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 THE STAT 26Percentage of wireless customers who use their cell phones to take picturesMore Vitals
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JUNE 10, 2003
The Net: Now, Folks Can't Live Without It [Page 2 of 2] COOL VIRTUAL THREADS. Marketers see the potential of e-communications to not only flog their brand but also to do online focus groups. The site called There recently signed agreements with jeansmaker Levi Strauss & Co. and athletic-gear giant Nike (NKE ) to market their designs on There's site. Result: A test version of the site now sells a Levi's jeans jacket for avatars for $5. The item has been a hit, according to There -- a good sign for Levi, which is planning to release the jacket in the real world this year. In the future, There could receive a chunk of revenue by providing its corporate partner with aggregate -- as opposed to personal -- data on the demographics of the people who cotton to its brand, says There CEO Tom Melcher. The outfit, which is supported by investors such as Kevin Ryan, CEO of Internet marketer DoubleClick (DCLK ), should launch officially in the third quarter. Over the past four years, illegal swapping of music files has arguably been the greatest form of e-communication. Even as the music industry is building a corral around such activity, however, Microsoft has begun testing a new product that should enable teens to better share music and Web videos -- presumably in a legal manner. Called 3 degrees and available in its test format at threedegrees.com, the service would allow up to 10 friends to chat as a group, compile a common playlist of up to 60 songs, and share photos, says Lisa Gurry, a product manager at Microsoft's MSN portal. Each member would also be able to adopt an identity (in test trials, a green monster -- resembling a dragon with wings -- has been the hands-down favorite). The concept of this group instant message could also be used in the corporate market, analysts say, and increase the "stickiness" of the MSN brand. INFO THAT'S ACTED ON. That's not to overlook the fact that the mere existence of the Web is enriching as it provides a huge diversity of views. Take Web logs, or blogs, which can assume the form of an online diary or a message board (see "The Wild World of 'Open-Source Media'"). What about medical information? Until a few years ago, all most people knew about their ailments or treatments was what they learned from their physician. Now, it's possible at the click of a mouse to get all of that and much, much more -- in some states, even information on doctors' malpractice histories. In the spring of 2002, 60% of respondents to a Pew Internet & American Life poll of 550 Americans said information they found on the Web helped them influence their care. Pew also found that one-third of those surveyed read political information online -- and that half of those said what they learned online affected their votes. "We're still in the toddler stage," says Lee Rainie, the project's director. "People are still relatively passive in using the Web." That will almost certainly change, though, as interaction online lets more opinions filter through. Other advances in communications are also changing e-commerce. New York-based LivePerson (LPSN ) sells software that AT&T (T ), BellSouth (BLS ), and Microsoft are using to help sell products and services, such as DSL (digital subscriber line) broadband Net access. The software analyzes the behavior of a visitor to a shopping site, for instance, to determine when the person might need a salesperson's help. If so, a LivePerson communications box might pop up on a Web page if the customer has kept an item in an online shopping cart for more than five minutes without making the purchase, says Robert LoCascio, LivePerson's CEO and chairman. The popup might ask if the customer would like to talk via instant message (VoIP is coming next) with a live salesperson. "We want to mirror the real-life selling experience," LoCascio says. E-TAILING PUSH? He claims that the software can help a business that serves 5,000 or more online visitors a day increase sales by at least $2 million annually. The product lists for $10,000 per month for a version that allows five customer-service reps to answer queries. Because the reps can multitask -- instant messaging several customers simultaneously, while talking on the phone to yet another -- it costs about $1.20 to answer a customer's question online vs. $6 on the phone, calculates LoCascio. Eventually, LivePerson's pop-up boxes could appear next to search results in search engines, he says. That could lend at least a small push to e-tailing, whose revenues should rise 27% over last year to $95 billion in 2003, according to tech consultancy Forrester Research. Some believe that customer-salesperson communication could improve the Net's commercial potential. About three months ago, LivePerson decided to morph from a customer-relationship-management (CRM) company, which it had been since its public offering in 2000, to an e-communications outfit for corporate clients, says LoCascio. Much of that could be a reflection of the difficulty smaller concerns have now in selling CRM. As consumers and businesses increasingly socialize via the Web, "we'll be the next AT&Ts," LoCascio says of his $8.9 million company -- with perhaps a dose of hyperbole. "There's no value any more in the dial tone." Such a development is still sometime away, since the great majority of consumers usually lag well behind the pace of innovation in communications. Still, the Social Web's evolution will be relentless. During the Internet's early days, many sociologists worried that people would lock themselves out of the real world and recede into a virtual one. MORE TALK, LESS SLEEP. That hasn't happened yet. On the contrary, studies show that e-mail and instant messaging have had no effect on the amount of time people spend communicating via traditional means, says John Robinson, a sociologist at the University of Maryland. People sleep less now -- though that hasn't been scientifically linked to increased communication. The Social Web's ultimate impact is that "a whole generation is growing up without knowing what it's like to live without [the Internet]," says Geoff Ralston, senior vice-president for network services at portal Yahoo! (YHOO ). From 2002 to 2007, the number of U.S. households with access to the Web will rise 33%, to 89 million, Jupiter predicts. And with the new e-communication technologies making talking more fun and interactive, yakking it up should hit an all-time high.
 By Olga Kharif in Portland, Ore. Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | |
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