Are you old enough to remember the sound of turning on your computer and hearing the words, "You've got mail!" If so, you can understand what I am going to discuss.
America Online, Myspace, Prodigy, and other long-gone names of the 1990s internet boom disappeared for a reason -- they missed the next 'big thing' when it came to hi-technology. Microsoft is no longer the household name, or the existential threat that the company used to be. All of these firms missed 'the internet' and what it could do for the average citizen and consumer.
The same thing is happening now, except in different ways.
You could be forgiven for thinking that Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, etc. are so pervasive, and so powerful, that they will be in our lives forever. That is simply not true. For they are missing the next 'big thing'. That thing is a new 'decentralized' internet and economy that is heading our way.
All of the companies I mentioned have already peaked; they just don't know it yet.
Censorship has killed the hi-tech golden goose. Do you remember when Google started, their catch phrase was 'Don't be evil'? There is a reason they no longer talk about that anymore. Google is now actively trying to subvert a duly-elected presidential administration. They have long passed over to the dark side.
The American people, as they learn more and more about the tactics of Google, Facebook, and Twitter, the more sickened they become. Americans yearn for a pro-privacy, free-speech alternative for their communication and social media.
There are options coming online as well to fit this need. Gab just released its system into a decentralized social media platform so anyone, anywhere, can create his own server. Blockchain is growing exponentially to put data, documents, money, and other uses out of the reach of centralized authorities. Pavel Durov, the developer of the crypto app Telegram, is creating his own decentralized social media platform based on blockchain to keep it out of the reach of dictatorial governments.
The pendulum has started to swing towards privacy. Many people I know refuse to use Facebook, Twitter, or Google at all. Slowly this will eat away at their success in controlling people's lives and using their data as the product.
It's only a matter of time. In a period of years, we will be talking about some new application that has taken the place of the deceitful corporations who have us by the short hairs right now.
Bet on it.
Nerds could never handled power. They are merely the worker ants of civilization.
This conservative nerd disagrees with you.
Once a company goes public, they go to work for the Board of Directors. This keeps them firmly on the path of constant growth and the quest for ever higher profits. I've decoupled from Amazon/Prime, Netflix, Google. My next project is to get rid of FB. Then I will go after every subsidiary of all these, as I have of all Disney, all mass-produced food, all national chains, and any foreign owned oil company.
I'm determined that I do nothing that furthers the power of the elites.
I quit using Google anything long ago, except for downloading an occasional app from their app store to my seldom-used cell phone, permanently canceled my Facebook account, and have been on Twitter maybe once a year for two years. I don't miss any of it, and I'm about to take a vacation from the media altogether and see what happens. Or doesn't.
They might have you by the short-hairs now, but I bailed out when I tried - back in the day - to set up a MySpace account. As soon as I realized it was about as private as mooning out a Vegas hotel window, I bailed. No social media since.i don’t understand how so many of you got caught up in that crap to the degree you are.
Superb blog! Do you have any tips for aspiring
writers? I'm planning to start my own site soon but I'm
a little lost on everything. Would you advise starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I'm totally confused ..
Any recommendations? Thanks!
Thank you for the kind words, but we are not a blog, we are a global news company, quite different. tx. I would suggest getting a free template online somewhere to start.