Editor’s Leader column, March 09

I am intrigued by the notion of ‘six degrees of separation’ – also referred to as the ‘human web’ – the idea that, if I am one step away from my friend and two steps away from my friend’s friend, then people are no more than six steps away from everyone else on the planet (page 6).

This concept has parochial roots among nosey neighbours and tight-knit communities of yesteryear and was effective long before ‘word of mouth’ became a marketing strategy: ‘It’s not what you know, but who you know’ was always a worthy business mantra . . . and ‘social climbing’ is still commonplace.

But now, the Internet has enabled those six degrees to be tracked around the world. ‘I’ve got a friend who lives in California – do you know him?’ may not be such a daft thing to say to an American in Paris, after all. Think of those viral joke emails, when you are able to view the email addresses of all your friend’s friends and realise you had dinner with two of them last month. ‘I didn’t know you knew Freddie’ you might say next time you meet/email. Networks like LinkedIn and Plaxo thrive on such ‘human webs’; great ideas which take their rightful place in today’s e-world (page 29) – a world which empowers even small businesses to trade across borders.

The virals which seem to travel especially far are ads, often for alcohol brands, or movie clips and they are usually either frighteningly engaging or hugely funny – and thus memorable brand-builders (page 17). I like to think those who craft such campaigns spend their days at work laughing their heads off.

I recently read that more people than ever now find the Internet better entertainment than TV. Similarly, newspapers are losing ground to the web for those seeking up-to-the-minute news, on demand. The problem with this is its knock-on effect – newspapers are literally folding as adspend depletes or is reallocated to the Internet; magazines are being closed or amalgamated – for example, DMI is now the only specialist DM magazine published out of the UK. It’s a trend which is not just a result of the financial downturn and is decidedly bad news for the world of print and publishing. But the up-side is, our personalised, targeted, one-to-one industry is perfectly placed for a modern society which eschews old-fashioned, blanket B2C advertising. Consumers are known to us now not as a generic body of purchasers but as individuals . . . and we must ensure we treasure them or risk the regulators’ wrath (page 8).

So, put your finger on the pulse of the direct industry: attend the iDi Marketers Forum this month and empower your business by meeting influential contacts (page 21).

You simply can’t afford to miss it.