July 5th, 2006
From Rocketboom to UnBoomed: Web 2.0 partnership fizzles out
In “Notes from the tech conference underground,” Dan Farber reflects on a greater significance that can be gleaned from a 13 tech conference Spring swing:
The extended spring tech conference season is beginning to wind down. I have done my share of time watching panels, keynotes and pitches, and hanging out in hallways and lobbys looking for fresh material, seeking out the strongest signals that portend what’s in store for the future…
It reminds me of the 1960s, when idealism, mind drugs, new music, civil rights, and the anti-Vietnam war sentiment fueled a cultural revolution. In today’s context, the Web is the mind drug, iTunes (despite its DRM) is emblematic of the new music, Iraq the unpopular war, cyberspace a new civil rights battleground and idealism is once again fueled by a movement, this time led by millions of bloggers, podcasters and vloggers reaching hundreds, thousands and millions of people.
The 1960s melted away, one war ended, another started, drug abuse exploded, civil rights struggles continued, and the vast majority of young, idealistic ‘revolutionaries’ impacted by the movement drifted into the mainstream, with mortgages, jobs and families. Forty years from now, the idealism and liberating aspect of the Net germinating now will hopefully have altered the patterns of repetition that seem to mark the existence of our species on this planet, but don’t count on it…
It seems that we will not have to wait 40 years to observe the sustainability, or not, of Internet idealism.
Today, Amanda Congdon is broadcasting at her own site, Amanda UnBoomed, rather than at Rocketboom, and she is reporting a split between Andrew Baron (51% owner of Rocketboom) and herself (49% owner of Rocketboom).
FOR FOLLOW-UP STORY SEE:
"ROCKETBOOM: WEB 2.0 ‘SUCCESS’ on $20 a DAY? "
photo: masternewmedia.org
