After watching the CurrentTV video “The Future of Media In 2008″, Nahum Gershon over at SOCIOSPHERE.NET asks: “So, are the traditional media of newspapers, TV & radio going to really disappear?”
It’s apparent that Social Media truly is altering the cultural landscape. The real question is: “Who will control the content?”. I envision one possibility (for the future of media) resembling the world of Max Headroom, where independent media producers are fighting for ‘air-time’ against an all encompassing, corporate-controlled network. In the world of cross-market mergers and ‘Googlebleed’ is this really so far fetched?
As Social Media matures and traditional media evolves old forms will bite the dust and be reborn through the new forms. As with the advent of TV and the survival of radio alongside the new technology, these new technologies will coexist and mingle with the old for a time. And then the power struggle will begin.
In the midst of all this technological and cultural change, I say we all brush up on Neil Postman as we get closer and closer to facing media convergence and the centralizing of decentralized media channels.
