The transfer of authority
: In the presentation I made this week and the one I’ll make this morning, I said that citizens’ media questions the authority of big media and establishes the authority of the audience.
Tonight, I read Fred Wilson — who left Aspen as I arrived — reporting on a session at Fortune’s confab here about the future of advertising:
The most interesting part of the panel though was the heated debate that developed between the big agency guys and the Internet entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs were arguing that we are experiencing a major transition in the world away from big brands and big media. They argued that individuals no longer trust the establishment and that credibility, authority, and connections among individuals is what matters most. It was fun to watch the fireworks.
That’s what all the wrestling over media really gets down to: Who has the authority? Who gets the conch? Who has it with news? Politics? Consumerism? Finance? Government? The people or the powerful? The ultimate disintermediation the Internet brings is the disintermediation of authority.
