Friday, December 28, 2007
Yep, the Internet is mainstream now…
Periodically in this column I step back and expound on how the Internet is seeping into all areas of our culture. I have presented these as if they were revelations.
No more.
Last week, we featured a front page story about how the owners of a seafood processing plant in Cambridge had their YouTube question aired during the Republican presidential candidate debate.
Jack Brooks, his brother Joe Brooks and son Clay Brooks were featured in the video. The Brooks family started the business in 1890. The video was the brainchild of a lobbyist who works for the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Association who approached the family with the suggestion for the video.
The story wasn't so much that the family was featured in the video, but rather that the candidate asked to respond to it, Colorado Congressman Thomas G. Tancredo, sidestepped the issue.
The fact that the YouTube questions were used in the Republican debate and earlier in a similar Democratic gathering just indicates how mainstream the Internet is becoming. This kind of Internet use will only expand.
There are other indications that the Internet is growing in importance, influence. Black Friday is one of the biggest days for retailers each year. The brick and mortar stores look to the day after Thanksgiving as a prime sales day to begin the Christmas shopping season. Internet shopping was also up over the Thanksgiving holiday. Reportedly the dollars spent online increased 21 percent over the same period last year. Some suggested that the Monday following the weekend would be the biggest online shopping day. In fact, some report that Thanksgiving day itself was huge for online shopping.
The prevailing wisdom that Monday would be the biggest Internet shopping day is based on employees accessing sites by using the high speed Internet ports at their job sites. The fact that Thanksgiving itself registered such high sales is an indication of the penetration of high speed Internet hookups in the home. This makes sense when you consider there are also increases in the use of online video and other large-file downloads.
Another indication of the impact of the Internet can be seen in the publishing industry.
Small book stores have been hurt by online competition. The American Booksellers Association has seen a drop in membership from about 5,000 members to about 1,700 in the past decade. It is no coincidence that Amazon.com has grown to where it sells 11 percent of the books sold.
Online advertising continues to increase while the overall advertising dollar (estimated at $500 billion) is in decline as advertising expenditures are not keeping up with inflation, according to online economic observers.
Advertising Age reports that online advertising has moved ahead of radio advertising this year and is expected to overtake magazine advertising revenue by 2010.
Television and newspaper advertising continue to hold a strong lead that should continue for the foreseeable future..
On an internal note, last week I rejected a comment on a story because the writer gave only a first name or nick name and an email address that was not in our system. The subject was sensitive enough that I did not want it to pass without making certain of the authorship. So, please, we want your comments, but we need to be able to verify them. Your email address will not appear with the comment, so make it accurate.
As always, you can reach me at rpolk@chespub.com.
No more.
Last week, we featured a front page story about how the owners of a seafood processing plant in Cambridge had their YouTube question aired during the Republican presidential candidate debate.
Jack Brooks, his brother Joe Brooks and son Clay Brooks were featured in the video. The Brooks family started the business in 1890. The video was the brainchild of a lobbyist who works for the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Association who approached the family with the suggestion for the video.
The story wasn't so much that the family was featured in the video, but rather that the candidate asked to respond to it, Colorado Congressman Thomas G. Tancredo, sidestepped the issue.
The fact that the YouTube questions were used in the Republican debate and earlier in a similar Democratic gathering just indicates how mainstream the Internet is becoming. This kind of Internet use will only expand.
There are other indications that the Internet is growing in importance, influence. Black Friday is one of the biggest days for retailers each year. The brick and mortar stores look to the day after Thanksgiving as a prime sales day to begin the Christmas shopping season. Internet shopping was also up over the Thanksgiving holiday. Reportedly the dollars spent online increased 21 percent over the same period last year. Some suggested that the Monday following the weekend would be the biggest online shopping day. In fact, some report that Thanksgiving day itself was huge for online shopping.
The prevailing wisdom that Monday would be the biggest Internet shopping day is based on employees accessing sites by using the high speed Internet ports at their job sites. The fact that Thanksgiving itself registered such high sales is an indication of the penetration of high speed Internet hookups in the home. This makes sense when you consider there are also increases in the use of online video and other large-file downloads.
Another indication of the impact of the Internet can be seen in the publishing industry.
Small book stores have been hurt by online competition. The American Booksellers Association has seen a drop in membership from about 5,000 members to about 1,700 in the past decade. It is no coincidence that Amazon.com has grown to where it sells 11 percent of the books sold.
Online advertising continues to increase while the overall advertising dollar (estimated at $500 billion) is in decline as advertising expenditures are not keeping up with inflation, according to online economic observers.
Advertising Age reports that online advertising has moved ahead of radio advertising this year and is expected to overtake magazine advertising revenue by 2010.
Television and newspaper advertising continue to hold a strong lead that should continue for the foreseeable future..
On an internal note, last week I rejected a comment on a story because the writer gave only a first name or nick name and an email address that was not in our system. The subject was sensitive enough that I did not want it to pass without making certain of the authorship. So, please, we want your comments, but we need to be able to verify them. Your email address will not appear with the comment, so make it accurate.
As always, you can reach me at rpolk@chespub.com.
# posted by Richard Polk @ 4:58 AM 
