How the World has Changed, and Stayed the Same, Since "Cluetrain Manifesto"

To say that the world has changed since 1999 is clearly an enormous understatement. Almost everyone in the world has access to the internet. We now have the ability to buy things online and have it delivered within two days (thank you Amazon!). We have knowledge at our fingertips and Google can answer any question we need to know the answer to.

One major thing that has changed since the book has been released is the pace of society. We move fast and we want things to happen for us quickly. We no longer have the patience for web pages to load. If a video takes longer than 15 seconds to load, we refresh or we get impatiently annoyed.

Another way that the world has changed is the presence of companies online. This was something mentioned in the book that was in the process of occurring but is now currently in full force. Regardless of the ability to buy anything that you could ever dream of online, companies that don't have online shops can still use the internet as a customer service platform. Emails can be exchanged within minutes, and a great online presence with customers where you can help to solve problems increases customer and brand loyalty.

Something else that was mentioned in chapter four of the book includes the introduction that any employee of any business can spread information via the internet. The book argues that this already happens. I think that this increased since the book was published in 1999. Glassdoor is a popular website where you can read all about the ins and the outs of companies. A lot of the reviews posted are from current and/or past employees. They have open range to say anything they want about the company, true or false, and spread that information to the internet.

Overall, our world is adapting heavily to the increase in technology that we see. We don't know where our technology is going to take us in 5, 10, or 15 years but we do know that upcoming generations are growing up with an amazing amount of information readily available to them at all moments. I think it will be interesting to see where this takes our society, how it affects social abilities, and how it influences how people are taught in school.