New economy V2.0

I have the impression that the rapid emergence of blogs (and most notably of this blog;) is tied to the collective sentiment that something important is happening. We want to share new ideas, to verify that we’re not the only ones thinking them …

I think that since September 11 our attention has been diverted, keeping us from fully recognizing the digital revolution that is already well on its way. It’s also possible that the web of traditional opinions (economical and political, brought to us by traditional media) had good reasons to not talk about it …

I’m going to cite 4 recent breakthroughs in the domain of technology:

MP3s enables the free distribution of music (legal or not). Before our eyes, we’re seeing the revolution (or dissolution) of a music industry. New business models concerning music are waiting to be developed.

Skype allows users to telephone between two PCs anywhere in the world for free. For just a few cents, we can call a fixed line. Skype will soon begin to work with mobile telephones, forcing telecom operators to redefine their business models.

The blog and the use of google news are changing the way that we inform ourselves. Once again, free information is available on the Web. We now know that paying for a newspaper does not ensure the quality of content (nor the contrary). The business model that has long been behind the written press is at stake.

Web television (ADSL TV in France) is the latest revolution. In France, the number of subscribers to this service is exploding. Even if this is a bit complicated both technically and economically, we should soon see the arrival of new TVs …

And that’s not all.

The concepts I’m describing already existed 10 years ago. Technological and commercial improvements have allowed these ideas to become a reality.

The real benefactors of this revolution will be emerging countries. They can access information at low costs as soon as the Internet becomes available everywhere. I believe that this will be a worthwhile adjustment.

For our countries, this will be the opportunity to build the future on a new foundation …

Comments

[Falco]

I agree except the thing about google news. Of course it allows us to gather lots of information easily, but have you ever thought about how Google can influence the information you get? I use google news every day, but using it as a single information source is some kind of dangerous.

Just my 2 cents.

[Mark Ranford]

Of the 4 you mention, I believe the innocuous, silly sounding blog (and the ecology of derivations/variations) that has the greatest potential for dramatic social change. This truly represents a publishing revolution as great as the printing press. For the first time, millions of ordinary people are beginning to share their thoughts in an easy, natural, conversational manner.

Blogging combines so many beneficial elements, but at first glance, individually they are easy to dismiss, or underestimate. Its only when you look at the combined effect, and actually watch the way behaviour that is exerted and emerges across a collective network of blogs that one begind to realize the power of waht seems such a silly little thing.

From Business (better performanve improvements, more innovation) to education (greater creativity & learning) to democracy (more voices, more transparency) to research (faster transmission of ideas) the improvement and change will be profound.. in 10 years we will look back on personal publishing as a major step forward.

I'll try and write up a blog on my blog about what the benefits that Im seeing are and why they form such value in combination. I'd love to hear from others on what their thoughts are about the individual aspects of blogs and their benefits

[Jeff Hoang]

I would also like to add Online Business Networking to Economy 2.0.