RSS – Regurgitating the Same Stories
February 23, 2009 5:03 pm Random, StrategyRegurgitate (definition 3 from TheFreeDictionary.com)
3. to reproduce (ideas or facts) without understanding them [Medieval Latin re- back + gurgitare to flood]
Please note… I had an idea here, but it ran in several threads and they didn’t all quite join up.
I read blogs, I read articles, I watch many RSS feeds.
Some people create new stuff but mostly they just regurgitate it. I get the same story from 4 or 5 sources and not one of them has added anything new or original, okay some may have re-written the words but they have not added to the story, they haven’t done any extra research and furthered the cause, they have just passed it on, and sometimes without even adding any attribution to where the story originated! I mean I’ve already read it three times so I know you didn’t write it.
I guess not everyone has a million RSS feeds they watch so some people will only see it once. Twitter seems to be the same, or in fact worse. As a few people post a story the rest clamour to show how up to date they are by passing it on as quickly as they can.
I am worried. Whilst I love the power people now have to create, edit and publish whatever they like whenever they like it I’m just finding more and more that the circle keeps closing. I think this circle will close up even more as everyone starts to ‘life stream’ we’ll end up with a big brother (TV show not 1984… or well both…) where all we do is watch someone watching someone else… until we get bored and stop watching and move up the chain, to watch what the other person was watching… but who’s at the top? and what happens to those that feel they can’t live without being followed. (Well it might not take off and the few that do will be Snowcrash style Gargoyles.)
Take on board other peoples ideas and opinions but don’t just copy! create something new, create something you can be proud of… yes, babies repeat words back when they are learning but they learn pretty quickly to talk for themselves. It’s about reaching that next level, push yourself, learn, read around a bit more, add something of yourself, express your opinion. Make everyone elses life more interesting and re-open the closed loop of inward looking story regurgitation, this is what Editors used to do at the newspapers but now you, dear reader are also the writer, the editor and the publisher you must think more about the other roles. I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy it more in the long run if you create your own work and you’ll certainly have more people reading your work, as it will provide them with original insight.