A Letter to The Internet and Its Purveyors.

To the Internet and its Purveyors:

This rant has been floating around in my head for quite a while now. Every now and again I see certain posts or tweets that really get this rant boiling and finally it has boiled over. Digital media, digital immersion, web 2.0, the new web, social media,the social landscape and the list goes on and on.(And no it is not the 'new' web because to my knowledge we never threw out the old one.) These are descriptors which are consistently being thrown around to capture the essence of what is happening through the internet and the tools that surround it.

I have spent a lot of time trying to explain the importance of 'the evolution of the internet' with which these descriptors apply. I have found this very difficult. In my opinion the biggest part of this evolution will be getting the masses to understand it and getting the average person involved. I feel we are doing the opposite. I have asked many people to tell me what their sales pitch to a person that does not use web communication tools, such as twitter, would be. A sales pitch that would get this non-twitter user to try it out. I have never received an answer that I believe would sway someone to give it a shot. How do we get the average person involved? We educate them.

At this point you are probably thinking what is this guy rambling about. Well here it is internet purveyors: THE INTERNET = COMMUNICATION. WTF? May be your reaction but I had a coach who once told me that the most complicated things can be conquered by breaking them down to their simplest parts. I feel the the internet and social media et al has been complicated to death. Early adopters have taken something so relatively simple and complicated it, so they can 'figure it out'. By figuring it out they become experts which consult and eventually make money. This in turn makes the initial learning curve for the average person very steep. Steep enough that most will never attempt the climb.

This is why so many great ideas and tools fail and why Facebook became such a success. We have to keep it simple. The masses have to join and it is only then something will evolve to become iconic. Imagine giving someone a phone back in 1910 and say: Here you go, you can call your mother who is 400 miles away, while taking a picture of your child and send it to your brother who is another 400 miles away in the other direction. As you are doing both of these you can send a text to the wife and tell her you have already milked the cows! That persons head would have spun, exploded and they would have screamed calling you the devil while running in the other direction! Get my point? Take it a step at a time. We don't need to throw a million tools at the internet because in the end we lose sight of what this medium can actually accomplish.

Social media is only the communication of people via tools found on the internet. Communication tools for the internet are coming out of the woodwork as everyone figures to cash in big, like Zuckerberg did. The problem with this is we are only clogging and complicating to the point where we will never be able to see the forest for the trees.

Finally my point for this letter is to give you some perspective from the average person looking to adopt and understand this internet communication evolution. My advice: SLOW DOWN! You need us. Spend more time educating those that are not involved instead of moving on to the next shiny new technology. Because the best reason I have found for convincing people to undertake the digital social landscape is: Simply put...everyone else is using it. Last I checked the world is full of average people like me. Educate don't complicate.


Sincerely,

Your Average Joe

Disclaimer: In no way was this letter meant to disrespect people who are not on the Internet's social networks by labeling them average. The term average relates to the peoples knowledge of these networks as compared to the internet purveyors. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused. If it did offend you don't be such a softie!

PS Give the below to the next person that looks to better understand the digital social landscape. Just kidding. Sorry Mr. Solis, this only complicates.