Facebook vs. narrative vs. newspapers
I suspect that social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn may pose threats to newspapers -- but not to narrative journalism. Here’s why.
I use Facebook to keep up with friends. It’s like a more efficient version of walking down to the watercooler or coffeeshop for brief, diverting social interaction. But it’s not meaningless -- it’s helping me remind myself of my role in a wider social ecosystem. My place in the world -- that’s also a big part of why I read newspapers, to learn about events that are happening around me, to understand community dynamics and my relation to them. The more I can fulfill that same purpose in a personalized way on Facebook, the less important newspapers are to my day-to-day habits.
At the same time there’s something missing from my Facebook interactions: narrative. I’m enjoying my friend Stephen’s posts from Dubai, but I don’t really understand how or why he got there. Likewise, I’m fascinated by the number of Sutton’s friends who comment on his place-oriented posts, “Hey, when did you move to Montana?” (It was two years ago.) But the medium doesn’t include many opportunities to provide backstory.
Then again, neither do newspapers. Thanks to the influence of 24-hour cable news (and newspapers’ need to compete with it), much of today’s “news” is the latest tidbit in an ongoing saga. And in the rush to publish there’s little evaluation of the tidbit’s importance. These days, I prefer to get my political and economic news from magazines or books, which have the luxury of time to grasp the narrative thread.
In other words, I believe we all still hunger for narrative. And we hunger for narratives that make sense, that are well-constructed by the people with the talent or experience to do so. I have no idea whether in five years we will get those narratives via a rejuvenated form of newspapering, via web magazines, or via some yet-to-be-invented format. But in the big picture, those are just delivery vehicles. What matters to me as a writer of narrative is not so much the vehicle as the relationship I use it to have with a reader.
(cross-posted from WriterL)
I'm always interested in feedback, via info at johnclaytonbooks dot com
I use Facebook to keep up with friends. It’s like a more efficient version of walking down to the watercooler or coffeeshop for brief, diverting social interaction. But it’s not meaningless -- it’s helping me remind myself of my role in a wider social ecosystem. My place in the world -- that’s also a big part of why I read newspapers, to learn about events that are happening around me, to understand community dynamics and my relation to them. The more I can fulfill that same purpose in a personalized way on Facebook, the less important newspapers are to my day-to-day habits.
At the same time there’s something missing from my Facebook interactions: narrative. I’m enjoying my friend Stephen’s posts from Dubai, but I don’t really understand how or why he got there. Likewise, I’m fascinated by the number of Sutton’s friends who comment on his place-oriented posts, “Hey, when did you move to Montana?” (It was two years ago.) But the medium doesn’t include many opportunities to provide backstory.
Then again, neither do newspapers. Thanks to the influence of 24-hour cable news (and newspapers’ need to compete with it), much of today’s “news” is the latest tidbit in an ongoing saga. And in the rush to publish there’s little evaluation of the tidbit’s importance. These days, I prefer to get my political and economic news from magazines or books, which have the luxury of time to grasp the narrative thread.
In other words, I believe we all still hunger for narrative. And we hunger for narratives that make sense, that are well-constructed by the people with the talent or experience to do so. I have no idea whether in five years we will get those narratives via a rejuvenated form of newspapering, via web magazines, or via some yet-to-be-invented format. But in the big picture, those are just delivery vehicles. What matters to me as a writer of narrative is not so much the vehicle as the relationship I use it to have with a reader.
(cross-posted from WriterL)
I'm always interested in feedback, via info at johnclaytonbooks dot com
Labels: narrative, publishing realities, technology
