Today I came across a phenomenal website, Like Button, and I noticed something interesting. People are caring more and more about things that truly, in the short run, don’t matter. This is a problem. Call me un-American, anti-patriotic, focally wrong, whatever you choose, but these are my opinions.
- People don’t really “Like” International News
- Celebrities matter more
- YouTube, TechCrunch, Break.com, Hulu and other sites get way more “Likes”
Now, this irks me in a way. Social media has the opportunity to reach out and massively spread topics like a wildfire through a dry brush desert. We have seen Twitter do amazing things during the Iranian elections by spreading the word and bringing focus and aid to a war-torn country.
Recently, with the ability to control what is seen online by basis of analytical results and dynamic programming we focus more on what the people want more so than the news they need to know. Not too long ago a controversial image appeared comparing the home page of CNN to the home page of Al Jazeera.
If we’d rather follow around Tiger Wood’s johnson than the acts of our own military, quite simply, we’re f—ed. At 0513 EDT my trending Twitter topics were these:
- #nowPlaying
- #PleaseTellMeWhy
- Justin Beiber
- #IHopeMyNext
- Iron Man 2
- #sometimesitsbetter
- Dear Haters
- #ihatequotes
- #HappyBirthdayDAE
- IPL
Not a single trending topic is news related, or anywhere important to society in the long run.
We have the opportunity here to do something good with the tons of resources we have available, but unfortunately we aren’t. We stick around and care about the “next big thing” or the new social tool to expand our image online. Being an arrogant self-imaging schmuck means nothing when you compare yourself to a country who can’t even have proper leadership.
I only ask you to think about what you Tweet or Like on Facebook. The availability to change what people see and the way we interpret our news is in our hands, the millions of users in each social network is controlled by us, the user cloud. So take a look around, think, and act accordingly.
Comments or concerns? Leave a comment I’d love to discuss!
Image by Zarko Drincic
