Me, Me Media (page 2 of 3)

Real Simple Syndication

Those options swelled in the past three years as a kind of perfect storm of new personalized media technologies has come together. First, Apple's iPod burst on the scene and quickly attracted 10 million customers (by one estimate, iPods are selling at a rate of 40 per minute). The digital music players allow users to download music off the Web, song by song, to create their own music mixes, bypassing radio deejays and record stores. Podcasts arrived in 2004, enabling people to download entire radio programs or create their own radio shows. The same year, blogs exploded as a mainstream phenomenon (there are 10 million out there now), allowing almost anyone to become a pundit. The development of Really Simple Syndication (RSS) made it easier for bloggers and readers to keep tabs on one another. RSS also helps make possible the creation of personalized online newspapers -- "the Daily Me," as dubbed by technologist Nicholas Negroponte -- made up of headlines, article summaries and links to content that matches one's precise interests.

Television and radio have also been transformed by technology. DVRs provide more control to viewers, as does video-on-demand. And the fastest-growing segment of radio is satellite, offering choices that appeal to even the narrowest tastes. (The Sirius satellite radio system has an Elvis channel.)

All of these new developments notwithstanding, there's more to the iMedia craze than gadgets, gizmos and additional channels. Observers say the trend has been fueled by restless creativity among those people formerly known as the audience -- who will no longer sit still for mass-produced, one-size-fits-all media. Chicago insurance analyst Andrew James, 30, says he's had it with "stupid banter from idiots on the radio -- my iPod takes care of that." Jayme Maultasch, 26, a New York ad executive, gets his news from blog feeds because, he says, "bloggers are free to tell it the way it is, while the mainstream media has become too packaged, too cautious."

Moreover, the iMedia generation isn't content to be on the receiving end; they want to have a voice in the new media. "Consumers now have more power, access and choice," says Robert A. Iger, president and COO of Disney. Echoes Brian Collins, an executive creative director at the Ogilvy & Mather ad agency: "The new technology is unleashing all of this pent-up creativity. In the past, only people with vast resources could create media. Now those barriers are coming down."

When that happens, the iMedia age will be fully upon us, and it will be Utopia -- to some people. Grass-roots media activists like Dan Gillmor, author of We the Media, envisions a world in which citizen journalists will be able to report on their local communities in a way that the mass-market media does not. Jeff Jarvis, who runs the popular blog Buzzmachine.com, says that people empowered by iMedia will challenge the mainstream media and present their own version of events. "Basically, it means more voices will be heard, because more people will own the broadcast tower," he says. "And in a democracy, that's a good thing."

Well, maybe. Some worry that the iMedia society now forming may be fractious, self-absorbed and narrow-minded. One of the problems with personalized media, says University of Chicago professor Cass Sunstein, is that it creates what he calls "the echo chamber effect." When you can create and shape your own media experience, "you tend to exclude topics and viewpoints you wish to ignore. That just reinforces what you've always believed, and it's a recipe for extremism." It also makes it hard for a democracy to function, Sunstein says: "Without shared experiences, we're going to have a hard time understanding one another and agreeing on things." The futurist Watts Wacker, co-author of The Visionary's Handbook, foresees a similar scenario. "In the personalized media world, we'll return to tribalism," he says. "The tribe will consist of people who believe what you believe, and who connect with you through shared tribal media, like blogs."

•  

• Raising a Computer-Smart Kid
• Find out how home computers -- used the right way -- can speed up learning for your child.
• 
• Protect Yourself Online
• Learn how to stay safe while using the Internet.
• 
• ID Thieves' New Tricks
• Cybercriminals are getting smarter. You can too.
• 
• Turn Your Computer Into a Cash Machine
• Your hobby + a computer = extra money.
• 
• Stay Informed of The Latest Scams
• Your guide to defending yourself against Internet fraud.
•