Last night I went to a discussion at the Royal Court in London about the state of theatre criticism - the traditional first night reviewing of the Billingtonia Brigade, and the newer nascent world of blogging enthusiasts. I'll write more later on the debate, but the key thing - of course - was how will mainstream media pay for something as rarefied as in-depth theatre reviews in the future? I don't know, though I suggested philanthropy perhaps; particularly as theatre does seem such a fertile social network. More on that too. Money issues are everywhere. I like this tart summing up of advertising and social media from a fine American blog:
...you can’t barge into the middle of an intimate social situation, yell "buy my stuff!" and then leave. A brand that does that will certainly be remembered — as a clod.
Being a clod is certainly the way to get kicked out of the social media party, but the decline of every form of media begins with the rescinding of a welcome. Media companies don't see this, so we don't believe it. We believe our own hyperbole, and can't imagine that we're actually doing things to make ourselves less welcome in the lives of consumers.
From Local Media in a Postmodern World.
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