The World Wide Web is now an antiquated term. Its growth has embraced a three syllable word, IN-TER-NET. The Internet has become technology’s greatest evolutionary icon surpassing the post, the telephone and the television. It has enabled a new world order of communication and business. The Internet, its varying extensions and intricate infrastructure has made the world flat bringing together estranged nations and cultures. Changing the norms of business, the internet has created large channels, not only in communication but also in commerce. The library is no longer contained by four walls and shopping for clothes, food, and ideas is as easy as taking a walk to the living room computer.

However, what is most amazing is the reformation of social habits, family dynamics and market trends. At the moment, as I write this Blog, I am on a Webinar about a new e-commerce business in the travel industry poised to expand through social networking. While on this Webinar, I am also chatting with my brother in Florida through Facebook.

Have you ever heard, “birds of a feather flock together?” This has become the basic ingredient to the formula of online marketing, “social networking”. It combines the concepts of ‘word of mouth’ and ‘marketing by association’. Individuals that share some commonality will congregate to share in that mutual interest, “the community”. These interests could be as simple as collecting beanie babies or as wide as unique travel destinations.

The change in family dynamic has brought a new circle of communication incorporating non-blood relatives from around the globe. The family has expanded into the internet –sharing, pictures, events and anything worth stating or sharing.

See what I mean below:

What does this mean for businesses?

It means that existing and startup companies must understand the need to create an extension of themselves through the internet in order to tap into the extended marketplace. These extensions exists in many forms and there are some that are quite common to everyday chit chat and others that remain hidden in the dark but are as equally productive as the mainstream. This, however, is a subject for another day.

Long gone are the days of the World Wide Web, a network of documents and general information. It has evolved into an extension of ourselves, our lives, our families and the way we do business. So, as you go along your daily routine think about the evolution of the internet and its impact on you, your habits, the family, and even trends in trade.