The Broadcast Mentality Continued

From Consumer to User

The digital revolution is revolutionary for businesses because it alters the dynamics of commercial interaction, shifting the emphasis from the producer to the user. The design principles in this medium therefore differ fundamentally from those for broadcast technology. From sites like CompareNet, and from the improvements I have suggested for Nike, Tupperware, and the Gap, we can derive a few basic starting points:

• The user's freedom is expressed in activity, rather than choice.
• The goal of online marketing is not to persuade, but to facilitate.
• Producers provide functionality, helping users create the product.

The broadcaster is always telling the receiver what to buy. But network-savvy design demands sites that listen and respond to users. For these sites, users are producers - not just receivers - of information. This may seem like a simple distinction. But the shift from a broadcast to a responsive approach to web design has the power to transform completely the inherited conventions at the heart of current business models, advertising, product design, and online commerce.

(You can discuss the broadcast mentality, responsive web design, and other issues in our discussion forums.)

Glenn Kurtz is a writer and internet consultant. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University, and currently develops innovative approaches to online commerce. His book, Magic in the Web: Internet Strategy and Cultural Change, will appear later this year.

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