The Internet and the Role it plays in the Lives of Consumers and Term Paper

The Internet and the Role it plays in the Lives of Consumers and Businesses - Term Paper Example line Advertising 13 The Ability to Purchase Goods and Services at any Time 14 Timely Customer Service 14 Announcements and Promotions 14 Improved Bargaining Power for Customers 15 Share Experiences on Company Blogs 16 Disadvantages of the Internet for Customers 16 Conclusion 17 Bibliography 18 The Internet and the Role it plays in the Lives of Consumers and Businesses What is the Internet? According to Shuman (2001), it is gradually becoming more and more difficult to reach a consensual working definition of what exactly is the internet. However, it can broadly be defined as a worldwide interconnection of thousands of separate computer networks. The Internet was originally developed in the 1960’s in the United States and it was intended to help link the country’s government agencies with various universities and colleges. However, the internet’s real expansion was first witnessed in the early years of the 1990’s when thousands of different companies as wel l as millions of individual persons realized that they could actually be able to easily afford the necessary telecommunication technology as well as the graphic browsers that are found to be vital in securing access to the internet as well as exchanging messages (Oggerino, 2001). Since its introduction, the internet has played a strategically vital role in revolutionizing communications and computers. The internet is found to serve multiple roles by acting as a mechanism through which information can be disseminated, a vast and intricate world-wide broadcasting capability as well as acting as a medium that allows interaction and collaboration between various computers and the individuals operating them all over the world regardless of their present geographical location (Betz, 2011). The Internet is widely...These benefits are seen to range from reduced advertisement costs for businesses, large market share and penetration to making it easier for business organization in general to be able to carry out cheaper and more effective market surveys. Customers are also able to experience several key benefits that are seen to result from the role played by the internet such as it is now relatively easier for customers to be able to make various purchases from their homes, they are also able quickly compare the price of a given commodity between different stores before making a purchase a factor which makes them gain more bargaining power. However there are several innate disadvantages that have been seen to affect both customers and businesses as a result of the role that the internet is seen to play. Some of these disadvantageous roles that are played by the internet are seen to include, increased risk of identity theft on the part of the customers and the common fact that business enterprises and especially so those in the entertainment industry are finding it increasingly difficult to adequately safeguard their intellectual properties (Fatayerji, 2004). Regardless of the specific role that the internet has been seen to have played that has impacted either customers or businesses, it’s continuous and general influence cannot be ignored and it is important for all business organizations and customers to ensure that they continuously evaluate it so as to effectively determine any advantages they stand to reap or the potential dangers resulting from the role played by the internet.