Just say Web 2.No!

I read an article in the Guardian newspaper recently that quoted Elton John as saying we should just shut down the internet for five years and see what would happen. He was making a point about illegal downloading of music, but it was an interesting thought, nevertheless. What would happen? Could it happen?
Guardian columnist Tim Dowling had a very humorous take on Sir Elton’s statement. “Without the internet, people would no longer be able to download their favourite tunes onto their MP3 devices,” he wrote. “In order to fill the gap, our high streets would inevitably become littered with unsightly ‘shops’ selling compact discs at inflated prices, killing off the music industry as we know it… Without access to Wikipedia, thousands of schoolchildren may never learn how Joseph Stalin overcame his political enemies to found Motown Records.”
It’s been a mere five years or so since these types of sites have been around and people are starting to realise the negative effects they can have. False information, fake posts of traumatic events as ‘jokes’ and children getting a hold of information they are far too young to see (let alone understand) are frequent. The inmates are now out, online and they’re having a great time.
In the book, The Cult of the Amateur, author Andrew Keen explores this concept and goes so far as to claim that, “…today’s internet is killing our culture and assaulting our economy”. And you know what? He may just have a point. The expert opinion of people trained in their field, and with years of experience is being replaced. By whom? You. No offence intended, of course. It’s not just you, but millions of other people who have been unleashed by technology that enables anyone, at any time (after, say, a night on the tiles) to say what they think. True or not. Everybody’s out there waxing poetic – there are millions, maybe billions, of videos, blogs, songs, photos, chat rooms and MySpace pages sharing thoughts, feelings, pets, fetishes, opinions and secrets. As Keen states in his book, “Everybody was simultaneously broadcasting themselves, but nobody was listening.”
As I read the book, I thought to myself, but is this really so bad? Isn’t this what we’ve been working toward? A world where everyone has the right to say what they think about anything? Yes, but not at the expense of others, and not if it’s untrue or you aren’t who you say you are. Keen is of the opinion that society is paying the price for all the democratisation by blurring the lines of fact and fiction. Just because it’s online doesn’t make it true.
But tell this to the Web 2.0 generation. This is their world. In ten years time, where will we be? These kids will be starting their careers and changing the way business provides and consumes information. We already suffer from e-mailitis – sending an e-mail to the person two cubicles down from you instead of getting up and talking to him. How often do you pick up the phone now? How many e-mails do you get? How many do you actually need? E-mail used to be a timesaver, but now the backlash against that has started as well. The amount of spam versus ‘real’ e-mail versus e-mail that’s actually relevant is a sorry statistic for most people.
In terms of business, we must be aware that the internet is now capable of spreading as much harm as good, and we should take steps to future-proof our ways of authoring and consuming information – or at least let everyone know where the fire exits are.
How can you be sure the information out there about you is from you? Have your Googled yourself or your organisation lately? How can you encourage collaboration or foster communities on your site or around your key topics/issues without worrying that you, your organisation, product or service won’t become a victim of Web 2.0’s army of amateurs? How can you ensure that your staff aren’t out there with their own blogs under false identities disclosing company secrets?
The reality is you can’t. As former British Prime Minister James Callaghan once said, “A lie can be halfway round the world before the truth has got its boots on”.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. And that’s the real message here, I think.
As businesses, we should all be thinking about the impact this new way of authoring and collaborating across the web will have on us and how we can both harness its power as a technology, and be aware of its impact on us as a cultural phenomenon. Some companies are now creating a new ‘chief buzz officer’ type role that encompasses the social-networking strategy for their organisations and includes the creation of policies and procedures around employee behaviour, too.
So what would happen if we followed Sir Elton’s advice and simply turned off the internet? Somehow I reckon we’d get by, but I really doubt we’d miss those videos of the ‘adorable ferret’ (32,688 views and 41, 4½ star ratings on YouTube).