Thoughts on Week One

The last time blogged was probably in the mid 1990's when Xanga was all the rage. By all the rage I mean it was maybe popular for a few weeks until we all became bored with it and went back to chatting on AOL messenger, so I am really excited to try this again. With that said, there were a few reading from this week that really stood out to me.


I thought Chapter One from “Made to Engage” was really interesting because as I kept thinking about conversations I have had at work about utilizing the internet to get our message out. Since the internet is so prevalent in all areas of our life, from all aspects of your work life to many aspects of our social life, it is difficult to think of this innovation as something new. But looking at this issue from the perspective of a company or industry, the internet is relatively new and the rules for navigating how to use it best seem to be evolving and changing. The most interesting point for me from this reading was the conversation about how to use this technology with a smart strategy. Far too many companies were left behind because they didn’t jump on the internet bandwagon and refused to see that this was the future of marketing. Instead they basically buried their heads in the sand and kept doing what had worked previously, only to find that the rules had changed and they needed to adapt.


When speaking about adaptation to new technology, the author said that these changes may seem obvious, but it is groundbreaking for previously insular organizations. This was something I can relate to. In 2009 I tried to convince our communications team to start a Facebook group for our organization. If it was 2005 this would have been an innovative idea, but four years later it was more the norm than the exception. At the time though there was pushback because it had never been done before, and what seemed like a completely obvious idea took time to be adapted by those in the organization who were accustomed to a different marketing platform.

I also read the opposing articles which explored if the internet makes us dumb or if it makes us smarter. I think both articles made good points, but I tend to agree with the article that says the internet makes us smarter. However, I would replace the word ‘smart’ with the word ‘innovative’. Just like every other significant technological innovation, there are benefits and drawbacks.  But there are also new possibilities for human advancement. I agree using the internet more prominently means we skim more instead of actually reading, and I have no doubt our attention span is affected. However, imagine all the amazing innovations the internet has allowed and what will come as it becomes more advanced. If anyone feels very strongly that the internet is in fact detrimentally affecting our intellectual capacity, then they should work within the system to change it, because the internet clearly is not going anywhere.

Lastly, I just want to make a quick comment on the video where the team from The Today Show asked ‘what is the internet’. At first I thought it was hilarious because it just seemed like a skit from SNL or any other comedy show. But then I thought I probably sound like that to younger people (and I’m not even 30 yet!) when I don’t get new technology that everyone else seems to know about. But still, that clip was hilarious.

So as my title says, the one big lesson I learned is that the internet means change. Whether that change is good, such as innovation, or not as good, such as making the job for marketers much harder, the one thing we can all count on is that change is here to stay.