Lords of the Meme by NY Times columnist David Brooks is a fun poke at the increasing role social media is playing in culture. Sort of a social media update of McLuhan's "the medium is the message," the column starts with a short history of pseudo-intellectualism then defines a new era starting with release of the iPhone. Key quote:
"Now the global thought-leader is defined less by what culture he enjoys than by the smartphone, social bookmarking site, social network and e-mail provider he uses to store and transmit it. (In this era, MySpace is the new leisure suit and an AOL e-mail address is a scarlet letter of techno-shame.)"
Brooks goes on to describe the emergence of a new group of cultural arbiters and influencers - bloggers and other social media mavens. Key quote:
"This transition has produced some new status rules. In the first place, prestige has shifted from the producer of art to the aggregator and the appraiser. Inventors, artists and writers come and go, but buzz is forever. Maximum status goes to the Gladwellian heroes who occupy the convergence points of the Internet infosystem — Web sites like Pitchfork for music, Gizmodo for gadgets, Bookforum for ideas, etc. These tastemakers surf the obscure niches of the culture market bringing back fashion-forward nuggets of coolness for their throngs of grateful disciples."
I think Brooks does a pretty good job describing how the social media world works. And while you can agree or disagree with him about whether or not this is good or bad, the fact he wrote the column and it is in the NY Times clearly shows that social media has arrived.
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