The Power Of The Internet

Several events in the last few months are beginning to define the internet as the most powerful force on planet earth. As millions of people are getting connected to the internet, the power of the web has morphed into something that can never be contained.

I think the turning point of the internet was the election of Barack Obama as the first African American president of America. Although previously, we had experienced the stock market almost being brought to it's knee's prior to the presidential election, the full force of communication never brought the US economy to it's knees like in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.

Were it not for the internet,Obama would never have been elected president. From his fund raising efforts to his YouTube videos, including the Obama girl music video, Obama's team harnessed the power of the internet to overcome racial stereotypes that America has failed to put behind it.

And then this past Thursday, the demise of the king of pop,Michael Jackson almost brought the world wide web to a standstill. Because news outlets were wary of reporting the unconfirmed rumours of Michael Jackson's death, the world turned to the internet in search of the truth. Even the mighty Google thought that its servers were under attack from automated request from a virus. It turned out that people turned onto their mobile browsers in search of news.

And now that Cisco Systems Inc, the largest networking and communications technology company, is determined to connect every human being whenever they may be, I can't imagine when what will happen when that day comes.

At this rate, I suspect that we are not far away from a time when future wars will be fought over the web rather than through military combat.