Embracing the web, moving forward it’s as important as ever
By MATT SCHULER, Digital Architect, Marx Layne
The Internet is now as popular as TV. It’s true, according to the latest research from Forrester cited by the Wall Street Journal. “The stat marks a big shift for the country at large; this is the first year in Forrester’s survey that people have reported spending equal amounts of time on the two activities — 13 hours a week.”
The amazing thing is that Internet activity has seen such amazing growth. People are still watching TV at about the same rates as previous surveys, but they’re also finding more time to get online.
The Wall Street Journal notes that according to the survey of 40,000 people, “e-commerce and social networking have seen the biggest rise in popularity since 2007.” The number of Americans shopping online has doubled, which can be seen in the numbers of shoppers going online for holiday shopping (cyber shopping increased 12 percent over the same period last year according to All Things D.)
When creating a strategy for public relations, it’s important to embrace the web because it’s grabbing more focus than ever. Thirty-five percent of Americans are visiting social networking sites, a 20 percent jump from 2007.
The New York Times even wrote on how “The Atlantic,” a 153-old magazine, transitioned and saved itself by embracing the web. “The Atlantic, the intellectual’s monthly that always seemed more comfortable as an academic exercise than a business, is on track to turn a tidy profit of $1.8 million this year. That would be the first time in at least a decade that it had not lost money.”
How’d they make the transition? A “cultural transfusion” and “a dose of counter intuition”, the New York Times writes.
Justin B. Smith, president of the Atlantic Media Company, told the New York Times, “We imagined ourselves as a venture-capital-backed start-up in Silicon Valley whose mission was to attack and disrupt The Atlantic. In essence, we brainstormed the question, ‘What would we do if the goal was to aggressively cannibalize ourselves?’”
The strategy isn’t a cure-all template for media companies, the article reads, but web strategy and how to position one’s company and brand on the Internet should be a key part of every business strategy. Embracing the web, moving forward it’s as important as ever.