The Web Comes out of the Shadows. Push to Pull
Transformation is hard. To transform yourself or your company from ‘traditional’ to ‘forward thinking’ you have to start with the way you visualize the Web. Its hard to deconstruct years of learning and tradition.
But its a fact. The Web is not what we thought it was. As it comes into the light we are realizing it has changed everything about how we organize and find information. How and what we create and the essence of how we communicate. Mass Media is diluting before our eyes while each of us becomes our own little self powered media engine. This is the end of Push and the dawn of Pull.
So lets visualize:
The traditional model is like that old play-doh spaghetti maker. Company A takes their 5 ounces of play-doh (their campaign) and pushes it through the spaghetti maker. Long strings of play-doh spaghetti come pouring out. Each Pushed through one of the 20 holes in the machine. The experience is concentrated and focuses. Those long strings of pink spaghetti play-doh demanded attention.
The Web has deconstructed that model. That Mass Media center is gone. The traditional structure of hierarchical information has disintegrated. Information has now been reorganized through tagging and linking, all coordinated by Google and search.
Now imagine a large pan with a thousand holes, a million holes. You still have the same 5 ounces of play-doh, but where do you Push. There is no center. A little here, a little there. What comes out is unfocused and without mass. There is no great wave.
You need a new methodology for a new age. But it all starts with how you visualize the Web.
When you look at the Web, what do you see?
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A terrible amount of garbage, a vast amount of information true or untrue, and a whole lot of people trying to fit somewhere. Google is one of the best things invented in my opinion, it helps with sorting through the enormous amount of information to get to where you want or at least takes away the things you know you dont want.
Non of the other search engines really can compare to me…. there is not much that I did not find through google that I have searched for. Anyway… I see way too much when I look at the web… I like things simple…
Hmmm, I see it sort of like a mine field. Where you never know when one step might set you of in a whole different direction or even to a different field altogether. I suppose the image captures some of my apprehension about the change. I guess a good campaign produces enough firepower to direct attention where they choose.
p.s. and suddenly I feel like some spagetti!
a canvass of opportunities…
the web for me is the world in my own hands…
i wasn’t really a graphic/web artist until i discovereed it some 9 to 10 years ago…i was a draftsperson and one day, out of nowhere i just realize how awesome it would be to jump into this field…so i did…it made me who i am right now - in a good way….i don’t think i will regret being part of this crazy industry (sometimes i do)…that’s why they call us graphic artists…we make good impressions out of a product..
this is our world, this is now…
Great insights David (as always).
I think there’s a an extra “P” - Yes we have the push (traditional) and the pull (consumer empowerment), but there’s also Participate - brands (artists) getting beyond a push and pull, and embracing this new world. Allowing consumers (or fans in your case) to be a part of the experience as a peer versus the traditional Master-Slave type scenario.
It’s messy now, because we can hear all the instruments at the same volume in the mix. As with everything, the cream will rise to the top, as soon as the engineers helps us mix the music together perfectly
I see the internet as representative of the collective conciousness…our brains being the pc.
By connecting to the web we are actually materializing “God/Whole” into a quanitive thing we can see. By having the freedom to put our thoughts, our creations out there…for everyone to access…bringing it into conciousness…we can easily make our mark yet are forced to acknowledge that we are one of many and the power lies in the colaboration as it is harder to get noticed in the masses. We have gone from the few in control of the masses to the masses controling themselves. There are less promises and gaurantees, less BIG stars and more community celebraties that build small solid local fanbases.
What the internet represents is the redistribution of power…to the masses….and less money for everyone…yet does anyone really need money? or do we need freedom to express ourselves and make enough connections to bring peace to the world.
The Internet is fast comunication and represents the change in the people of the world taking back their own power and turning the government back over to the collective people…not the few who pretend to represent from the pew….hostile will be the few and their puppets will fail their illusions will shatter and we the living people prevail to take care of our entire world and all beauty of the peoples and creatures hail
really we don’t need computers to comunicate, (we can use just use the thoughts in our minds), it’s just easier for the mind to believe when we can touch a screen. One day we will believe strong enough to download all needed knowledge instantaniously through the mind and we will no longer need computers or physical things to exist,and our friends will only be a thought away…every thought recorded and creating in time we choose carefully to create the devine life here now
i say these are very exciting times
In general this is only a matter of imagination. As a person with a pretty rich imagination I get tens of various images! Pink spaghetti are very funny
though it’s more about the social media. By the way, why it isn’t ice cream? (ah! Can’t wait till lunch) The center has been shifted from Mass to Social Media, the one real distinction that made le Web. It’s evolving into the biggest collaboration between us; and those who accept and trust this trend are building and developing a new Web 2.0 Space now.
recharging and influencing the Web.
Anyway, how I see the web? I see it like a Calabi-Yau Space where all the users exchange charges (as like electrons) and information (as like chromosomes
my mental image is of the globe seen from space and people communicating with each other. so to me, the web is a communication device, like the telephone, but ultimately much richer and more powerful in it’s ability to pull people together.
or maybe that is what I’m hoping for. since hope is not a strategy, i’m trying to do something about it along the lines of what I had briefly explained to you at mesh a few weeks ago. David …. shoot me an email … I’d like to share some ideas that I think you will like
blogs like this one are about giving people an opportunity to interact with a star. it is also an opportunity for a star to interact with fans. but it can be much more. when the discussion becomes between the fans themselves with the star being one of the voices then it can get very interesting. the star creates an environment for discussion. how cool it would be for some of us to ultimately interact with each other, at least on-line.
PS. as an aside David, you should look at using http://www.disqus.com/ for commenting in your blog. It is much better than the standard system with wordpress or blogger (I’m cutting over soon too). Something as simple as nested comments allow people to respond directly to someones comment. BTW, I have absolutely nothing to do with disqus (don’t know the people, not an investor …) just know it is much better.
“A series of tubes”.
~American politician.
What do I think??
There is no middle because all the information is connected to you…you PULL the information through!!