who
proclaimed that “…the internet will disappear.” To many of us who work in the
industry of internet marketing, this should come as no surprise…but to most it
still is.
In November of 2014, an
article
in the Wall Street Journal entitled “The Web Is Dying; Apps Are Killing It” was published after
many
prognostications dating back a number of years now that mobile is transforming
the internet landscape. Additionally, many industry experts now predict that the
number of people accessing websites in 2015 from mobile devices will exceed
those who access them by PC. Why is this important? Because most websites in
use today were not designed for mobile access.
But then again, neither was the web.
Many product innovators talk about the point of inflection in
which products and industries hit their peak growth and then decline. So has the web
and the internet as we know it today hit the point of inflection? More
importantly, what forms of information and access will now replace it?
Here is what I do know: the growth of the internet without the
simultaneous growth in access points (personal PC’s) was not possible. The
growth of personal computing enabled the internet to grow and flourish but the
sales of personal computers is now in decline - being replaced by mobile
devices. Anybody who has ever tried to access and use the internet on a mobile
device which is a mere fraction of the size of a 1024 X 768 resolution computer screen
knows the limitations this now presents. Additionally, mobile now enables and utilizes something else a PC could never do: your location at any one time. This is what has help lead to alternative
search applications we now refer to as “Apps.”
How have Apps changed the game? We know from the
aforementioned Wall Street Journal article that 85% of smart phone users spend
their smart phone time on Apps while only 14% of their time is spent on the
web. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to visit any school, restaurant and bar
to notice how pervasive the amount of time people now spend on smart phones
truly is.
So here is the
million dollar question: what will replace the internet?
First off, nobody knows the answer to this question and if
they think they do, well, they don’t. We may not be able to predict the future
but we can look at trends and see the following:
- The days of the website are dying along with the web. Will
websites every completely go away? Not likely. But what will change is how
websites are used and their overall importance in internet marketing. Far too
many brand plays are now being made into the web for people to only trust one
source of information – namely your own website. Decisions made online are
increasingly non-linear and involve multiple information points and citations.
Moreover, smart phone access is leading to increasing levels of alternative
search vehicles and away from major search engines which were the mainstay of
websites.
Google’s biggest threat is mobile – which is likely why they
are trying to roll-out high-speed fiber networks and now mobile
wireless services to their customers. Google understands what ultimately enabled
the web (and their initial meteoric growth) and how losing that enablement
threatens all of the advertising revenue they receive from businesses who
advertise on their sustained search volume that the web provides.
In conclusion, yes, the web and the internet as we know it
is indeed going through a major innovation transformation led largely by the
change in access enablement from the personal PC to smart phones. Some will
call this the death of the web or the disappearance of the internet – all of
which makes for great headlines. What they don’t tell you is how quickly this
death is coming and what it will be replaced with but we do know this for
certain: it is coming and faster than anybody thought…
#lawyermarketing #apps #mobile #branding #internet #web