Shocker: People like the Internet.
Investors May Have Repudiated the Internet, but Consumers Have Not
“The Internet may not be doing so great on Wall Street, but it’s doing great on Main Street,” said Marshall Cohen, senior vice president for research at America Online. “As far as the people who are online, they’re using it more and valuing it more.”
Various forms of micromedia, largely unthreatening to the likes of AOL Time Warner but growing nonetheless, have sprung up on the Internet as individuals become media producers. About 60 percent of broadband users have set up Web sites, participated in online discussion forums and shared photographs or other files over the Internet, according to the Pew study.
The Internet has become an integral part of culture. Who doesn’t have an email address these days? For me, the web has replaced other media as the reference of first-resort. The Internet decreases the friction on information-centric transactions, like applying for a credit card.
Unrelated, except for appearing in today’s Times, More Say Yes to Foreign Service, but Not to Hardship Assignments
Despite a record number of people applying to join the Foreign Service since Sept. 11, the State Department is having a difficult time filling hardship posts overseas, as American diplomats shun jobs over security and lifestyle concerns.
This is why I didn’t take the foreign service exam — at this point in my life, I’d much rather live in New York than Moscow or Ulan Bataar…
