New York Times
New York Times blogger Nick Bilton says in his new book that digital technology makes the world all about “me.” That, he reports, is having a dramatic effect on how people consume the news and other media.
For example, go to your smart phone and ask to it show your current location. In his book, “I Live in the Future & Here’s How It Works,” Bilton writes that if you walk down the street, the map follows you. That effect of keeping the user in the center is a reversal of the analog way of life:
“In the print world people don’t go to the store and say, ‘Oh, excuse me, can I buy a map of me?’ Instead, they ask for a map of New York, or Amsterdam, or the subway system. You and I aren’t anywhere to be seen on these maps. The maps are locations that we fit into.”
Bilton said he believes this omnipresent focus on the “me” has significant ramifications for publishers:
“The Internet generation is looking for personalized experiences, from the clothes that they buy, to when, where and how they watch the latest episode of ‘Glee.’ For content creators this poses a problem: if they don’t offer the option to consume a product in a personalized way, many consumers will simply go and get it themselves — something that some would call stealing.”
