Who Runs This Thing?

Who Runs This Thing – The Internet?

There are those who say the Internet is a mess, and it is … it’s unorganized, anyone can join, it’s not structured, it’s contradictory and it’s hard to find a definitive answer. So yes, it’s a mess.

As with anything, there are good guys and bad guys.  Although we feel that it’s relatively anonymous, the fact is we are not sure with whom we’re dealing, which results in concerns about privacy, security and trust. As such we are subject to spam, scams and rip-offs, which leads to reluctance and suspicion. Quite a quandary isn’t it?

Yet, we have fostered a share and share alike mentality, a “give it all away” mindset. We are self-organizing, under constant change, open to singles and crowds alike. How is it that clicks and eyeballs count more than revenue? Yet we see this too.

In spite of all the change, we have email, instant messaging, chat areas, message boards, discussion boards, mailing lists, directories, blogs, social networks, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Google. Do you want proof? Check out Wikipedia, how in the world does it exist?

Everything on the net is free, and anyone can join, we have good guys and bad guys, it accepts us one and all without challenge. Who runs this thing? We do, which is most interesting and certainly a paradox.

Michael Bickerton, Raven5 Ltd, July 2010

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