Advanced Interactive Media/Other Topics/Worldwide Interactivity

Worldwide Interactivity
Worldwide interactivity has been simplified and made easily accessible by the internet. Ten years ago, communicating with someone in a different hemisphere was slow and costly. Now, worldwide interactivity has surpassed everyone's expectations. Originally, Marshall McLuhan, a visionary in communications, called his vision of the internet a "Global Village." No one could have imagined how much of a reality that statement would become. The internet's largest most sought after products are interactive. For instance, multiple researchers confirm that dating sites and personal profiles are the most used and accessed sites on the web; thus, allowing the internet to become a large community, where quick communication is possible. Today, people all over the world, are accessible nearly instantaneously, thanks in large part to the internet and personal blog spaces.

The interactive world has even written its own language. An independent research firm confirms that four languages (English, Chinese, Spanish, and Japanese) cover 95% of the global population that uses the internet. Not only has the internet made people accessible, the communication barrier has been bridged.

From eHarmony to the latest video game, people are connecting and interacting. This highway of information is changing quite rapidly; it's becoming more of a train station. As people search for information, they have begun to sit and talk with the people who are traveling on the same train. This interaction will surely grow in the coming years. Forefront technologies, such as Napster and Java-based chat outlets, were innovative at their time and paved the way for technologies that we use today. As technology develops, communication over the internet will continue to rise.