Totes Magotes

I've posted another article on Ref21 this morning. Here is the beginning. You will want to cruise over there for the surprise ending... I stumbled upon an article making a prediction for journalism in 2014. Jason Kottke announces that the blog is dead. Basically, his conclusion is that "blogs are for 40-somethings with kids." Ouch! You can imagine how offended I was as a hip, much younger than forty (a whole two years younger, thank you!) blogger who was reading this guy's blog. Kottke claims that "In 1997, wired teens created online diaries, and in 2004 the blog was king. Today, teens are about as likely to start a blog (over Instagramming or Snapchatting) as they are to buy a music CD." And there you have it. Teens determine the meaningful paths to communication. Actually, as you see from reading the article, it's less about meaningful communication, and more about monetary value. Social networking packaged in shiny, little apps is a marketing dream come true. Who wants to read words anymore when you can view a picture that will disappear in 8 seconds and you never have to worry about it again? Or do you? Who needs reflection and chronological awareness when you can browse by order of "importance" what the people you follow have to say in 140 characters or less? Who needs to read a well-thought out review when you can simply check out how many stars a product has? Who even needs word of mouth when you can look at a Twitter thread? Or better yet, who needs to report any kind of news or commentary when there are so many great selfies to scroll through? But we live in a culture where teens determine the trends, and companies are now picking up on this by using these same mediums for their advertising. So I guess the journalism goes where the cash value goes. So where does that leave the, ahem, 40-somethings with kids? Read more here.