Media

"If one morning I walked on top of the
water across the Potomac River, the
headline that afternoon would read:
'President Can't Swim.'"
-Lyndon B. Johnson (1908 –1973)

The Plus One - Game-Changer
Sunday, March 11, 2012, 10:10 PM

Well, now that we have our two steps, let’s take a look at the game-changer that really got things moving.


The internet has changed the world in a big way. Even this report is done via a blog.


Anyway, we considered:


Step 1: The ease of communications in today’s world
Step 2: The way media has evolved from being purely informational and objective to one that is subjective and fantastical in nature.


The catalyst here really is the internet. With the internet, everyone gets:


Step 1: A platform
Step 2: A chance to share what they think


Wikipedia can be updated by anyone. Google works on a most hits basis. Anyone can post videos of themselves at an activity. And too many people who shouldn’t be tweeting do.

This is a video of Natalie Tran, an Australian Youtuber giving a talk at Ideacity. You rock, girl!


Sure lots of good gets done - such as the sharing of ideas, the surge in creativity and a platform to reach the world in an unprecedentedly cheap and immediate way due to the advanced technology we are enjoying now; but that does not rule out the negative effects as well, like the profiteering of companies and exploitive individuals, or the loss of privacy.


Something completely unimportant or private can be sensationalized over the internet.


Just look at Tammy, a 17-year-old from a local tertiary school that had her sex videos spread like wildfire back in 2006. The news really rocked the online community back then and it truly was Singapore’s first reality check about the loss of privacy – information was no longer private, even on one's personal mobile device.

Tsk Tsk. Kids these days XD

Giddens (1990) described globalization as 'the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa' – and now with the internet, said intensification has really been increased exponentially. As Marshall (1962) described, “medium is the message”, the medium in which a message is expressed changes how it is perceived. These quotes reflect just how social media worked.


Riots and looting can be sparked off with nothing but anger and declarations of gathering. Gary Fisher tweets that he is going to be cycling - and thousands show up with their bicycles to ride together. Politics used to be discussed over coffee, now they are archived in forums worldwide.


The London Riots! What a mess!
A policeman's rape comment sparks a series of slutwalks! OMG!

This is the power of social media. That is the force by which the world changes, accelerated exponentially by the tools of man making it all possible.


Reference:

1. Giddens, A. (1990) The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
2. Marshal McLuhan (1967) The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects with Quentin Fiore, produced by Jerome Agel; 1st Ed.: Random House; reissued by Gingko Press, 2001 ISBN 1-58423-070-3


“If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends.”

- Jeff Bezos, CEO at Amazon.com