World 2.0 is upon us. Web 2.0 is a metaphor for the technological world of social media and smart phones. Two recent events last month have led me to consider our society is now World 2.0.
I was watching news coverage the day pop star Michael Jackson died. I was struck by something as the cameras panned across the crowd of people gathered outside the Los Angeles hospital where he died. The camera was on the Fox News reporter, but I noticed that every bystander you could see in the picture was on a cell phone texting or talking—most seemed to be texting. What was occurring was everyone was reporting the event. Everyone was a reporter!
The other situation involved the mass street demonstrations in Tehran, Iran, following their recent presidential elections. The people protesting in Iran have employed the Web 2.0 tools of Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to upload videos, pictures and descriptions of the protests. Cell phones and computers are the keys to this information flow. Major cable news sources then use this material on television.
That is the reality of our socially connected, wired world today. Anyone with a smart phone and connection can transmit text, pictures and voice instantly from the palm of his or her hand. Information is instantly posted on Twitter, Facebook and other online media. News organizations often rely on these sources for information on breaking news stories.
Last January when the US Airways jetliner landed in the Hudson River in New York, the first pictures were from a guy with a phone posting to Twitter. Amazing!
A point to learn from this is the fact that information abounds and is transmitted, shared and absorbed instantly by a variety of means. Nothing is secret, and information cannot be controlled. Iran is learning that you cannot control a citizenry aroused over an election. Iran has tried to crack down on the Internet but with little success.
