Life is grand

I’ll venture a thought on this video; we are coming from an era of one to many media that has instilled the concept of a captivated audience. We believe that because someone is on the radio that what they are saying has greater weight than what our friend sitting next to us has to say on the same topic.

The world wide web doesn’t work the same way old media works. It is not just a different medium. It is much more than changing from radio to television.

When a previously captivated audience (TV) is unleashed upon a level playing field (web) mindsets have to change too. They have to accept that the web has not been resource managed as radio, TV, newspapers and magazines have to be. The web is infinite while a newspaper is finite.

Think of it this way. Who has a father or brother that shouts at the ref on TV?

Imagine taking all of those fathers and brothers who shout at a one-way TV and publishing their rantings for anyone and everyone to see. A whole channel dedicated to people telling off the ref.

You would probably laugh and shake your head. It is funny but it isn’t relevant or important to you. Or maybe it is because you agree with Joe Soap? Cool.

Now think of all the one-way things you currently criticise or talk about. Taxes, the government, the police, the supermarket, your mother in law, religion, your kids, their school etc. All of these things you think and talk about.

Now upload that to a web-page instead of letting it bounce off the screen of your TV.

You just became a “new media douchebag” as the video mentions. But here is the twist; you didn’t make anybody read it. You didn’t break into the TV station and dump Will & Grace to air your thoughts to a million captivated people. You made a new channel. You put your thoughts out there in a completely non-intrusive manner.

The choice is then up to those who read to choose what they read. It isn’t anybody else’s choice. It is their choice, your choice.

From here on in you can be heard but perversely you cannot make anyone listen. The old way was you had to get approval to be heard and then everybody had to listen. The old way was centralised authority and a captivated audience. The new way is distributed authority and an empowered audience.

So celebrate your douchebag-ness. You just made the world a better place. You strengthened the web of choice.

p.s. You didn’t have to read this.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 at 5:08 pm and is filed under Post. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.