The Internet has turned us into a nation of skimmers. Few people closely read anymore. It’s quite sad, because I see people skimming right through the contextual aspects of a topic, so then the points of contention in the ensuing discussion are skewed. The loudest voice in the group swings the group toward a decision, but then the decision is based on gut and whatever was skimmed in the first place.

In “Issues” last week I talked about this phenomenon, but I think it basically zoomed right by them. Basically, I concluded that “in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king,” i.e. if they read, they will be ahead of the curve. Oh well, that’s my rant for today.

Take care!

Sincerely,
Bob

I heard a guy ahead of me in Wal-Mart yesterday (about the only place my family can afford to buy groceries on our anemic teaching salaries…but that’s a topic better left for another day!) say that he thought we were in a depression. I wonder if there is any truth to that assertion…or at least that we’re headed toward a depression.

When the top-flight business magazine in the world can only squeeze out 35 pages of content, it must be an indicator of where we’re at economically.

Thanks for your comment and time. I appreciate it (as always).

Sincerely,
Bob

For example, last year The New York Times stopped charging viewers to access content on its website. It realized that much of the traffic driven to its site was via search engines like Google and Yahoo. In the end the money it can generate from advertising trounced the the revenue from subscriptions.

The rise of user generated content is also changing the face of publications. Everything is changing at viral speeds, so it will be interesting to watch how it all plays out.

I always thought it was the greatest business magazine ever. Just to see how creative the mag could be with business photos was reason enough to subscribe. They could continually show business people in new and creatively flattering ways.

Too bad. Maybe the end of an era.

Les