On Technology. The Mistadobalina Era.

I have to thank the folks over at Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital, specifically Kara Swisher, for the interesting feedback spurred by highlighting my “Saying Nothing in Stereo” piece as their featured “Voice” of the day for December 31.  It goes without saying, I’m a fan of the Journal in general and the work that Mossberg, Swisher, and Co. do at the site.  

Actual value.  Fascinating.

I think my piece stands up well on its own, and doesn’t require a point by point explanation.  

I will take a moment to discuss the issue further, however.  While it was mostly received at face value, a few have asked me if I’m condemning technology as an entire genre, or the fact that it can be an art itself.

My answer is obviously not.  

I love these tools.  I began writing on the web in 1996, was a full-fledged blogger in 2003, and scored my first job as a result of doing so in 2004.  I get real joy out of using laptops, software, smartphones, digital audio, HD video, etc.  A few people, like Leo Laporte, have developed businesses around helping people feel comfortable adopting these tools in their everyday lives.

In the past few years I have worked mostly in the enterprise sector, developing technology that never gets discussed in mainstream technophile culture.  I’ve been almost completely off the “Web 2.0″ radar for the better part of three years.  The folks I’ve been working with toil for days straight writing code that will score them exactly zero internet credibility.  They develop products that do things such as allow you to navigate telephone customer service more smoothly and accurately, without wanting to blow your skull out in the process.

I only began to pay attention to Web 2.0 culture in March of this past year, when by random chance I stumbled upon a few folks on Twitter that piqued my interest with humor.

To understand what inspired my piece, what chaps my ass about Web 2.0, all you have to do is observe a brief moment on Twitter just yesterday.  This is one example, but I could reconstruct moments like this nearly every hour for the next 365 days.

Guy Kawasaki – Twitterati and Valley Extraordinaire – hit my Twitter stream with this tweet:

 

I clicked on it.

What I was presented with was a 60-some odd word post at his Truemors website.  Here is the content by “Thundercloud” in its entirety, quoted here for the purpose of commentary:

The Apple factory elves apparently have a new gadget in the works as TechCrunch reports that Steve Jobs and the crew will release an iPod Touch featuring a 7- to 9-inch screen in late 2009. One source claims to have handled a prototype of the rumored gadget that reportedly includes the iPhone’s multitouch functionality. So, will the bigger, fancier iPod Touch be worth standing in line for?

This post was nothing more than another restating of the essence of a TechCrunch post (Mike is the real deal, a worker) from two days prior, by way of linking to a CNET entry that did the same exact thing.  Nothing more was offered.  Not one additional fact.  Not a single piece of investigation.  Not one clever angle.  Zero.  

Well, nothing more outside of 40% of the page being covered in Truemors ads, of course.

With all due respect to Guy…this is garbage.

I’m not condemning Kawasaki in whole here.  My brain allows for more nuance than that.  

But I do challenge him and others in the Web 2.0 crowd to raise their game to the level that they never feel compelled to post crap like this.  It’s not adding anything to the web, social media, the “conversation,” or the semantics…whatever hot vibe we’re running with at the moment in the Valley’s echo chamber vernacular.

We only accept this because we’re looking for something, anything, that will allow us to waste time while at work.  This is the equivalent of shitty magazines at the dentist’s office.  

Again, it’s a time sink.  One that is available 24/7, whenever we need it.

In our normal lives, we rightfully value work that is of high quality.  We know the value of an item that has been well researched by the Wall Street Journal, for example.  We value this especially when compared to what we see at the checkout lane offered up by Us Weekly.

This type of tweet and blog entry is Us Weekly level stuff, Web 2.0 edition.

And we, for some reason, buy it.  We at times even champion it.

We’re in the Mr. Dobalina Era of the web.

“Because you don’t impress me, Dobalina.  The style of dress is not the key, Dobalina.  It’s all in the mind and heart so you should start by remembering you’ve got to pay a fee, Dobalina.” 

You can’t fake quality.  It has real value.  It costs something.

It only takes a quick look in the mirror to know if you’re faking it.

Decide to actually put in the effort.  The web will be much better off because of it.

2009 is the year that people finally realize the difference.  I can feel it.