Aug 22, 2019
We talk so much of decentralisation yet the internet by numbers is probably the most centralised place on the planet with the majority of the traffic going in and remaining or going via Google or Facebook-owned properties. Then there are the players in the East Like Yandex and Vkontakte along with Baidu and WeChat.
That’s it, ladies and gentlemen, the rest of the internet is simply along for the ride and doesn’t really matter much at this point apart from feeding off the scraps these bigger sites provide. We’re all suckling at the power teet of these tech companies hoping they pity us enough to throw us a bone to build online businesses.
Image source — statista.com
Big internet was a necessary evil
In the begining Larry and Sergi made Google and Zuck made Facebook and all was well with the world. These were interesting new tools we could use to find information, curate content and communicate with people online and it slowly descended into a profit churning machine we see today that has no one’s best interests at heart but their own.
But at the time they were needed, like it or not these tools were revolutionary and made the internet fun and easy to use. It helped the adoption of the internet and getting everyone their dog and their grandma online faster than ever before. It gives people a place to explore and engage and learn not to be afraid of the internet and that there is a place for you online.
We grew up and grew apart
But as time went on, we both grew up. The tools grew increasingly focused on wealth extraction while the people grew extremely radical and irate. There is just too much information going through these tools and making too forcing too many people into unnecessary conversations with one another.
It’s become a schoolyard where everyone from the nerd to feminist is putting their dukes up looking for a fight, not just the old fashioned bully.
These tools are used for polarising people, misinformation and distracting one another with non-sensical garbage as many spend their days sifting through the faeces that plague many a newsfeed.
Its time to break up big internet
After hearing about politicians rambling on about breaking up the big tech companies I started giving it some thought and well they’re not wrong just going about it in the wrong way. Giving the government power to break up companies isn’t something I’d like to see, I don’t want any authoritarian figures trying to play nanny over what we do.
The problem isn’t that big tech got too big it was that they weren’t stopped from acquiring companies that could have competed with them for market share. Facebook gobbled up Instagram and WhatsApp while Google has acquired hundreds of companies and this is where the royal fuck up began.
You can’t have an economy where one or two companies pouch the competition. This is where it all went wrong and we can’t expect regulators to fix it now, it’s up to consumers to walk away as hard as it may seem for some.
Web 3.0 gives us a fresh start
Web 2.0 was the training ground, we worked out all the kinks we needed to and with a billions of users now internet-ready its time to allow them free reign of the internet to find projects and communities that resonate with their core principles, their interest and where they can find value in connecting with users as well as digital content.
I think those of us playing in the decentralised space like it or not are the ambassadors of what is to come, it’s our duty to shill the new internet like a YouTuber does their coinbase link. While we may not be ready to welcome and split the masses yet, I think we’re on the right track and it’s going to take a few years for it all to sync in.
The Goog and FB took about 10 years to get to real power players and that was a well funded, well-coordinated effort.
Breaking up the internet is going to be awkward, it's going to be annoying, it’s going to hurt, but its also going to be what’s best for all of us.
About the Author
Che Kohler is the co-founder of nichemarket, a South African Business Directory and digital marketing agency. He is an avid blogger who specialises in writing about marketing tech and cryptocurrency.
