Web

I am one hour early for my meeting at a client location. Thought I should put down my thoughts while I wait. These days I feel I am too short of topics to write about. No new interesting incidences to tell, no interesting observations. I think I have become too lazy or less observant. There are times these days when I want to post a blog but just don't know what to write. I wonder if people even read my blog. Writing for myself is not keeping me motivated enough. Huh! How boring can I think.

Readers - If you don't enjoy what you read here, come back later for more. I know I can do better :)

Ok. Web -

Lot of things have changed in IT since I started working. More and more focus has moved to web technologies than anything else in last 10 years of IT. The HTML and web scripts that awed us then, seem so trivial now. Web has evolved at a pace that anyone could have imagined.

I got introduced to the Retail business world by my company and fortunately continued in the same line of business. 2001 saw the beginning of the web world and the web technologies. Retail companies that got adapted to the new trend then, took advantage of the new channel of media and customer interaction. The biggies like Amazon, eBay and the likes were the names to reckon with in web commerce and business. Other Retail companies invested in e-commerce to make profit and nearly all were successful. Customers on the other hand started seeing the advantage of shopping online compared to going to malls. Everyone slowly started learning the power of web. As Internet became more common and one of the basic amenities in every household, Retailers were not far behind to use this fact to their advantage.

E-commerce in India is not as prominent compared to other countries. And I think that is also understandable considering the fact that only 2-3 percent of the population had access to the Internet say 10 years back. And those that did, most of it was used for emails, or looking for information (sometimes). I would never have imagined buying stuff online. One, who trusts this new thing? And secondly, it would take me hours to get the whole web page loaded; I would rather go down the street and look at the things in the shop. I still believe back home in India, people still believe in real life interaction than virtual web interaction. Specially for commerce. May be those in IT companies and media companies had the privilege of being connected to Internet for most of the time in the day and were the only people interested in web trends.

But today web is all about social networking. It is more of communication and interaction rather than information browsing. Social networking sites like face book, orkut, myspace has taken over the world like a storm. If you don't have a profile on FB you are out dated. These sites not only help people to stay connected but are the top contenders as entertainers and information providers. And all content is user generated. Gone are the days when a Company or news agency was the real source of information. Today it is more about people content which serves as the source of entertainment and information.

Would you look for information posted by a retailer or information posted by people about the retailer. If you want real information, you will look at the later. And what confirms that that information is legitimate? The support of majority of the social crowd. Web is now by the people, for the people and of the people. Everything out there will be evaluated. The companies (retailers, media companies, political parties etc) should just be more cautious of what they post and what they say.