It seems that the Watchtower Society was very ill prepared for the advent of the Internet. Perhaps, some of the governing body thought the end would come before it became a big problem. Now it is a big problem and is only going to get worse.
I wonder if they made a big mistake by being so critical of the Internet in it's early years. If they encouraged witnessing on the Internet, they could have easily drowned out the voices of apostates. Now some witnesses are using the Internet to try to defend the Watchtower Society, but they often just make themselves look silly. For example, suppose someone puts up a video that is favorable to Jehovah's Witnesses on Youtube. The people who watch it see all sorts of links to related videos that are critical of Jehovah's Witnesses. If a Witness makes a comment, then it usually doesn't take long for former members to point out its flaws.
This is a big dilemma for the Watchtower Society. If they relax their stand on the Internet, they will lose a lot of members who are suddenly exposed to the facts. If they continue to be critical of using the Internet, then they will eventually be overcome be technical advances that make the Internet an important and nearly unavoidable part of daily life. Either that or they will have to withdraw even further from normal society.
Since the Internet is becoming more social, it is becoming harder to view favorable information without also seeing contrary opinions. Of course the official websites of Jehovah's Witnesses don't allow commenting and still have some control over the information (assuming you weren't distracted by apostate sites that came up in a Google search). How long is that going to last? Sites that don't allow comments already face a modest disadvantage because active commenting can help a sites in search results. This trend will probably continue. I assume they will try to maintain their control over information, but this may cause their sites to become increasingly irrelevant and hard to find.
I can also imagine a time in the not too distant future when it will be far more difficult for site owners to avoid public debate of their claims. Suppose you could install a little device on your search engine that allows you to see what others have thought about the site you are visiting or will take you to other sites (like this one) that provide commentary about their information. This could be devastating for the Watchtower Society.
How do you think the Internet will effect the Watchtower Society in the future?