Will There Be a Dick Clark of the Internet?

With the passing this morning of Dick Clark, who gave us American Bandstand, game shows, and brought in the new year from Times Square for so many years, the question arises: will there be a Dick Clark for the internet?

Dick Clark gave numerous acts their big break during the golden age of Rock and Roll. There are so many rock acts that owe him, and certainly a legion of radio personalities and tv personalities who stand on his mighty shoulders. Will there be someone that can launch so many careers producing content on the web? Is it even reasonable to compare the content produced for radio and then television with that produced to entertain on the internet?

I don’t have the answer to that last question, but I sure hope so. It’s great to look to the iTunes Store or the Android Market for apps, and apps are content as surely as music was and is for radio, but will we see a larger than life personality who genuinely loves the content (whether music, video, apps, or whatever), and wants to share it as widely as possible explode on a web based platform to spread enjoyment through that content?

In Marshall McLuhan’s ‘Understanding Media,’ which came out decades ago, he stated that radio was the only ‘hot media,’ one that really touched people. My contention is that the internet is the second ‘hot media,’ in the way it touches people through social media, multiplayer games, chat, etc.

I’ll be waiting on that great internet Dick Clark to show up and spread the love of great content across the web universe. Sure hope he gets here before too long!

Not Quite Off the Grid

As I sit here, watching the blinking light on the cable modem, reminding me of its cohorts that are dark, it brought home again how dependent (some say addicted) we have become to this always-on, connected state.

Of course, there is a backup…the cellular system, but when the big one hits (maybe not an earthquake, but a tornado, hurricane, or whatever it is elsewhere), even that will be out.

After trying in whatever way to check on family and friends, my thought is, how will we Tweet, blog, and Facebook about it all? Will this be a new corollary to PTSD when folks aren’t able to do those things? Will there be “no Internet rage,” kind of like road rage, making it necessary to avoid irate people?

I don’t have the answers, but for now…I’m blogging about this!