How Online Networks Contribute to Our "Me-Centered" Culture

The web generation that wants it now, also wants it when they want it. Today's on-demand culture continues to spread across a variety of media and entertainment outlets, making strides in the areas of television, cable, radio, and even cell phone advertising. Cell phone subscribers can select and choose from menus of channels; YouTube fans can introduce themselves to specific groups, subscription channels, and lists for content; and the rise in user-generated content powered by Web 2.0 platforms continues to allow people to get closer to their information requests than ever before, with limited searching and more targeted results.

Gone are the days when searching online was a lengthy process with the use of effective search engines and specialized keywords. Today's search engines are becoming smarter, faster, and more efficient. As each search engine provider ramps up its innovations and structures, web users are becoming increasingly, shall we say, 'attention-responsive'? A touch of a button, a click of a mouse, running multiple searches at once; it's almost a frenzy of information exchange that can take place in new, fast, and innovative ways.

The 'I want it now' phenomena can be found on television and digital cable, and may be best described as the epitome of user-requested media. TiVo was one step towards interactive user engagement, allowing users to be completely in control of the programs, movies, and commercials (or lack therof) they watched. The remote control is a far cry from what it was originally intended for; today, a few buttons and menu options allow you to shop, browse, and search in a 'live' format. This personal connection to a media device has spun the market towards the iPod and Zune nation, cultivating the need for mobile programming and additional connectedness to media and electronics.

The effect of user-controlled environments is as popular as ever online; user-generated content, user-produced video, user-subscription requests, and user-targeted advertising. Contextual advertising runs on the same model; ads are only displayed through the user's actual interactive patterns. Networking online with today's burgeoning Web 2.0 networks is efficient because it's so easy to navigate. It's much more interesting to find like-minded people when the relationship has been segmented and targeted through 'channeling' people based on interests, subject matter, and groups. On-demand relationships may not be too far out of today's web activity range. The end-user is the both the customer and producer in many of these areas, and is a model that rests on a simple feedback mechanism that allows tremendous growth; if it is an analogy to natural selection, then the Web 2.0 generation is an organic example of significant proportions.

The recent online activity emphasis on profiles, journal sharing, and uploading videos, creates an even greater demand for highlighting 'myself' amongst the masses. It's another spin on the 'me culture', but now it can take new and exciting shapes and forms. After the world is aware of your newest YouTube appearance, all you have to do is wait a few days and find some viewers; those who are tuning into the right channels, have similar interests, or can match themselves to your keywords and tagging, are likely to find you very quickly. Add this to your own growing demand-list of wants and needs, and you're part of an even wider network.

The Internet is a vast and growing terrain, evolving to new heights each and every day. As consumers become more comfortable with using the web for day-to-day activities, both advertisers and merchants are learning how to cope and grow with the changes in social and business activities. By creating an 'on-demand' lifestyle, we are becoming a very 'me-sensitive' culture; as we're becoming desensitized to the world around us, we're focusing heavily on active engagement with the media. The richer the media experience, the more sensitive we become to our fundamental entertainment and learning needs; think about how 'important' it becomes to make sure you have 'your' channel. That 'your' subscriptions, blog lists, folders, etc. are maintained. The 'me' culture hasn't disappeared; it has simply evolved into a direct, hands-on and interactive approach. The powerful model is spreading across a variety of mediums, many of which we've taken for granted. Your cell phones, your favorite magazine, and even those billboards around the street, are becoming more user-driven and less static.