"Togetherness"

I enjoyed reading this article because he used good examples about almost everything he talked about. Sometimes when reading lengthy articles like these gets confusing because books or concepts are mentioned that I've never heard of. The beginning of the article was interesting because he used 9/11 which is a very powerful. He talked about the online lists but he made me think about Facebook because it served the same purpose during 9/11. I remember last year when the Virginia Tech shooting happened, people were instantly forming groups to find out if their loved ones survived the shooting. I remember my Communications teacher talking about an article she read about how Facebook was helping people group together during a time of crisis. Groups like these help provide access points, and allows for no barriers and endless boundaries. He talks about how the internet and web groups help make people smarter, and I'm not sure if I agree with him. It does give us information quickly, but i dont necessarily think that we become smarter. Whats important is that the Internet allows for every individual to have a voice. Sometimes it isn't easy to voice your opinions, but with the internet at its point today, anyone can say what they feel.
I thought he was exaggerating some when he talked about marketing demographics. It seemed like he believed that they were only stereotypes, but then contradicts himself and agrees that the people inside of his bracket probably would act accordingly. I do agree with him saying that it shows that humans are programmable. I dont think its a conclusion others haven't already drawn. I believe that this is why advertisements even exist. Trends themselves show that all you need to do is convince people why they should do, buy, wear something and their product is sold. In this section I felt that he was saying that no individuality exists online. Later when reading he talks about Melanie Griffith's personal site, as well as others. I saw that here he was showing that individuals CAN express themselves online. I can see how this reading relates to our next project, which deals with identity.
I liked when he compared local live groups and web groups. People can attract attention and become famous but in two completely different ways. The local fame actually involves close communication and some understanding of that individual and their expertise. Web groups mostly deal with celebrities where their attention is achieved through stupid acts that interest people. Also in web groups or online fame, no fan really gets to know the person or see first hand what they do for a living. Overall, I think we see a lot of the same information. The web allows for people to have so much information that it has caused an overload. What works with the web is that through the chaos it still allows room for individuality which is key.