MediaFuturist

Some Internet companies are becoming more like Public Utilities and integral parts of our Social Infrastructure

I have observed a recent trend that I want to share and get your feedback on: some Internet companies and platforms such as Google / Youtube, Facebook, Nokia, Slideshare and Twitter are becoming so important to many of us that we would be severely challenged if they went away or materially changed their services. This makes them both very powerful but also very vulnerable - for if we chose to no longer trust them, they would quickly face their demise. Some examples:

• Google already provides the digital toolbox and 'cloud computing' infrastructure for a 100s of Millions of people: free email, domain services, calendars, docs, widgets, blogging, videos, voice (soon!) - and of course: search and advertising services. Youtube has become the de-facto next-generation TV for a lot of people, already. My slightly futuristic view is that pretty soon Youtub

  

  e and the many other video sites (and of course the 100s yet unlicensed video download services) may start replacing Cable TV as the prime source of entertainment for a lot of digital natives. A fast net connection + AppleTv + Boxee + Miro ...pretty soon, that should do it!
• Facebook provides a key social platform that, for many users, has already substituted email or phone calls,

  

  and is well on the way of becoming a cyberspace 'home' for many of us, a digital meeting place and key part of our social lives. My prediction is that Facebook will become as important as Google - and they will reinvent advertising in the process, just like Google did.
• Nokia is heading in the same direction: Comes with Music is looking to provide a seamless, all-inclusive music experience

  

  that is build-in or shall we say hard-wired into our mobile lifes, Nokia's OVI is gearing up to compete as the preferred destination for sharing things, and their handsets i.e. mobile computers are well on the way of becoming remote controls for our lives.
• Flickr, Slideshare and Twitter - to a lesser degree, for now, compared to Google and Facebook - have become crucially important to Millions of people

  

  already (I can attest to that) because they are great platforms to share stuff; and shar

  

  ing seems to be what gets a lot of people excited - not a surprise but certainly an important realization.

A bit like the good old BBC, these companies may soon face a double duty and somewhat of a conundrum: 100s of Million of people have grown accustomed to using them, and their services have become so crucial that they have become not only valuable businesses but also public utilities that we are increasingly depending on. My feeling is that once a company has reached this position, its value is much higher than the actual revenues could ever warrant, since it's no longer just about monetary value but also the social capital they have accrued, and the corresponding TRUST that we put into them.  So this is, as a result, the most important mission for those companies that make it to this point: Earn and keep my trust, every single day, with everything you do. And then, I will keep paying attention to you, give you my data to use, send my friends to you. Don't mess with the terms of use without asking me (>Facebook), ask for permission to use my clickstreams and cookies (see Google's approach to behavioral targeting), and don't ask me for $ too early (see Twitter's yet to be defined revenue strategy).

Looking for more blogs?

Technorati has a good list

Todd Chanko's weblog

is here. Lot's of good stuff here!

Other Bloggers: Mark Cuban, Stuart Henshall

Mark Cuban's Blog is here --- always a source of mind-twisters. Stuart Henshall's Blog is here - Boy, talk about DEEP!

New find: the blog of Geoff Goodfellow --- mountains of good stuff, from Prague....