I was thinking that there are 3 overt actions you perform online: 1) click on a link 2) search 3) email. Now all 3 actions have as a by-product (ideally unobtrusive) ads that invite you to become a consumer of something. This filling in of the internet with a commercial overlay that works without alienating potential customers, or I should say creating customers out of everyone, where before there were only surfers, is probably on par with the invention of goddamn electricity.
And the reason it works is the targeting: intelligent ads. In fact I think a new word is needed. An ad was something that bugged me unless I needed the product, in which case it aided my decision. There is an organic quality (jargon I know!) to these chunks of info that *probably* have some connection to me based on one of my 3 basic activities listed above.
It feels like walking through dense forest and having fruit present itself as I go. It may not all be ripe or edible but it does not obstruct my way and some of it is perfect for me, or may be when it ripens. Before there was a new jungle, interesting and overwhelming. That is still there, but now there’s sustenance too…surf-fruit? Net-fruit?