Do you ever sit down and think of what businesses would be without the internet? Do you ever imagine what influence the internet has over the success of a business? If you do, then here’s an article ironing it all out. 

Businesses have changed from what they used to be a couple of years ago. These changes can be identified to include outsourcing of employees, large-scale adoption of social media, and increase in remote work opportunities - to mention a few. 

Much of the business changes we see today are facilitated in one way or the other by the internet. Of course, the internet has long been a major business tool. However, it’s usefulness and applications in the business world has evolved. The reason why this is possible is because the internet itself has changed from what it used to be a couple of years ago. 

It has grown from Web 1.0 which facilitated desktop browser access and had only a few perks to Web 2.0 which saw the beginning of social networks and added some more perks, and is now approaching Web 3.0 that will introduce AI-driven services and a whopping number of additions. 

So, how exactly does the internet influence the success of a business, and how far-reaching is this influence? Read on to find out. 

Ways In Which The Internet Influences The Success of Businesses 

User or Customer Reviews or Feedback

A business’s success largely depends on the kind of customer or user reviews it gets. If it’s positive, then of course, the business will easily earn public trust and attract new leads. In the same way, negative feedback could completely ruin a business. It doesn’t only scare off new leads and potential customers but could also put away active customers.

Since reviews and feedback are very impactful, many startups have begun using social proofs as a way of earning new leads. This works to persuade potential that a service or product is worth trying out based on a positive review it receives. 

Trends

A trend is a popular, powerful pattern or preference in a market. It could begin from a suggestion by a social media user/influencer. Alternatively, trends could result from

an incident or the expectation that an event will occur in the future. Information about this incident or possible future occurrence could be spread over the internet through forums, websites or virtual conferences. 

As an example, we can consider two businesses;  one that depends on the use of gasoline and another that have adapted to using solar energy. We know that there are several differences between both energy sources. 

The biggest of this is that fossil fuels including gasoline, are non-renewable resources. They are depleting faster than they form. Solar energy, however, stands as a better option since it is a renewable resource. Additionally, the use of fossil fuels creates greenhouse gases which contributes to global warming and accelerates climate change whereas solar energy - on the other hand -is a cleaner form of energy. 

And as if this is not enough, many regions are being hit by scarcity and high cost of gasoline. All these widely-opposing differences are enough to start a trend where customers and clients prefer and patronize businesses that depend on solar energy over businesses that depend on gasoline. 

The drive behind this would be the fact that customers want to avoid service disruptions arising from the scarcity or high cost of gasoline. 

Internet Regulations

One other way the internet influences the success of a business is through internet regulations. There are only a few bodies capable of making such regulations. However, these bodies are able to dictate and control who uses specific services and for how long. 

An example of such bodies is the government of any country. Another example? Search engine providers like Google. Let’s explain that point. 

Search engine providers create what is called “webmaster guidelines.” These guidelines set out technical requirements, spam policies, and best practices for websites - if they are to appear in a web search. 

An instance where this internet regulation jeopardized the success of a business is a case that happened in mid 2022. Sometime in July, John Mueller who is a Search Advocate at Google announced that the use of AI writing tools violate the company’s webmaster guideline. 

The announcement had a sudden, negative impact on the growing number of companies producing AI writing tools. How? Writers made a u-turn from using these tools and many websites took down their AI-written articles, replacing them with traditional, human-written ones. 

Cybersecurity Activities

The world is having to deal with an increase in cyber attacks. According to Statistica, this meant a 37 percent increase in the number of breached data records between 2021 and 2022. Quite unfortunately, that is not the only problem startups face regarding cybersecurity attacks. 

And if you’re asking what could be worse than an increase in the number of cyber attacks, well, it is an increase in the impact of each attack. 

The IBM Cost of Data Breaches Report 2022 makes a point on this by revealing that the global average total cost of a data breach is $4.35 million. Furthermore, in 2021, a forum user reportedly posted a compilation of over 8.4 billion leaked passwords. Internet activities like this clearly influence the success of a startup because, of course, customers will likely ditch a business if it is repeatedly unable to protect its user data. 

Quantifying the Influence of the Internet on the Success of a Business 

The instances we mentioned above are a few out of hundreds of possibilities and actual happenings. All together, they show three important things. This includes the facts that:

1. Individuals can use the internet to influence business success
2. The effect of the internet’s influence on the success of a business could be immediate or spread over a period of time
3. These influences could impact business operation, productivity, and existence to several degrees.

Having said that, our answer to the question about how much influence the internet has on the success of a startup is that it can be “minimal or massive both in its scope and its degree.”