“New new media” - that is, media newer than new media, such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, which turn consumers into producers, and are available free of charge to everyone - continued to grow in numbers of users and influence in late 2009 and 2010. Among the specific consequences of this growth: Traditional paper newspapers have continued to sharply decline in circulation, advertising revenue, and numbers of pages. Network television news in America, and network entertainment television, have also declined in numbers of viewers. YouTube and Face book have created new stars such as Susan Boyle and revived the careers of traditional stars such as Betty White. Face book and Twitter were of enormous help in getting crucial information in and out of Haiti in the aftermath of its devastating earthquake. New new media, however, have not only been used to bring assistance to suffering humans - new new media have been used as vehicles of propaganda by all political persuasions, as, for example, the Taliban channel on YouTube. Traditional continue to attempt to offer alternatives to new new media - Oxford University Press now offers bibliographies online compiled by professional scholars, in contrast to the pages of Wikipedia, on which anyone on the Web can write and edit. But Wikipedia continues to attract millions of readers - each of whom can instantly become a writer and editor - and the impact of new new media continues to expand and have influence over the content of older media. In 2010, a hit motion picture was released about the creation of Face book, and a major television network in the United States (CBS) put on a television show based on someone’s Tweets. The Library of Congress in the United States of America is now archiving all Tweets. That one act shows that, although just 140 characters in the length, the Tweet - as are all products of new new media - is of enormous importance in our work, play, and lives. Their increase in the past year is no doubt just the beginning of the role that they will play in the world in years ahead.
)