Virtual Revolution

You don’t have to watch Virtual Revolution to understand that the web has taken more power over our lives in the past few years. It’s a medium that has shaped the way we communicate with one another, and has even introduced new etiquette among web users. We’ve come a long way since the early 2000s when MySpace was the primary tool for college students to connect. Just a few years later Facebook was introduced, gradually kicking MySpace out of competition. With new ways of interacting, for example Twitter, the once powerful Facebook is no longer the elite source of communication. It seems as though websites just come and they go, but the web itself will never get out of date. The platforms it carries may dissolve away but there is no chance that the web itself will die out. It's essential for website creators to continuously be creative and innovative in order to keep up.

The Virtual Revolution - Lauren Schneider

In the Virtual Revolution, there several ideas and questions discussed, but perhaps the most pertinent question posed is, is the World Wide Web the 'great leveller'?  The BBC documentary series notes that the internet began as a counter to government and power and an overall affront to authority. The advent of the world wide web has paved the way for what seems like equalizing opportunities for all, from major corporations expanding their businesses online, politicians bolster their campaigns, bloggers share their opinions with people around the world,  and various forms of fetishes, both legal and not, are given a private forum in which to exist.  So the good, the bad, and all that is in between is given an opportunity to have a voice in the online world.  But as the documentary notes, just because you connect a country doesn't mean it will become equal, and I have to agree with that.  We live in a world where everything has some hierarchal system, why should, or even, how could the world wide web be excluded from this?  And there are outside factors which weigh into who has access to this resource to begin with.  It's much more complicated than just connecting the world to the web and letting the equalizing process begin.

The Virtual Revolution

           Google, Facebook, Amazon, Ebay: are all larger than life companies, connecting millions of people together every day. In “The Virtual Revolution” these companies are regarded as monopolies of the web. In Western society, monopoly has a negative connotation; it is seen as something too powerful and detrimental to the idea of a free and open market, or in this case a free and open web. The definition for monopoly is the exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service. These companies are not monopolies. Yes they hold a large part of the market but the beauty about the web and the changing of generations is that something new, shinier, and better always comes along.

         Talk to anyone currently in high school and middle school and I promise, very few students will have a Facebook account. Facebook just isn’t cool to them; their parents, grandparents and teachers have accounts. Ebay and Amazon are able to connect millions of people to sell their goods but the newer site, Etsy, has found a niche for truly vintage items and homemade crafts and clothing.

          These large companies have vast user bases but they do not have exclusive control of such services. They launched at the right time, they have a business model that works, and users support them and continue to do so daily. (I personally cannot wait for the reign of the House of Google.) While I do not see these websites dying out anytime soon (RIP MySpace), as the number of people with access to the web increases, new companies will find a niche or a new problem to solve, and they could be the next big thing.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver - Net Neutrality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpbOEoRrHyU

Virtual Revolution Response - Will Cobb

The web as it exists today is much more of a fundamental part of life than it was in its early stages. The web is now the medium through which we socialize, learn and shop. As one of the last interviewees stated, the web is simply an amplification of human nature, including both the good and the bad. It does not necessarily enhance or detract from society. It is a universal tool for humankind, and like any tool, should not be judged without consideration for those that wield it.