08-18-2009, 01:55 PM
People love to observe, themselves and others.
They also love to communicate, gossip, reminisce, flatter themselves, etc.
These technologies are just extensions of what people already do. I used to joke that grandmothers would always carry a photo-album of her grandchildren, to show any stranger unlucky enough to be passing by. Now kids do the same thing, except the photo album is an iPod. Facebook is basically the same thing, but it is a more personal connection. Facebook has the potential to change the world because of the way it humanizes everyone. Most of what is on Twitter is a joke. I use it to record thoughts I have. Kind of like an internet scratchpad. It is generally meaningless texting that anyone can read, instead of a few people.
YouTube is an interesting phenomenon. The variety of speech it contains is overwhelming, from the erudite to the inane.
Ah, the mirror. Everything always comes back to the mirror.