Don’t be evil. Many of us know that phrase to be the catchcry for Google, but with recent overseas events perhaps that motto should be applied to all users of online services. Failure to heed the phrase will quite possibly see us hurtle down the path to increased governmental control over our online behaviour, something I think we should do our best to avoid.

So what’s this all about?

July’s massacre in Norway and this month’s riots in the UK have seen both the Norwegian and British governments propose plans to affect our use of the Internet. Whilst Norway is discussing limiting the methods users can employ in order to make themselves more anonymous, the UK Prime Minister David Cameron is adopting a more aggressive stance, raising the prospect of shutting down entire social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry Messenger (BBM) in times of civil unrest.

But it hasn’t happened yet … has it?

In the United States, just last week a San Francisco Transit group called Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), shut down a cellular network, not because a situation had developed, but because they thought one was going to develop. This is reminiscent of the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report whereby the government seeks to arrest members of the population before they actually commit a crime.

Who thinks this is a good idea?

China is ecstatic as they see this as vindication of their continued oppressive stance with regard to Internet censorship and their Great Firewall of China. An article in their state media recently stated, “Media in the US and Britain used to criticise developing countries for curbing freedom of speech. Britain’s new attitude will help appease the quarrels between East and West over the future management of the internet”. The article then further took advantage of the UK proposal by stating, “As for China, advocates of an unlimited development of the internet should think twice about their original ideas.”

Who thinks this is a bad idea?

Anyone with a strong belief in freedom of speech including groups such as Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are aghast at both what is being proposed and what has already taken place. We even saw a director of BART make a statement that she did not agree with the action taken by the organisation.

Why should you care?

By introducing an Internet filter there is the potential for reduced broadband speed and in an Australian study the most effective filter as far as accuracy is concerned still allowed 24% of blocked content to pass, whilst all of the users in the study reported a measure of over blocking There is also the fact that such systems are easily bypassed by those who seek to obtain access to the restricted content. By using methods such as open proxy servers and private circumvention systems users can operate computers in geographic areas where the filtering technology has not been applied.

Whilst the intention of preventing civil unrest is commendable, the political, technological and cultural consequences of sliding down the slippery slope of censorship are just too great.

The digital age has brought with it some of the most exciting developments in marketing since Professor Neil Borden of Harvard Business School and Professor E. Jerome McCarthy of Michigan State University developed the Marketing Mix and 4Ps in 1953 and 1960 respectively.

When most people think of digital marketing it is likely that the Internet would be the first medium that comes to mind. Encompassing email, interactive and search technologies, it is these areas of advertising that have experienced the greatest growth in recent times. It is also these areas that are expected to experience the most growth in the foreseeable future. Round 2, Media Survey Results & Analysis shows 40% of U.S. marketers are planning to increase their spend on email, 31.3% are seeking to boost their spend on interactive and 23.5% plan on increasing their outlay on what has been the biggest boom segment of the past few years, search. Other digital mediums include digital tv, the recently launched (in Australia) digital radio and digital outdoor.

Sections of the market most likely to see a reduction in spend are those traditional arenas of print where 37.5% of marketers are planning reductions, tv at 21.4%, radio 8.9% and outdoor at 5.4%

This tremendous shift towards digital marketing in recent times can in part be attributed to the Global Financial Crisis, with marketers looking for more accountability than can be gained from the traditional methods of print, terrestrial radio & tv and outdoor.

At the 2008 ad:tech event in London close to a thousand event attendees were surveyed. Of those, 48% expected to assign over 30% of their budget to digital marketing for the ensuing 12 months, a 9% increase on the previous year. Of the reasons given for this level of commitment, the No.1 response was a belief that “online marketing delivered greater ROI than offline marketing channels” (PRNewswire, Aug 18, 2009).

Mobile marketing & video advertising were also increasingly being seen by respondents as worthy receivers of those precious marketing dollars, with 37% of respondents planning to invest in mobile marketing. Global spend for this burgeoning sector is forecast to grow from $1.8b in 2007 to $24b in 2013. Whilst only 15% of respondents planned to channel funds towards video advertising, this is still a significant percentage and this space will definitelty remain one to watch.

Now let’s have a look at the digital advertising industry as a whole. According to “The Kelsey Group’s Annual Forecast (2007-2012): Outlook for Directional and Interactive Advertising,” we’re looking at at an increase for digital, (search, display, online classifieds and other interactive products), of US$45b in 2007 to US$147b in 2012. Compare this to the projected growth of the entire global advertising industry from US$600b in 2007 to US$707b in 2012. That represents compound annual growth rates (CAGR) of 23.4% and 2.7% respectively.

Breaking it down even further we can see the local search sector move from US$2.1b in 2007 to US$6.6b in 2012 (CAGR 25.5%). This is in direct contrast to print Yellow Pages which is expected to have US$2.1b wiped from its annual coffers over the same period.

This first post is only meant to provide some general trends with respect to digital marketing, highlighting the fact that it has experienced and will continue to experience extremely strong levels of growth, especially when compared with tradional forms.

In future posts I’ll be having a much closer look at the various parts that make up the digital marketing world, including the aforementioned market sectors and the influence of social media platforms, applications and assorted technologies.

Until then