Hey, old media.
I no longer look to you as a primary source of information in my life.
Your definition of “news” – which tends to focus on who was recently murdered or the color of Britney Spear’s underwear – no longer interests me.
You no longer entertain me while surrounding me with forced propaganda that attempts to sway my consumer behavior and feeds your need for money.
I no longer shuffle around my life so that I can be available at the times you dictate I should engage in your content.
I have lost the need to seek out one-on-one relationships with your corporations – where I exchange money for a single use content system (ala newspapers or magazines).
You have become irrelevant in my life and I know that I am not alone.
So what do I do? Obviously, I’m using all of the tools of new media – rooted in the core elements of the internet. But, my experience does not really rely on the tools. It doesn’t matter that I use Hulu, Facebook, Twitter, podcasts, blogging, Google Reader, TweetDeck, Skype, Flickr, Digg, and all the assortment of things you label “Web 2.0″. But, that’s not the point that should have you concerned.
The point is that I now pick and choose what I want to experience and when I want to experience it. Your producer-based method for determining what I need to see no longer works. I seek out “news” that is much more applicable to my life. I find information from the source (ala Twitter and RSS Feeds) instead of waiting for someone else to give their own interpretation of events. I no longer find myself surrounded by news for the masses – waiting for a small snippet that truly interests me. Instead, I find topics where I am engaged in the full extent of the message. And the tools of “Web 2.0″ give me the ability to not only receive the information, but contribute to its content.
So your over-produced, appeal-to-the-masses approach no longer works with me. It wastes my time and doesn’t give me the content I want to receive.
I will soon be abandoning you altogether.
