Hi, My Name is Tamar, and I am a Media Snacker
Posted by Tamar Weinberg on November 1st, 2007
I’ve been tagged against my will by Jane and Jason in one of the latest memes: do you respect media snackers?
Well first, what the heck is a media snacker? Watch this short video to see:
Here’s the transcript for the video-phobes:
Media Snackers. What’s it all about? Well, you see the world has changed and it’s not turning back. Media snackers are young people. No longer is there a set menu of mass media delivered at specific times and to the masses. Print, radio, [and] television is now “push the red button and go interactive,” “text in your request,” or “let us tell you a story.” The internet and technology ownership has changed everything: digital TV, mobile phones, iPods, weblogs, instant messaging, [and] social networking. The media landscape has shifted from the linear to one of many layers consumed by creative and empowered individuals. Young people of the new WWW generation snuck in whenever, wherever, and on whatever they like. Crucially, their expectations have changed. Everything is multi: multi-screens, multi-channeled, multi-conversations, and multitasking. Totally connected groups are average sharers, creating as much as they can consume and using free sites to display it all. Whereas before when computers were only found in banks and offices, media snackers have access at home, in school, or in libraries — all for free. Remember visiting arcade centers to play games? Media snackers play at home and against the world. How about taping your favorite tunes off the radio? Media snackers simply download them from the web and carry their whole music collection with them. Previously, to have a mobile phone, you needed a large bank account. Media snackers just have pockets. Media snackers are young people.
The chain, sparked by Jeremiah Owyang, talks about the evolution of technology and how people need to pick and choose their media, which can be consumed easily.
Do I respect media snackers? Of course I do. I snack on media all day long. 
Whether it’s Flickr, StumbleUpon, Digg, del.icio.us, Twitter, Facebook, Sphinn, LinkedIn, blogs, blogs, more blogs, and even more blogs, you can find me looking for the most pertinent content that aligns with my interests.
Is it hard to snack on so much media at once? I would say that you need to find out what works for you. The attention economy is playing tug of war with our minds and we need to figure out what we want, when we want it, and how we want it. But before I engaged in so many social media spheres, I certainly wasn’t as well-rounded as I was prior to my participation. Now, it’s a matter of sifting through the necessary and weeding out the unnecessary. As the landscape changes, so does the content.
I respect media snackers very much and find myself having some of the most interesting discussions with them. I find them blogging about the coolest innovations or discoveries. All in all, media snacking has opened the floodgates of information, but fortunately, at the end of the day, we’re in control of what we want to read and how we’re going to digest the information.
I’m actually going to deviate from the norm and tag people for this one, since I’d love to hear from Barry, Maki, Ben, Lyndon, Andy, and Eric. My friends, do you respect media snackers?
19 Responses to “Hi, My Name is Tamar, and I am a Media Snacker”
Trackbacks/Pings:
-
Media, Mm Mm Good! | Blogging Experiment Says:
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:02 am[...] Tamar of Techipedia is one of them. I know Tamar from the “seo side” of my life but she tagged me on this blog so I figured why [...]
-
How Do You Feed MediaSnackers? | Gauravonomics Blog Says:
November 3rd, 2007 at 4:04 am[...] Jason Falls, Rob La Gesse, Doug Meacham, Chris Wilson, Meg Tsiamis, Elizabeth Dunn, Colin McKay, Tamar Weinberg, Martin Koser, Mark Goren, Angela Penny, Heather Yaxley, Sherri Lynne, Luis Suarez and [...]
-
VMC #20 (shorts) - Mediasnackers.com - DK : VMC - Vascellari Media Channel Says:
November 26th, 2007 at 2:22 pm[...] Jason Falls, Rob La Gesse, Doug Meacham, Chris Wilson, Meg Tsiamis, Elizabeth Dunn, Colin McKay, Tamar Weinberg, Martin Koser, Mark Goren, Angela Penny, Heather Yaxley, Sherri Lynne, Luis Suarez, Rich, Valeria [...]
-
Mediasnackers.com - DK | Andrea Vascellari Weblog Says:
November 26th, 2007 at 2:27 pm[...] Jason Falls, Rob La Gesse, Doug Meacham, Chris Wilson, Meg Tsiamis, Elizabeth Dunn, Colin McKay, Tamar Weinberg, Martin Koser, Mark Goren, Angela Penny, Heather Yaxley, Sherri Lynne, Luis Suarez, Rich, Valeria [...]
-
fatal error: attention bandwidth threshold exceeded. (error 187.5: H.O.E.S.) | Nick Huhn - Creative Versatilist Says:
December 12th, 2007 at 8:58 pm[...] again, a digital beatdown is warranted and invited. Reluctantly I traverse the internets as a media snacker due to my numerous and disparate interests and limited time. Like any self-righteous Amurcan, [...]
Tamar Weinberg is a social media enthusiast with a passion for all things tech and productivity. She provides consulting in internet marketing and blogs for numerous online publications, most notably Lifehacker, Search Engine Roundtable, and Mashable.
November 1st, 2007 at 9:19 am
See, doing things against your will can be fun! I always was the kid who got everyone in trouble. Kudos for diving in with us!
November 1st, 2007 at 9:29 am
Thanks so much for participating! I’m not a meme-girl myself, either, but the viewpoints have been so interesting! And you have completely turned me around in terms of the social media news sites, so it’s great to hear your opinion.
BTW - I’ve really been interacting with the Digg community more and more. It really is about being a part of the community.
November 1st, 2007 at 9:46 am
Hi Tamar
I will respond but I still have to finish a positive post about PayPerPost and Blogrush for you to snack on
- I know you will appreciate the differing point of view.
November 1st, 2007 at 1:39 pm
I hate memes too.
I would call myself a media gypsy than a media snacker. The toobs of the web are littered with accounts I have started, had a mooch around and then left. Distracted like a child on seeing Cadburys chocolate buttons within chomping distance.
Respect isn’t the word I would use, sympathise is what comes to mind. But also the acknowledgement that we are blessed with such wealth of information, of course the problem is sorting it into useful, graded, boxes.
Even wasting time is useful.
OK, this is sparking off a few things I can use, I am going to continue these thoughts back at my blog, with a backlink of course
November 1st, 2007 at 6:41 pm
You might be interested in some of the latest Forrester research that shows the skyrocketing adaptation by seniors to technology. Media snackers may be young people (I disagree!) but it would be a mistake to stop designing or marketing to older people.
November 1st, 2007 at 7:56 pm
I hear you, Kim!
November 1st, 2007 at 11:45 pm
I love how people always say they have been tagged against their will but then tag others! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised though, misery loves company right?
Seriously though, I’ll participate. I was looking for an idea for tomorrow anyway. Cheers!
November 1st, 2007 at 11:46 pm
I almost didn’t tag anyone, Ben, but then I realized I should keep some of you lazy people busy.
November 2nd, 2007 at 12:21 am
” we are blessed with such wealth of information, of course the problem is sorting it into useful, graded, boxes.
Even wasting time is useful.”
Thought semantic web would help for information organization, but, in the meantime, it’s so against human nature to do ‘things’ - put bits into ‘boxes’, contraction we’re made of…
The comments are all refreshing…
November 2nd, 2007 at 4:29 am
Love the “media gypsy” reference by one of your commenters…
Just adding your voice to the many:
http://tinyurl.com/39ohf5
DK
MediaSnackers Founder
December 30th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
Hey! I’m a media snacker and I’m not young. That video is a bit ageist don’t you think?
December 31st, 2007 at 6:59 am
Agreed, Tomboys. I think that’s the only problem most people have with that video.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I wouldn’t take it personally Tomboys - check our post where we explain our focus on young people
Peace
DK
MediaSnackers Founder
July 20th, 2008 at 3:25 am
I suspect we have always been media snackers. Consider billboards. They can send out strong visual and text messages in a few seconds similar to what web sites do now.