the Internet. Not yet. But then, I would spend all day back in 1994 reading static websites on topics I had no interest in, just because I could... So maybe I'm boring, albeit not bored.
The Internet is just a platform. Second Life is just a platform. Real Life is just a platform. Dungeons & Dragons is just a platform. What matters is *always* the people who use that platform. Or, to reference my recent One Degree article, it's the *spirit* that matters, not the technology.
Posted by: Mario Parisé
Let's not put the cart before the horse.
What percentage of US households have broadband internet?
What percentage own a DVR?
In our bubble the interweb seems ubiquitous. But there are a lot of people who aren't a part of it yet.
Posted by: Tangerine Toad
I see the same problem popping up everywhere, it's not just the internet. People tend to forget that CONTENT is what sells, not the medium.
George Lucas can pile all the effects he wants into a prequel, but if the story sucks it will be lame.
PodShow can pile all the connectivity and features into their ever-more-confusing interface, but if their podcasts are boring it will still be lame.
Second Life can increase the number of users-per-sim, add in voice, and create prims that morph, jiggle, and make coffee, but if there's no concert to attend it will be lame.
Sony can pack the world's leading graphics hardware and data storage into a black box, but if the games aren't half as FUN as those on the Wii, it will still be LAME.
The internet has probably just reached the end of its "podcasting about podcasting" phase, where the medium itself isn't enough to jazz people up. Now we need to figure out what CONTENT to put our money and attention behind.
Pax,
Matthew
Posted by: Matthew Ebel
Further reading...
"Pornography, gambling, lies, theft and terrorism: The Internet sucks"
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20061030_135406_135406&source=srch
Posted by: Rebecca
I would have to disagree that the Internet is boring. It fully depends on the user and how he/she uses the Internet. After all, it's two-way interaction. I do agree that wider access and ultra high-bandwidth will spark the next revolution in Internet usage. I still can't get over how far ahead the Japanese are in terms of high-speed bandwidth. Read my blog entry on this topic!
Posted by: Mike Kujawski
There's still a long way to go before "the internet" cleans up the inefficiencies and provides the optimal service to people on-line. This will mean having fast connection, clean searches, real content, great agglomerators. (Agree with Matthew). Then, we might waste less time and feel less bored. In the interim, a little along the lines of Rebecca's comment, internet can fast become like email: spam, time consuming...
In the meantime, some of us pushing the boundaries have perhaps hit a wall, trying to drive content to an audience still "podcasting about podcasting." But I am sure that there are some new surprises waiting out there. With a tangled web, some Einstein will lay out the General Theory of Simplicity and we'll back off to the races.
Posted by: Minter
On the one hand, I'd happily (even gratefully) settle for "dead and boring" if it meant some standardization of browsers, increased throughput and the like. It's so much easier (technically) to create a TV show or TV ad that shakes people up than it is to create the same online. So maybe being boring is good for a while. It'll make our jobs easier, potentially freeing up time and money to surprise guys like Mark Cuban.
On the other hand, Tangerine has a point. So many people still have yet to experience the web as it is today. And for those audiences, the opportunity exists to surprise, delight and compell. For them, the web is still very much alive and kicking.
Posted by: Tim Brunelle
Agree with Cuban. Likening the situation to NASA, once we touched down on the moon, to the public eye, progress stopped. The web has plateaued behind the genius that started it. What we have now are incrementalists.
Disagree with Jaffe that in order for the web to further itself, every consumer needs broadband and a computer. Bit of a stretch no? There is more to this nascent medium we've yet to uncover.
Posted by: Matt Weisberger
I agree entirely that the next great leap forward will come when we hit a critical mass of homes & offices with vastly more bandwidth than we have today. Even many of today's most popular sites (MySpace, Facebook, etc.) woudl be so much more powerful if upload speeds were ten times faster. I am attending my niece's wedding this weekend, secure in the knowledge that she would like to upload a thousand photos for us all to view. Upload speeds effectively prohibit this. Unfortunately, only one telecom company is committed to this utterly necessary radical upgrading: Verizon, with its FiOS offering of "fiber to the home." All other suppliers -- phone companies, cable companies, Satellite companies -- are committed (committed, mind you) to speeds no better than we have to day FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS.
Posted by: John Rosen
I've been producing client web sites and online applications for at least 12 years now, and I don't think the internet is dead. I think it's evolving and going through growing pains. I'm excited by its potential and promise. Many of my clients continue to realize increased productivity, better access to their target audience, improved internal/external communications, and other benefits from their online presence.
I agree with Mario that the web is just a platform. And, with web 2.0, the barrier to entry is so low that almost everyone contributes content. With this overabundance of content, there is also an overabundance of mediocrity. Imagine if, ten years ago, we all threw our photo albums, personal journals, commercial brochures, business plans, personal thoughts, and ideas into one big pile. There would be a lot of boring stuff to wade through. However, you'd still be able to find some highly creative gems if you looked hard enough.
Also, remember in the late 90's when everyone and his brother grabbed a high-8 camera and became a filmmaker? The result was a lot of activity and quite a few bad movies. However, some good Indie films were made and the art of filmmaking evolved and grew from that experience. To me, that's what the Internet is like today.
I think we should all challenge ourselves to help make the Internet less boring. Let's all spend more time creating excellent, innovative, and creative online destinations/applications/content and raising the bar.
Posted by: Melissa Robison
Mark is smarter than that quote, although we all know success breeds complacency...
the web is dead boring for the most part and so is TV/Cable.
but the web is interactive and so it will live.
something has to be played out to change... i'll take this as a good sign that change is around the corner.
content will prove to be king in the end. please don't think all visionary creatives have all been jaded... a few are just waiting for opportunity & reinventing.
the newness of the delivery is dead but the web is very alive.
some of us creative will be making some sounds soon & not @ a traditional agency.
cheers
Posted by: rich dahl
