WikiLeaks has just shown us how powerful the Internet is as a communications weapon.
If all the leaks, that Julian Assange was given, had gone to mainstream press I doubt that most of them would have seen the light of day.
However the way they were leaked has put the press at arm’s length and given them the opportunity to share every detail with the world.
It has outed governments behaving badly and now, as those same governments try desperately to stop Assange, it has shown how big business can also behave just as badly.
What’s even more remarkable, and again shows how powerful the Internet can be, is that now those companies who are feeling the pressure from the governments, and denying WikiLeaks money or online access, are being attacked and forced off line themselves.
The very marketing weapon, they have grown to rely on, has been turned back on them.
The new age advertising people believe that the Internet is a revolution for marketers and will render traditional media useless.
Newspapers didn’t replace posters, radio didn’t replace newspapers and TV didn’t replace radio.
The Internet won’t replace any of the mainstream media it will just become part of the marketing mix and ultimately become part of the mainstream itself.
Just as always, advertising will ride on the back of news and will help to fund its publication.
On December 11, 2010, only ½ of 1% of the US diplomatic cables have been released by WikiLeaks.
The real revolution is happening right now and it will be interesting to see what the new order will be like beyond Wikileaks.
