I knew this was a Steve Gillmor article before I even clicked on it, just from the meaningless headline. This guy is awful.
First sentence:
"At a time when many people are saying innovation is dead along with the economy as we knew it, I can’t help but feel the hot breath of a surge in the power of the network."
1. He's got his verb tenses mixed up!
2. Surges don't have hot breath. That personification makes no sense.
3. What is "the network?"
Second graph:
"Now we’re at the threshold of the realtime moment, and history seems to be repeating itself."
What....does....this....mean?
One more:
"The numbers are adding up — 175 million Facebook users, tens of thousands of instant Twitter followers, constant texting and video chats among the teenage crowd — a semi-secret economy of interactive media that is sucking the chewy chocolate center out of the one-way broadcast sector."
Is it secret or not secret? There's no such thing as semi-secret.
What is an economy of interactive media? That also makes no sense.
And how does a "one-way broadcast sector" have a "chewy chocolate center?" If he's going to compare the broadcast sector to a candy bar, can't he at least carry out the comparison in full?
Interesting. There's got to be something happening here behind the scenes that leads to this sort of tech-pidgeon English. I almost feel bad for pointing this stuff out, but really, people deserve better. The Washington Post is syndicating TechCrunchIT's sister publication. The people I know there would die if they knew they were publishing stuff written by this guy.
So the guy's clearly able to weigh in on things. And clearly has things to say. The things he says just don't make any sense. I don't know if that's a tragedy or if he just needs a good editor.
That said, I would NOT want to be his editor. The redlines I'd have to send back to the guy would probably crush him.
5 comments
[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 25.0 ms ] threadFirst sentence:
"At a time when many people are saying innovation is dead along with the economy as we knew it, I can’t help but feel the hot breath of a surge in the power of the network."
1. He's got his verb tenses mixed up! 2. Surges don't have hot breath. That personification makes no sense. 3. What is "the network?"
Second graph:
"Now we’re at the threshold of the realtime moment, and history seems to be repeating itself."
What....does....this....mean?
One more:
"The numbers are adding up — 175 million Facebook users, tens of thousands of instant Twitter followers, constant texting and video chats among the teenage crowd — a semi-secret economy of interactive media that is sucking the chewy chocolate center out of the one-way broadcast sector."
Is it secret or not secret? There's no such thing as semi-secret.
What is an economy of interactive media? That also makes no sense.
And how does a "one-way broadcast sector" have a "chewy chocolate center?" If he's going to compare the broadcast sector to a candy bar, can't he at least carry out the comparison in full?
Steve Gillmor has no business writing about anything.
That said, I would NOT want to be his editor. The redlines I'd have to send back to the guy would probably crush him.