By, Bihongoye Erica (42535)

The Impact of the Internet on Business

The Internet has a wide variety of uses. It provides an excellent means for disseminating information and communicating with other people in all regions of the world. While the greatest use of the Internet has been sharing information, other sources of use are rapidly developing.  The following are other examples of current Internet uses:

1. Technical Papers

Originally, the Internet was only used by the government and universities. Research scientists used the Internet to communicate with other scientists at different labs and to access powerful computer systems at distant computing facilities. Scientists also shared the results of their work in technical papers stored locally on their computer system in ftp sites. Researchers from other facilities used the Internet to access the ftp directory and obtain these technical papers.

2. Share Company Information

Commercial companies are now using the Web for many purposes. One of the first ways that commercial companies used the Web was to share information with their employees. Sterling Software's Web page informs employees about such things as training schedules and C++ Guidelines. There is also some information which is company private and access is restricted to company employees only. Another company example is Sun Microsystems which similarily contains general information about the Sun Microsystems company.

3. Product Information

One of the ways businesses share information is to present their product information on a Web page. Some examples are: Cray Research and GM's Pontiac Site. The Web provides an easy and efficient way for companies to distribute product information to their current and potential customers.

4. Advertising

Along these lines, companies are beginning to actually advertise online. Some examples of different ways to advertise online are Netscape's Ad Page. Netscape has a list of advertising companies. They also use a banner for advertisements on their Yahoo Web Page. Starwave similarly uses banner advertisement. These advertisements are created in the established advertising model where the advertising is positioned between rather than within editorial items. 

5. Magazines

Magazines are starting to realize that they can attract customers online. Examples of magazines now published online are Outside, Economist, and Business Week. These magazines are still published in hard copy, but they are now also available online. Many of these publications are available free sometimes because of the time delay (i.e. publications online are past issues) or usually to draw in subscribers for a free initial trial period. Some of these publications may remain free online if advertisers pay for the publications with their advertisement banners.

6. Newspapers

Some newspapers are beginning to publish online. The San Jose Mercury News is a full newspaper online, while the Seattle Times offers just classified ads and educational information. The Dow Jones Wall Street Journal publishes its front page online with highlighted links from the front page to complete stories. The Journal also provides links to briefing books, which provide financial information on the company, stock performance, and recent articles and press releases