I'm seeing a trend develop toward an Internet that is proprietary, differentiated and splintered. Quite the opposite of the homogeneous platform we were hoping it would become.
The differentiation itself takes several forms. For example, one is device-oriented, dependent on proprietary operating systems and applications, while another has to do with divergent social networks.
Allow me to cite four subject-matter experts who testify to the reality of this phenomenon:
Josh Bernoff
In his most recent post, Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff heralds the "end of the Web's golden age."
"As we all gird for the launch of the Apple Tablet, take a moment to step back and realize what all these new devices are doing. The whole framework of the Web (and Web marketing) is based around the idea that everything is in a compatible format," says Bernoff. "Now with iPhones, Androids, Kindles, Tablets, and TVs connecting to the Web, that's not true."
Michael Killian
Avaya engineer Michael Killian adds his own spin to this idea: "The explosion in device technologies and types is a major part of the communication revolution and the challenges it presents to us."
"Device overload is nearly as impacting to me as communication and information overload and the social impacts of the communication revolution that I've written about before," he adds.
Geoff Cook
Geoff Cook, CEO of myYearbook, refers to another type of differentiation, which he calls the "stream wars."
"Over the coming decade, at least two types of winners will emerge from the stream wars. The first set of winners will be the creators of proprietary, differentiated streams."
Rich Tehrani
TMCNet CEO, Rich Tehrani, was one of the first to call attention to the "splinternet" over two years ago.
"In the good old days having a website was good enough. This was your portal to the world -- your customers and everyone else. But slowly but surely a wealth of new communities are being created and if you aren't part of them, you could risk losing tremendous market share. In other words, a single homogeneous Internet is no longer what marketers can count on."
Do you get that? There is no longer a single, homogeneous Internet. We have none other than the likes of Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Ev Williams and others to thank for that.
So, sports fans, as Michael Killian said, no longer do we merely suffer from information overload (as if that weren't bad enough), thanks to the introduction of a wide variety of mostly mobile devices, operating systems, social networks and apps, we've got a whole new ballgame. We can either view it as a problem or an opportunity. For certain, one thing we can't do is ignore it.
What do you think our response should be?
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