Connected

What I was going to focus my blog post on, which for me is the most profound impact SNS's have had, is the majority of Shirky's lecture; that is that social networks have reciprocated the role between producer and consumer.
Any citizen around the globe is now capable of distributing endless content. Breaking news is a new meaning when people experiencing an event can alert the world in seconds. I think this also makes the news more "true," or less biased. In such a case you are not getting the work of a reporter at the scene, you're reading or watching something that came from someone who is experiencing the event.
The roles are reversed.
Though, social networks have been around for a while (at least all of my life), I'm still amazed when I read, hear of , or see news from a citizen at the other end of the globe alerting the world of said event.  I'm still taken back by the immediacy.
Or if it's not the immediacy of an occurring event, its the immediacy of some viral video or awareness. The ability to reach out to so many people, possibly the word, is mind boggling. I think in many ways the scope of the world has shrunk to the internet and at the same time given people a much wider view.

On a completely different note, one part of the Boyd & Ellison reading that I found peculiar is how certain SNS's have stuck in some countries and not others. And more so does the prevent how globally connected we are? If we were all on the same SNS would we be more "connected?" I wonder if there will ever be a universal SNS and if so how much more quickly will we be able to obtain information.