The Web Will Rise Again - Give It Time

from the people-change-slowly dept

A good article that points out that the web actually is useful for lots of things but that doesn't mean that customers are going to immediately use it to do everything. The example he gives is buying movie tickets online - which he didn't do for a very long time, but which turned out to be a great experience that he wishes he'd tried earlier. At first I thought this was silly (I buy a lot of my movie tickets online these days), but then I remembered a conversation I had recently with someone who couldn't believe I never tried Webvan. Even technology loving people find it a bit of a pain to change routine. Eventually, they'll get around to it, and might even find it useful - but most of these things aren't essential to us, even if the companies want us to believe it's so. Thus, many of the ideas that are failing now, may eventually come back in a different form and be more successful, as people have more time to test them out and get used to them.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Ben Schachter, 26 Apr 2001 @ 5:46am

    Broadband is major factor

    I agree that it will take more time to get consumers to change their ways, but I believe that broadband will be a strong catalyst for that change. I know that I would be apt to do much more of my shopping, movie tix buying, news gathering, etc... if the connection was simply on, reliable, and fast. Unfortunately, the broadband companies are screwing up what should be a much smoother rollout of their service. I currently live in the middle of Manhattan and I can't get reliable service (so imagine how people feel in rural areas that don't even offer any service yet). I think change will come and many of life's bland daily neccessary routines will be achieved more efficiently over the Net, but that day will not come until Web access is as reliable as a telephone dial tone.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.