Abstract:

Will new on-line media - particularly Internet-based ones - forever change the way we communicate? Will they forever change commercial communications such as advertising? Who will benefit, who will loose? How may marketing and research be affected? This paper attempts to shed some light on these questions. First, by reviewing the present state of the debate as it appears in the literature. Second by proposing a key assumption: traditional institutions - corporations, marketers, advertisers, even the press- will no longer be able to control New Media. Third, based on this assumption, by suggesting prospective scenario for the communications and research industries.