When was the last time you took a paper photograph? When was the last time you called a friend without needing something right away, or used pen and paper to write something other than work notes? It’s no use, we live in a moment in our history when everything goes digital. From means of payment, through our memories and even to the post-it from annotation, everything – at some point – turned into bits and bytes. But what would happen if the Internet were to suffer a blackout?
Or rather, what will become of the world when that happens? According to experts, the Internet must, at some point, suffer a blackout. One of the experts who share this idea is Dan Dennett. This white-bearded, professor-like gentleman is described as “one of our most important living philosophers, best known for his provocative and controversial arguments that human consciousness and free will are the result of physical processes in the brain.”
During one of his TED presentations, Dennett states: “The Internet will collapse, and when that happens, we will experience waves of global panic. Our only chance is to survive the first 48 hours. For that we have to build —if you allow the analogy— a lifeboat.” He adds, “The Internet is wonderful, but we have to think that we have never depended so much on something. Never! If you think about it, it’s ironic that what got us here is also what could take us back to the Stone Age.”
Dennett’s lifeboats are organizations of all kinds that were (almost) annihilated with the advent of the Internet. For example, social clubs and/or congregations of all kinds. You know that whatsapp group you join? That’s exactly it, only in person.
And when can a major internet blackout happen? According to journalist and writer Esther Paniagua, author of the book “Error 404: Are you ready for a world without internet?” (no translation into Portuguese), this scenario “could happen tomorrow, five years from now, ten years from now or never. But I believe ‘never’ is the least likely possibility of all.”
Despite not really liking the approach of the book nor the journalist’s responses to an interview with BBC News Mundo – which, in my opinion, in addition to demonstrating a superficial knowledge of how the Internet works (even giving an almost mystical air in some answers, like when she talks about the “14 guardians of the DNS system”), seems to have compiled events to try to justify the possible blackout. So why did you bring up the author as an example? Paniagua makes an interesting provocation. When asked if states have any plans to avoid the chaos that would follow a massive grid outage? Paniagua adds: “The simple answer is no. There is no specific plan for the internet.”
It is here, after almost 500 words, that I want to get to the heart of our text. We need to have a lifeboat for brands, especially those that depend on “rented” spaces on the Internet. Understand by rented space social networks. I always say, there is no better place than our own home. If you are a very relevant brand within a social network, remember that this space is rented. You are at the mercy of the house rules and your landlord. That’s why Elon Musk’s moves as the owner of Twitter get so much media attention.
For example, @Choquei, with just over 2.8 million followers on Twitter and 18 million on Instagram, in addition to almost 5 years of existence, does not have its own website (according to statements by the founder, the promise is that the Twitter account become a news site soon). Meanwhile, what would happen if Elon Musk decided to shut down the platform or simply delete the at sign? Or, as we’ve seen happen before, what would be the brand’s emergency plan if Instagram deleted its user overnight?
For those who don’t remember, in 2018, the profile @HugoGloss was banned from Instagram due to issues related to “copyright claims”. At the time, the brand published an official statement on its website that said: “Instagram has received reports that some content posted was not authorized by the authors, even with due credit. [Aqui vale uma observação: Quando o assunto são imagens e vídeos, não adianta apenas “dar” os créditos]?? One of the complaints, for example, concerns a BBB video of Ana Clara singing in Karaoke. TV Globo claimed copyright to the video. Another complaint was the photo of J Balvin and Beyoncé at Coachella, posted by the singer. The photographer’s agency claimed the rights.”
I believe that this ban from Instagram, even for a short time, still had an impact on the brand. Not because she was excluded from the platform, but I imagine that this type of profile must receive many new followers every day and being offline is the last thing the owners want. The advantage is that the Hugo Gloss brand, which was born as an influencer and is now a company, comes from a period when blogs were famous and, therefore, the social network was just a support for the official website. Something that, as I said earlier, does not happen with Choquei.
If you’ve made it this far, the warning I want to leave is: Regardless of the fear of a blackout, have your own home on the Internet. Just like the real world home, it will likely cost more than a rented space, but in the end it will be worth it. Use social networks as support platforms for your brand, concentrating the flow of customers/users where it really matters, on your own platform.
Having said all that, will the internet ever suffer a blackout? Nobody knows this and maybe web3 is a way out to avoid this apocalyptic scenario (I invite you to read the text “The main trends for 2023“). However, you don’t have to worry about this reality, because… if one day the internet goes to humpback, the last thing we’re going to worry about is marketing or branding. These concepts do not exist in the Stone Age.
Imagem Destaque: Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock
The post What if the Internet goes down? The importance of not depending on social media appeared first on ADNEWS.
