“So is your business ready to deal with consumers (and employees!) who thrive on ONLINE OXYGEN? Have you considered partnering in any shape or form with one of the new kids on the block, from cross-media marketing companies to WiFi providers? Have you incorporated the opportunities and threats of broadband, wireless, and the popularity of ‘being digital’ in general, into your marketing, IT and distribution strategies? Have you allocated a suitable percentage of your advertising budget to online advertising, as that’s where the action is?”

Trendwatching.com claims to have dubbed the phrase “online Oxygen” referring to what they call ‘infolust’;the people’s insatiable appetite for information. From peer to peer networking to politics, to corporate transparency, the demand and expectation for instant information gratification is not to be denied. Trendwatching.com aims to satisfy it, or at least watch and report on how the beast will be fed.

“Just consider the fact that these days, consumers don’t want online access anywhere/anytime, they absolutely CRAVE it! From airports to living rooms to roof gardens to classrooms to city parks, people go to great lengths to get a dose of what TRENDWATCHING.COM has dubbed ONLINE OXYGEN… 600 million consumers worldwide are beginning to see online access as an absolute necessity, and there are no signs that the pace of integrating online access into daily life is slowing down.”

And when they can’t get it, they are mighty frustrated. That frustration is dictating a coming trend; putting smart codes on dumb objects. The expectation of instant info is confounded by the blank stares of brick buildings and glass windows.

“This is where consumers’ 24/7 curiosity and heightened expectations clash with the harsh reality of dumb buildings, products, shop windows, billboards and so on. Most of these objects are incapable of communicating the how, who, when, why and what that INFOLUST consumers have come to rely on in an online world.”

To keep your infolust quenched, continue feeding here.