Friday 31 May 2013

The Medium is the message

I came across a new social media web site that smelt of smug. 

It's stuffed full of confident 30-somethings wanting to share confident prescriptions about life, about tech, about consumer activism, about neat ideas and neater, confident, meaningful, artistically shaped lives. It concentrates on the word, and puts words on the page beautifully (much nicer than blogger.com, hmm). It's a space to share and be seen and be part of something new. It's quietly getting rave reviews, getting known. What? You hadn't heard of Medium? Really? Where have you been?




Like 2 minute man. He has something to say. And he's damn proud of it. Summary: a neat trick to overcome procrastination, the start of everything takes less than two minutes, so, er, just DO IT! He riffs with this idea like he'd never experienced a true fear of failing, true crippling indecision, true lack of self worth. Go 2 minute man! (Medium doesn't have a search facility that I can find, so can't link back to it. Go Medium!)

Like, what did David Karp (Tumblr founder) mean by 'Fuck, yeah, Tumblr' when he sold it and pocketed 250 million? Quite why that's categorised under 'lady bits', Medium, I have no idea. Oh, the writer was female. Right.

And back to the point, how has Facebook failed, and what might the next Facebook look like? (But why add a photo of Balkan refugees to the former? Bit sick that, really.)

And with Medium, App.Net, Svbtle and others, there seems to be a wee bit of a trend developing here.

Apparently there's this problem with Facebook and Twitter and Tumblr and #everyothersocialmediasite apparently: the shittiness of user-generated content. And these are attempts by 'alpha geeks' to create new social media sites that address that problem.

And, yes, user-generated content can be fifty shades of shite involving random pictures of kittens mixed in with selfies and food-shots, anodyne 'life advice', meaningful quotes repackaged by one graphic designer, badly targeted spam, well-targeted spam, my-kids-are-cute streams, here's what I did now and now and now and isn't my life interesting, isn't it? please notice me, and, and ... 

Mixed in is the good stuff - early warning of anything happening anywhere, good things to read, watch, listen to, eat, politics to die for, fashion to live for, the latest sensation in town, the best place to eat, that great concert, that TED talk, that... 

And what about real news from real life friends of real significance? A long-term friend's deeply brave slow-motion fight against terminal cancer; someone else's persecution by a neo-Nazi group; another's burgeoning directing career; another's random business move from video into pizza; news of friends and colleagues after the latest terrorist attack in Kabul (where I'm based) and news of a dear friend's 13 week-old pregnancy, just to mention a few that spring to mind. 

In an article on the smug site called ' "User generated" is a poor substitute for  "Reader submitted" ' - a distinction that would be mystifying, my guess, to anyone under thirty, Caleb Hildenbrandt lists the down side of the Twitter stream then comments, "What makes twitter different is that this content is no longer mediated; it no longer passes through the filter of selective publishing, but is passed straight from producer to peer-producer, unedited and uncut. The same thing goes for “inspirational” image macros on tumblr or chain-letter statuses on facebook, or google’s auto-complete suggestions for popular queries; the consumers of platitudes are indistinguishable from the creators."

Leaving aside the lack of proper-name capitals, what this misses is the simple truth that anyone can mediate and sort that stream for themselves. 

How about simply managing that stream a little more effectively? I need to focus on Afghanistan (for work and safety reasons) so use Slices for Twitter to create a list of people I regularly follow who have something to say about the situation here. If there's been a bomb in Kabul (where I'm based) as simple #Kabul search gives me an invaluable running commentary.

The same article has a sub-heading : Why public opinion is boring. 

Ok, so now we get to it. The problem is not with the stream in itself, it's the people, the horrible unwashed multitude that intellectuals, the middle class and snobs everywhere have always had a problem with. 

Middle class life is about sifting, elevating, making more clean, being different, more interesting. Encoded into the middle class outlook has always been a dislike of popular culture. In the UK television is often considered vulgar, lower class by a certain segment of the uber middle class. Not even particular programmes or types of programmes, but television itself. Yep.



So, Medium. What are you about? Helpfully Ev Williams explains in a 'welcome to Medium' note. Medium, is "designed for little stories that make your day better and manifestos that change the world." Cutsy and earth-shattering all in the same sentence, right? Kittens and death? Seems inclusive and useful? 
  
But wait, what's this? "Creation is only available in Chrome, Firefox and Safari." Really? Hmm. Let's look at browser stats. Ok, so I use Chrome myself, as it seems does a good proportion of the planet (when did that happen?) but Internet Explorer, good ole IE is running a good second, and used to be the first as recently as May 2012. But then IE is for those who don't know better, right? The unwashed multitude? And Medium is only aimed at the smug, techie netizen who wouldn't dream of steam-driven IE. And why would you want to aim at a browser that nets an 8% user base? Oh, yes, that would be the smug Mac fanbois.


I'm not the only one who questions the basis of these new uber-social sites, as Anil Dash's title alone should make his perspective clear, "You Can’t Start the Revolution from the Country Club". He hits several nails on the head far better than I could. "In today’s world, where the social web is mainstream, innovating on the core values of tools and technology while ignoring the value of inclusiveness is tantamount to building a gated community. Even with the promise that the less privileged might get a chance to show up later, you’re making a fundamentally unfair system." It's published on Medium as well as on his own blog, but, because he has access to this privileged audience, he picks up others who don't. He wonders if they "mark the beginning of “white flight” from Twitter and Facebook, ...  not being on Facebook has become the new, cool status marker (esp for affluent white tech people)." (or rather he quotes Whitney Erin Boesel as saying that in “Race, Class, App.net: The Beginning of ‘White Flight’ from Facebook& Twitter?” 

Ev in his welcome continues, "It’s used by everyone from professional journalists to amateur cooks. It’s simple, beautiful, collaborative, and it helps you find the right audience for whatever you have to say." Except, here's the thing. It's not. It's currently in beta, and there's a whole process about "how to post" which involves, wait for it, being INVITED to post. Jeez. I felt like I was in the 20th century right there for a moment. No. Wait. Not a joke. They mean it. And, ok, that's fine for an openly curated offering, like an online magazine or something, but, just to remind you, we're talking alternative social media here. 

"Create a note here saying what you’d like to write about and a link to something you’ve written on the web. No guarantees, but we’ll check it out (limited time offer)."

So, well, shamefacedly I'd have to admit, er, this is it. This is my attempt to get them to think I'm a writer with something to say who is worth inviting to post. 

That's the thing about smug and exclusion. It makes you want to join. And the site looks pretty. Ok, except that their logo looks like Morrisons, which as supermarkets go is really not all that exclusive and hip and happening, but, you know, whateverz. They don't want me to be part of their club, and any club that doesn't want me has got to be good. Right Groucho?