Tapscott Part Two

Focusing on education, business management, cosumerism and the family, the Net Generation has become efficient and skilled at these cultural institutions. With education comes the value of learning. Today lectures are becoming less effective because students can't pay attention. The thing about education and technology is great but it also has a downfall. I think that with the internet the Net Gen gets instant results and it is instant gratification. Reserach has become simple because research is easier wtih access. We become smarter. And by smarter I mean we adapt to the changes and we adapt to using technology and becoming very skilled it at. This Net Gen is great at focusing on particular interests but blur out everything else.

Business managemet use to be face to face networking. Now with technology we can upload our resumes and apply to places online. With LinkedIn companies can recruit and students and graduates can reach out to other companies. Wtih business managemet it has become more that the employer is required to have all this knowledge and skills when they apply to jobs and then they end up teaching the boss how to apply it to the job.

With consumerism in class we talked about the shoe shop. Remediated shoe buying online versus in a store. Online there is much information, reviews, etc. But when you walk in a shoe store you get your foot measured and then the sales people will sell you the highest quality shoes, and you get the shoe smell, you get the sale and people will contiue. Buying on Amazon is easy and people can live without the struggle of communication with the sales associate. Keeping people online means the online companies must have great company service. There is also customization when you can shop online. There is something faster and more convienent if shopping is done online. Online retail gives you more choices. Especially when you don't live in a large city and dont have many shopping options.


"The power of the Web to decentralize knowledge has prompted a profound shift in power from the producers to the consumers. Net Geners have increased access to information about products and services, and they can discern true value more easily than the generations before them. More than ever, to compete in the marketplace, firms need truly differentiated products, better service, or a lower cost, because deficiencies in value cannot be hidden as easily. True value is evidenced like never before" (Tapscott, 195).

In this quote Tapscott uses the Web the power to the people. This is true. Because of the freedom of the internet, browsing is virtually free for everyone and it is easy to simply share information. The internet has a shift to put the power in the peoples hands. Literally. Everything anyone needs they can Google or research. This is more valuable than anything. In a recent TED talk I watched, it was mentioned that everything we have on our computers is literally cherished and when we lose it we feel a strange sense of loss. We didn't lose anything but a screen but we lost all the information it held, all the information we could find immediately and all the photos and videos and memories we stored behind our screens. This is value. We value the things we save and see online and we cherish them now more than ever. The new and younger generations are firmly relying on these products and see less value in certain things. I know that when I lose or break my phone that I feel this odd sense of loss and I feel as if I lose so much of my life. Even though it is easily replaced, I still feel this weird sense of loss.

Something else I thought was interesting about this the "turning consumers into prosumers". "Thanks to the Web 2.0, companies in just about every industry can turn their consumers into producers—that is “prosumers.” Prosumerism is more than an extension of mass customization, customer centricity, or any of the other terms that boil down to companies making basic products and letting customers tweak the details. It’s what happens when producers and consumers both actively participate in the creation of goods and services in an ongoing way" (Tapscott, 208).

The idea of prosumerism is an idea that if online users share their consumerism then that idea will spread. So the idea to turn consumers into producers is smart because people in marketing can know what the Net Gens are thinking and doing and searching. This creates as Tapscott says the creation of goods and services that continue.