Here’s the deal, an actress by the name of Amanda Congdon was fired/recently quit from a video podcast show she hosted called “Rocketboom.” While the show was nothing revolutionary in terms of actual content (think: peppy girl talking about nerdy things), it had attracted a large following of geeks and bloggers. And over the last couple of days, everyone and their cousin has learned about the business relationship between Congdon and her partner Andrew Baron.
Who gives a shit, right?
Well, the Washington Post apparently had nothing to report yesterday and decided to write a blurb about this departure, as have a million other bloggers with too much time on their hand (see Technorati’s top searches).
What this has all amounted to is a bad high school break up that was aired out live onto the internets (Valleywag has certainly had fun with it). And for whatever reason, hoi polloi have forgotten that entertainment personalities leave all the time. People change jobs all the time. Shows evolve all the time.
It also shows two things. First, it illustrates just how boring the lives of most bloggers are in order for them to spread gossip about such a relatively mundane occurrence. Second, if Congdon’s show was one of the best (and I would argue that it was at least as good as Ze Frank) then it goes to show you the state of video podcasting is in. After all, there is a reason why most people podcasting are not high-paid radio or TV personalities in the first place, they are either really dull and/or ugly and therefore have little appeal to the masses (note: I’m all for by-passing the Gatekeepers).
Which brings me to a point that Robert Scoble expounded on a few days ago, why Google was not at Gnomedex.
Just a quick recap, Scoble used to work at Microsoft as a developer/evangelist/engineer and recently left the company for a podcasting start-up. His departure also caused a huge media orgy, which made little sense seeing as he was not trying to make any sort of statement to the top brass at MS.
Anyways, while I have zero inside knowledge as to why Google and other web firms did not appear at Gnomedex, I have a hunch: the convention is the equivalent of one-hand clapping or trying to hold a conversation in a vacuum. No one outside the blogosphere gives a crap about Chris Pirillo, tagging, podcasting, RSS, BitTorrent, etc. (this is not to say that Pirillo is a bad promoter of useful technology, I like the guy).
The thing is, I know hundreds of otherwise tech-savvy college students that have no desire to start or maintain a blog, podcast or anything of the sort and perhaps understanding this, Google decided not to waste money preaching to the choir. And as weird as it might sound to some hard-core bloggers, I predict that if I went to campus tomorrow and asked Tom, Dick and Harry what they think Amanda Congdon will do now, no one would know let alone care (kind of like Steven Levitt’s bet regarding his own fame).
Which now brings up the meme regarding why 99% of humanity does not use or care about “Web 2.0.” While there is no silver bullet answer, there is a common theme: priorities. Some people fear democide and have no property rights, let alone an internet connection. Others simply do not have the time or inclination to maintain one. So while “Web 2.0″ might be an inevitable step in unbundling the University, in the scheme of things, it is still rather low on the priority totem poll for most people.
Okay, dork
And just another example of how out of whack trends in the blogosphere are, Noah Kagan a web developer recently left Facebook, yet no one posted a thing about that. He was the only public blogger that had any kind of audience at that firm, a firm with a ginormous user base and one worth millions of dollars. No offense to Condgon et al., but uhh, Kagan actually is one of those movers and shakers guys, the kind like Scoble. Where is the outrage from the masses and a BBC interview?
My theory: as educated, cosmopolitan and erudite most bloggers think they are, in reality most are no different than the teeny boppers they lament. Because yammering on about the latest Lindsay Lohan faux pas and asking Amanda Congdon on a date in her comments section are the same thing.
So is this critical mass the sign of the times, some sort of rite of passage? Not really.
The burgeoning market of web personalities has actually been going on for years and represents a mature medium (how can one forget dotcomguy?). Heck, if more people like Mike Abundo took Seth Godin’s advice on “BrandYou” we might all have the great fortune of being the talk of the town, even receiving unsolicited bids from the likes of Jason Calacanis.
One can only dream…