What is Digg?209 Comments
- jforjools, on 04/21/2008, -4/+56"Under the old rules, a 37-minute speech full of complex ideas didn't stand a chance against the excitement of "good TV." Of course, I was wrong. Obama's speech has now been played on YouTube nearly 5.5 million times, with viewers presumably watching at least a few minutes of it.
It turns out the Obama campaign planned it that way....they intentionally avoided any of the snappy lines that they know reporters and TV producers are trained to recognize as useful for representing the entire story. A few lines, like the one about Obama's grandmother, did get disproportionately quoted and aired. But the speech was constructed so that you simply couldn't understand it in 10 seconds. "
"The era of sound bites and fat cats may be coming to a close."
...It's what many of us have been talking about--that the media (especially tv and the limiting use of soundbites) may actually evolve (eventually) as a result of this election cycle. In particular, I think if Obama wins the presidency, the media will have to adapt: his presence and style will necessitate it and his press corps will facilitate it. ...I'm hopeful this (soundbites dominating the tv stories and also tv-as-we-know-it dominating viewers' political knowledge) will change to some extent. - smotpoker, on 04/21/2008, -6/+50Viva la Information Age!
- inactive, on 04/21/2008, -4/+33Senator Obama, we saw you throw a gutter ball on a campaign stop, which has been played endlessly on tv, so Senator Obama why do you hate our troops?
/ABC News - BishkekBuddy, on 04/21/2008, -2/+26Hey there... I"M an "older person" - almost 60 and have opted out of MSM since they can't figure out how to be true journalists, just going for the sensational sound bite... Just be careful of your stereotypes! :-)
- BabushkaBlue, on 04/21/2008, -1/+19*Raises hand* Hey there younger generation person! I'm an "older person" who opts out of MSM and prefers to learn about events through those new-fangled internet tubes. Be careful about that over-generalization thing. I'm also a white baby boomer woman who would rather have a root canal than vote for Hillary.
- inactive, on 04/21/2008, -4/+22Good. I'm not sure this will translate into Obama being a president I'll like; it has little to do with his actual policy proposals. But, who doesn't hate the press for what they've become? Maybe they'll have to return to... wait for it... being good journalists!
- ggnictee, on 04/21/2008, -0/+17It seems a generational shift to me. We (the young'uns) are so used to hitting google that when a sound bite is interesting we go read the whole speech. Where as my parents hear a sound bite and ...well then they just sit there. But it's not just politics. I think this is something that's happening across the board. When steve irwin died my parents said "oh that's sad". My brother and I already had wikipedia open and were discussing how big stingrays get, you're likelyhood of being killed by one, etc.
Shrug, that's my theory anyway. I think it's a good thing though, information is never bad ...i don't think. - jforjools, on 04/21/2008, -6/+23"The era of sound bites and fat cats may be coming to a close."
Hell ya. - frankmu, on 04/21/2008, -4/+18this reality also highlights the generational gap. older people will listen to talk radio, and watch MSM, while the younger generation will opt out of traditional MSM outlets. this election will test the younger generation... will we vote?
- iainc, on 04/21/2008, -3/+16Nice try.
- Pherdnut, on 04/21/2008, -3/+14He's attacking Hillary for a Rove-style campaign. That's not the same as the kinds of attacks her kitchen sink strategy has indulged in and I'm sure he would have preferred the campaign stay positive but she forced his hand. He has not once indulged in the media hoopla over her stupid lies. All of his punches have been counterpunches to her attacks and this recent ad strategy is one big counterpunch to all of it.
- zeitgueist, on 04/21/2008, -0/+10Idiot with a Ayn Rand name. Awesome.
- inactive, on 04/21/2008, -0/+10"There is a teutonic shift happening..." you mean the Germans are taking over?
- pogfreak, on 04/21/2008, -0/+9I wish
- homercles337, on 04/21/2008, -1/+9As opposed to president *****-for-brains' balls?
- Smuhamm, on 04/21/2008, -0/+7If this is so for you then you must not have heard his compassion for ALL AMERICANS TO RISE ABOUT the controversy and to go into your own heart and search that something new you did not hear. That New Ideal was there. Your heart heard it, but your ego did not want to hear it. Sometimes we have to push the ego away to get what we really need.
- malex, on 04/21/2008, -0/+7I don't think you understand how elections work.
- DEIx15x8, on 04/21/2008, -0/+7"Consumers of news are less easily manipulated by the 24/7 barrage of bites and images (Hillary Clinton doing whisky shots, Obama bowling), which are dissected endlessly on cable." That's why we on Digg are now stuck with the 24/7 barrage of bites and images (Hillary Clinton doing whisky shots, Obama bowling), which are dissected endlessly in the comments. I wander if that is actually and different.
- Hollowpoint, on 04/21/2008, -0/+6America needs a BBC.
- s14sh3r, on 04/21/2008, -1/+7One person can't change it, but change starts with one person.
- Wolfie351, on 04/21/2008, -1/+7Carter did this in the 70s, it didn't go very well
- brettmjohnson, on 04/21/2008, -0/+5Whereas the "sound byte" has 8 bits of useless information, I prefer the "sound nibble", with only 4 bits of useless information.
- Awspire, on 04/21/2008, -1/+6"The era of sound bites and fat cats may be coming to a close."
Obama Girl disagrees. Nearly 8 MILLION VIEWS. Yep, things are a changin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKsoXHYICqU - drewlew, on 04/21/2008, -1/+6Unlikely.
- Pherdnut, on 04/21/2008, -0/+5I disagree. I think the politics of '04 were made possible because of that but people are learning to not trust everything they see in print. It's the reason Hillary's campaign has become a miserable failure. She had every advantage at first but things really started to go downhill when she tried to play it like Rove did back in '04.
And how stupid it was to go with that approach. There was no proof that style of campaign would work well on democrats and everybody who fell for it in '04 has had to suck it up and realize that they elected a disaster to office. - mochaman, on 04/21/2008, -4/+9There is a teutonic shift happening in media consumption, the latest ABC debate proved that people are not going to take the sound byte attacks anymore. I welcome the change, 24 hour news cycles,and tv played to the advantage of the GOP who reduced complex ideas into sound bytes.
- clemenza, on 04/21/2008, -0/+5As much as I would love to believe the era of sound bites is coming to a close I think we need some perspective here. MOST voters are not following this election nearly as closely as those of us on this website (or those of us on the internet 24/7). Nor are people reading in-depth news analysis anymore. There are some promising developments in the coverage of this election but 99% of it is still alarmist, distorted, compressed soundbytes repeated ad nasuem.
- inactive, on 04/21/2008, -2/+7How can the right direction be in two completely opposite directions?
- nathanbutnet, on 04/21/2008, -0/+4I would hope so too but I see private ownership of our press and our journalists as a big impediment to truly make the change the country needs such that the press again becomes a democratic pillar of our society and not a complicit accomplice.
- ShooterMcGavin, on 04/21/2008, -1/+5I think you are 100% correct. There is a reason it's called "The Information Age". I spend a bunch of time online (not news, we all do). But what I do with that time is what is interesting. Very seldom do I mindlessly surf. More often than not, I am looking for a specific piece of information. I am constantly learning. If I have a question about something, 99% of the time, I can have the answer in 20 seconds. Not only can I have the answer, I can have links to more in depth info if I so choose. That is absolutely amazing when you think about it.
When I do sit back and really think about how much this has changed everything it really boggles the mind. When I was a kid, we had a out of date encyclopedia. That was it. If we had a question on something newer than 1978, I was pretty much SOL. Hell, even if I had a question that the encyclopedia somehow covered, chances are it was a 4 sentence entry which didn't actually answer what I wanted to know.
Some people decry all this as "data overload". Not me. Bring on more data. I can filter what I don't need, but still keep it at my fingertips.
What a world we live in... - homercles337, on 04/21/2008, -1/+5Yes, i like to cook. Thank you very much. In fact im going to go cook my dinner right now!
- antipoet, on 04/21/2008, -0/+4Read the article again. He's heaping the praise on Obama for the shift in campaign techniques.
- inactive, on 04/21/2008, -5/+9How rich... A ron paul supporter complaining about spam.
- Pherdnut, on 04/22/2008, -0/+4How many other candidates can say that they've already delivered on a campaign promise? Obama said he would change politics. Some of you are too blind to see it, but he already has.
Nobody has ever raised so much money from small donations like this and no democrat has ever weathered such a constant and media-complicit barrage of ***** and come out on top.
Hillary needed a double-digit victory in PA. Now people are saying it's pretty much up in the air as to whether she'll even win but you can bet she won't break low single digits.
Obama chose to fight an uphill battle against the the cynicism and apathy that have run rampant in this country since Watergate and the Viet Nam war and he is winning. You guys can keep playing the game the way you always have and you just might even win this one last round, but it's the beginning of the end for the GOP as we know it and seeing as how it doesn't even appear to adhere to a recognizable philosophy anymore (small government? fiscal responsibility?) that's a good thing for everybody. - MJDub, on 04/21/2008, -0/+4Wow.
- malex, on 04/21/2008, -1/+5Cooks?
- mytibt, on 04/21/2008, -1/+5Maybe I should thank some of the candidates and their rhetoric, maybe I should thank the media, but because of all the nonsense and soundbytes that have been passed back and forth, I feel I have a more detailed understanding of policies and issues this election than in any, ever before. It's forced me to do my research and formulate my own opinions and I hope that it's helped alot of voters out there do the same.
- Cattywampus, on 04/21/2008, -0/+4Thank goodness we have Digg to provide commentary that is free of dumb comments, propaganda, one-liners, and gaffes!
- inactive, on 04/21/2008, -0/+4Probably too much Age of Empires
- inactive, on 04/21/2008, -3/+6Thats what your sister said!
- deanlowe, on 04/21/2008, -0/+3The era of sound bites may be coming to a close but diggers have no problem with distilling that speech down to a few lines.
- wacomwacoff, on 04/21/2008, -0/+3My parents are voting for Obama because they read his book. So am I. So is everyone I know.
But is voting for someone because they inspire you bad, even if you're just more inspired by seeing him on TV than you are by his competition? - Pherdnut, on 04/21/2008, -0/+3If you were posting in the Allentowngate story, I'd agree with you there. This, however, could represent a major turning point in American politics.
We don't do ourselves favors by Digging some of the dumber stories but don't blame us for the lack of compelling Hillary and McCain stories in the media. I actually like McCain and wouldn't mind seeing more coverage of the guy. - mirunit, on 04/22/2008, -0/+3"Use the angry mobs if you must." I sort of stopped reading there. Here is a question : What angry mobs? This is not the depression era, unemployment rates are still fairly good. Oil and Food prices will put the hurt on alot of people, but is not the US the same nation who made it through the 70's with all its economic / political troubles fine?
- Awspire, on 04/21/2008, -3/+6Ya right, information has always been available. Now we just have more ***** than ever.
We moved right onto the age of, "just give me the jist of it". - OneLess, on 04/21/2008, -2/+5Anyone who was going to vote for Paul but is now an Obama supporter is either woefully uninformed about their respective policy stances or has multiple personality disorder.
- inactive, on 04/21/2008, -6/+9Obama has been and is an image candidate, just like Hillary and McCain. And that kind of campaign is not constructive, nor is it new. There were candidates who ran thoughtful, issue-oriented campaigns that educated and persuaded the voters, but none of them are still in the race.
- inactive, on 04/21/2008, -1/+4Why do you hate our troops Venture?
- Pherdnut, on 04/21/2008, -2/+5We're not. Everybody else wants to compare him to MLK, RFK, JFK and Jesus. We just like the guy's message and the fact that he's delivering on one promise. He IS changing politics.
- CouchTomato, on 04/21/2008, -0/+3He has the energy and charisma to pull in the grassroots. This is critical for any party. After all democracy cannot progress without its ability to allow people to dream about a better tomorrow.
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