Wednesday, June 24, 2009

You can't fake it.

At the time of this writing, Iran is going through some turbulent times. From the looks of things, government authorities in Iran are trying to control information about what is happening in their country - but its not working.

Why? Because they have about a bizillion of their citizens talking about what is really happening on Twitter and Facebook and Youtube and everywhere else.

If a totalitarian regime that is state sponsor of terrorism (that's what they are, according to the US government) can't sugar coat their image online, what makes you think you can?

You can't.

If you want to look awesome online the only way to do it is to be genuinely awesome. Sorry - Iran can't fake it and neither can you.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

I Believe it's Magic

I spent a little time preparing to give a talk about Web 2.0 and it occurred to me (again) that the Internet is amazing and awesome. It's easy to take it for granted, which makes reminders about how great the web is all the more important.

It's been said that if one comes up with a technology that is advanced enough, it looks just the same as magic. I think the web is one of those technologies that is magic - and the magic is just going to get more powerful.