In this WSJ interview, Vint Cerf, candidate for the least-mentally restricted-human-being-on-the-planet award, and Esther Dyson, the web's own Queen Mother, discuss what they expect from the Interweb over the coming decade - presumably Web 2.0 through 6.0. Dyson says the Attention Economy isn't about paying for people to sit up, but more about a generation who prize self-expression. Cerf asks if this is childish "Look at Me" or a more mature search for identity. (At Modern Marketing we see it as more in keeping with Maslow). Dyson also paints a helpful picture of future consumer dynamics: "I think you'll see a fundamental shift in the balance of power towards individuals. Individuals will declare what kinds of vendors they want sponsoring their content, and then those vendors will have the privilege of appearing, discreetly, around the user's content. There will be much less "advertising" and much more communication to interested customers. Advertisers will have to learn to listen, not just to track and segment customers. So the message to marketers is...
... If you can't sell your product (assuming it's already in the market), fix the product! Don't try to change the situation by advertising." And make sure you read about Cerf's inter-planetary web which I read about with astonishment in '98 and is now poised to become a reality!
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