In the last two years, Internet traffic has been mainly driven by Facebook, which will impact people profoundly in the next 3 to 5 years, said management guru Prof N. Venkatraman.

Had it not been for Facebook , global Internet traffic would have dropped significantly. Thanks to the social networking site, traffic increased nearly 6 per cent, according to Prof Venkatraman, David J McGrath Professor of Management at the Boston University School of Management.

Facebook is an example of how social media networks can influence the way people live. It also presents business opportunity for companies to reach out to their existing and potential customers, he said at The Hindu Business Line’s ‘ Guru Speak 2013 - Digitising Business,’ organised in association with IIM Calcutta Alumni Association.

Warner Bros, for instance, used Facebook to understand what viewers think about its movies. Typically, a movie is first released in theatres and then in DVDs. However, Warner Bros released the videos of Dark Knight on Facebook to get a feedback from viewers. And the response was mind-boggling. The company was able to get information from 14-million viewers of the movie — whether they liked the video, shared the video, gave comments, bought merchandise or rejected the movie. It was able to mine a rich array of data than distributing DVDs, he said.

The 21st century will provide great opportunity and challenges to companies. Without the use of technology and the Web, they may not be successful, he said.

Prof Venkatraman advocated the five Webs — mobile, social, real time, machine and media — that will be critical for businesses in future. These five Webs should not be independent but inter-dependent. Web is increasingly impacting everybody’s lives, he said.

raja.simhan@thehindu.co.in

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