Randolph I call it Deep Share. It’s what separates us in the 21st Century from those who went before. Deep Share is only possible thanks to tools like FriendFeed, Twitter, Facebook and Google, and yet those tools were only possible thanks to the vision (sometimes accidental) of rockstar programmers.
The idea was fully formed this morning as I drank my tea, and it was all thanks to John Lennon and Macca, the most successful song-writing duo in recorded history. Allow me to explain.
Stephen Fry, Neil Gaiman, Wil Wheaton, Scott Hanselman, Jon Skeet, Brad Wilson, (and if you’ll forgive me, Ashton Kutcher) and millions of other people use Deep Share to reach millions of others. We all agree that the Internet is the printing press of the post-modern world. But what makes us different to Lennon and McCartney is that we are able to start a revolution much more easily, with stuff that is so damn easy to use. Lennon is probably spinning in his grave.
And that’s the point.
Deep Share allows us to, in amongst the brain dump of useless information, create new ideas, new theories, new technologies, new philosophies, in a matter of minutes. (It’s really a matter of seconds, but I like alliteration.) For example, green avatars which still abound on Twitter, signified support by ordinary people for other ordinary people during the Iranian elections. It was just another meme in some respects, but the fact that by changing your photo could imply political support on an international scale, demonstrates how Deep Share has penetrated our minds.
Deep Share, built on concepts and technology thought up in another time for another use, brings us to a point where anyone can start a revolution, at any time, and gather support instantaneously. We call it Social Web, Social This, Social That, but it’s not Social Anything. We are becoming more ethereal in our communication. We are becoming a living, breathing, thinking entity.
Deep Share is bringing the ideas of rockstar programmers, who mostly consider themselves ordinary people, to other ordinary people. That means that technology is advancing so quickly, it’s almost impossible to keep up. Deep Share is bringing news to everyone much faster than other media. Deep Share is bringing information to everyone much faster than Google, Bing, or Web 2.0. The people who built this framework embrace the use of it, and want everyone else to participate. Mainstream adoption is happening faster and faster with each new iteration. Web sites, blogs, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter … It won’t end there.
It can’t end there. It’s Deep Share. When the Next Big Thing arrives, the market penetration required will already be there. If people have the information more readily that they need to make a decision, then you start breaking down barriers of ignorance. You begin to see things from the perspective of a Russian, or a South African, or an Australian, or a Canadian. How about all of them, all at once, on a trending topic? Visionary, albeit accidental, on the part of Twitter, wouldn’t you say? Even the US President does it.
So I’d like to give thanks to the rockstar programmers. I’d like to give thanks to the early adopters. But most of all, thank you, John Lennon. I call it Deep Share.