A world without websites: is it possible?
In the 1990s, I left the UK for a while. When I came back, the whole country was littered with “coffee bars” where you could order this thing called coffee, so long as you could answer 20 questions about how you liked it.
They even served tea, and they didn’t put milk and sugar in it for you. It was like being transplanted into a completely different universe. Coffee. In Britain. Believe me, pre-1998, the height of sophistication in coffee was the Maxwell House advert.
Things change, don’t they. It wasn’t that long ago I was refusing to get a mobile phone and now I’ve got that and a tablet, and couldn’t envisage living without either of them.
Twenty years ago, I was laughing at the very idea of the “internet” as a world for nerds, and Clive James was calling it the “information superhighway”. It was Katie Mesmin, who you’ve undoubtedly never heard of, who told me to “go and use e-mail” in 1994, and I laughed at the idea. E-mail! It’s for girls! A few minutes later, I was hooked.
And the internet was rubbish. Just look at Lego’s website from 1996. Even back then, we knew it was rubbish.
Things change so quickly, we barely notice. In a few years’ time, the internet will be a vastly different place to the one we know now, because it’s in constant transition. We’ve seen brands come and go, and we’ve even laughed at how out-of-place these old websites look. We’ve seen styles come and go, we’ve seen “web 2.0”, we’ve seen the rise of mobile and responsive, but what’s next?
Could it be a world without websites? It’s not as ridiculous as it might sound. What might happen if, for example, Google decides that organic search is “not really profitable” and decides to phase it out – perhaps by introducing more search results from Google Docs at the top of the results page, or by putting so many adverts on the page that you can’t see organic until it’s below the fold…
We’re part of the way there already. In many industries, organic search is being pushed further and further down. Google will happily promote its own shopping results for certain generic retail phrases, and local search results (despite their increasing irrelevance) are being pushed relentlessly.
What if organic search became an irrelevance? What if having an online presence, and not necessarily a website, were the way forward? Imagine, for example, that Google allow you to sell products through your Google My Business page (naturally, they’d be taking a small commission). The same would go for Facebook, Linkedin or Pinterest – an online presence, but not a website.
Each of these ‘hosts’ could then take your data and present it in all kinds of different ways. For example, if a Facebook user talks about buying a new car, they could advertise from a host of local car dealers immediately. Creepy, but incredibly possible.
If a Google+ user (yes, they do exist) talks about going on holiday, Google can draw together all of the flight and hotel data from their thousands of holiday clients and present the most appropriate, actionable adverts. Again, no need for a website – the user can check out your Google+ page, and at the same time check for a list of reviews, compare prices and book directly through Google.
I don’t see it happening for many years, if at all - our behaviours are quite entrenched, and we seem to have a model that works quite well at the moment, but it’s entirely possible. After all, Google and Facebook make more money when we spend time on their websites - not when we’re on other peoples’ websites. Why else would Google promote G+ so heavily when everyone knows it’s a dog’s dinner? Why else would Facebook develop a search engine?
A world without websites would involve managing, designing and optimising your online presence through different channels. Today, we’re concerned with organic, paid and social channels, but tomorrow we may be obsessing over different channels that combine all three of today’s channels in one.
Equally, we’re moving into a more intent-based environment. This is reflected by new technology such as Google Glass or Apple’s wristwatch, where actions are carried out almost as if the technology is a concierge. You won’t be looking at any websites on your Google glasses or your Apple iWatch (or whatever they call it). You’ll be saying “do this” or “find that”. Again, we’re reducing the value of the website, and increasing the value of the entities that can be found through Google, Apple, Facebook, or whoever else is in control.
And in twenty years’ time, my daughter will turn round to me and say “Dad, stop banging on about websites all the time, will you? Nobody has them any more” and I’ll say “well, I tell you what, I remember a day when there were no coffee shops in this country, young lady, and if you wanted tea, they’d put milk and sugar in it without asking.”
And she’d probably tut and put her Google contact lenses in.