The Internet is shifting beneath our feet, but many are still not feeling it, or understanding the consequences.

This shift is in the fundamental way people are using the Internet, and the expectations they have when visiting websites.

In the past, websites simply served as a one-way source “pushing” information to the surfer and offering little, or no opportunity for interaction. Web pages could remain static and unchanged for months, or even years, and still be considered useful.

In the mid-late 90’s it seemed everyone I knew had a personal website and was encouraging their friends and employers to “get on the web”. These sites were generally static pages that talked about themselves, and maybe had a picture of their friends or cat. The extent of interaction was generally a Guestbook or email link. Some were more adventurous and integrated a threaded discussion forum into their sites; a tool that is still widely used and some consider the precursor to the modern Web-Log, or Blog.

The seemingly over-night phenomena of blogs, which really started exploding in 2002, was the first indicator of the shift. It suddenly seemed that everyone had a blog and I was the only person not “getting it”.

As Blogs replaced traditional websites they ran the gamut from current, informative and entertaining, to controversial, ridiculous and absurd. One commonality was that most allowed some level of visitor interaction and feedback through commenting on, or contributing to the post. It created an entirely new form of ‘media’, which challenged the existence and credibility of more traditional sources, and allowed everyone the opportunity to become an expert on some subject or other.

While this was a significant change is the delivery of content, and surfer expectations, it still wasn’t “social” enough and so we very quickly saw the emergence of Social Networking sites like FaceBook, MySpace and LinkedIn.

What did these sites offer that was new and different? The level of interaction and ‘ownership’ the members received. Like the personal websites of the 90’s, these networks gave its membership a little patch of Internet ground to call their own, while making it very easy to connect with others with similar interests. The entire focus of these types of sites is on interacting with other members and the sharing of information.

I can best illustrate what I mean by “taking ownership” with this example… last year Mark Zuckerman, who founded and is the owner of FaceBook, suddenly realized how little control he still had over his creation. When he announced plans for a new, integrated advertising vehicle he called “Beacon”, there was an instant, and very negative reaction from the membership, who threatened to leave Facebook in droves.

Who really owns FaceBook, Mark Zuckerman or the members?

As in all almost all competitive industries, whether your business lives or dies lies in the hands of the customer. A fact that Mark almost learned the hard way!

Having owned numerous e-commerce sites and web directories over the last 12 years I have seen first-hand the impact of these shifts.

- First, personal websites are almost unheard of now. I regularly remove personal websites from my directories which are either dead, or which haven’t been updated in several years. People instead are “on FaceBook”
- Secondly I have seen a general decline in traffic, especially the number of return visitors to my sites. I believe this is because people are relying more and more on their social network for the information they are seeking.

What does this mean for your company’s website?

In the very near future one-way “push” sites may find it increasingly difficult to attract visitors and get their message out. While some will be able to remain relevant and still serve a purpose, many others will fail to live up to the surfer’s expectations and will fall by the wayside.

Is this really the dawn of a new, more interactive and social Internet? I would suggest that the dawn has passed and it’s approaching Noon!

Many have termed this fundamental change “Web 2.0”, but I see it more as just a natural maturation of what to many has become an integral part of our daily lives.

As a business owner, step back and look at your company site and ask yourself…

- Does my site offer any opportunity for interaction with visitors?
- Could my site benefit from introducing more interaction with my visitors?
- Is my content ‘fresh’, current and regularly updated?
- When surfers provide feedback to us, do we listen and respond?
- If we have a blog, is it active? Is anyone reading it?
- Should our company have a page in Facebook?

The bottom line is that site owners need to understand and work to meet the new expectations of surfers for interaction, ownership and informative content. There is still tremendous opportunity and potential for your business online, but you need to be agile and ready to quickly respond to the changes in both technology and user demands.

If you aren’t sure of the answers to any of these questions, or would like to discuss how to become more responsive to your clients through your website, feel free to contact either myself, or SnapTech for a no obligation consultation.