One of the things I hear from people when I ask them about the future of print is that they think catalogs will go away. Printed catalogs, that is. They think that it's just easier to order stuff on the web.
It is easier to order stuff on the web. The problem is being able to tell what you ordered!
I've noticed something. When I get a brochure for a conference or a trade show it sits on my desk for a while. It sits there for many reasons. Maybe I'm trying to figure out how to justify going. Maybe I'm trying to figure out who to send. Maybe I'm trying to decide whether to go at all. Regardless, it's sitting there on my desk. Reminding me.
Email ends up in a long list of similar items, waiting to be trashed when no longer relevant.
Have you mastered the Internet? How about blogging, RSS feeds, XML, Podcasting? All of it's pretty cool stuff. Most teenagers know how to use it, and when it works it can be really impressive.
But the majority of our population isn't teenagers. It's older folks, most of whom don't know what the heck an RSS feed or podcast are.
But they do know how to use print. Everyone who knows how to read does.
I just found out that an email I'd sent to someone didn't get there. My email signature has the word "sex" in it - as in Sussex, the town where my company is located. The recipient's email filter blocked the message because they thought it was about sex.
Do you know how much email gets blocked? A hell of a lot of it.
On the other hand, everything that the postman puts in my mailbox passes through my hands. I may not have asked for it, I may not value it, but it gets there.
One of the most disappointing things about being a webmaster is when you learn that the web stats you get on your site are not very reliable. Referrer spam makes it look like lots of folks were following non-existent links to your site. Page loads make it look like a visitor is really fascinated by your content, but really he just hit the reload button because he has a nervous tick.
Do you get spam? I know, it's a stupid question. What's even more stupid is that despite the incredible technology and effort that have been hurled at blocking all forms of email advertising people still pour money into it.
I don't know about you, but very little unsolicited email I receive gets read by me. I've just been soured by so many ads for suspicious deals for things I don't need, not to mention phishing and other attacks that I just don't bother.
