Probably the same people who thought the blog would be the death of the newspaper.
In the world of journalism, well traditionally speaking, I am considered a hypocrite. I vaulted for the survival of the American newspaper and then promptly started my blog and my Twitter account simultaneously. These are conflicting ideologies.
I have embraced social media from the start. Sure, just like all new things, there is a lot of crap to wade through first. There is too much potential for good to shine through for it to be ignored though. It encourages free thought from something other than what gets delivered from a faceless entity to our doorstep every morning. It's free thought from random people! Insane!
Regardless, I fought for the newspaper. I wrote, not necessarily, for something that I still believed in, but for something that I wished would adapt. I want my kids to see a newspaper outside of a museum, for Christ sakes. It upsets me that paper is taking a back seat to computer screens.
There are plenty of different means to access information nowadays, that I understand. But understand this: it's all in a completely different context.
What the Associated Press is posting on your home page is just facts. Cold, hard, and never-want-to-cuddle facts. And that's all fine. We're in a hurry these days and can't be bothered with trivial things like description and emotion. The fact that I like to think that when I read something, it's being written just for me, might just be another tally mark for my narcissism.
So with the advancement of technology, came the means for the average person to produce what they perceived as news and distribute that across the internet. Yes, I get the irony, leave me alone.
Behold, the blog. My opinions, 24/7, because that's what I want to hear, dammit!
However, if for whatever reason, I want to read your opinions, or your cheesy jokes, or where you are having lunch today, how could I do that? I would have to take the trouble to FOLLOW your blog in the first place, then wade through your mindless drivel to find what I was really looking for.
Like I said, too busy, can't be bothered.
Behold, Twitter. The device that connects me to my friends and favorite strangers and keeps our interaction to 140 characters or less. Because, if there is anything I can't stand, it's actually speaking to someone I know.
Twitter, however, is actually pretty cool. It's managed to spider-web an entire world. I've never been to California but I can tell you what the porn star Sasha Grey did last night. (She had sex)
And that's all thanks to Twitter. And just like newspapers met their demise to the newest and coolest, so goeth the blogeth. If I can't get across to you in 140 characters or less what I'm trying to say, then what's the point? There possibly can't be anything worth reading beyond that.
Twitter makes me proud in the way that the guy who developed the first microchip for Cyberdyne felt. Except, maybe, I'm a little more paranoid.
R.I.P. Blog. Don't rest on your laurels too long, Twitter. Your eulogy will come swift enough.
Until then, be sure to follow me @natedeezybaby.
