Two astonishing things:

1. Texting (SMS) is far more popular than searching Google (communication beats search)
2. This is only the beginning — let’s see these counters in another 5 or 10 years

The conclusion? Mass media is shrinking rapidly at the hands of participatory media. It’s not absolute (one kills the other), but it is a complete reshuffling of the deck.

Are you connecting in your public media practice, or are you broadcasting?

http://www.personalizemedia.com/media/socmedcounter.swf

• People Power
  Brooke Gladstone (On the Media / WNYC) interviews Clay Shirky on the release of his new book
• Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
  (link to Amazon)

One of the points made in the interview is that just 10 years separates this new mode of Internet activism and participation from the old model that didn’t allow people to easily find one another and co-create social action and original media around shared values and interests.

In a world like this — where the audience (or community) is in control as much as the old gatekeepers (perhaps in even more control) — what is the role for public service media?