Impact of Science and Technology on Society: Virtual Marketing

Impact of Science and Technology on Society: Virtual Marketing

Thesis Statement

Virtual Marketing, its sources of technology, science behind it and stage of adoption.

Introduction

Technology is the creation utilization and knowledge of tools, equipment, machines, systems or methods used to solve a problem or perform a particular task (Merriam-Webster, 2012).

Virtual Marketing is a product of several technologies, combined to create a synergistic effect for the companies. Search engine optimization, ranking, website indexation, online advertising, and many other virtual sources of marketing come under the umbrella of virtual marketing (www.internet-communication-services.com, 2012).

This essay introduces the concept of Virtual Marketing with a brief background and its sources from which it originates.

Discussion

Virtual marketing stands on the shoulder of the internet and computer. Since the invention of internet in 1973, it has brought myriad breakthroughs in many fields including science, education, health care and business. Internet, as today, is a result of successive evolution. Initially neither the internet nor computers were affordable for individuals. Only companies with vast databases could afford it. Also, government used it for their purposes. In fact, US military is one of the first users of internet. Later the computer became smaller, and the internet became faster and affordable.

Virtual Marketing, started with simple online brochures or simple web pages highlighting the features of products, around 1990. Later it evolved further, links to purchase were added, and brochures then began to customize according to the history of each user with that web page. This initiated the concept of mass customization, which subsequently applied to production of goods as well.

Then came a flood of these online brochures, it became almost impossible to get to the page you want if you do not know the exact address. This brought a need for search engine. These search engines automatically searched the topic, we wanted. Search engines use to hold a large collection of websites addresses and the topic subjects of them. But websites became dynamic; there data get updated more frequently. Then came the modern idea of “key word(s) (marketing.com, 2010). Initially, the key word search was random, meaning as soon as user typed the word, search engine use to present a list of all the websites that had those words. Later came the idea of search engine optimization. Every website wanted its name to appear on top of search results. One method was to pay the search engine, and the other was to use the search engine optimization techniques.

Virtual advertising is interactive. It customizes the message itself as per the user interest. Logs are maintained for each user, often in his/her own computer, known as “cookies”. These cookies keep the session details saved in the hard disk. Next time the user login, it automatically recognizes that user and shows the relevant material. One example is of eBay. When a customer shops on a website, data is continually processed and saved, and when the next time the consumer comes, suggestions of related item are displayed, ...