A week is a long time in politics? Tell that to a politician. The explosion of the 'ever continuing news story' over the last year has been akin to The Wire announcing its Dickensian style of making television to the world. Never has the news felt more epic, more all encompassing, with ever more twists and turns. The narrative of news has fundamentally changed. People speak of the News of the World scandal in terms of a Shakespearian tragedy.
Which, when you take a step back, is ridiculous. There's no question that the actions of these reporters, editors and media moguls were criminal. Tapping the phone of a missing girl is just… well, you all have your opinion on it and it's probably close to mine. But Syria is still happening, so is Libya and let's not forget Iraq and Afghanistan. And they're just the wars.
No, what has made this story so important is not its content, or even the fact it's the media under pressure, it's the way it has continued. Up until very recently, news was digested over night, or at least in cycles of hours, now it's literally minutes, if not seconds. And it's not only the news that is instant; it's also the commentary.
A long held reporters trick to string a story out was to get quotes related to a previous story, thereby essentially printing the same story twice but with different quotes. So the second day of a news story about a political scandal was other politicians commenting on the story, with video provided by parliamentary proceedings of the opposition guffawing loudly at the poor unfortunate across the aisle. A celebrity quote was even better, but where are the celebrities now? Well, most of them are on Twitter.
Within minutes of a major news story breaking thousands of users begin spreading the word amongst their followers, reaching even the most basic user faster than you could tell the person next to you. 'Super-Users' like Graham Linehan (a major source of commentary during the News of the World scandal) will start forming opinions and conversations amongst their users. Blogs are furiously written and tweeted, the best rising up amongst the collective hive, Facebook groups will pop-up and gain thousand of likes overnight, videos are uploaded to YouTube with the latest pictures of a politicians gaff and we, the people, take our own little piece of internet real estate and plant our flag with 'what I think' scrawled all over it.
It's like a flood. And major news outlets like nothing netter than a good 'ol disaster, and a flood fits the bill nicely. Sky News will start reporting about what's being talked about online - mainly because no matter how long they’ve tried in the past we sure as hell won't talk to them – and begin using phrases like 'widespread criticism', 'public outcry' and, whisper it softly, 'pressure'.
There is no word like 'pressure' to put the shits up people in power. Once you question someone's position, that position is instantly weakened. Say 'pressure' around a politician often enough and soon they'll be using the word 'regret' in front of a camera.
And this is where the continuous news story is so devastating. The pressure literally never gives up. Every tweet, every blog post, every Facebook comment, every Hitler parody video, is a little drop of rain to add to the flood. The position in power has nowhere to hide, and no influence to stop the talking. It's like Caesar watching Brutus openly plot his murder on Facebook.
Before, people in power could keep a closed-door policy. Many people shout 'conspiracy' at this but really it's closer to why it's not very wise to be a rat in prison. People in any community are naturally connected, and are therefore naturally suspicious of what everyone else knows about them.
Now, people in power believe that somewhere, somehow, everyone knows everything. And the scary thing is that they're right. We build a barrier to the information about us, but how much about us is not online? Our interests are explored through search engines and shared in chat rooms (well, some of them).
There is no rich mans Google.
But simple sleaze is not the issue anymore. The hacking scandal is a nice illustration of a continuing build up of pressure but it's elsewhere that stuff starts to get interesting. Governments are feeling the pressure.
The traditional media has gone a little crazy in this area, sometimes implying the Egyptian Government was taken down by Twitter, but social media did allow a few crucial tools for protestors across the Middle East. The various laws in Egypt, Syria, Iran and Libya against people gathering in groups were rendered meaningless by the Internet. A simple hashtag allowed thousands of people to have what was essentially a town meeting while remaining anonymous.
In countries with a powerful state media, information could be spread around among protestors, including pictures and videos of government led violence. It not only spread condemnation around the western world, it allowed protestors on the ground to feel the power of others. It allowed them to build a virtual army.
So the cracks are found, the dam crumbles, and the flood breaks through. The politician resigns, the newspaper closes, the government falls. It's a nice moment in history. Enjoy it.
Because in a twist even Orwell couldn't come up with, we are creating our own version of Big Brother. We are voluntarily installing a camera in our house and showing it to strangers. We are placing every piece of our private lives online and thinking that by using the word 'password123' to hide it all that no-one will ever figure it out. The truth is we only get away with it because no-one's looking. Sean Hoare is a tragic example of what can happen when everyone is.
The expenses scandals, Wikileaks, the News of the World, all these are examples of this relentless spotlight thrown upon what we are told are the pillars of society. Wait until we see the next Enron. Do you think all those employees are going to keep quiet about the fiddling the books? No, armed with their hard drives, emails and anonymity, they'd be determined to screw over those that screwed them.
Now it's Big Brothers turn. We've created the network, now it's up to us to stop them screwing us out of it. Don't think they aren't trying already. It's not a conspiricy, and people will always find a way to overthrow power, but it is happening. The counter social media revolution has already begun.
But for now let's enjoy these people squirming in the spotlight. Just pray to the social media gods that it's never turned on you.
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