Where the counterculture Met the new Economy

While reading the article “Where the counterculture Met the new Economy,” I couldn’t help but connect the Catalog to sites like E-bay, Amazon.com, and Craigslist. Though the Catalog did not physically offer you the product, it did have suggestions and product reviews of people who have used the item in the past. This is similar to our sites like E-bay because they too provide information about products and where to find them. The Catalog was a stepping stone for present day sites to become as successful as they are. In the Catalog and sites like Amazon, we feel like we are connected to other parts of the world and country. People giving advice on products seems like everyone is helping each other. “By the early 1970s, then, the Whole Earth Catalog had developed into a
publication that celebrated and exemplified the notion that geographically dispersed communities could be linked by the exchange of information in a context that was both communal and commercial.” The Catalog connected people in a way that no one had ever seen. It was like a modern day social network, it brought people together with a common interest. They were able to communicate long distances with people they have never met, but it was successful. The Catalog changed the lives of people who used it in the past and our modern day sites have forever changed the way people shop. The Catalog provided people with information about products they have never heard of or even thought they would ever need to use. It opened peoples eyes to a different way of life.