For the May 2018 ATOM AotM, we will visit a technology that is not a distinct product or company, but rather is a feature of consumer commerce that we would now find impossible to live without. This humble yet indispensable characteristic of multiple websites has saved an incalculable amount of frustration and productivity loss. I am, of course, referring to web-based reviews.
Lest you think this is a relatively minor technology to award an ATOM AotM to, think again, for a core principle of technological progress is that a technology is most successful when it is barely even noticed despite a ubiquitous presence.
Part of what has enabled eCommerce to siphon away an ever-rising portion of brick and mortar retail's revenue is the presence of reviews on sites like Amazon. Beyond eCommerce, sites like Yelp have greatly increased the information access of consumers seeking to patronize a low-tech business, while media sites permit a consumer to quickly decide which films and video games are worthwhile without risking a blind purchase. While false reviews were a feature of the early Internet for over a decade, now there is considerable ability to filter those out.
I recall a frustrating episode that a friend and I experienced in 1999. We wanted to rent a film from Blockbuster videos, but did not know which one. We found one that had familiar actors, but the movie was extremely subpar, resulting in a sunk cost of the rental fee, transportation costs, and time spent on the film and two-way transit. When returning to Blockbuster to discharge the VHS Cassette of the film, we selected another, based on the same criteria. It was even worse. We had rented two separate films over two separate round trips to Blockbuster, only to be extremely unsatisfied. Movie review sites like IMDB did exist at the time, but my friend did not have home Internet access (as his Internet activities were restricted to his workplace, as was common at the time).
Now, in this anecdote, just list the number of ATOM disruptions that have transpired since :
- There is no longer a 'Blockbuster Video' that rents VHS Cassettes, as films are rented online or available through a Netfilx subscription.
- Everyone has home Internet access, and can see a film's reviews before ever leaving home.
Hence, it is no longer possible to waste hours of time and several dollars on a bad film. The same goes for restaurants, and in this case, both the consumer and the business are shielded from an information mismatch on the part of the consumer. I have always felt that it was unfair for a patron to judge a restaurant negatively if they themselves did not order what they might have liked. Now, with Yelp, in addition to reviews, there are pictures, enabling a vastly more informed decision.
Even higher-stakes decisions, such as the selection of a dentist or auto-mechanic, has slashed the uncertainty that people lived under just 12 years ago. The better vendors attract more business, while substandard (or worse - unethical) vendors have been exposed to the light of day. This is a more powerful form of quality control than has ever existed before.
Now, to see where the real ATOM effects are found, consider the value of the data being aggregated. This drives better product design and better marketing. This also expands the roadmaps of accessory products or complementary products. The data itself begins to fuel artificial intelligence, for remember that any pile of data of sufficient size tends to attract artificial intelligence to it. This leads to a lot of valuable analytics and automation.
If one were to rank the primary successful Internet use cases to date, the ability to see reviews of products and services would rank very high on the list. For this reason, this receives the May 2018 ATOM AotM.