What happened to
World Wide Web?The answer is at end of article........
One of most common debates around is over web advertising.
Some sites that you visit have so many animated banners that it looks like a shooting gallery! Others will throw up 20 windows of ads when you try to exit site. I call these tactics "scumvertising". I know of a number of people who have stopped using World Wide Web due to scumvertising. Some say, "The Internet should be free of advertising!"....
.... pardon? Why?
The very nature of life on this planet is dependant on advertising. A pretty big statement for me to make, so here's a simplified justification:
In animal world, strongest survive. The most aggressive, most brash of species will have tendency to be most successful in reproduction.
In plant world, some plants use elaborate ornamentation to assist in their reproduction. Some flower perfumes are so strong, they can be detected from miles away which attracts necessary insects to assist in pollination.
In world of business, those organisations who attract most paying customers grow. The ones that hide their candle under a bushel, no matter how good product or service is, will die. Successful businesses advertise. They use World Wide Web to do so. They pay others to display their ads which creates income for thousands of web masters. The ads also generate competition amongst businesses. The victor in competition gains sales. The sales generate employment. The competition leads to lower pricing and refinement of product.
OK, so comparison is taking it to extreme; but we seem to be living in a society of rampant consumerism, where we want everything for nothing if possible, and we want it now. If it wasn't for advertising, such as seen on World Wide Web:
- my computer would have cost more and I probably wouldn't have it - commercial software on my computer - as above - my internet connection - as above - freeware would not exist in levels available today - I may not be able to afford to offer as much information as I do to others - for free
Without advertising on our sites, World Wide Web would be elitist - available to only rich, government and academia. The Internet and World Wide Web, while having it's pitfalls as any human system does, is probably best thing to happen to our species in a very long time. And it has been on back of advertising that WWW has grown at phenomal rate it has.
In stark contrast, my dreams of perfect world dictate there would be no need for advertising as money would not exist - but in my perfect world there would also be no need for computers. I love Internet, and computering in general, but I would trade it in any day for a world without crime, pollution and crowding. The Internet has provided me with a living, computers helped me to emerge from gutter and to learn to exist in our society. I now not just survive, I thrive. It has allowed me to communicate my message to an audience of thousands, and to learn many valuable lessons in life from others.
The World Wide Web is slowed down by advertising you say? Yes, that's correct. But not as slow as needing to leave my premises to go to library to carry out research. It's not anywhere as near as slow as using postal service to deliver documents.
Internet connections are too expensive - Yes, there is still more room for improvement. But it's not as expensive as calling Interstate or International via telephone to get technical information for products; and at least you can print out your results straight off screen. Connectivity equipment, telecommunications services and Internet access has dropped incredibly in price over last 5 years. How have these price drops occurred? As a direct result of advertising. Think about it based on model I mentioned earlier.
