Sunday, March 23, 2008
Niche Nation
"Niche Nation" refers to what Chris Anderson, the author of "The Long Tail" believes is happening to our country as a result of a focus on consumer choice and consumer choice. It is happening in the business world, the political world, and has also infiltrated the media.
The EPIC 2014 documentary predicts that the news will be tailored to the individual reader through algorithms that combine through Google Grid, everything about the consumer. As a result, news will become a collection of trivia, much of it untrue.
Even though I disagree with the conclusion that much of the news will be untrue and trivial, I do believe that large media organizations like the New York Times will go under because they will be unable to compete with Google. Through RSS feeds, readers already are beginning to choose what they read and where they get their information. It becomes very easy for any individual to find their new niche and limit the type of news they read about. However, the idea that everyone is so shallow that all news will become trivia in the future seems absurd. But I do believe that individuals will not be as well rounded in the news they read in the future. Most people read only the stories that they care about the most and thus are never exposed to the full array of issues that affect the world today. But I guess, having individuals rather than Big Media decide whats the most important issues affecting the world is definitely better.
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3 comments:
As an avid news reader I just think its ridiculous for individuals to dictate news. At least with large media coverage they can see a headline even if they choose to be ignorant to the story.
Then what? Now we read only the stories that apply to us, post stories that we only care about.. doesn't this sound a little streamline?
The future is very scary to me. I too watched the Googlezon video and it seems that newspapers are going to have trouble in the future. However, I believe that people will always want a hard copy of the news. We cannot rely to much on the Internet and electronic technology to provide our news. I personally would like to take a newspaper with me on the train or something like that. I don't have a big enough screen on my phone to absorb all the news on the go. On top of that, what if I don't want to bring my laptop on the train?? Let's get real, it will be a long while before newpapers become obsolete.
i watched this video too and it freaked me out a little, not gonna lie.. but if you think about it this is what our culture is becoming, we only want what interests us and we want it fast and easy thats why so many people are picking the internet over newspapers.. i feel this will make people less well rounded on certain issues, but if they really dont care about the issue should they be forced to read about it?
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