Online Gravity

The Freakonomics of the digital economy, offering fascinating insights into the new rules that are reshaping the online worlds of business, education, and leisure.

Are you concerned that technology and the web are moving too quickly for you to keep up? Are you worried about the future of your career in the face of an increasingly global and competitive workforce?

We all worry about change. And the changes being brought about by unseen forces in the global economy are profound. Do you know someone who has lost their job in the last five years working in IT, media, finance, or retail? These industries and many others are already feeling the pinch of online gravity: the invisible forces of the online world that govern its role in the global economy—and its effect on you.

Industry expert Paul X. McCarthy reveals how online businesses are fueled by a starkly different set of economic rules than those existing purely offline. He calls these forces “online gravity,” which favor the creation of planet-like super-businesses (such as Amazon and Google) from surprising and unpredictable quarters. As more and more traditional industries such as media, music, travel, photography, and even banking are steadily consumed and transformed by giant online enterprises, more and more of the world is feeling online gravity’s increasingly powerful pull.

For anyone interested in the future of global technology, economics, or business, Online Gravity is an indispensible book that explains how you can harness these forces to improve your career, your health, your wealth—and even the prospects of the next generation.