The key to successful Internet interaction lies not only in the provision of a solid business foundation, but also the potential of the medium to provide personal fulfilment, recreation and a sense of community.
This is the view of John Ginsberg, Managing Director of Internet consultancy Net Brothers. "The Internet has the opportunity to change our simple existence into a better, faster, more convenient, way of life and with far less interaction with people who we would never normally give the time of day," Ginsberg says.
"This is however, not the sole purpose of the Internet. If life had deteriorated to the point where we used the world`s most powerful communications tool as a substitute for the home-shopping network, we would be in a very bad way," Ginsberg continues. There is always a personal or community based side to all activities, including the burgeoning e-commerce world."
"Too many companies focus exclusively on the e-commerce side of the Internet, and ignore the equally important other side of the coin - the sense of community and personality which each person, in the real world, has and indeed, relies upon."
"It is impossible to have only one of these two aspects of the Internet and then expect an Internet based enterprise to work to its fullest extent. You cannot have one without the other. How successful could the Internet ever hope to be as a colossal business directory?" he says.
"With a focus that is purely on business, the Internet might become very popular but will never amount to much more than a high tech flea market. And this is not what the total life experience is all about, and everyone involved in the Internet must realise this," Ginsberg says.
"The real meaning of the Internet is that it is (and will become even more so) a medium which facilitates the development of an online economy and which also promotes personal development."
This, says Ginsberg, is the key to success on the Internet. "You must give your clients what they want - community and business. This is what they already have in the real world - along with trees, birds and wide opens spaces - so they will expect at least some of that online. The best thing an Internet entrepreneur can do is to make the Internet user feel comfortable in their new surroundings. If this is achieved, then success is guaranteed!"
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