The internet significantly changes how information is produced and consumed.
Realtime media
Interesting post on TechCrunch on how the news media will change to to realtime tools like Twitter. Twitter, now with 5 million users, appears to be able to beat traditional media in reporting breaking news by about 45 minutes based on recent events such as Tiger Woods’ crash. The claim is that the traditional media is more reliable in its reporting, but the article questions that, as realtime media can introduce healthy scepticism and has the advantage of what James Surowiecki terms the wisdom of crowds.
Media Polarization
The other important theme to monitor is media polarization, as this article shows, people tend to watch news that mirrors their political beliefs. Watching news that agrees with your political bias tends to reinforce that bias. For example if you’re a Republican/Democrat and you watch Fox News/CNN, then that tends to reinforce your bias.
The Implications
With more sources for consuming information, such as an estimated 200 million blogs and the traditional media diminishing in importance, the likelihood is that people will increasingly seek out fragmented media sources that reflect, and reinforce their views.
Pingback: Best of Craigslist and the wisdom of crowds « Strategic Project Portfolio Management