Remembering ‘the internet’

Remember when we thought AOL was ‘the internet’?  Well these days, facebook seems to be the internet. Or so everyone likes to tell us how social networks have changed the playing field. Have they? We heard this before. A few years ago, it was Myspace & Google.com. They were big game changers, too, right? Tonight, I stumbled up on this TV commercial on youtube (remember youtube was ‘the internet’ a few years ago, too).

I think the biggest lesson I get from this (now very aged & dated) commercial is that what works brilliantly about ‘the internet’ is exploration & content, which can’t be contained & hoarded. I’m talking to you Mr. Network Police & Mr. Cable/Telecom & Mr. Social Network. But I’m mainly talking to the user which is the most valuable part of the equation yet gets overlooked for the ‘revenue’.

The desire to hoard & trap attention spans is driven by that much outdated ‘content VS ad revenue’ fantasy that has taken down so many companies/brands. When will we move away from that fantasy & see that ‘the internet’ doesn’t give a damn about ad revenue but is driven by interesting modular experiences & unique content? Should every site become a mini-studio? No, but every site should look at their fantasy that ad revenue is king.

When will we let go of the TV & publishing models & admit that they slowly became vulgar & not worth paying for? How many commercials & ads did it take to make you stop watching or paying for that magazine or watching that tv show/network? Revenue is NOT enough when it comes to ‘the internet’ (& possibly not enough for other mediums). Maybe I’m wrong but maybe I’m on to something. Sometimes an idea or fantasy can spread like a virus & poison other ideas.

Surely, there’s enough intelligent minds in the room to try a different model. Or create one. Anyone? Anyone? Maybe we’ll just sit around & hoard only to find ourselves looking back on how tacky & outdated our thinking was (like this commercial)?