Future of the Internet There Are Certain

Future of the Internet

There are certain events and inventions that are bound to change the world and how we see it forever. The internet is for sure one of those inventions that finds itself in this prestigious list of inventions, right along with the Wheel and the theory of Gravity. The way Internet has impacted our lives it can only be described as phenomenal; its impact has been felt on a Global level, and there should be little doubt that there is anyone who has not been impacted by the side effects of this great invention.

The internet was never designed for the purpose that it is being employed for today, but it is a fact that it has evolved itself to take on this role of the great connector, a need of every human, which emerges from the basic need of humans to connect with each other.

While we as humans have come a long way from the first form of oral communications to the development of symbols and petroglphs and now the internet, there is no doubt that other mediums such as the TV and the newspaper had an equivalent and were just as important inventions of their time. However the impact of Internet is far more, considering that it has gone on to revolutionize even these mediums and how we perceive and interact with them.

Whereas there has been an silent agreement on the fact that Internet has changed the way we live and think, what is more important to understand is, how exactly has internet managed to do that? What are the different segments and parts of our lives in which the Internet has gone on to have a profound effect? This effect would take into consideration many aspects of an individual and the society at large, including the social and cultural impacts. And just because, a Medium has become so successful, does that mean that the need for mediums such as the Television and the Newspapers are now limited?

The essay would also like to answer in its discourse the probable future scenario that Internet might take. The very way in which Internet has evolved is a testament to the fact that people use and utilize thing in their own way, which may even lead to the complete ignorance of the original purpose. Therefore it is always a difficult job to predict the future scenario of any medium; however, using statistics and reports an effort will be put in to do just that.

The Emergence of Internet: The Beginning

The need of Internet was the result of the Cold War race between the U.S.S.R. And the U.S.A., where the need to beat the other in academic and scientific research took precedence over every other thing. The ultimate resultant was that computers and internet were employed to keep track of the growing library collections and Bibliographies that were increasing countrywide to promote scientific literature and research. This was done by many hosting services that came about on the surface in the 1970's namely the Dialog, SDC-Orbit, BRS, etc. (Alice Keefer, 2001).

Therefore the Internet was designed as a cataloging and a research tool to further the advancement of research. However today it has taken a role and a form of its own and the role is so important in the life of the modern man that it cannot even be ignored. Today Internet is the tool for communication, Business dealing, Shopping, Dating, Innovation, and so much more. Internet has become a much versatile tool with hardly a limit to the roles that it can perform. Internet has meant today that the very way in which we as humans conduct out business as changed forever. It has changed the way we interact with each other. It is possible today to get instant results and get instant feedbacks on your ideas and suggestions, it is possible today to have a conference call in Singapore and that too without any hassle; emails, instant messaging, video conferencing, all have been the blessings of this technology.

Social Networking Sites, with the likes of Facebook and Twitter emerging on the scene has meant instant gratification and connectivity with friends and family. But it has also gone on to prove that you can never predict the usage of any technology. A recent example has been the use of Twitter and how it has been employed in the Tahrir Square and the Middle East uprising.

The impact of the Internet has been so that from the year 2004 to 2009 the use of Internet has gone up to 117% (Siegler, 2010) and is only going to rise, therefore in light of this, it becomes important to take into consideration the impact that it would have on the various social aspects of one's life.

Forecast of the Probable Scenario for Internet from the Perspective of Individual and Cultural Backgrounds:

While in the past enough debate has been presented regarding the American Cultural Invasion that has reached the shores of many countries and as a result has completely destroyed their long standing traditions, today Internet has presented many disconnected communities and tribes to stay connected with their ancestors and their traditions via this medium.

The ultimate result of this has been that many communities have simply withered away or gotten extinct in the face of such a drastic cultural invasion, this being especially true of the second generations of people who have migrated to other Western countries. This has especially been felt by those smaller groups who have little or no link to their lands because of the distance and the apparent problems that were faced by lack of communication in the pre-Internet era.

Internet as a medium therefore can be quite essential in the years to come to act as a medium that acts as a mediator of various cultures and tribes and their traditions. With the emergence and setting up of many business online as well, there is little or no need for people to displace themselves to city centers to find employment, and therefore employing the internet to continue to connect with the world (Stewart, 2008). With the emergence of the 21st century and the blessings of the Internet, it is now possible to be connected to your family and be part of larger communities online thus continuing to maintain your cultural identities.

Economics and Business/Advertising:

From an Economic front, a realization and with that the possible ways in which this medium can be used to benefit "all the worlds people." This realization is a direct result of the "recent shifts in the use and functionality of the internet" (Heather Creechm Maja Andjelkovic, 2009) and was first voiced out by the many heads of states in January 2000 in the G8 Meeting.

Social Media today is providing a wide platform to many companies and SME's to expand their wings in this global and digital market and estimations are that one-third of all SME's are today making their presence felt through the Internet (Matthieu Pelissie du Rausas, 2011). SME have been considered as the heart of the online advertising and by the year 2016, it is expected that online advertising will be growing by a 10.6% every year from 2011 after rising by 12.5% (MagnaGlobal, 2011).

This is the most ideal situation for many SME's since they have little or nothing to invest when they make their presence felt on the Internet, and at the most what is required is intelligent advertising of their brand through a Profile page of their brand. The Ultimate result has been that a lot of new names and home grown businesses have emerged, however they are not the only exception. A lot of software's and services have also made themselves knows through this. More and more corporate are finding themselves online and in the upcoming years this trend is only to rise instead of decline.

Political:

According to one estimate in the year 2004, 75 million people used the internet in some way to engage in political activity. By the year 2008, the use of the internet as a dominant and a very influential tool came to be apparent in its fullness, with almost 2.6 million supporters on Obama's Facebook page and almost 123,000 followers on his twitter account, making it one of the most popular account on Twitter. The way the Internet has been used and integrated into politics to gain mass support and to inject ideas into the Population to get them approved is sure to have a direct result in the manner in which Washington has functioned for so long, and can even result in increasing the Presidential Power as compared to the Congressional control that has prevailed for so long (Wagner, 2008).

The ultimate success of the Obama Campaigning through the internet has meant that in the Presidential race in 2012 and so forth, Internet would sure be employed as a tool that would go a long way in gaining popular support. Many tools and discussions groups and especially campaign oriented software's have been designed that cater exclusively to the cause (Rice, 2004).

Such an aggressive use of Internet by the younger demographics especially may ultimately result in Voter Registration and other similar processes to also find themselves online. This would for sure be a step in the right direction, and would be similar in terms to the way John F. Kennedy employed Television as a medium to promote his campaign (Wagner, 2008). Therefore, if any campaign wants to connect with the new demographics and make a substantial impact it needs to take into account the many technologies that are being used by the voter. And considering the precedence of the various campaigns that have already used it, there is little doubt that this will not be the scene.

Social Change/Alternative Media:

The internet, while was never conceived as one, is now fast turning into the Alternative and the Medium to protest through. This fact became much clearer through the Middle Eastern movements, and especially when in a rare move Twitter was asked to reschedule its network upgrade so that the Iranian People can continue their protest against the Presidential elections. The speed and the connectivity that twitter provided has turned it into a platform that has been used by the Egyptians to now the Occupy Wall Street Movement (Grossman, 2009). Twitter at that time acted as a live broadcasting medium through which people were able to access their information and the accurate scenario from the very streets of Tehran, and the entire process was made much easier through the use of hash tags. So while the traditional mediums stayed silent or very much censored, it was through this alternative medium that people were getting the information across to the entire world.

Today everyone has the opportunity to voice out their comments and discomfort and with the emergence of the internet and the hype of citizen reporting, it is becoming increasingly hard to suppress the many voices.

Social Media, with providing the opportunity for people to connect with millions at a time, has been the ultimate platform from which people have been able to fight for their rights.

Technological Change:

Interactive media has also surfaced as the next big thing in the coming years with an expected 6% growth over the next five years. The most positive thing about this is that these numbers are suppose to rise significantly from the non-traditional markets, including India and Brazil (Deloitte Development, 2010). The interactive media would compose of segments like mobile gaming and music, and eventually would go on to compose of even digital Assets and simulation based interactive learning which would eventually leave its mark on every type of industry imaginable.

However despite this growth in the non-traditional market, it is interesting to note that mediums like Television would not completely go on to disappear. In a fact, televisions viewership is consistently growing at an 8% rate for the last few years and is expected to convert into double digits soon (Deloitte Development, 2010).

There has also been an increase in the number of devices that are today connected with the internet, namely devices like the iPhone and iPad. According to estimation, this number will continue to rise so that by the year 2015, it is expected that nearly 15 million connections will be active through the various devices. This amounting to almost two devices per person on the planet and will be the ultimate traffic generator as compared to PC's (Byrne, 2011)

Security:

There has been a debate recently in the concerned circles regarding the security aspect of the Internet and all that is related to it. This topic has come into the limelight due to the many recent hacks of various websites which has gone on to highlight the vulnerable nature of the very medium that we seem to rely on the most today. The resultant debate than has been regarding the feasibility of the free internet. The many solutions that have come forward have included the putting up of a certain premier on websites. The direct impact on this would fall on the average user who will be unable to pay for these sort of services. It would also go a long way in impacting the projected Internet user growth and even end up putting a stop on the flow of creative ideas that have seem to surface due to the flowing knowledge hub that is the internet (Redding, 2010).

World Wide Web:

As the Internet progresses and as more and more smart phones find themselves in the hands of the consumers, a new trend would continue to emerge which would result in people spending less time on the World Wide Web and more time on the Internet, through the utilization of the various apps that have seem to come alive since the birth of the iPhone. This while making the lives easier for a lot of people and even being driven by the sheer market demand of these apps, has meant that a monopoly is being generated on the Internet, which previously through the browser medium was available to all and free for all.

The mere acceptance of these apps with the growing number of users who are now converting towards smart phones is in a fact the acknowledgement of the fact that people are ready to know pay for a service that for the longest of time had been free for the mass majority. This could be the indication of a new trend that people are ready to pay for the use of the Internet, and this could ultimately result in the monopoly of Internet as well, like we have seen in other businesses and utilities services (Chris Anderson, 2010).

Another reason for this dominance of the World Wide Web which would continue to rise is the apparent grip of the businessmen over the Internet with a few individuals and companies now having the maximum share of the Internet. Predictions are that this trend would continue to rise in the future until we have reached a point where like other mass media's for example the Television and the Newspapers, you here too would only have a few voices that can be heard. It is interesting to note in this regard how the Alternative media which have simply seem to bust out of its shell since the Middle Eastern Movement will react and get its message across.