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March 29th 2009 06:11
There was an interesting reminder in yesterday's paper for those of us who tend to think of the world as now being totally available on the Internet. The opinion piece basically said, however, that there are many people, particularly those over 60 (among whom I'm included), for whom the Internet is a non-starter, whether through lack of interest, or through lack of skill, lack of means, lack of resources. And that's just the people in my country.
Vast numbers of people in the world have absolutely no access to the Net, and many of them won't even have heard of it.
We think of the Internet as being something that brings the people of the world closer together; of course it does, but it's still only those in certain levels of society.
But what the opinion piece writer was saying was that there's now a huge expectation that people in our country will have access to the Net, and therefore marketers of all kinds market primarily to those with Internet access.
Pay your bills? Pay them online. Bank? Bank online. Cheap air fares? Only available online. Huge numbers of items, from office furniture to sports sox, from DVDs to grass seed are all cheaper when purchased online. It's creating a class of its own: those who can access specials and those who can't.
Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of the Net and everything (well, nearly everything) associated with it. I'm even doing a Varsity paper completely online - haven't met any of the other students (all five of them) except online, and the only reason I know the tutor is because he used to be a customer in my bookstore many years ago, and we've kept in contact.
But I understand what this opinion piece writer is saying - even though it may not have occurred to me until he said it. I'm privileged to be part of a 'society' that can do all manner of things because I happen to have a computer and broadband. While people who don't have either of these things aren't in some poverty zone, their lives do lack something I have - the enrichment of being able to access the world from a room in my house. This is a huge privilege.
Equally, marketers need to remember that not everyone is on the Internet bandwagon. Making them into second-class citizens because they're not on it is a major marketing mistake.
Vast numbers of people in the world have absolutely no access to the Net, and many of them won't even have heard of it.
We think of the Internet as being something that brings the people of the world closer together; of course it does, but it's still only those in certain levels of society.
But what the opinion piece writer was saying was that there's now a huge expectation that people in our country will have access to the Net, and therefore marketers of all kinds market primarily to those with Internet access.
Pay your bills? Pay them online. Bank? Bank online. Cheap air fares? Only available online. Huge numbers of items, from office furniture to sports sox, from DVDs to grass seed are all cheaper when purchased online. It's creating a class of its own: those who can access specials and those who can't.
Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of the Net and everything (well, nearly everything) associated with it. I'm even doing a Varsity paper completely online - haven't met any of the other students (all five of them) except online, and the only reason I know the tutor is because he used to be a customer in my bookstore many years ago, and we've kept in contact.
But I understand what this opinion piece writer is saying - even though it may not have occurred to me until he said it. I'm privileged to be part of a 'society' that can do all manner of things because I happen to have a computer and broadband. While people who don't have either of these things aren't in some poverty zone, their lives do lack something I have - the enrichment of being able to access the world from a room in my house. This is a huge privilege.
Equally, marketers need to remember that not everyone is on the Internet bandwagon. Making them into second-class citizens because they're not on it is a major marketing mistake.
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