Increasingly, for some reason, everything I read online about the state of media, be it new or old, I put in the context of how will we look back at this in a few years.
Justin.tv launched recently, it’s about a guy (Justin) who’s headcam is on 24/7 and available on justin.tv. The novelty wears off, quickly, but it does create for some funny and irreverent material, as any headcam that is on for 24/7 would.
Now we’re seeing a company - Ustream - come out and offer just about any clown this same opportunity. Mark my words, this will go down as a watershed moment where in a few years we’ll say: “on the same weekend that journalists at newspapers were getting the axe, any guy off the street could be on, 24/7.”
You can argue whether that is a good or bad thing, I don’t care and my opinion does not matter that much more than the next guy, but ask yourself if we’ve seen, done and heard things like this before (yes, yes, yes, 1999-ish) and let’s hope “this time, it’s different.”
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April 3rd, 2007 at 2:40 am
I’m an investor in Ustream, and let me tell you, I did have my “am I going to go to hell” moment when I considered what launching the service might unleash. Just imagine the horrors of a 24/7 Paris Hilton channel. But in the end, I do think that making broadcasting more democratic will be a net positive, and that live broadcasting will add interactivity and community to the world.