社交媒体创造“小”时代

    越大则越强，至少这是普遍的观点。然而今天，在这个以社交媒体为中心的世界，小事物再次成为强者，从小型公司到微型政党，一切都在迅速变得同样强大。

    在《“大”时代的终结：因特网让大卫变成新一代巨人》（The End of Big: How the Internet makes David the new Goliath）一书中，社交媒体专家尼科•梅莱从发人深思的角度，分析了包括“完全连通”在内的新科技走向衰败的趋势，以及由此给我们的生活带来的改变。这些新科技控制了我们日常生活的方方面面——从谁管理我们，到谁卖给我们商品和服务，到谁向我们传播新闻，以及谁教育我们的孩子。

    梅莱承认，这本书着眼的重点是广度，而不是深度。他在开头描述了互联网在美国军队中诞生的历史，然后记录了它的发展历程：从美国大学中用于交流研究的工具，发展至如今一种拥有难以置信的能力、并足以削弱当今最强大机构的科技力量。对于任何对未来感到好奇的读者而言，这都是一本重要的书。尽管新科技赋予了那些曾经被忽视的小公司更大的能量，尼科•梅莱却告诫说，这将会导致预料之外的后果。例如，网络赋予从茶党到恐怖组织在内的各类边缘政治力量以巨大的潜力，使它们能够进入主流社会，削弱中央权力。

    梅莱是政治活动领域的专家。2002年霍华德•迪恩竞选美国总统时，他曾担任该阵营的网络管理员，之后还通过他的EchoDitto公司，为巴拉克•奥巴马2004年美国参议院的竞选出过力。他表示，新技术已经打破了美国的两党体系，导致了一种全新的民主政治。它既能造就有效的领导者，也可能产生他所称的“可怕的候选人”，比如明尼苏达州的国会女议员米歇尔•巴赫曼、赫尔曼•凯恩和德克萨斯州的政府官员里克•佩里。

    梅勒给予了新闻界特殊关注。因特网实际上赋予了每个人出版的权利。博客遍地开花，而由于抢夺网络受众的竞争日益激烈，曾经的新闻巨头只好迅速裁减人员。曾经记者需要依赖关键的信息来源才能获得爆炸性的新闻。如今这些信息来源有能力通过Twitter之类的途径直接发布爆炸性新闻。

    然而，这也带来了危险。在日夜不息的新闻圈内，博客时刻活跃着，大型媒体公司因此日渐衰落。他们越变越小，帮助维护美国自由和民主的调查性报道的来源也越来越少。值得一提的是，尽管梅莱在这点上与其他专家产生了共鸣，却与多年前许多人的观念背道而驰。在Twitter和Facebook问世前，人们普遍认为媒体公司会越变越大。他们合并之后，发布新闻和信息的渠道将越来越少。本杰明•R•巴伯在1992年的著作《圣战对决麦当劳世界：恐怖主义对民主的挑战》（Jihad vs. McWorld: Terrorism's Challenge to Democracy）中强调了这种情况。书中指出，大型媒体公司的融合会严重破坏健全民主所需的信息自由流通。

    Big is powerful, or so it's generally assumed. But in today's social media-centric world, small is big again, as everything from pint-sized companies to tiny political parties are quickly becoming just as powerful.

    In The End of Big: How the Internet makes David the new Goliath, social media guru Nicco Mele offers a thought-provoking look at the ways new technologies, which comprise what he calls "radical connectivity," are shrinking, and therefore altering, who controls all aspects of everyday life -- from who governs us to who sells us goods and services to who delivers our news and educates our children.

    As Mele acknowledges, the book goes wide rather than deep. He starts off describing the birth of the internet within the U.S. military, then chronicles its evolution from something used to communicate research at U.S. universities to what it has become today -- a technological force with the incredible ability to decentralize the powers of today's biggest institutions. It's an important read for anyone curious about what the future might look like. While new technology has given the once overlooked little guys more power, Mele cautions that it comes with unintended consequences. For instance, staying connected has given fringe political forces -- varying from the Tea Party to terrorist groups -- tremendous potential to enter the mainstream and undermine central power.

    Mele is an expert in political campaigns -- he worked as the webmaster for Howard Dean's run for U.S. president in 2002 and later went on to work for Barack Obama's 2004 U.S. Senate campaign under his company, EchoDitto. He argues that new technology has disrupted America's two-party system, giving rise to a new kind of democracy that could either produce effective leaders or what he calls "scary candidates," such as Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

    Mele pays special attention to the Fourth Estate. The Internet has given virtually everyone the power to publish. Blogs have flourished, and once giant news organizations have quickly downsized as competition intensifies for web audiences. It used to be that journalists relied on key sources to break news. Now those sources have the ability to break news directly via Twitter and the like.

    There is a danger in this, however. Just as blogs flourish in the 24/7 news cycle, big media companies are languishing. They're becoming smaller, with fewer resources to commit to the kind of investigative journalism that helps protect America's freedoms and democracy. On this point, it's worth noting that while Mele's argument echoes other experts, it goes against what many thought years ago. Before Twitter and Facebook (FB), it was widely thought media companies would get bigger and bigger. And as they merged, the delivery of news and information would come from fewer and fewer outlets. The issue was highlighted in Benjamin R. Barber's 1992 book,Jihad vs. McWorld: Terrorism's Challenge to Democracy, which noted that mergers within big media companies would greatly undermine the free flow of information critical to a healthy democracy.