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Sun, Jan 27, 2008 17:18 EST

A Business Icon Quietly Fades Away

Topic: Applications

Blog: Doing Business in Real Time

Current Rating: 4 Comments: 5

This morning I tossed away what used to be the most popular way for people to find products and services and contact companies they wanted to do business with. Several big three-inch thick copies of the 2008-2009 Chicago Yellow Pages have been sitting on my front porch where the delivery person dropped them off several weeks ago. I haven’t even bothered to bring them inside, and this morning I finally admitted I would never use them. A feeling of sweet sorrow and nostalgia swept over me.

An iconic artifact, the big thick paper phone book, is rapidly receding into the fuzzy mists of time. I use Internet search engines or specialty websites to find everything from cat sitting services to building contractors, furniture, consumer electronics, restaurants and movies. I’m in an age group that still thinks of the 1980’s as relatively recent history, but even for me, it’s probably been five or six years since I last used a paper phone book of any kind.

The name Yellow Pages lives on and is still valuable; witness the number of plays on “yellow” and “yellowpages” in website addresses. But soon even the name will fade because domain names can be as random and cryptic as phone numbers; people use search engines anyway, so who cares what the domain name is?

Things we’ve discussed and debated for the last 10 years are happening with surprising speed simply because they have to. I realize this year is a tipping point. It feels like we hang in a moment of suspended animation between “life as we know it” and whatever is coming next. And much of what comes next does not require a Ph.D. to predict.

Obviously, the cost and environmental impact of traditional business practices like making paper, transporting paper, printing on paper, distributing printed material and disposing of all that stuff is no longer sustainable except for in certain niche applications. Information of all types is now mostly digitized and distributed electronically. And, obviously, cars will become smaller and more fuel efficient, houses will become smaller and more energy efficient, twisted fluorescent light bulbs will replace incandescent bulbs; and sprawling suburbs will coalesce around new high density urban hubs using rail mass transit to reduce commute times, fuel use, wasteful land use and carbon emissions.

In the last 10 years information technology has broken out of the data center and become a primary ingredient in every new product and service. We are entirely replacing some traditional products like paper and printed forms with pure information; and we are integrating information technology into the core of most other products – automobiles, houses, telephones, financial services, health care, etc. - to make them less expensive and more responsive to those driving necessities that shape the 21st Century.

I don’t expect Gen Y to shed a tear over the passing of icons like the Yellow Pages because those things were already fading as they came of age. But for the rest of us, from Greatest Generation to Boomers to Gen X, we are going to experience quite a few moments of sweet sorrow and nostalgia in the next several years. I can think of a number of other fast fading icons and how IT is used to create new products that replace them; what comes to mind for you?

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Average (2 votes)
4
 
 
Sun, Jan 27, 2008 20:17 EST
Anonymous user
Posted by: Lonewolf777
Rating: 90

"...people use search engines anyway, so who cares what the domain name is?"
Throwing the baby out with the bath water, are we?
I can assure you that Direct Navigation is a very real and powerful force in the domain world.

 
Mon, Jan 28, 2008 10:01 EST
Anonymous user
Posted by: tpac
Rating: 50

Predicting the future by ones habits is illogical. If I hate ice cream then everyone hates ice cream. If I don't use the YP then it must be dying, wrong.YP usage is still holding its own. The web may one day rule but it still has concerns. It COSTS money to use, it's subject to virus attacks, not everyone is connected, quality local content is lacking, the eye can scan more data faster with YP format than web screens, YP are free and do not require electricity. Scenario; storm comes in, power goes out, basement filling with water........you better keep those books handy!

 
Mon, Jan 28, 2008 10:42 EST
Anonymous user
Posted by: Anonymous
Rating: 30

I could not agree more! As I read that article I wondered where that person was getting their information.

Very few people prefer to read something from a computer screen than from a book!

 
Mon, Jan 28, 2008 12:29 EST
Posted by: Esther Schindler
Rating:

Like you, the Yellow Pages have sat in the same spot since the delivery person dropped them off. But I'm not tempted to dump them... yet.

I can go months without using the YP. But despite my affection for google maps ("find pizza near...") and online community resources (such as yelp.com), there are times that the information a YP ad gives me is just enough.

Part of that, I think, is that there's an established structure to a print ad: at least the company name, address, phone number. Most of the print ads are done with the help of a sales consultant who may lack true marketing skills but at least can help a small business owner fill in the expected blanks: your hours? a rough map of your location? and so on.

Sure, a company web site can have a lot more information (my dentist's, for example, shares before-and-after photos, and explains their holistic philosophy). But it's amazing how many web sites don't answer my questions. Case in point: my doctor's office site doesn't have their fax number, and I needed to send in a form.

When I need to choose a professional for which I should reasonably get multiple bids (a new RV gate -- can you believe how much those cost?! -- or a pool service), it's actually far faster to yank out the YP and call three reputable-seeming companies at once. It's far better than filling in some web form and waiting for them to call me back, that's for sure.

 
Sun, Feb 3, 2008 16:02 EST
Posted by: Michael Hugos
Rating:

Hi Guys,

I hear your comments. A lot of those thoughts went through my own mind as I arrived at my decision to do what I did. And I still stand by my reasoning.

Things change and that's how innovation, progress, etc. all happen. At this very moment two world powers are rapidly raising their standards of living - India and China. Between them they have about 2.5 billion people (USA has about 303 million); how are all these people going to get their own thick paper copies of the Yellow Pages? And there are another 2 billion or more people living in other countries in Africa, Asia and Middle East who also what to raise their standards of living.

Are there enough forests in the world to give all these people their own printed paper Yellow Pages? And then keep giving them new copies every year? Is this really the best use of our forests and other resources given all the things we need to be doing?

Necessity is the mother of invention... We're inventing new ways for people to find products and services and contact companies they want to do business with. And the fading away of icons does evoke strong feelings. As Mark Twain said, "I'm all for progress; it's change I don't like."

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