The Web is Not the Internet, The Web Runs on the Internet!

July 1, 2008 by James
Filed under: Internet Marketing, Rants and Raves, SEO 

web internetSeriously folks… I understand it’s confusing - I do. But for the love of all things technical, the Web is NOT the Internet! The Internet was invented by Al Gore… sorry, wrong history. The Internet was invented around the same time my mother surprised my father with those immortal words “Honey, you’re going to be a Daddy!” … Ahh the late 60’s, odd music, liberal social norms and the birth of James and the Internet.

Anyway, this first generation Internet was a military project and was eventually privatized in the early 90’s and later that same decade a few bright sparks decided this Internet ‘thingy’ was a damned hard technology to use so maybe they should make it more user friendly. That was about the time graphical browsers and HTML began appearing - the early web as we now know it.

–> Check out the Internet Timeline <–

So, the WEB is a service and it runs on the INTERNET. Remember, the web is a collection of interconnected websites and files (videos, music, software and so on.) It’s also important to note the Internet includes other services like email too.

Let’s recap - a web marketer works with websites whereas an Internet marketer works with the web AND all the other technologies and services. Another example might help you: an SEO consultant typically focuses on the web (the websites and content therein) to attain preferential placement within the search engines. Whereas an Internet Marketing Consultant looks at a unified marketing strategy that includes SEO, SEM, email marketing, PPC and more… much more. [hint hint]

The next time you meet a web marketing expert and an Internet marketing expert at a cocktail party you’ll now be able to tell the difference - right? :)

PS. Happy Canada Day!

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Comments

2 Responses to “The Web is Not the Internet, The Web Runs on the Internet!”

  1. Darren on July 2nd, 2008 12:03 am

    I like your site, and your posts, but THIS is just semantics at this point. The WEB and the INTERNET may be different technically, but they are synonyms to the lay person, and the distinction is not at all important to 99.99999% of people. Seriously… What happened that got your in such a tizzy over web marketing consultants vs. internet marketing consultants? I think the distinction is b.s. but otherwise, I’m a big fan!

  2. James on July 2nd, 2008 7:20 am

    Morning Darren,

    I guess my goofy English humour got lost in translation on this one. You are of course correct - it is semantics at this point. The average lay-person doesn’t know the difference… but you do *wink* And after reading my wee-rant-for-fun… a few more people do as well.

    Actually, although this post was in fact mostly tongue-in-cheek, it was inspired a little by the fact I regularly meet consultants and companies who claim expertise and then come up short on delivery. And lately I’ve been working with a lot of clients who’ve fallen for the glitz and glamour of flashy promises and little else. So I suppose I was hoping to inspire a bit more “due diligence” in people before they choose their online marketing professional :-)

    And thanks for the comment Darren, I appreciate them.

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