Oh the "Times", they are a'changin'

Reading the article, Time Person of the Year: You, evoked several different responses in my mind. I recalled that when the article first came out, those around me were calling it a cop out article. These naysayers were under the impression that the editors were scrambling for someone great to write about and had just wanted to make everyone feel better about themselves by making everyone the person of the year. Upon reading the article myself, however, I found that most of what it was saying to be true. We (a collective group of online browsers) are using the Internet even more than before. We shop online, write our diaries online, watch videos (and now movies) online, express ourselves creatively online, meet people online, and do any other number of extraordinary things using the Internet as a tool to do these things.

I was glad to see the contrasting ideas that the article conveyed-that as many good things have been born of the Internet, there have also been as many bad things happening (phishing, scamming, viruses sent, illegal music downloading, and hackers to name a few) as well. This is an important issue to bring up. Children now are growing up with the Internet-something the parents of this generation maybe never even dreamed of and are sometimes baffled by. We can read educational articles online as well as look up words on an online dictionary. The Internet is our oyster, to use a bad pun, but really, anything we can think of, we can figure out a way to do on the computer.

Businesses are looking for ways to harness this global power for their advertising. They are using blogs like the one I am writing this entry in today. There is plenty of money to be gleaned from the Internet. Pop-ups, those annoying little ads you get if you do not have a screening program on your computer, get money from you for clicking on them. These blogs are also a great way to create revenue and word of mouth on new products. The article I read on Web 2.0 mentioned how Victoria Secret was able to generate a huge buzz around their "pink" product line from a Facebook group before the new line was even launched. This is the success most companies dream of when they are starting a new blog/Myspace page/Facebook page/ect. as a form of marketing campaign.

The article about web 2.0 also warns that television is still a handy method of consumerism, but the television was once thought of the same way as the Internet (in this case, the radio would have accounted for the majority of customer sales and before the radio it was newspapers.) More and more of the things you can do with a TV are being transitioned over to the Internet. You can watch movies, listen to your daily news, see recipes (and watch cooking shows), as well as watch regular television channels in live streamed windows.

The Internet is a fantastic thing for people to get their ideas out there-though the Times article warns America's "solitary geniuses—its Einsteins, its Edisons, its Jobses" that they "may have to learn to play with others" because of all the open contests and opportunities available on the web. The power of the Internet was illustrated nicely in this years Forbes Richest People of the World article. The number one richest person in the entire world is Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. Other top people include more Microsoft executives, Google founders, and software company guru's.

So whether or not you like the awesome pull of today's society toward the Internet, it seems like it is here to stay for good.

Katherine Goldsberry

*Outside sources used in this blog*

Dylan, Bob. "The Times They Are A-Changin'." The Times They Are A-Changin'. 1964.

"Forbes." 8 March 2007. The World's Billionaires. 20 September 2007 <http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_The-Worlds-Billionaires_CountryOfPrmRes.html>.

Grossman, Lev. "Time's Person of the Year: You." 13 December 2006. Time in partnership with CNN. 20 September 2007 <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html?aid=434&form=o&to=http%3A//www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html>.

Gumpert, David E. "The Right Way to use Web 2.0." Business Week Online (2007): 18-.