The Internet Is Closing: Can Your Customers Still Find You?

"The early internet was open. It was built on blue links, traffic referrals and users flowing between destinations. Every site did one or two things well, then passed people along. Attention shifted over time as portals, social networks, and search engines fought to become the start of a journey, but rarely the end of it. Businesses learned to navigate each wave, studying algorithms, adapting behavior and understanding the value of owning their customer data. Formats evolved from static images to video to vertical clips."

"What's happening now is different. It's not another shift. It's structural closure, the redirection of the entire internet into enclosed environments where the old paths disappear. Why the Internet is Closing Big Tech and foundation model companies aren't just building faster tools. They're building moats that lock the entire journey inside their platforms. Conversational interfaces keep us typing instead of clicking, holding us inside a stream that feels like consciousness rather than navigation."

AI launches like Google Gemini 3 are changing how customers engage with the internet by delivering conversational answers that reduce the need for prompts and clicks. Big Tech and foundation model companies are constructing moats that route discovery, content creation, and transactions inside platform ecosystems. The early internet depended on linked navigation, referrals, and brands owning customer relationships and data. Format evolution enabled creators and direct-to-consumer brands to reach audiences across open paths. Structural closure now redirects traffic into enclosed environments, compressing visibility for independent brands and eroding brands' ability to control identity, owned experiences, and direct access to consumers.

Read at Forbes