I was listening to This Week in Tech #92 today, and it was pretty fascinating. The guys who do the Tiki Bar were on it, among others. There was a lot of discussion about producing your own media in these exciting times, and in particular how it differs from the old school "real" media. They also hit the topics of motivation, fame and other related things.
First off, even as someone who has been publishing Web sites getting tens of thousands of visitors every day for almost ten years now, I guess I haven't actually realized how fascinating and crazy it all is. I spent so many years working in "the system" of mainstream media, and now that I'm free of it, I'm still kind of coasting (no pun intended).
Back up to grade seven, when I was fascinated by top 40 radio. I thought, wow, I want to do that. Then in grade nine I got to tour the TV facilities of Kent State, and a year later got to work in the cable TV studio for my city. Getting something I created on cable TV even seemed huge.
In college I got more stuff on cable TV, and my voice on radio. Then it was commercial radio in a fairly large market, then back to government cable TV. That act of creation, sharing it, and getting feedback that it was in some way enjoyed was an enormous high.
Today, anyone can do this. What's weird is that the "hard" stuff, creating a Web site, came first and came in droves. When I launched CoasterBuzz in 2000, there were little sites popping up all over the place, most of them built by teenagers. Today, most of them are gone. Now the audio and video stuff, which I think most people can more readily do than code a Web site, and there aren't that many people doing it. They are uploading crap to YouTube, but that's about it. It seems like missed opportunities are all over right now.
But look at where we're going. Hollywood, TV, the music industry and the like are all scrambling to figure out what the hell to do with themselves, when guys are creating things like lonelygirl15 in a bedroom, or the Tiki guys are making drinks. Even better, two guys sit and drink beer on a couch and talk about tech news on DiggNation. You can call it fringe media if you want, but when hundreds of thousands of people are seeing this stuff, that's better than most cable shows, and they're produced at a fraction of the cost.
Then there was the discussion about motivation. Leo Laporte is a classic radio guy, and he talked a bit about how in that business you want to try to climb to bigger markets and such. I can really identify with that, because that's the kind of thing I thought I wanted to do in radio. Now he aligns his motivation with the Tiki guys, in that he wants to create something that people enjoy, and have it seen or heard by as many people as possible. Again, that's me. The Tiki guys also say that there's nothing wrong with wanting to get paid to do this stuff either, and if possible, make a living doing it. Now they're entirely speaking my thoughts. When the one guy said it'd be nice if he could spend time at home with his family and do the "work" on his time, I felt validated that my wanting to do the same is a feeling shared by others.
An interesting turn came when a caller said she was a little freaked out by her success. The very same things about the Internet that make it easy to get your stuff out to the world makes it easy for the world to get to you. That can certainly be terrifying. I had stalkers show up at radio events, so I know what that's like. I admit I'm not always that friendly when a complete stranger walks up to me and says they enjoy one of my sites, because I just assume they're a little crazy. That's not fair to them, I know, but I felt more anonymous on radio speaking to tens of thousands of people who didn't have any idea who I was. I'm working on it, but being a public figure, even for a niche audience, makes me uncomfortable. It's a constant struggle to find that line where you're putting a human face on your media and still keeping some things private.
But overall, it was a fascinating show that really made me think about just how different the media game is. I might not be able to quit working day jobs or consulting gigs, but even having my "hobby" available to me as a financial security blanket is something that wasn't possible ten years ago. There are more opportunities now than ever to do something you love, and do OK providing for yourself.
These are indeed exciting times.
I just wish there was a way to filter the quality work being done in media from all of the crap. What defines quality work anyway? Is it the number of people who tune in? Because more and more I am becoming of the mind that people will view/listen to just about anything that's put in front of them.
Lonegirl15 is a great example. So is MTV's so-called "Real World". I think it is great that the market is opening up. I just hope people use the opportunity in order to polish their crafts and not just look for quick recognition.