Musings on Web 2.0

I wrote this little musing on communications, where the web is going, etc. I liked it, so I thought I'd share it:

In 1971, Memorex launched its audio recording products with a commercial featuring Ella Fitzgerald’s recorded voice shattering a wine glass. The tagline: “Is it live or is it Memorex?”

The ad was a sign of the times. Back then, the pinnacle of the entertainment experience was the live performance. Real, immediate, unmediated.

Today, the media is the experience. Home theaters with high definition television and stereo surround sound are seen by some as superior to going to the movies. Most sports fans will tell you that watching a football game on TV has distinct advantages over seeing it live. iPods are piping all the music you choose in high quality sound, right into our ears. TiVo let’s you watch what you want, when you want, again and again.

We’re no longer passive consumers of entertainment. We’re creators. Bloggers aren’t journalists, they’re moderators, asking questions, opining, trying to set the agenda and create more chatter, whether among a small group of friends or in the global conversation on big issues. We create iPod playlists and download songs rather than buy entire CDs. We by video cameras and make our own movies to record our lives in living, moving color … we even can edit out the sad parts. Kids take video and music from the Web and make mash-ups and viral funnies that become conversation fodder among IM buddies, message boards, email, in the coffee shop and around the water cooler. We upload our photos to Yahoo or Snapfish to share with friends. With a few clicks, we create memory books, coffee mugs and t-shirts. We publish our novels on CafePress. We play our music and bare our souls on MySpace. Even if you don’t do all of this … you know you can. Maybe you even think you should. It’s not a part of life. It’s part of living.

The truth is this: We no longer “experience”. We no longer consume: We author. We collaborate. We participate.

We are the media. We are the message.

Where do you think things are going?