If You Don’t Embrace The Web, It Shows You Don’t Care
January 6, 2010
Author 
In The platform where modern commerce, communication and business is done is online. It’s where we share art. It’s where we collaborate on ideas. It’s the master copy of all media. It’s not some parallel reality from where you physically function: all critical infrastructure and management of business has steadily moved online. The next generation (and every generation thereafter) will spend a majority of their time using web-powered media compared to other media. If other forms of media even continue to exist.
Some are already far ahead, some will catch up, some will cling to the past. But there will be less and less patience, hand-holding and opportunity for organizations, politicians and even professionals who don’t learn to function proficiently in an internet-literate society. Whatever digital divide exists today will be a joke in the future, the analog side will be irrelevant. As Seth Godin eloquently puts it: we’ll see change and frustration.
Not that anything in the last 2 paragraphs is a surprise or revelation. It’s all pretty obvious. We’ve been headed in this direction slowly over quite a bit of time. The shift to a digital world has not been fast – I’ve studied it’s effect on society and business since my 2,400 baud modem made me the envy of my friends. And that’s exactly the reason for the title of this post.
If you don’t understand the web and strategic application as a marketer, PR professional or member of the media, it shows you don’t care. There’s no way around this, if you truly cared about your profession and craft you’d embrace what’s new and ultimately better as opposed to rallying against it or outright ignoring the market. The web isn’t new or novel, and if you think it is you’ve been too stuck in your ways to see the most clear trend of the last century. Analog has no future in a connected society.
Sadly, many still rally against the web. We’ve seen examples of this across industries. From the obvious ones like media who irrationally fear a future of irrelevance instead of adapting to the times to, shockingly, political figures and government agencies. But those who continue to fight technological progress – whether from fearing it is disruptive to what they do or simply misunderstanding it – will only succeed in looking Draconian as the rest of society embraces change. In fact, to many it’s already beyond looking Draconian, they look absurd.
If you don’t understand/embrace the web at this point in any industry where communication matters, you don’t care about your industry. Not really. You care only about profit/revenue from the same sources you had in the past and fear change. But you don’t care actually about your industry. You only care about yourself.
The RIAA wishes they could turn back the clock. Their actions state they don’t embrace what their own consumers or even artists actually want. Many traditional media organizations continue to bite the hand that feeds them instead of embracing a potential future filled with possibility.
So how about if you’re not actively rallying against the web, but ignoring it? If that’s the case, your clients and stakeholders will leave you slowly but surely for forward-thinking players. And if you’re a professional why would anyone hire you vs. digital-literate peers?
Is it too harsh to say it’s 2010 and if you don’t embrace the web it shows you don’t care? I don’t think so.
Liz Hover replied | Jan 6, 2010 (4 comments)
Adam, your post made my heart flutter. Thank you.
Ari Herzog@Social Media Strategies replied | Jan 6, 2010 (7 comments)
Oh please, Adam. There are plenty of good reasons why an organization MAY NOT WANT TO embrace the web and it may have nothing to do with lack of care or ignorance.
The pharmaceutical industry, for instance, thrives on this concept called competitiveness and another called trade secrets, whereby networking outside of the office and associational meetings may be construed as bad, let alone poor judgment by the FDA.
The real estate industry is dominated by old men and old women who consider the fax machine and the pen, not the cell phone and computer, the best tools to conduct business.
Auto repair shops and non-chain restaurants who receive business and annual profits from word of mouth may have zero footprints online other than Yelp and Citysearch reviews. Are they caring any less?
I know what you mean, but you can’t make a blanket statement.
Adam Singer replied | Jan 6, 2010 (563 comments)
Hey Ari – I don’t disagree with you. However this post is speaking to those in the communications industry. And those in that industry who don’t embrace the web – I stand by that they don’t care.
Laurel Miltner replied | Jan 7, 2010 (1 comment)
The money statement in here, to me, is “But there will be less and less patience, hand-holding and opportunity for organizations, politicians and even professionals who don’t learn to function proficiently in an internet-literate society.”
I think you make a valid point that in the communications industry, it has become vital to interact online. To expand upon the thought I called out above, though, it’s also becoming extremely important to do it well.
For a time I think many people gave organizations, especially smaller/local ones, a lot of leeway in their Web interactions, accepting that they were new to the medium and hoping that they would learn from the community. However, I think that patience will continue to fade this year as more and more companies jump online solely to market and sell, without making valid contributions or embracing their communities.
Thanks for sharing,
Laurel (@laurelmackenzie)
Craig McGill replied | Jan 7, 2010 (2 comments)
I think it’s harsh to say that you don’t care if you don’t embrace online. It just may be that they don’t have a reason to be there.
Adam, I think that there will be companies who will go anywhere that helps them make a buck without looking to add value to the online experience – budget airlines come to mind – but let’s also be quite fair here: Apple don’t do much either…
Not everyone needs – or wants to be online and I think trying to get everyone to be online can lead to false hopes and many disappointments. Yes, some people will miss out by not embracing online, but some companies and people always miss out on opportunities by not doing something.
Happy New Year and all the best for 2010 BTW.
Susan replied | Feb 12, 2010 (1 comment)
Adam, I totally agree and to those who do not, I’m puzzled. When we are moving closer and closer to a society that spends 8-10 of our waking hours plugged in (new research shows kids aged 8-18 spend this much time using tech) if we are not in the space where people hang out, we either don’t care or are arrogant. In a few short years those kids are our clients. No matter what industry we are in.
I’m a medical professional and rail at other professionals who refuse to be online. Over 60% of Americans look for medical info online. If I’m not there, I don’t care about 60% of my patients. Personally I search restaurants, doctors, gym memberships, after school activities/camps, grocery shopping, etc online and if I try to find a business or a professional online I don’t trust them and won’t give them my business.
When it costs close to free and takes less than an hour to throw up a blog, I see no reason why a serious business or freelancer would refuse to go online.