Internet/New Media
Industry Overview
It's mind-boggling to think that, up until a decade ago, the Internet was nonexistent or in its very early stages. In the early days, e-commerce was touted as a pipe dream-people would never give up shopping in stores in favor of putting their credit card numbers out into the electronic ether. Too dangerous.
Yeah, right! Just tell that to Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, or Meg Whitman, the CEO of eBay. Today, companies are selling products, publishing, and broadcasting online like crazy, to the tune of $220 billion in 2006, a 25 percent increase from the previous year. And the nature of the demand is shifting: For the first time, in 2006, apparel outpaced computers in online sales, totaling $18.3 billion. Ten percent of all clothing, shoe, and accessories purchases occur online now.
Of course, online sales and publishing are just the tip of the iceberg. Add job search services, online gaming, distance learning, and all of the other things you can do online, and you have an incredible electronic marketplace with virtually no geographic boundaries. Every day, people are finding more ways to connect and sell online. Just look at companies like YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook, which all sprang up in the last five years. Each are now multi-million dollar companies. In YouTube's case, add a "b" to that descriptor-the free video sharing site sold to Google in October 2005 for $1.65 billion.
Heavy spending is also being made in online direct marketing-creating very strategic, optimized campaigns that run at specific times on specific web sites, backed by email programs. Customizing ads based on user identity and preferences, fueled by "cookies" which track users' preferences, is part of any well-executed online campaign.
Far from being a mature industry, the Internet remains a space of opportunity. Convergence (the coming-together of various technologies-for instance, the cell phone that also serves as a gaming console, a global positioning system [GPS] device, and an Internet access device) and the human imagination should continue to create opportunities for almost any type of company. InternZoo offers positions in the internet and new media sectors - come check them out by narrowing your search.