THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Independent

"I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others." - Mohammed

TOPIC OF THE DAY

The Internet Changes Everything — Except Four Things

At the e-G8 Forum in Paris this week, the Internet was venerated as a revolutionary force changing everything. French President Sarkozy, who commissioned the forum to provide recommendations to the G8 heads of state, was extravagant in his praise, calling it a new world and the eighth continent. Internet moguls from Facebook, Google, and Groupon were more subdued in their claims, undoubtedly cautious that France, Japan, America, and other sovereign nations are trying to plant their flags and impose their rules on the new world.

The fact of change is unmistakable. Every aspect of traditional industries is affected by Internet tools and social networks, as I proposed in my e-G8 talk for the plenary session on digital reinvention. The economic potential is starting to be measured. A McKinsey Global Institute study unveiled at e-G8 estimated that Internet economic output is bigger than Spain and growing faster than Brazil. Web-intensive SMEs grow twice as fast, export twice as much, and are more profitable than non-Web-enabled, the McKinsey study concluded.


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