What is the Internet?
Many people still do not know what the Internet actually is and what it can do for them.
- How can the Web make their business more efficient?
- How can it make their lives easier?
The opinions on these issues tend to go to extremes. According to some, the Internet is the key to the solution to all their problems, and according to others, the Internet is nothing more than a place where children play and many people waste their time …
As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle. The Internet can indeed solve many problems, but it is not a magic wand. On the Internet, a person can really have fun, but there he can also learn a lot, develop his business, educate himself, advertise, and trade.
Internet – the new economy?
Don’t be fooled! The Internet is neither a “new economy” nor a “new, virtual world” as it is popularly called. The economic laws that operate on the Internet are the same as those in the “regular” economy.
The Internet simply expands the boundaries of classic methods in marketing, commerce, public relations, and advertising.
But what exactly is the Internet?
Technically speaking, the Internet is just a computer network. A system of interconnected computers. Infinitely simple and at the same time – great!
Why so great? – you will ask
The greatness of the Internet lies in a single keyword – computers! Humanity has long had a variety of ways of communication – from the smoke signals of the Indians, through newspapers, the telegraph, and later – the telephone, radio, and television. It was only with the development of computers, however, that communication became truly full-fledged and comprehensive.
What is so unique about the computer?
Neither the telegraph, nor the telephone, nor the radio, nor the television, nor the newspapers could simultaneously provide text, sound, vision, worldwide coverage, real-time connections, and all of this, complete with interactivity. This became possible only through computers and the Internet!
Here comes another important trump card of the Internet: accessibility. No other medium is as accessible as the Internet. Most of us cannot afford to have our own print publication, our own radio channel, or our own TV show. However, anyone can really have their own website, right?
But, you might say, a website isn’t like having your own TV show or your own newspaper…
On the contrary! It is even much more! Neither radio, television, nor print provides so many opportunities in one place – let’s recall again: text, vision, sound, global reach, topicality, interactivity! Can you think of any other medium that offers you all of this at the same time?
Another extremely important feature of the Internet is the timeliness of information, or rather the ability to update information easily and quickly. While in other media it takes hours for even the most responsive media to publish a news story, updating a page on the Internet takes minutes!
We see how even the most reputable news agencies such as the BBC now not only have their own Internet sites for a long time but also that every news story is first published on the Internet, long before it is broadcast on television, radio, or published in the morning paper.
What does an Internet site offer so much?
Judge for yourself:
- On the Internet, you can publish practically unlimited information in terms of volume and nature – company catalogs, price lists, instructions, statistical data, financial analyses, advertisements, clips, photos, and what not … And all this, with the possibility of full-color graphics, illustrations, schemes, sound, animations, video…
- Publishing is virtually unlimited in time and space. The information you publish is available to your customers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to all of the now more than five billion Internet users worldwide …
- The visitor has complete control over what, how much, and when to read, listen or watch… With radio and television, the medium itself dictates when, how much and what to listen to or watch. On the Internet, the master is the “web surfer”! It follows that your site will be visited mostly by people who are really interested in your topic, that is, by people who are really your potential customers. No other medium is as narrowly targeted as the Internet.
- All of this information can be updated in seconds and the changes are made available to the entire world from the moment of the update.
… And all this, for a fraction of the amount it would take you to publish through any other type of media.
It’s worth it, believe me…
