Where is the News?

In other words, its All Quiet on the Digital Front.

Of course, there were the standard corporate barrages of [Company A] pimping [Product B] by paying bloggers to PR across the blogosphere, a few sniping [Ludicrous Claim C] aimed at [Well know Target D] to linkbait, there were advances as [Tinpot Company E] breathlessly announces [Deal F], and retreats as [Mr or Ms G] throws PR smoke over [failed effort H]. And of course the consolidation of long running skirmishes into new battle lines as [Douchebag I] settles a dispute with [Dumbass J]. And of course there is always leaflet dropping of pinups over the troops in the trenches

Its all on the cover of Techmeme.

The Twittersphere was the standard fare of "Look at Meeee - I'm doing" [Insert latest Project / Thing to Be Seen Doing / Place to Do Lunch] plus Retweet the [Person I worship / Cause I support].

So, its not to say that there was "no" news, just it was all same old same old - the "official" news curating organs for the "New" media are increasingly trumpeting "mainstream" news that they looked to be so samey that I really couldn't get excited about anything to write about.

For a bit I thought about commenting on the rather limp claim that Microsoft is the New General Motors (rather than the New IBM) but it just fits into [C/D] category I noted above, and, well....yawn.

Or, I could comment on the session on Privacy vs Datamining at Telco 2.0, but its Old News, its just the standard sordid story of the commercially interested trying to scrape the dumb punter's data for nowt while trying to stop the powers that be restricting their activity. That's been going for years and merely falls into the Douchebag/Dumbass camp.

So where is the real stuff going on, where are the next big fronts going to be opened up, I wondered? The main curating organs tend to be increasingly taking news from the Big Battalions, the Twitterstream is increasingly filled with people pimping.

So I went back to Doing it Myself. I did this in three ways:

Firstly, I set up some Twitter Lists (private only) of people who say or point to interesting things, and started to read what they were saying

Secondly, I went back to some of the bloggers who used to hit Techmeme often c 2 years ago, and rejigged an RSS feed just for them (Don't stop blogging, Don Dodge)

Thirdly, I researched the conversations I had in Tuttle this morning - its an idea exchange, memes in the aether were:

- Shifts in the Enterprise 2.0 marketplace
- Is there a tectonic shift in politics - not just digital media, but signs that the last tectonic shift - organised labour as a force - is coming to an end
- Identity as a backing for digital currency
- Not for profits are the new For Profits
- Twitterpimping and the Empty Vessel rule - the less you have to say, the more often you say it

There is, of course, a whole wellspring of new ideas - but the New Media runs the risk of increasingly looking like the Old Media by repeating mainstream News. Its what brands and advertisers want (volume) but its not what I want (variety and value). The whole point of teh blogosphere was that it was not a broadcast media, and it increasingly seems to be turning into one, which begs the question....

But of course, this being the InterWebs, I can configure them to get what I want. The New news is I've felt the need to do it for the first time in about 3 years.