People, content and links between them – the history of the Internet

I meet people every day that try to make the web into something complex. They try to find new ways to name drop new functions on the web in order to charge others for what they do. Instead of focusing on what is successfull, they focus on retoric. Yesterday I wrote a post about that there is no such thing as a website. What it all boils down too is what the web is really about.

People, content and links between them
It is about people, content and links between them. That is all that the web is. From the beginning there was links between uploaded packages of information. Then it became links between content. Later we saw the emergence of content linked to people as PEOPLE gained access to project themselves on the web. What we seen now is that the web is being used to link people to people.

I would say that any service on the modern web that doesn’t aim to connect either content to other content, people or people to other people is a waste of money. You can invent the coolest functionality of all time, it can be remarkably incredible, and yet if it does not link people together or content that is linked to people, then your service, your wonderful, beautiful service will fail.

Wait a minute…
Alterego to Jesper: “But Jesper, what about eCommerce websites? They don’t seem to link people or content in any way!”

Jesper to alterego: “Well alterego, the successful ones do! eBay links both people and content through its reviews, Amazon absolutely links all its content relevant to a specific user.”

Alterego to Jesper: “But Jesper, what you are saying is idiotic. It is just like saying, 1+1=2. It is basically just another way of telling the story of the web, but in yet another way. You are just like the consultants out there trying to make a buck of a boost.”

Jesper to alterego: “Well yes and no alterego. I am sure I could make my model fit into any kind of successful web project, but I could probably as well make it fit into any of the failures. However, when looking at the web, you should try to make it as simple as possible – in this case I choose to break the web down to its three components. That is not complicating it. That is making it easier. At least for myself.

Secondly, you can definitively assume failure if your project does not satisfy one of the link relationships written about above.”

To you who thinks I’ve lost it
Well, I just want some debate. What do you think? For me the web is only a compound of people, content and links between them. Putting it into this perspective, it makes it very easy for me to consider each peice of content I publish on the web as a part of something bigger. I can choose to connect it to other content on my own website, I can contribute it to another person or I can simply choose to link it together with another website if I feel it is relevant to do so.

4 thoughts on “People, content and links between them – the history of the Internet”

  1. Wow you’ve just narrowed the entire “complex” web into simplicity!

    people to people, people to content and content to people (with the links in between!)

    I guess if you want to elaborate on the history of the internet part in your title–a sort of deeper dive into this. Would be to see the variations off how, for example, people to people (+links in between) has changed from 1995 to today.

    I’m going to sleep on those steps and see if I come up with anything to add tomorrow 😛

    Reply

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