While the internet can bring many things to mind as to what is possible as we search the web, the shifts in how we connect with one another, how we interact with products and services, and how we receive entertainment are among the most stark in my lifetime. These are done through multiplying memories, customization, and customers actually being part-time employees of the business.
To begin with, let’s examine multiplying memories through the lens of one of the premier and ubiquitous phenomena in the United States over the last 15 years: fantasy football. I am not at all a fan of participating in fantasy football primarily because it inevitably means I am caught in the tension of rooting for a player on my fantasy team that is playing my actual,
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According to the Fantasy Sports & Gaming
Commission (FSGA, n.d.) 62.5 million people in the US and Canada played fantasy sports, 54% of which played fantasy football. That means almost 34 million people play fantasy football.
Now here’s the E-commerce website that is about to change the entire landscape of these numbers. The whole notion of fantasy football is being familiar enough with players and teams to know who to draft, who to play, and who to trade. Up until now, access to watching every game has been limited to a particular group of people who subscribed to a service called Direct
TV, which had something called NFL Sunday Ticket. This was the ability to watch every game, every week. However, it was expensive on top of the already expensive service of Direct TV.
Enter YouTube.com, who recently won the rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket production. The benefit to consumers, according to Lauren Forristal (2023) is that there is no need to purchase an upgraded subscription in order to acquire NFL Sunday Ticket. One may simply purchase that particular service and maintain a free YouTube account. This is going to blow the doors wide open for accessibility of fantasy football players to seeing their players and teams each week.
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A music streaming website, listeners are able to choose a preferred genre or artist, and listen to songs or comedy routines from that specific artist and others that are similar. Then, within that experience, the listen can choose whether or not they like certain songs or artists more, further customizing their experience. While this can certainly be a benefit to most listeners, it also creates somewhat of an echo chamber for music consumption. I have a friend we affectionately called Little Bill who, with regard to music, would offer, “most people say, I know what I like, when what they are really saying is, ‘I like what I know.’” Perhaps it might help expand someone's musical palate if the experience weren’t so customized.
Finally, incorporating the customer as a part-time employee is something more and more companies are using. My daughter purchased a fully customized pair of Converse sneakers that she designed. Not only did Converse not have to pay a designer to try and match her tastes, she paid for the ability to take on this project. Girotti.com, an Italian shoe company, has built its entire business model on people designing and customizing their own shoes. They might