How do trust networks affect diffusion of information and entertainment?

The Internet not only enables the emergence of trust networks, but in turn, trust networks also drive the mass commercialization of information technology, compelling most enterprises to rethink how they use media and information to find and serve customers.

The Post-Information Age of Trust Networks Surfs Two Vectors of Technology

Ever-increasing interactivity and selectivity describe how new and often disruptive technologies push society and commerce forward.

Each technical advance—more transistors on each chip, higher speed networks, a broadening array of telecommunication services, etc.—drives increased consumption of personalized information, skills development simulations, and immersive entertainment.

First with mainframes, then with minicomputers, personal computers, videogames, television remote controls, and now with the Internet, we gain increasing levels of direct interaction with information, education, and entertainment sources. Higher levels of interactivity produce more and more lifelike behaviors and interactions between individuals and immersive multimedia environments.

At the same time, we select from an ever-increasing inventory of information, education, and entertainment sources. Most important to this new era, individuals (like you and me) become significant new sources of information and entertainment for each other. Email, discussion, and chat rooms now successfully compete with prime time television and publications for audience attention and participation.

As society moves along these vectors, businesses and other institutions have responded to the increasing appetite for online, interactive sources (information, education, entertainment) and selectivity by deploying an array of new infrastructure and services that, in aggregate, constitutes the Era of Trust Networks.

The Era of Trust Networks will drive businesses to create goods and services in new and unforeseen ways, calling attention to the emergence of Networked Business Models and robust technical platforms fueled by digital supply chains and digital assets.