Baltimore Shooter
03-03-2008, 01:14 PM
From MediaLifeMagazine.com (http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Commentary_61/They_re_back_the_snake_oil_sales_folks.asp):
They're back, the snake oil sales folks
Over-hyping of the internet as the killer medium
By Gene Ely
Mar 3, 2008
They were all around a few years ago, quoted in the papers, holding seminars, speaking the new vision. The new vision was just short of apocalyptic. This emerging medium, the internet, was going to irrevocably upend traditional media as we knew it, making much of it obsolete.
They were modern-day snake oil salesmen, but back then few seemed to notice. Then the crash came and everyone noticed. The dot.com bubble burst. Venture capitalists lost billions. The ad economy tanked.
Those left still standing said of the internet, perhaps we promised too much. We won't do it again.
They are doing it again. The new mantra is that the internet's an all-powerful engine of growth that's bound to level what media stands in its way. Just the other day, in a Media Life poll, a number of media buyers and planners worried that the web's effectiveness as an ad vehicle was again being oversold.
The reality is that the internet has taken its place alongside other media, and its growth has certainly coming at the expense of those more established media.
But the internet is not going to kill magazines or radio or the local daily newspaper. In so many ways, they are thriving now, despite all the grim talk, and they will continue to thrive alongside the internet even as this sorting out process continues. If anything, the internet serves to enhance what they do well.
-------------------
Rest of the article is at the link above.
Warren
They're back, the snake oil sales folks
Over-hyping of the internet as the killer medium
By Gene Ely
Mar 3, 2008
They were all around a few years ago, quoted in the papers, holding seminars, speaking the new vision. The new vision was just short of apocalyptic. This emerging medium, the internet, was going to irrevocably upend traditional media as we knew it, making much of it obsolete.
They were modern-day snake oil salesmen, but back then few seemed to notice. Then the crash came and everyone noticed. The dot.com bubble burst. Venture capitalists lost billions. The ad economy tanked.
Those left still standing said of the internet, perhaps we promised too much. We won't do it again.
They are doing it again. The new mantra is that the internet's an all-powerful engine of growth that's bound to level what media stands in its way. Just the other day, in a Media Life poll, a number of media buyers and planners worried that the web's effectiveness as an ad vehicle was again being oversold.
The reality is that the internet has taken its place alongside other media, and its growth has certainly coming at the expense of those more established media.
But the internet is not going to kill magazines or radio or the local daily newspaper. In so many ways, they are thriving now, despite all the grim talk, and they will continue to thrive alongside the internet even as this sorting out process continues. If anything, the internet serves to enhance what they do well.
-------------------
Rest of the article is at the link above.
Warren