Great post by Paul Ford about the purpose of the web.
“Why wasn’t I consulted,” which I abbreviate as WWIC, is the fundamental question of the web. It is the rule from which other rules are derived. Humans have a fundamental need to be consulted, engaged, to exercise their knowledge (and thus power), and no other medium that came before has been able to tap into that as effectively.
~ Link
TL;DR – The web has been pretty good a emulating TV, magazines and newspaper for over a decade. But it’s real purpose is providing a voice to individuals; if you’re a business, use the web as a customer service medium – whatever that means to you.