Here goes

Today’s advertising agencies are starting to worry about the effect of disintermediation with all the paid-search engines and information available over the Internet. But what is disintermediation? It’s when the intermediary, or so called middleman, is removed from the transaction process. Such as purchasing over the Internet and not needing to jump in your car and head out to the local shopping center. In fact, the paid-search engines of the Internet seem to be society’s new intermediaries, of which the agencies are in fear of. Print and online publishers are in fear of the effects of consumer blogging to their advertising campaigns and TV networks fear digital video recorders and Internet-based video. http://adage.com/article?article_id=46255The convenience of shopping over the Internet and not having to go to an actual store to buy something is very easy and can save money not only with today’s fuel prices but by being able to bargain shop, it also frees up much needed time for other activities when I have a specific item to buy or just gift shopping. However I don’t think that shopping centers will be going out of style anytime soon because there will always be the need for people to actually go out and shop when they don’t have anything specific in mind and want to get ideas when comparing items. For me I need to see it in person and get a feel for it, especially if it’s going to be a major purchase. Disintermediation in today’s consumers, has also given rise to the era of blogging. It allows a gateway into the inner workings of top firms and agencies and develops a devoted following. It allows a blogger to connect with other bloggers and find out from real users on products or services that they may be interested in to find out whether it is right for them and if not what product or service is. Blogging allows a user to distribute knowledge and information cheaply and simply and target an audience directly. http://kineticknowledge.com/blog/2007/11/26/disintermediation-improve-direct-marketing-and-reduce-overall-advertising-costs/ In http://www.interbiznet.com/ern/archives/050726.html we read a comment that we now live in a time when a journalist could face the possibility of a rebuttal on anything they write. We now have the ways and means to speak out and let them know if we agree or disagree on an issue. It creates the illusion of a discussion in a community. So even though I believe modern technology has it’s good points, I don’t believe it’s going to cut out the middleman totally. I think there’s still too much of society that likes to do things the ‘old way’.