Doug Miller is not a big fan of social media. In his latest column in The Columbia Flier he posits that he doesn’t “find that much online that's relevant to real life as I know it.”
That’s really quite a statement. His own column is online after all. I’ll assume that Doug wasn’t referring to mainstream media online or sites like WebMD or the US Census. I think he's referring to the social media thing when he says he doesn't "get it." He doesn’t read any loco blogs, and doesn’t use Facebook or Linked In. I’m guessing he doesn’t Twitter either.
What he really doesn’t get is that social media is all that and more. He need look no further than his own column where seven people have already commented have already weighed in on his words. That’s social media Dougie.
I also get that guys like Doug and Larry Carson look askance at blogs and bloggers. These guys came up in a world where the mainstream media and their professional journalists were the gatekeepers for all content and comment. The Internet has busted down those walls and a flood of blogs and tweets has spilled into the void.
It can be a pretty scary world for an old school writer. The coin of the realm in the world of social media is the number of people you are connected to and the number of people who read and/or follow your stuff. Anyone can write a blog but that doesn’t necessarily mean anyone will read it.
Doug actually has a blog. People likely read his blog because they are already on the Explore Howard website. I wonder how it would fare by itself out here in the blogosphere. He last posted on December 23rd.
I actually feel a little sorry for him. His world is changing and he doesn’t understand it. Maybe we should take him out for drinks.
