• Ad Age, Tuesday, July 13, 2010 12:13 PM

Steve Rubel, the consummate e-enthusiast, warns that the Web is becoming a lot less "interesting" to consumers. The culprit is mobile, which -- while you might assume is just giving the Web wings -- is actually compartmentalizing the life out of serendipitous Web surfing, Rubel suggests. "Mobile devices, by their nature, force users to become more mission-oriented," writes the blogger and senior VP-director of insights at Edelman Digital.

"As more internet consumption shifts to gadgets, it's increasingly becoming an app world and we just live in it." Without questioning the inevitability of this development, Rubel then advises media execs to fully embrace the app revolution through internal experimentation, M&A, and/or collaboration. "To fight shrinking attention spans, companies will need to increasingly create partnerships to cut through the noise," writes Rubel. "Look for applications to pop up that are co-branded and curate content in high-interest verticals."

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