What the Hell Is Going On?

Narratives, which once imbued gatekeepers with authority and prestige, are now instantly fact-checked by a skeptical public. Less than a generation ago, when the production and distribution of information was prohibitively expensive, the public had limited access to information.

Big institutions used to have unquestioned control over the narrative. Their dominance once seemed eternal. But now, they’re losing their monopoly over the dissemination of ideas.

The shape of information flow determines the structure of society.

Fake news is a red herring. The average US citizen has more ways to be informed than they did 30 years ago. Although fake news—fabricated and verifiable false reporting—was a phenomenon during the election, it had an insignificant effect on the media ecosystem of the presidential election.” According to Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet &... See more

People who scapegoat Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg miss a fundamental truth. Twitter didn’t happen to politics. Facebook didn’t happen to politics. The internet happened to politics. The shifts are structural and until we understand that, we can’t have an intelligent conversation about the state of the world. The common narratives, which are exag... See more

Kanye or Kim Kardashian have a better chance of becoming president than the average, down-the-middle senator. Due to their reach and influence, both of them can already influence policy decisions and sway the American electorate, and they’re not burdened by a track record of senate votes. Moving forward, the most successful politicians will bypass ... See more

The influencers of today are the politicians of tomorrow. Candidates with reach have organic built-in distribution, access to owned data and organic customer insights, and lower get-out-the-vote costs. Media savviness will be an essential skill for political success.

For years, factual disputes were settled by the Britannica in the living room. Now, they’re settled by instant Google searches, most of which lead to Wikipedia. Open the Britannica in your grandparents’ living room and you’ll find outdated facts and figures. Wikipedia, though, is always evolving. The shift from Britannica to Wikipedia is indicative... See more

. Britannica is organized by subjects, Wikipedia by hyperlinks. Britannica is organized in alphabetical order. Wikipedia is a web of references with no beginning or end. Wikipedia is made by the people, for the people. It’s a collective memory machine where knowledge is accessible to everybody with a smartphone

Narrative control is no longer monopolized. The arbiters of truth have fragmented. Millions of people, historically constrained by the reach and spread of their ideas, can theoretically reach anybody in the world with an internet connection. The truth has always existed, but until recently, we haven’t had the means to uncover and distribute it.