The internet is so heavily relied on today. Every modern business and household has some kind of access to the world wide web through a device. The world has gotten to a stage where we can’t live without the internet. We’re either looking for the latest news updates on our favourite news websites like BBC News, finding out what friends are up to on Facebook and Twitter, or watching the latest viral video on Youtube. There is something out there on the internet for everyone who is living and breathing.
The internet is so important to everyday life because new businesses are birthed from it at a rapid rate. Without the internet, a London web design agency like JBi wouldn’t exist. The reality is that without access to the world wide web, most businesses today wouldn’t run efficiently. A lot of us are familiar with the panic that comes when an office loses access to the internet. All hell breaks loose as you can no longer access your emails, open files on cloud servers, or update your website. It’s a pity, but the modern man has become so reliant on the internet that we’ve forgotten what life was like before it.
We’re used to facts like this, but it’s hard to believe that 20 years ago the Sun newspaper said that the internet would never work, in an article about Tim Berners-Lee, the acclaimed inventor of the world wide web. Now two decades later the tabloid is eating its words as companies of it’s kind to rely heavily on the internet to reach an audience and gather information. The Sun didn’t expect every home to have internet access, so they definitely wouldn’t have even considered people browsing the web on tiny little touch-screen phones and tablet devices.
Where is the internet going?
It’s very hard to answer this question because no one knows the future. We may not be masters of time but what we can do is look at the trends and make an informed guess at what might emerge in the coming years.
From what I remember, 10 years ago most households were using PCs to access the internet, on 56k modems (it’s shocking that we were that slow). As time progressed and technology improved people were getting more accustomed to laptops, and mobile devices were getting smaller. Let’s fast forward a few years now as we begin to see the first popular social network sites emerge, e.g. Faceparty, Facepic and other clones. Eventually, MySpace was to make its way into the scene, and Tom Anderson became the face of social networking. By 2009, Facebook became the most used social network site, and Mark Zuckerberg was the internet’s new young genius (sorry Tom!). Around this time the iPhone was already popular, with new versions being released often.
The world was beginning to see the opportunities in social media, as different social networking websites began to unfold, some successful and others not. New developments in technology eventually meant that we would be browsing the internet on our phones, also meaning that social networking was possible without the need of a PC or laptop! It doesn’t come as much of a surprise that tablet devices began to make their way into households and businesses. The release of the iPad opened doors to casual people, making the need for a laptop or PC even more redundant, especially in conferences and meetings.
Now we’re in an age where tablet devices might replace PC’s and tablets in the future (not anytime soon, don’t panic!). It’s not so much about the “next Facebook” anymore, it’s about simple applications that go viral. Everyone’s taking pictures of their food and sharing them on Instagram. Let’s not forget mobile/tablet gaming, with so many people playing Angry Birds on the tube it’s hard not to kick yourself for missing such a simple concept. Meanwhile, social media is at the core of our being, making web marketing ascend to a more personal level for businesses. Blogging is still very important to improve SEO, and social media works to generate traffic to these articles.
This is just how I personally have perceived the internet from my own memory, so I’m REALLY paraphrasing here, but you should get the general idea. Technology evolves at a rapid rate, opening doors to more opportunities, while closing doors on others. We’re not fortune tellers, but we can definitely look at the current trends on the internet and prepare for what’s to come.
