Seth Godin has some thought-provoking comments:
In a connected world where people dont have letterhead, dont wear suits (dont even own suits) work out of tiny rented office suites (or their living room) have a simple website and buy only Adwords, have an answering machine not a PBX, dont have a receptionist or a sculpture out front in that world, how do we tell?
As weve stripped away a lot of the extraneous expenses and signaling mechanisms, are we in a race to the bottom (if bottom means raw, not bad)? I can no longer count on the best books coming from a major publisher, on the best articles being in the biggest magazines (in fact, I can assume that if its the cover story of a major magazine, its insipid). I can no longer assume that someone with a sketchy resume or a simple website isnt serious about what theyre up to
Welcome to the blended times. The moment when the big and small, the impermanent and the permanent, the accepted and the scammy meet. For a while, its going to be awfully confusing. Well get ripped off, waste time, become even more skeptical than ever before.
I have no certainty as to what the other side looks like, but Im pretty sure the winners are those that treated their customers and their constituents with respect and did it with honesty. Trust and respect are the two things we havent figured out a shortcut for.
