Vidiots

I attended a symposium last night called "How YouTube has already changed your life." The speaker was Virginia Heffernan, TV critic for the New York Times. Ms. Heffernan, an admitted video addict presented some clips and discussed their relevance in the landscape of the future, our future, "attention share." A couple things resonated for me.

The first notion: The web goes everywhere. We all know this - that's why it is called the world wide web. But, what makes this plain is the fact that videos on YouTube that are independent of language get watched and propagated by a much larger audience.

Secondly: You don't have to change what you are interested in, to find it online. When we watch TV we change channels until we find what we are interested in or (if the remote is missing) we are forced to change what we are interested in. On YouTube it's all there, in one portal.

Thirdly: News, which is provided by companies traded on the stock exchange, is not trust worthy. If a message threatens any investor, or regulator, it will be softened or spun so that the consumer feels no need to react. This defeats the entire purpose of a free press and has the same benefits as campaign financing. You've been warned.

Finally: Television is becoming a billboard for web portals. MTV is changing its programing to drive its viewers to their website. Why would they do this? Because once you are there they can feed you what it is you want to watch, when you want to watch it. In addition, their advertisers don't want to support a system that relies on repetition for response when they can benefit and track real-time reaction, which can lead to real-time purchasing.

My hope is that this trend actually refines our intellect. For years, television has had to serve to the lowest common denominator to track a mass audience. If we actually consume (devote our shares of attention to) what we are truly interested in we might not be such vidiots anymore.