Business slowly adjusts to the new, but when it does, it captilasizes very aggressively. But some think that “this time is different” – although there are others who disagree.

Back in the 1960’s, the communications possibilities of packet-switching and networking emerged. The first network of computers that communicated over a phone line was built in 1965. But it was only in the 1980’s that businesses began to take advantage.

Initially, there was anxiety over security, but this faded.

While Web hasn’t destroyed bricks-and-mortar, it has changed the way people make decisions. People are increasingly comparing prices on the internet, and shop online. T

The Dotcom bubble almost destroyed this new economy.

Views of the internet are highly divergent. Michael Porter thought that the internet was not a break from the past, but a natural evolution of IT, on par with scanning and wireless communications.

Don Tapscott, coauthor of Digital Capital, disagreed completely, arguing that Internet was already changing dramatically. He called it the new infrastructure of the 21st century—“the mechanism by which individuals and organizations exchange money, conduct transactions, communicate facts, express insight and opinion, and collaborate to develop new knowledge.”

Porter thought that universal adoption would neutralize the internet as a source of competitive advantage, but Tapscott thought that it would give companies more opportunities to differentiate themselves, innovate, and reach new customers. The original Web was very passive. Today, it is where you go to get things done.

Enter Web 2.0.

It is getting harder and harder to catch people’s attention.

Old marketing principles are now obsolete, although some are still brave enough to try. Karl Long, a blogger and Web integraiton manager for Nokia’s video game group, suggests a formula.

Experiment—treat it as an innovation exercise, building a portfolio of social media experiments through blogs, vlogs, podcasts, widgets, social networks (tools that are easy to engage with and share). Failure is not only an option, it’s a requirement.“Fail faster so you can succeed sooner.”

Monitor—social media put a plethora of tools in marketers’ hands allowing real-time measurement and monitoring of your ideas in the marketplace. Technorati, del.icio.us, BlogPulse, PubSub are just a few tools to see what ideas are being shared, and what ideas are taking off. Monitoring is not just about measurement, though—it’s about listening. Pay attention to the conversations, responses and mashups and you’ll have a rich source to draw from when you …

Respond—when things take off, you had better be ready to respond, participate and engage in the ensuing conversation. Can you amplify what’s happening, can you reflect what’s happening, can you capitalize on what’s happening? Have fun, have a sense of humor. There is really only one rule of viral marketing, and that’s “don’t take yourself too seriously.”

Web 2.0 is about participation, not publishing. Wikipedia is a primary example.