Democratizing Effect of Internet Essay

In the modern world of today, there has been a whole new transformation in how people access information. Rather than having access to information alone, they discuss it with their peers and gain valuable insights into a topic through the ideas and opinions of others involved. (Ferdinand , 2000) There are different conversational technologies through which information available on the internet has and is become democratized. These include blogs, chat rooms, online communities, e-mails, discussion forums, sites like facebook and orkut. com. People discuss different issues with each other from different parts of the world through these sources and contribute in effective exchange and dissemination of information. These have also helped in creating a social circle where people become friends with each other though located in different parts of the world. This means that internet has removed all physical boundaries and has created a virtual world where any one can communicate across the barriers. Through discussions, people strengthen their knowledge base and get to know about different perspectives relating to a single topic. People express their ideas and opinions freely on communities without any fear which can be seen and thought by all. This sharing of knowledge is mainly carried out through conversations where people involve in healthy discussion or raise questions and others answer them. Then there are blogs created on different topics where people post their thoughts on that particular topic. This is not only being done by people to burn time rather this has become their hobby. They like taking an active part in discussion and join communities and post their messages. (David Simon, Corrales , and Wolfensberger , 2002) Organizations are responsible for creating, sharing, storing and retrieving valuable information which helps in the functioning of the business. The internet has helped in doing so. They have employed different knowledge management and information systems which help in the creation and sharing of information. These systems have also caused the internet to democratize information so that everyone working in an organization can make use of that. Every employee from middle level to the strategic level has a computer working on his desk with internet connectivity. They use internet to bring in creative and innovate ideas which raises their position in the organization. Previously, people used to refrain from sharing data or knowledge with others because of the difference in their cultural backgrounds. Most of the conversation was done face to face so people felt uncomfortable in sharing their ideas and opinions. But since internet technologies have become incorporated in the organization, the employees can discuss different issues through the internet on their computers with others without any face to face contact. This has increased their comfort level in presenting their ideas and opinions without any fear of criticism. Organizations have developed intranet and portals where employees and manages share information and discuss any of their issues or problems. Now let us discuss how information is democratized on internet through different conversational technologies. Examples are illustrated to support the topic to make it understand in a better way. BLOGS The first truly democratic tool used through the internet is ‘blogging’. These are web pages created on different topics by authors, teachers, politicians, creative writers, organizations, communities etc to discussing a particular issue and share with others whatever information they have on that particular topic. They also invite ideas, opinions and suggestions from others who view the website to share their comments over the topic. Different bloggers write on different topics and make their information accessible to others. Since everyone can view blogs and comment on it, this information circulates and everyone using internet comes to know about it sooner or later. This creates a democratizing effect on the population by blogs. An example would further illustrate this point. (Saco , 2002) Chinese people were not happy with Dell computers and started blogging about it on the internet. They criticized Dell computers and laptops for their wrong processors and poor customer service and everyone eventually learned about that living in different countries like U. K, U. S. A etc. Dell customers dissatisfied with the product started discussing the drawbacks in the products online. The angry customers combined together from different areas and raised voices against the company leading to severe action like lawsuit. This is the power of blogs or in other words the power of internet. This led the Dell Company into serious trouble when they saw that their purchases were declining and not only their target markets but others were also getting wrong impressions of the company. The customers created a bad word of mouth by blogging on the internet and people all over the world believed that to be true. This created a democratic effect and every one developed a negative attitude towards Dell products. Because of the democratic effect of the internet, people all over the world feel free and empowered to share their opinions and post their comments related to their experiences on websites readable to millions of users. These users also tend to believe their comments and take similar actions. Recently multinationals are themselves creating blogs about their products on web pages and inviting their customer’s comments after experiencing their products. This way the organizations can know whether their target market likes or dislikes their products, whether they feel content and satisfied or not. Moreover, people read blogs related to a product before going for its purchase to avoid any negative feelings thereafter. There are blogs available on a breadth of topics, people blog about the things they like as well as they dislike and this information spreads so quickly through internet that one cannot even imagine the speed. Online Communities People create online communities on topics that interest them. They are like discussion forums where people post their comments related to that topic. They come to know about different perspectives existing on a single topic and sometimes agree with it and some times contradict it. These forums are like debating societies where a group of people speaks in favor of a particular topic while others speak in against. The tone of the discussion varies. By participating in discussion forums people share their information and also take information from others which increases their knowledge base. Communities can also be created on a wide range of topics and have a similar impact as blogs. People ask questions and others answer them thus, allowing the information to circulate worldwide. Chat Rooms This is the most common type of tool used for communication of personal as well as professional information. Instead of posting comments there, chat rooms offer instantaneous communication. They are used in organizations for communication and problem solving purposes. Students and teachers use chat rooms for working on assignments and projects etc. An example for explaining the democratizing effect of chat rooms is the case of Colgate-Palmolive (CL). It was spread through chat rooms in 2005 by Chinese people that Colgate Total Toothpaste which is a product of CL was linked with cancer because it contained a cancer causing ingredient. Not only chat rooms, discussion forums as well blogs played a major role in spreading this information throughout the world so that more and more people should abstain from using this toothpaste as it could be dangerous to life. CL noticed that the sale of its Colgate Total tooth paste nearly diminished because of the internet’s democratizing effect. This effect is causing much harm to multinational companies whose products are not being sold in the world market because of the opinion of people living in one country. E-mail E-mail is one of the most frequently used ways by the whole population for communication purposes. It the replacement of traditional system of writing letters but is faster, speedy, and more efficient. Information is spread very quickly through e-mails. If a person receives an informative mail then he quickly forwards it to all his peers and friends in social circle who then forward it to their peers and the cycle goes on like this. This way the information continues to spread among population without any stop. Whenever we receive any forward mail, the message first starts with a huge list to which the message has already been forwarded. This way one receives huge information regarding different topics. Recently, I received a forward mail in which there was mentioned how mobile phones can burst while used on charge. There were even pictures given to support the point. I immediately forwarded the mail to everyone I knew because it is important for everyone to know the consequences of using mobile phones while being on charge. Another such informative mail was circulated which contained that mentos and cold drinks should not be consumed simultaneously as it leads to death. It showed pictures of an experiment by putting mentos into a bottle of coke which burst with showers. People receive these mails through different sources and we circulate these mails to as many people as possible because we want the world to become aware of these little things which can have bigger consequences. CONCLUSION The above discussion makes it clear how internet can result in the democratizing of information. Critics argue that it is not democratizing of information but it is creating a pro social change among the masses. They say it depends on a person who is using internet. If they are using it for democratizing purposes then it will surely have a democratizing effect. But since internet allows access to all and information is available to all regardless of the purpose for which it is being used then it is rightly said that internet has a democratizing effect. It has created a virtual world where information is not limited and continues to spread among the masses through blogs, e-mail, chat rooms and discussion forums. Any one can create information over the internet and anyone can read that piece of information. There exists no limit and boundaries. Thus, internet has increasingly become a democratizing tool for masses and people use it with increased vigor and determination. (Tranvik , 2005)