Hey Dan

Time magazine named its "Person of the Year" on Saturday and it is ‘you.’ Notice the little quote marks. These are meant to indicate that by ‘you’ Time didn’t me you but rather all the user-generated Internet content community. I know it’s obvious, but I have to point these things out. Some of my readers my not be savvy with the lingo.

I know most of us think that Time is the Wired of the 1970’s but I would like to thank them for the tip of the hat. Few people in the business really understand why user-generated content is important and Time does seem to be on the front edge here. But not everyone is happy about the elevation of blogs, YouTube and MySpace.com to this lofty height. George Will is disgusted by it. Who is George Will? Mr. Will is a Washington Post Opinion Writer who made this comment on This Week:

Will: It’s about narcissism, which is why a mirror is absolutely perfect. So much of what is done on the web is people getting on there and writing their diaries as though everyone ought to care about every one's inner turmoils. I mean it’s extraordinary..

While I admit that this little patch of the Internet is my place for airing my inner turmoils, you have to understand this is about community. While few people really care about my fear of ice skating, many of them just care about me and my thoughts. Mr. Will I am not in the running for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary which you have won, but I am talking to my audience in my voice. That is important. Yes, there is some narcissism involved, but so does wearing a bow tie on Sunday talk shows.

We Blogger, LiveJournaler and MySpace weirdoes are interested in what people think and say. Someday when the print media has to change or die, remember you as an Op-ed writer called a group of people who diligently read other peoples opinions a butch of narcissist. Good luck to you Mr. Will, you will need it.