Monday observations

It was during a Sunday visit to my uncle's house that I realized two of the biggest obstacles to the Internet media movement...fear and ignorance.

After watching him fumble through even the simple steps of opening a web browser, finding YouTube, then signing up for it and eventually finding what he wanted to watch, all the while growing more frustrated by his lack of success, I realized that sometimes I overestimate the common denominator when it comes to the Internet. I also realized that some of the so called "security" measures websites are employing are scaring away a generation of people who look fondly on the days when all they had to do to hear their favorite song was drop the arm on their favorite record... presto...instant gratification. No long, drawn out sign-up process, no warped letter that a person with perfect vision has trouble deciphering let alone someone with bifocals, just plain, simple technology.

Those youngsters, or those of us older in the know who are reading this blog don't think twice when we double-click the Chrome icon (*shameless product placement in the hopes that Google will pay me for these blogs...) and the wonderful Interweb opens before our eyes. A few more clicks and you are to your page of choice taking in all the marvelous content you can handle. But stop for a second and take in the fact, that there are those who don't know what a web browser is, let alone what it does.

Why is that important you ask? In my opinion, a couple of reasons really.

1. It stands of the way of those of us with something to sell (ie. content related to them) and a huge number of those who might have bought it if we could have packaged it in a way more familiar to them.

2. Convincing business to advertise on a site that is missing the mark due to a lack of knowledge by it consumers is an almost impossible task.

Which makes the idea of a target demographic one of them most important concepts as we dive into this new world of online media consumption. It is no secret that the generation who has grown up with a computer screen in their face from day one will make the transition smoothly, but do we neglect the ones who have the deeper pockets because of a gap in communication?

That my friends is the big question, not just from a financial standpoint, but in getting the audience we want in general. The hit them where they are philosophy is all well and good, but if we get them there and they don't know what to do...what then? An old saying runs pretty true for us and that is, you can lead a horse to water... well, you know the rest.

Our problem now is more convincing the older horses that our water is not scary or hard to drink. But I still hearken back to another saying which I will tweak some for our purposes... if we build it, and make is simple, they will come.

But before you go thinking it's all doom and gloom, here is an instructional video that might speed the education process along. Sorry, can't embed this one, got to click the link.