I have read some good posts recently by a small number of cutting-edge bloggers who have raised interesting questions over the explosion web of 2.0 technology and its impact on our lives and profession.
What Ian Delaney, Drew B and Tom Murphy are asking us to do is add a dash of reason to our work and lives before we lose ourselves right up the back end of the web 2.0 miracle.
So, in order of reading:
Ian Delaney asks how web 2.0 fits into the academic model of Post-Modernism and more imprtantly does it matter? Ian’s post draws comparisons between Post-Modernism and web 2.0 and examines the whether web 2.0 technology is affecting us technologically in the same way society, culture and politics have been affected and demonstably changed by the ideologies of Post-Modernis. Ian concludes by asking if this matters or not. I say, "Yes." but either way it is really good stuff.
Then I read Drew B asking readers whether their media consumption has been significantly altered by RSS feeds. Robert Scoble reported that he has all but ditched ‘dead tree media’ and now gets his news via RSS. Drew says that while RSS feeds now add to his media consumption he and his clients still usually take their lead from ‘dead tree media’. He wants your views on the subject.
And last but not least, Tom Murphy, (always a voice of reason) tells us that while lots of people and businesses are getting excited by social sites like Second Life he simply doesn’t have the time to get involved. He writes:
In my opinion, the one thing that is for certain, is that consumers are developing increasingly advanced filters. These filters will ensure that only relevant, interesting information that’s delivered when and where they want it, will be received and processed.
As the noise grows and the media fragments the challenge of reaching individuals will become a more complex proposition.
Tom says that he is a sucker for a new development but cautions that not all cutting-edge products will be successful or stick around.
Tom is right. There are so many new tools coming out as Beta projects that I find I don’t just have the time to keep up. I find what I like and stick to that. Of course I will change or upgrade when I see clear benefits but with clients clamouring for catch-all social media solutions we need to make sure we are regularly grounding ourselves in reality by asking the question: ‘Will this work?’.
The biggest problem in the modern world – the one commodity that we are all short of is… time.
My colleague Andy Green argues that we should issue a time tax when we are invited to pitch for new business or even if we are asked to a preliminary meeting. I can see the sense in it but I don’t think the clients would be too keen.
Question: What’s the first thing you do when you get to the office? In the old days I would read all the newspapers. Nowadays, I spend the better part of the morning going through email correspondence (why don’t people phone anymore?.
That’s the issue with Web 2.0 – I still don’t know what it means by the way – all the new technology seems to be designed to eat into our precious time while at the same arguing that it aims to save us time.
Time to go…
OK – it’s right to be concerned. But let’s bear a few important things in mind:
1. We’re playing on the edge: welcome to the futures… we’re playing with concepts and forms and possibilities. this is not hte mainstream. It’s not liek these things are going to replace people’s mainstream media experience – but some of them, or things like them may do.
2. We’re seeing the atomization of media and people’s use of it: not everyone is going to – or be able to eb a Second Lifer (or whatever), a Flickr devotee, a blogger and YouTube auteur aall at the same time. We’ll pick and choose and take our favourites.
3. 1%-ers: don’t forget not everyone is going to be minded to create, interact and absorb media – just a lot of people. 🙂
4. Keep an eye on the big picture: it’s not binary – this or that form of new media will or won’t succeed. We are moving from an age of industrial media, created and distributed by the few, to a network age, open to the many.