2debate

What’s the Internet, really?

The default perspective on the Internet is that everything that comes from it is necessarily an innovation. In the past, we had as such debated on the sharing economy (the likes of Uber and Airbnb). And we all know about Facebook, YouTube and Twitter – well unless you’ve been living under a big, heavy rock in a soundproof room on planet Mars or something.

At first, when those sites and apps came out, we may have felt a gush of excitement: it was new, it was fast, it connected millions of people together. We shared lots of content in ways unheard of before – or so it seemed. And then we got a little tired of all this. Who reads our stuff anyway? Don’t we always end up watching the content produced by established, well-known names of the field?

So what is it really: an evolution or a re-invention of the old stuff? It matters to know because maybe we’re just wasting our time, even making ourselves more unhappy, and more importantly not paying enough attention to true innovation.

By the flip of a coin, Dirk will be against the motion, that is he will contend that Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and the likes are truly new things. He will emphasise how the Internet added interaction, free access, personalisation, diversity, while Sebastian will try to demonstrate that we’re simply mixing old media with a new distribution medium. Tune in to our latest published episode to listen to our arguments – and more, as we inevitably continued the discussion beyond our allocated time for the debate!

One thing we do have agree on though: whether podcasting is the new radio or not, 2debate is certainly the most new, most innovative debating initiative in the galaxy.

Sebastian & Dirk

Picture: CC0, Pixabay