A great overview of a subject cloaked in FUD - and a clear eyed and cynical view of the motivations and intentions of all our walled garden social sites.
Plenty of food for thought here
Edit: it treats content as some amorphous entertainment. Content that teaches will have more value because it gives you extra capability. So I would go for the teaching style more than any text with the right keywords.
Thanks! Wasn't necessarily trying to drum up controversy, but I do think that the industry at large needs a little bit of a clearing of the air as far as this subject is concerned...
Have not listened to the podcast but I like trend extrapolation as a device for thinking around subjects - it's my own catnip.
I am not sure I fully followed the last argument - it seemed that Seth Godin et al have pulled up the ladder behind them on books and are now going to do it on conferences.?
If I expand your music analogy, then it seems the age of superstars is over - too many channels too much diversity for everyone to want to buy the next Beatles record. But the same must come to pass for celebrity content-makers?
I watch people presenting at PyCon, some have influenced me to write new projects, change my testing, but none got rich off it.
We shall need our own personal filters - but instead of automating that wont we choose editors who recommend our choices - conferences being a very good proxy for just that?
Plenty of food for thought here
Edit: it treats content as some amorphous entertainment. Content that teaches will have more value because it gives you extra capability. So I would go for the teaching style more than any text with the right keywords.