Lots of people are starting to ask what is the importance of social media? Why should I join Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter and all the other online social networking tools? As I see it an important transformation is happening. The Information Age was ushered in by the computer. And in the beginning computers were so expensive and centralized that they were not for everyone. They could only be accessed and used by specialists with a lot of training.
Then came the PC, and the goal of a computer on every desk and in every home. But they were stand alone machines that didn't talk to each other. The next huge development was the Internet and the World Wide Web. This development allowed everyone to access lots of information published by businesses who were selling things or companies who wanted to advertise and have a presence. The content, the writing and the photos, and the graphics were put there by those with special skills.
What is now being called Web 2.0 is very different. The content is now being published by anyone and everyone! Individuals without any specialized skills are writing blogs on blogspot, writing micro-blogs on twitter, uploading photos to flicker, creating personal profiles and networking through myspace and facebook, or the professional version on LinkedIn. People are publishing self-created music and movies or videos on YouTube.
What is the purpose of all this? Well there are many different purposes, but for the most part it is about self-expression through all the channels of music, writing, art, photography, and social networking. Instead of an intermediary journalist researching a topic, developing an idea or theme, and crafting it for all of us to read. We can now express our own ideas and thoughts or simply journal about daily events.
There are serious effects of the development of social media. For example, newspapers are in trouble. They are filing backrupcy and closing because the old business model doesn't work any longer. Professional photographers, journalists and graphic artists are being laid off because many of them are no longer required to add content. And advertisers and classifieds are shrinking because they can reach a global audience virtually for free on their own website and others.
In the music world high quality recordings can be produced with inexpensive digital equipment and published for free online so that any band can potentially build a following without an agent or producer. The power of the gatekeeper is diminished. They can't control who becomes famous and what becomes popular. The viral nature of the internet allows content to be discovered and circulated almost instantaneously.
The roles of all these professional intermediaries is changing. How the public gets news and entertainment is changing. What is missing is an understanding of how professionals can still earn money in this new economy. We need to figure this out pretty fast, because a lot of people are suffering the loss of their job, their livelihood, and their passion.
Ideas?
