In the article "streams of content" they are talking a lot about the means of information, and how we are receiving it these days. As my title foretells, we are no longer on the search for information, and going through these processes to access the info, with technology like twitter & Facebook, info is coming to us 24 hours a day, without the user actually going out & digging for info.
They list four core issues of this flow through social media:
1.) Democratization: The model has been switched from distribution to attention, but because we are moving to a state where anyone has ability to get info that is out there in the "stream", doesn't mean that the attention of these people will be diverted
2.) Stimulation: People absorb the content that stimulates their senses. Anything that creates an emotional response & can excite, anger, or entertain. Same as how our bodies gravitate towards eating fat & sugars which causes obesity, on the internet we lean towards violence, gossip, or gross content which is humiliating, embarassing or offensive. And I find this a really neat analogy; "If we don't be careful, we're going to develop the psychological equivalent of obesity." And we all know where our culture & obesity stand at this point in time.
3.) Homophily: People connect to others like themselves. Various dating sites (Christian Mingle, etc.), the information they share on their FB pages, such as biblical quotes, certain movies/music, etc...
4.) Power: Power is at stake as far as a centralized source of information. We give power to people when we give them our attention & people gain power when they bridge between different worlds & decide what info will flow btwn 2 networks. Those who control which information goes where in today's networks get more credit than the actual TV producers, or record labels themselves.
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