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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Entrepreneurs, Small Businesses And Consumers: A New Trend Toward Activism.

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Entrepreneurs, Small businesses and consumers, rising up in righteous indignation, are leaning less toward benign resignation to enslavement by the few, and more toward activism in a groundswell of disgust with the status quo. Social media has played a great role in this.

The US population is becoming increasingly frustrated and disgusted with the abuses visited upon them by monopolistic, unresponsive utilities companies and governmentally-endorsed service-providers. As author of The Global Futurist, I felt compelled to share this excerpted Yahoo! News article with my fellow entrepreneurs, thought-leaders, business owners, project managers, strategic planners and trend-spotters.

The notion of "Moving Off Of The Grid" is one that is rapidly catching fire amongst the consumer and small business population. They have become increasingly distrustful of these largely uncontrolled organizations. I believe that this signifies a very significant trend that is going to lead to an increased growth in what I shall term "bypass services" -- services that can be used to bypass the local reigning monopolists.

Further, I believe that this trend and tendency will cross many different service sectors from automobile fuels, to energy sources, to telecommunications, to transportation, to healthcare and a variety of other services upon which the populace has come to depend.

This is increasingly evidenced by the acceptance of the idea of sustainability, the market movement toward hybrid automobiles, alternative energy source utilization and the cutting of any umbilical cord which leads to a controlling, monopolistic, plutocratic and domineering mother-figure utility or dominant territorial service provider who likely paid for the territory won in a transaction that was not structured in the public interest.

This increasing distrust of large utilities, sole-source suppliers, and of government-at-large is being further spurred by the proliferation of negative news and transparency created by the growing popularity and ready accessibility of social media. Add a few "classified" documents disseminated by such organizations as WikiLeaks, and the anti-establishment is slowly but surely growing.

It is almost a cultural throwback to the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States where our gas-guzzling musclecars (yet to experience our first artificially-created exploitative 'gasoline shortage') sported decorative (but thought-provoking) bumper stickers which imparted such wisdom as "Question Authority" and "Visualize World Peace"...with the occasional dark-windowed van sporting something more portentious, such as "The Only Solution Is Revolution."

The trend spells a grassroots groundswell of discontentment and activism. It will be fascinating to see how far this movement will be permitted to escalate and proclaim itself before it is either palliated or repressed by the most powerful and elite elements who are the puppeteers holding most of the strings, and most of the cards, as well.

Regardless, our conformist domestic and global cultures are starting to become riled after years of mainstream media-induced hypnotism and reliance on "too-big-to-fail" bulwark establishments. This has the potential to create an environment which will be increasingly receptive to entrepreneurship, small businesses, and [hopefully] a bit of re-Humanization.

Here is the article:

NetflixHelps People Cut Cable Cord, Report Says

nytimes

NICK BILTON, On Wednesday June 15, 2011, 4:23 pm EDT
It has now been a couple of years since I cut my cable and began exclusively watching Internet video on my home television. I still feel that it was one of the wiser decisions I've made with technology, saving me hundreds of dollars a year and countless headaches dealing with a cable company.

But was this just a move to be expected of a techie? Some have speculated that cutting the cable cord is simply a fad. But a new report issued on Wednesday suggests that if it is a fad, it's one that's moving into the mainstream.

The report, the result of a survey of 2,000United Statesadultbroadbandusers, found that people who useNetflixto streamInternet videoto their televisions are twice as likely to cancel, or slim down, theircable televisionoptions as they were a year ago.The report comes from the Diffusion Group, aDallas-based media research firm.

When the Diffusion Group surveyed Netflix members in 2010, they found that 16 percent of customers were planning to downgrade or cancel theircable televisionservice. During the same survey this year, the number of customers planning to make that change had doubled to 32 percent.

The report also found that although the majority of those surveyed cited economic reasons and "the need to save money" as a rationale for canceling cable, 34 percent said a growing use ofonline video was the culprit, "two-thirds of which citeNetflix in particular as the primary perpetrator," the report says.

Now, instead of having only the option to pay a cable company to deliver content, people have an array of choices and devices. Netflixclearly saw this trend coming, and over the past year has started offering its video content on mobile phones, tablets, computers, game consoles, or devices that hook up to a television, including Boxee and Apple TV. The company also began offering customers a streaming-only option late last year. ####

Perhaps some positive change will blossom from this new season of discontent. I hope so. Expect interesting times ahead for cult leaders, thought-leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs. Ultimately, consumers stand to benefit the most.

Faithfully,

Douglas E Castle

Original Published Title Of This Article By Author Douglas E Castle, Chairman of TNNWC: "CONSUMERS AND BUSINESSES - MOVING OFF OF THE GRID."
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