Still ranting...

As I've alluded to in this blog before, you know you're old when you hear about some new groundbreaking idea, and you realize it has been done before.

Basically, the rule is you're old when you can see history.

So what am I ranting about this time? Social media, again. Why is this new? Why does everyone jump when they hear about social media?! This is not new stuff guys!

Let's rewind to the birth of the modern Internet, circa 1996/1997. There were forums back then. Forums used profiles where members could answer questions about themselves.

THE ONLY THING FACEBOOK AND THE WHOLE WEB 2.IDIOTIC MOVEMENT DID IS MARKET A SINGLE FORUM TO A MASS AUDIENCE. People had mini communities before and they still have mini-communities. I just keep running into people who are marketing themselves as social media consultants.

Move on people. Please. Please for God's sake. This is nothing new.

A movement is not a movement unless it moves people to do something

Ok... I believe in humanity and society to generally do good. I believe that people fall down sometimes and they need help getting up.

So when I heard about "To Write Love On Her Arms" (TWLOHA) I thought "Wow, someone's out there doing some good. That's great!" I think the thing that hit me the most is that it was just a couple of friends stopping and helping another get out of a suicidal depression.

I thought it was great that they started a "movement" about this. Lots of people working together to just help one another. Awesome!

So when I go to their web site, what do I find? Lots of pages about promoting the movement and, apparently, a bunch of bands. There was just one page about where to get help, and that page is a long list of phone numbers and support resources. There's also a lot of cool shirts to buy.

WTF?

I thought this was supposed to be a movement about making people feel empowered to help each other. What do I find? The movement is more important than the mission. So sad.