The Evolution of the Modern Marketplace

Marketplaces have always created value. Since the early inception of marketplaces, to the development of a mobile marketplace, connecting buyers and sellers has always been the focus. This linking, in creating a buy-and-sell environment – whether in a physical, or virtual (cyber) way – has always been about reducing friction to facilitate greater commerce. Once a market is established, its value, whether recognized or not, becomes ingrained in both the minds and the actions of those who engage the marketplace.

permuto.com made a beautiful time line chart for The Evolution of the Modern Marketplace

Between Ford and Zuckerberg, a lot has changed

There's lots of stuff none of us have ever seen before. That's good in some ways, but limiting in other ways.

In the early part of the 20th century, the developed world experienced a major transition from a basic agrarian economy to an industrialized society. Technology began to focus on the mechanization of the production of consumer goods and improvements in communications whilst transportation widened the external perspectives from localized issues to national, and even international concerns.