The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet.

I have to admit that since Wired became the GQ or Cosmo for Geeks - all about style and less about substance - I pretty much stopped reading it. I want tech news and information, not pictures of Will Farrell in a spaceman outfit. Every once in a while though, someone actually writes something worth reading.

Here's the gist:

The Web is dead. The Internet is alive and well.

Huh?

Ok, first of all you have to parse the two. We generally consider the Internet and the Web as the same thing. There is a distinction. The Internet is the underlying protocols that allow for the flow of information. This is what people mean when they mention things like TCIPs, IPs, DNSes and the like. These are the protocols that get a piece of datum from you to me. It is similar to when we mail a letter. I put a stamp on it and put it in my mailbox. It goes to my local post office. It gets routed to a larger post office. Sorted. Etc., etc., etc. Eventually it gets to the mailbox in your house. The underlying Internet is alive and well.

The Web is not healthy, however. Why? The main reason is we like simplicity. People are moving away from using their browsers to surf the Web. In fact, many of us spend most of our time on the Internet but off the Web. iTunes - on the Internet, but not on the Web. Apps on your smartphone - on the Internet, not on the Web. The Kindle - The iPad - The Nook. These types of applications cut through the clutter of the Web.

The second reason for the demise of the Web the places we do visit on the Web are fewer (and huge!). The Web was information that needed to be organized. Those who organized it best created their own specific type of experience. Facebook is the experience of Facebook. Nothing else on the web emulates it. Google is the experience of Google. Twitter is the experience of Twitter. Amazon is the experience of Amazon. And so on. When was the last time you just surfed the Web to surf the Web? What percentage of time do you just surf around? Yeah. Exactly. Me either.

As a tech guy and and organizational guy, I found the article - at a minimum - intriguing.

What would precipitate the end of Facebook? (Remember, no one thought MySpace would fall from its heights.) What does this mean for the future of the Web? Where will the next big 'organization process' happen?