Boyd

When I began reading Boyd's "Streams of Content, Limited Attention: The Flow of Information through Social Media" I immediately thought of Twitter and the piece I had written on it. I then found it fitting that he referred to Twitter in the next group of sentences I read:

"Those who are most enamored with services like Twitter talk passionately about feeling as though they are living and breathing with the world around them, peripherally aware and in-tune, adding content to the stream and grabbing it when appropriate. This state is delicate, plagued by information overload and weighed down by frustrating tools."

This group of sentences beautifully illustrates what Boyd is talking about.

As I continued reading, one thing began to bother me. This may be me being picky but it seemed as though Boyd assumed everyone in the world has access to the internet:

"Internet technologies are fundamentally dismantling and reworking the structures of distribution. Distribution is a process by which content creators find channels through which they can disseminate their creation. In effect, they're pushing out the content. Sure, people have to be there to receive it, but the idea is that there are limited channels for distribution and thus getting access to this limited resource is hard. That is no longer the case."

I understand the point he is trying to make but I don't think it's correct to allude to the fact that obtaining internet access is easy for everyone.

My favorite part of the piece:

"Figuring out how to monetize sociality is a problem. And not one new to the Internet. Think about how we monetize sociality in physical spaces. Typically, it involves second-order consumption of calories. Venues provide a space for social interaction to occur and we are expected to consume to pay rent. Restaurants, bars, cafes… they all survive on this model. But we have yet to find the digital equivalent of alcohol."

Very true.