Media Goes Digital...

If Shirky is right, and we’re headed to a period where social media tools like YouTube, Flickr, and social networks like Facebook become “invisible,” what’s the impact on things you spend money on as consumers? Books? Movies? Music?

I really don't think that the amount of money people are going to spend on media will change too much. The only thing that will impact that is if sites and programs like limewire continue to draw users to illegally downloading free media. Otherwise, people are going to continues to spend their money on media, yet in different formats. Instead of going to the book store to buy a book, with the click of a mouse, people can log onto amazon and buy the digital version and have it on their kindle within minutes. Instead of going to the music store, consumers can log onto iTunes and immediately download the newest hit to their iPods. These social media tools are not only beneficial in the quick delivery and immediate gratification of the item being purchased, but also allow consumers to read reviews about the purchase before they actually commit. Although authors and music artists will still be earning the benefits of their media being purchased...Printing companies and record labels beware. Media is going digital! Shirky describes this perfectly at the end of chapter 4:

"Our social tools are not an improvement to modern society; they are a challenge to it. A culture with printing presses is a different kind of culture from one that doesn't have them. New technology makes new things possible: put another way, when new technology appears, previously impossible things start occuring. If enough of those impossible things are important and happen in a bundle, quickly, the change becomes a revolution."