We finally have video and audio of last week’s Intelligence Collaborative event at which I discussed the impact of social media on what passes for authoritative information, and thus on decision making.
Category: Media
Abandon major media, talk to each other: a podcast
Wednesday, 22 July 2009 22:20
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At my gym, they have those televisions up above the cardio machines. We have five TVs, and three channels: CNN, VH1, and ESPN.
ESPN is completely innocuous: sports news. Harmless entertainment. VH1 oscillates between retrospectives of 80s rock and some of the most mindless reality television in existence, basically tolerable.
C
NN however, has crossed the line. I have listened to them poke the corpse of Michael Jackson for two consecutive weeks. His father, his doctor, “It could have been a murder!” despite the strain of 75 different plastic surgeries. I can take no more. I find now that my exercise is no longer limited by my cardiovascular capacity, but by my ability to withstand the Stupid.
And then, today, on the crawl below the screen: “Bernanke says economy now better.”
I laughed out loud. I know that media is not really here to help us think deeply, but this was truly Kafkaesque. CNN is trying to inflame this poor singer’s death into some game of Clue, meanwhile commercial real estate will finish the job the subprime started. And then the pithy little crawl runs by, “Guy in charge says it’s OK!”
It is what it is. As I explain in the podcast below, this isn’t a moral judgment, but a business judgment. Formerly credible media are forced to take refuge in sex, death, celebrity, and calamity. Actually, they are really heavy on the death, since that’s a sure punch to the lizard brain.
YOU NEED INFORMATION. You just may need it from sources other than the media we have been trained to accept as credible. Again, it’s not a moral judgment, but one born of pragmatism. You are running a business, or your household, or a non-profit. You need data, and I’m afraid all you’re going to get from the media businesses is stories of Michael Jackson’s monkey’s motives for killing him.
On the bright side, you’re about to discover your inner pundit. So it’s all going to be OK.
Take care of yourselves; take care of someone else; build a great future.
Why you should turn off the television news and think of the market any way you want
Monday, 27 April 2009 17:07
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From the insightful analysts at CNBC:
At 10:14am:”Stocks Slide on Swine-Flu Fears”
At: 11:21am: “Stocks Rebound as Traders Find Flu Trade”
No further comment is required.
Business models: Compensation, not control
Thursday, 12 February 2009 12:46
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Gerd Leonhard is one of the hardest working guys in the world right now, criss-crossing the globe and trying to figure out the future of making money off music, books, movies, and other content. (Guys like me really appreciate that!)
He has noticed that the “sue the customer” trick didn’t work (ahem) and that a new business model for content is badly needed.
Here, his mantra is “compensation, not control.” Watch the whole thing: