I Cry Language Revolution!

Technology has a profound effect on technology. Attention spans are getting shorter, multitasking is getting more common and communication is getting easier. That is to say, it is getting easier for the younger generation. Many member of the older generations are finding it difficult to stay connected, because as new methods of communication are introduced, the old one are being abandoned. For example: Xanga was THE preferred social network of 2004-2005 for students. As quickly as the spring of 2006, Xanga had passed off the scene and Facebook was the premiere method of interaction for students. Why did the change happen so rapidly? Facebook was always there, but it hadn’t become mainstream simply because it had a locked registration. It was for college students only. Exclusivity is the opposite of communication. The minute that Facebook unlocked it’s registration, allowing anyone and everyone to join, that’s exactly what happened. Xanga was never designed to be a social network, but it became one because of how unreasonably popular it had become. For a time it was performing over its head in a field that it was not designed for. As soon as a viable alternative (that wasn’t as trashy like MySpace) came along, everyone was jumping ship, including yours truly. I did want a blog, however, so I migrated over here to WordPress, because of a seriously superior interface. The big question for us now is obvious: What’s next?

I have a few suggestions for you. First of all, I don’t see Facebook dying like Xanga did simply because it is built from the ground up to be a social network, Xanga was not. .com power comes from involvement, and Facebook has such a huge base of members it is hard to imagine them being abandoned. Everyone is on Facebook. Finally, Facebook requires less upkeep. Communication can be short and succinct or long and involved. It does not require a huge time commitment like Xanga, but if you have time to spare, Facebook would be glad to make good use of it. Facebook is more visually appealing overall and highly customizable. My first prediction is not really a risk taker:

I believe that Facebook is here to stay. If you don’t even know what Facebook is, I have some resources for you. (I realize that this is going to sound weird if you’re reading this on Facebook) First of all, there is a Facebook for Dummies. You can’t go wrong there. Online check out this article, this eBook and this Wikipedia page.

Speaking of Wikipedia, that brings me to my second prediction about the future of Communication Technology: User generated content will eclipse professional media. This prediction is a little bolder, but I really believe that user generated content is the future of news media and mass communication. Blogs, Podcasts, and sites like Wikipedia are growing like wildfire. There is less and less distinction between the professionally generated and user generated. It is getting easier everyday to become your own reporter. Did you know that Wikipedia is all user generated? Yeah, that’s right. Anyone can write anything on Wikipedia…

And you thought it was an encyclopedia Britannica alternative. The deal is though, that it doesn’t matter anymore who said it. The content speaks for itself. The information is so easily accessible, the validity of a claim can be verified or refuted online. If it isn’t true, you can find out. We just can no longer swallow anything that we read… but… that shouldn’t be new.

The final prediction that I have (for today) is about a communication device that you may not even have heard of. Twitter. If that word means nothing to you, don’t worry. It is really REALLY fresh. Only the tech elites have discovered the beauty of twitter so far, but I believe that Twitter is the new text messaging. In simplest terms it is texting meets facebook, and it is brilliantly simple. Technically speaking, Twitter is micro-blogging. You have 140 characters to answer the question, “what are you doing.” The simplicity makes most people very skeptical, but the potential applications are through the roof. I defer once again to Commoncraft for a more detailed explanation, they just plain now how to break it down.

You can’t truly understand Twitter until you try it. You can follow me on Twitter along with some of my closest friends like Brandon Collins and Nathan Jenks. Try it, you’ll like it. And who knows, maybe I’ll run a twitter event or contest like this one.