This comes with the backdrop of a time where social connections are the construct of digital media, taking the place of the dominant but less personal search. We’re moving towards a connected world that is tapping into our humanity, she asserted.
But more importantly, this is gravitating towards local, with the help of location aware technologies in smartphones and web browsers. There’s also a cultural movement towards demand for content that is more locally relevant.
“Things at the national level are dysfunctional,” she said. “People feel empowered at the local level.”
There are lots of examples of this such as politics (all politics are local, after all, right?), sports, news etc. National news in particular has dropped the ball in gaining user trust.
Besides the shouting match that cable news has become, even reporting is driven by sensationalism. Her example was the national news turning point (for the worst) that was the “balloon boy” hoax.
“We were duped, and fed a false sense of sentimentality,” she said. “There are hundreds of thousands of little boys growing up hungry and in poor schools. We should get a giant balloon and pretend to but them in it.”
The bottom line is that things are more real at the local level, not to mention more relevant to most people.
And the key here is trust, she said, invoking Craig Newmark’s famous line that “Trust is the new black”.
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