For the first time, major events occur in the world at a time when a great part of the world population is connected to the Web and its social networks through computers and mobiles, smartphones and tablets. The last great upheaval that happened in 1989 seems ages away. At that time, people got mainly informed through television, newspapers and newsmagazines. Today, they follow the Arab revolts and the cataclysm in Japan with information websites, Twitter, Facebook and various text and video applications on their smartphones.
When I open my newspaper, I find that there is very little I want to read. I skip the pages that deal with the current news on Japan end Lybia. I know already what is in it. Of course, dailies and newsmagazines try to go further and explain more thoroughly what is happening and how people feel. However, their long papers seem already bypassed by the current news that jump on the screen of my I Pad and video sequences provided by all news channels are much more explicit than a written explanation.
What I believe is that this new way of beeing informed means the end of the newsmagazines and daily publications. Journalists and publishers must think hard how to keep people informed and interested in times of emergency. I will go back to this all important topic, very soon.
