Gtreat stuff actually. And this coming from a self professed “late adopter” of any technology (love my G1 phone by the way). Anyhow, two points from a “technology curmudgeon” on the related Twitter/Cult of the Amateur/YouTube etc. issues:

1. I read a lot of history (esp U.S. pre/revolutionary war period). I have been thinking for quite some time about the role of “pamphleteers” (Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” only the most notable example) in helping to coagulate the masses into a critical mass of “BAMN” sentiment. Now, given the reduced attention span of most modern day NorteAmericanos (thanks PBS- NOT!), is Twitter the modern day equivalent of the media channel called “pamphleteering” of yore? That sounds an awful lot like a “Comapre and Contrast” question for a Journalism midterm . . .

2. Ahhh . . . not-so-viral marketing! Yeah, YouTube scams are oh so inevitable! Cases of professional music producers making “amateur music videos” for their ingenue wannabes, etc. are now part of the whole “internet culture.” Look, back when we were actually inventing the internet (ARPANet, actually) people used the medium for all kinds of scams (hey, is that Nigerian Prince out of hte country yet? But I digress. My Irish Lottery prize money should be coming soon . . .).

So

Back to the Future?

Look, people don’t listen to me when I am physically speaking to them in person . . . why on earth would anyone pay more attention to my stream-of-consciousness-tweets?

the other steve