« End Run Around iTunes | Main | Finally »
Net Natives
We have a term we use around the office a lot - Net Native.
We started using it to describe services that were built specfically for and are solely resident on the Internet. We called them Net Native services.
But lately we've been using the term more to desribe people who were "born on the Internet", natives of the Internet. And, of course, those kind of people create the most interesting Net Native services.
I had lunch yesterday with Nick Denton and we talked about Net Natives. Could someone be 60 years old and be a Net Native?
We agreed that it is possible and we even named a few 60 year olds who are Net Natives. It's not about age, it's about gettting immersed in the Internet, its culture, its tools, its values and ethics.
That said, I know a lot more "20 something" Net Natives than "60 something" Net Natives.
I turn 45 this year. It's hard being Net Native at 45. This blog is a big part of my efforts to be Net Native and stay Net Native. I am not sure I could do it otherwise.
June 8, 2006 in Venture Capital and Technology | Permalink
Comments
Classic, I want to be a net native - you need to set some guidelines.
I think Google will benefit the most from the net native generations we are creating. It is why shipping companies thrive desite $70 oil and why Jetblue made the right decision to pay 7 something to get in the game in the air. (WONT SAVE THEM THOUGH).
Net Natives are why the Internet is inning one despite web 2.0 bubble talk.
Our golf site has thosands of 60 plus year old net natives that book 300 plus rounds a year and they are the ones who would really show up for a smart simple social network experience.
Let me know if it is ok to start using the term elesewhere.
cheers
Posted by: howardhowardhoward Lindzon | Jun 8, 2006 8:52:01 AM
Fixed my name - woops
Posted by: howard Lindzon | Jun 8, 2006 8:55:07 AM
I'm a fraction older then you, and certainly wasn't BORN on the web, but I sure as hell live there!
Posted by: Ric | Jun 8, 2006 9:19:38 AM
Interesting.
Do you have to have a blog to be considered a Net Native?
I live, sleep and eat on the net. I follow hundreds of blog, news and product feeds, pay my bills online, buy products online, etc. My last 4 jobs have been net related startups (anti-spam/virus, online banking, online shipping and customer product ratings), with my current being one where I work remotely over the net.
However, while I've tried blogging, it never really took, does that disqualify me from being a Net Native?
Michael
Posted by: Michael | Jun 8, 2006 9:57:29 AM
Age is not a factor here.
It's how you react to the web's potential.
Posted by: Tom Labus | Jun 8, 2006 10:00:10 AM
Fred, I think I qualify as a Net Native, even, at times, a giddily addicted one. But I also think the giddiness over new toys and technologies and everything needs to be tempered with a bracing dose of historical perspective -- e.g. that 1) the invention of say, the chimney, was every bit as revolutionary and society-changing as TC/PIP, and 2) even the most cool new technologies will never, on their own, resolve the basic, eternal challenges of human societies, the emotional, political and socio-economic tensions that, IMHO, can only be resolved by people themselves, whether or not they use the Internet, a gun, or tea leaves, or a hug.
Albert Einstein perhaps summed it up best when he said (paraphrasing): "Atomic energy changes everything... except for how people think."
I say, the Internet changes everything... except for how people think.
Posted by: steve | Jun 8, 2006 10:10:40 AM
Steve is a BUMMER
Posted by: howard Lindzon | Jun 8, 2006 10:26:25 AM
And the opposite is a net tourist I think, just like the real world tourists get ripped off on their holidays.
I'm 58 and defintely net native, amazed to find today my web site has grown to 751 pages according to Yahoo. Blog on!
Posted by: Geoff | Jun 8, 2006 1:04:28 PM
net native .. im diggen that
Posted by: simon | Jun 8, 2006 9:50:55 PM
I think of myself as a "net native" - been involved with online communities since 1990 - when they were unix based and was a cybrarian for cern web page lab ..
But, I have you beat - I just qualified for AARP card.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cambodia4kidsorg/154175959/
Posted by: Beth | Jun 9, 2006 10:02:54 AM
I can see that the post focussing on net nativity is more than half a year old. Well, I am a bit older web user, but definitely not a net native. So I think I would be sth like a web20 native, like many of the users coming with the simpler platforms. Which generation is that? Is web10 native The net native or they are different?
Posted by: sanna | Jan 6, 2007 4:28:23 AM
