In the span on an average human life, 12 years is a flash in the pan, a moment, an instant, just the blink of an eye. Yet it’s astounding how much can occur in such a short period of time. In the realm of technological advancement, 12 years is an eternity. 1994 might as well be the Stone Age. In 1994, cell phones were still a novelty item and remained a mark of status. Last weekend, I saw a girl with a mobile phone dressed in glitter who told me she was 9 years old. In 1994, compact discs were still the new thing. Today, we can store over 1,000 songs on an MP3 player the size of a cigarette lighter. 12 years ago, the world still seemed like a fairly large place. Last night, I had a conversation about politics with a 23 year old girl in Iran. What an astounding era we live in!

1994 was an historic year. This was the year that the US government relinquished control of the internet and the World Wide Web was born. Today, we talk, write letters, pay bills, do research, pay our taxes, study, find directions, plan vacations, rent movies, shop, date, and make friends all via the internet. To say that the web helps us manage our lives would be a tragic understatement. For the average American, the internet is central to daily existence. It’s like no other communication portal, invention, or tool ever conceived. It’s not part of our culture - it defines our culture.

Lying on the internet horizon are further technological changes. As my co-worker, Mary Bowling, addresses in her article “Local Search 101,” the Search Engines are moving towards making local listings and local searches much more prevalent for web users. Google Local and Yahoo Local are the first steps in this evolution. This technology will help in the development of “mobile search,” as the internet moves to cell phones and automobile consoles to a greater extent. Personalized searches are also on the way. The Search Engines will “remember” an individual’s personal tastes. When one person searches for a hotel in Denver, they will find luxury hotel sites, when another makes the same search they will find budget hotels. Web search results will ultimately change for each of us.

This is the ocean that we here at Blizzard swim in each day. This is our realm of existence and our expertise. Because of the nature of our work, change is the only constant. It is more than important, it is essential to our effectiveness as a company. Most people don’t like change. Some of our clients are resistant to our dynamic, and seemingly endless, changes. This is, of course, understandable. We wouldn’t make the changes we do if they didn’t make our services ever-more effective. How we are structured as a company, the services that we deem essential, and the marketing techniques and strategies we utilize, are constantly evolving for our travel and tourism industry client’s benefit. What we did to promote a site two years ago may, in fact, be harmful in the present day. What we do two years from now will have changed drastically as well. We remain fluid because we must.

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