In the Shadow of the Web

Today my 14 year old daughter, Emily, is shadowing me at work.  I have shown her some of the websites we are working on, an SEO program we are using and a couple of advertising campaigns we are in the process of preparing. She has also seen me answer some emails from clients, chase up an outstanding invoice and watched one of our designers search online photolibraries for pictures for a newsletter. It makes me realise how much of our lives are now spent staring at the small screen, and how  ‘live’  human interaction has decreased in the workplace. This is mirrored in people’s social lives too, with fewer people going out in the evening. Instead the desire for human communication is met by the social media sites which have stepped in to replace the ‘water cooler’ moments at work and the traditional ‘meeting down the pub’ in the evening. Because this is the dominant new form of human exchange, its importance to marketeers can not be overestimated. Ask Emily and her friends – their dedication to a single media platform – Facebook – is a brand manager’s dream.