When exactly did twitter replace news?
I was looking at my phone this morning and among the 5 pages of apps I noticed something. I don’t have a single traditional news source. No CNN, no MSNBC, nothing. I don’t even have the people’s party news. This made me realize something. I’ve NEVER had a news app on my iPhone, and I used to be a sort of news geek. Always streaming on my iGoogle, always checking headlines via windows phone, I always knew what the talking heads were going on about.
This got me thinking and I broke down and downloaded the first free news app I found. What did I learn from this new MSNBC app? Pay attention here… Absolutely Nothing I hadn’t picked up via twitter in the previous two days. Hmm… have I gone rogue? Shunning traditional media for this new wave stream of BS from biased and inconsistent sources?
No actually. I follow several of the traditionals on twitter but for the first time in our history, I’m able to check sources via crowd-sourcing. A media outlet might tell you something is going on but in most cases, it’s already gone on and they’re giving you’re their interpretation. Now we pull points of view from those on the ground, half-way around the world in real time. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it Fox News… (sorry, couldn’t hold it back any longer)
So no, none of this is breaking news. We all have at least heard about this phenomenon of real-time news gathering via social media… I only post this because it snuck up and eased my attention all the way away from my typical sources… and I’m alright with it. I wonder what’s next?
Cable is already on its way out. Apple TV and other “On Demand” systems like my beloved U-Verse are easing ahead of traditional cable purchase in my house. I’m starting to realize that I can buy episodes for a buck or even seasons of my favorite programs for $20 and enjoy myself every time I turn on the TV. At what point do we stop paying premium prices for 600 channels we don’t ever watch? When will at&t offer a VOD only package? That would do it! Rent/buy the shows you want, spend the rest of your previously $150 cable bill on “away from the boob-tube” activities.
Traditional news is dead or dying, television and radio are en route to a similar death, newspapers are moving to digital and according to Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt, the distribution distinction between TV, Radio, and the Internet will be gone by 2015 (barring the end of the world and all). Take a look! We are probably within one generation of not knowing what a paper boy is. Hell, my picture frame in my office doesn’t stay on one image for more than a couple of seconds. And somehow we’re not only ok with all this data but we’re buying in at record pace. Don’t believe me? Check to see if you mom’s on facebook yet. Mine is.
So I guess its not a matter of whether or not you’re plugged in, the question is “Are you plugged in enough?” Comments on this rant? Please? This one has had my head spinning for a few days now.
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