I’m an uncool old fogey who must get to grips with the virtual universe

I AM increasingly convinced that events move in cycles. Our current economic difficulties, particularly the unsustainability of the public finances seem to mirror the 1980s — increased borrowing, political procrastination, public sector conflict and, ultimately, cutbacks.

Sectors of business are on a continuous cycle: stable growth leads to extra capacity; too many outlets result in an attritional price war and as demand contracts, there is rationalisation and consolidation. Then the cycle starts all over again.

Heartbreaking tragedies relating to road traffic accidents, flood damage and health service failures recur continually. Maradonna’s Argentinian hand has been replicated by Thierry Henry.

These feelings of déjà vu and “same old, same old” are occasionally interrupted, when one is confronted with systematic change. Last week I chaired the annual conference of the Irish travel agents.

My overall level of awareness of the sector did not extend beyond a superficial level. Travel agents were previously almost franchisees of airlines. Their livelihood was based on providing travel arrangements and package holidays.

The advent of Ryanair’s policy of direct online booking bypassed their role and commissions. Their future depends on adding value across holidays in the areas of accommodation, things to do and specialist events. They tailor new products in expanding markets. The internet has transformed and jeopardised their business model.

As is my custom, I try to chat with conference speakers for biographical details prior to introducing them. One such contributor was Damien Mulley. His CV outlined that he was an online anorak and blog guru. His initial impressions were different. On his coat lapel was a green metal badge with the inscription “F..k the Recession” (with full letters included). He appeared almost scruffy or grungy and wore runners. I was unsure what to expect.

I freely acknowledge I am a technophobe. While I can now surf the net at will, print off my own emails and run a CD, this is the limit of my capacity.

Damien Mulley proceeded to outline the vital statistics of internet activity in a content-driven presentation. There are 1.1 million registered users of Facebook in Ireland, with 300 million users worldwide. 50% of these Irish users log in on an almost daily basis.

An incredible 217 million videos were watched last month by Facebook clients. Some 131,000 Irish users watch YouTube each day. More than 47% of these are not teenagers, as they are aged between 25 and 44, whereas Bebo is populated by a younger cohort. One billion videos are viewed on YouTube each day. 96% of internet users here utilise Google. 50,000 Irish people are on Twitter. These statistics are breathtaking.

The volume of internet participation is the only medium that is showing real growth. I am aware of the JNLR radio listenership figures and the separate readership statistics. A domestic readership, listenership or viewing audience of 500,000 is massive. People are spending more time accessing information online than elsewhere.

This level of penetration cannot be ignored by anyone in business or communications. This represents a fundamental shift in behavioural patterns, which will not be reversed. Previous perceptions that internet commercial operations were focused on pornography, gambling, travel and banking are outdated. Every product and service can now be provided online. This doesn’t mean it’s cheaper or better, just preferred for convenience.

Damien is an inveterate, long-standing blogger who made his reputation online. If you want to access him digitally you just have to key in Damien on Google. A blog is just a technical term for a web page. Contemporary public debate is at its most intense on Irish forum websites such as boards.ie and politics.ie.

This frenzy of opinion was never more aptly demonstrated than with our recent soccer incident. A protest page on Facebook called “Petition to have Ireland v France replayed” had 420,000 members in the space of four days. Within a week it had more than half a million agitators. This is the most potent community conversation anywhere. Bloggers break news and have street credibility.

Perhaps a fundamental shift is occurring in interpersonal relationships. Society has spent the last three decades slowly becoming impersonal and disconnected. We don’t know our neighbours and barely acknowledge our cousins. The concept of village dialogue and local gossip has disappeared. This is now being replaced by online communities, based on topical interests. These data bases provide commercial marketers with market segments of consumers. Friendships, dating and procuring a pet can all originate in the new virtual reality.

Damien revealed that further transformations are imminent. The laptop is going to be replaced by all-functioning mobile phones. Despite the small screen size all communication will be on your handset. The key development is to link location to local products and services. If you are in Bristol or Bunclody for the day you can be advised of the best restaurant, place to go or site to see. Use of the fixed line telephone is becoming obsolete.

I have reservations whether this quantity of communications improves our quality of life. A tweet to the effect that “I am in the chemist shop now” is similar to many daily phone texts. Why does anyone need to communicate such banal drivel and useless information? I must be turning into Victor Meldrew.

These incessant messages make the senders and receivers servants rather than masters of technology. The benefits of mobile phones relate to constant accessibility rather than unending unnecessary contact. “Need to know” doesn’t seem to prevail, resulting in time consuming nonsense.

THE greatest significance of Damien’s data is its business application. This technology provides added value to the consumer by cost savings and enhanced process efficiency. Customer services are improved through 24/7 constant availability.

Online business activity is greatest during lunchtime and at weekends when conventional businesses are often closed. Successful business is defined by adding value for the consumer. A new paradigm of operation is supplanting conventional offline transactions, thereby increasing shareholder value. Orthodox notions like banner advertisings are dead.

The Government’s smart economy strategy seeks to place Ireland as a digital hub. The target is to create 30,000 new jobs in the technology sector over the next decade through energy efficient data centres, cloud computing and an international content services centre (ICSC).

Recent commercial success stories include the award-winning Realex, a global online payments powerhouse and Web Reservations Internantional (WRI) which was recently sold. The dot com bomb of the 1990s has been replaced by mega revenues and profits. As an uncool old fogey, I’ve got to get with the programme. Google has grown from 30 million pages in 1999 to 300 billion pages today. The future lies with developing and integrating your own website and online presence.

Go ask, Damien...