With friends in Facebook, followers on Twitter and personal mentions in others' texting, everyone in the Web 2.0 world is getting news about themselves. If they've uploaded something onto YouTube, SlideShare or Flickr, they may get new comments added. If they start to get some buzz with something digital they've created, they can watch their rankings change by the minute on sites like Digg or Technorati."News about me" is much more thrilling than news about anybody else. Web 2.0 makes it perhaps too easy to be self absorbed, like Narcissus gazing at his reflection in the pond.
Journalism 1.0 did not have to compete with "news about me". It could report on the news about powerful, influential, political, criminal and famous people. Readers and viewers were satisfied getting updated on these people they knew of, but had no connection to. They felt like they wanted to be kept informed and journalism could fulfill that desire.
Journalism 2.0 is stuck with competing with "news about me". It cannot report on the latest for each individual subscriber and viewer. The premise of delivering news about high profile people is getting questioned. It's tempting for journalists to report on news about their work, as if reporting the news is news itself. They're hoping their subscribers feel connected enough to care about their struggles, imposed changes and hard work.
I suspect journalism will never be the same. It cannot compete with "news about me" and feeling connected to follower, friends, commenters and feed subscribers. It cannot deliver as it happens to a single individual. Journalism 2.0 will have to take a back seat to the seemingly real and really important "news about me".
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