ONLINE MEDIA: Micro vs. Macromedia, The Power of Now
As the information universe changes, content-wire has its own story to tell.
30 April 2001, 4 pm GMT
When Jonah Peretti hit the send button of the message he was not expecting that within a few weeks his story was going to be picked up by major media outlets
His case is a fascinating example of the exponential strength of the viral medium. Jonah had an exchange with Nike who refused to personalize his shoes with the word ‘sweatshop’.
He sent copy of the email to a few friends, and within days everybody was talking about it.
“In mid-January I forwarded the whole e-mail correspondence to a dozen friends, and since that time it has raced around the Internet, reaching millions of people, even though I did not participate at all in its further proliferation. The e-mail began to spread widely thanks to a collection of strangers, scattered around the world, who took up my battle with Nike. Nike's adversary was an amorphous group of disgruntled consumers connected by a decentralized network of e-mail addresses. Although the press has presented my battle with Nike as a David versus Goliath parable, the real story is the battle between a company like Nike, with access to the mass media, and a network of citizens on the Internet who have only micromedia at their disposal” Jonah recounts in
his story , emphasizing Nike’s advertising efforts to appear cool.
“Nike's celebration of freedom never reached the ears of the Indonesian woman who had to trade sexual favors to get her job or the Mexican worker who was struck with a hammer by his angry manager. Both of these violations were reported earlier this year, and similarly graphic episodes have been discovered regularly over the past ten years. However, even with the benefit of these reports, activists have had trouble counteracting the lure of Nike's slick TV ads and high-profile endorsements” he continues.
Big corporations know how to use the power of global advertising campaigns, while individual members of the networked society can only leverage the viral qualities of email and targeted postings to newsgroups.
Of course it is necessary to be extra careful, when spreading a message online.
Is it true, accurate? Does the information come from a reliable source? But truthfulness and reliability are never a hundred percent guaranteed even when messages come from mainstream media either, and the risks of misrepresentation are known within the communication profession.
“Then the micromedia message began to work its way into the mass media” Jonah continues “At first articles appeared in technology-focused and left-leaning publications like the San Jose Mercury News, Shey.net, Salon.com, the Village Voice and In These Times. Soon mainstays like Time, the BBC, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and Business Week were covering the story. NBC's Today show flew me to New York for an appearance on national television”
Now Jonahs case is cited in case studies and text books.
“By understanding these dynamics, new forms of social protest become possible, with the potential to challenge some of the constellations of power traditionally supported by the mass media” he writes.
Another example
Content-wire had a similar experience recently.
Beginning April, following a few mail exchanges with peers we posted a complaint about the lack of interest from the media towards an odd political situation in Italy, where a media tycoon is currently the preferred candidate for parliamentary election (to become prime minister). The richest man in the country, with several pending inquiries into bribery and money laundering cases, also controlling private televisions, publishing houses and, most important, advertising networks thoughout the country from which all media depend economically.
Worst of all the media, neither In Italy nor internationally, seemed to take an interest in such well known facts.
This, in content-wire opinion, is due to a powerful network of corruption that spreads throughout the economy worldwide, and has a strong, very strong, foothold in media corporations.
But then something happened. The story reached the right online networks, and since then several articles have been published that expose the questionable situation.
More or less ironic, more or less informed, more or less accurate but stories that nevertheless air commonly shared perplexity are appearing in the New York Times, International heral Tribune, Financial Times, The Guardian and Independent.
The Economist last week finally used our own plain words: the candidate does not appear to be suitable for parliamentary office, because of his professional, economical and penal status.
New Powers, New Responsibilities
The online presence and voice of individuals can make a difference, and possibly have more weight than voting itself.
The risk that the internet may be turned into a scandal pit can only be avoided by a responsible use of medium, which in itself offers great efficiency: messages can be ignored, or taken into account according to individual interest and discretion, but above all the information can – and must – be directly verified.
The degree of direct involvement that the net brings to single connected netcitizens may have greater social impact and effect than ever experienced, demanding an increased sense of responsibility, ability to make independent evaluations, that should be encouraged especially among newer generations.
Paola Di Maio
Editor
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Magnoliacom
Newsvine
Furl
Google
Yahoo
Technorati
Comments
Post new comment