What are the hottest new products? Facebook and Twitter. You may object that they aren't products, but some kind of strange new service - but that is making an artificial distinction. They are getting all kinds of people to join them - and in the process are making all kinds of money.
All those precious eye-balls looking at their site can be easily diverted into looking at advertisers - which is really where it's at. It's no different than looking at a newspaper - except it is free - the main gotcha. People can easily be suckered into a freebie - not realizing that they are giving away themselves - for free.
These services have one objective: to take over your life - and they are succeeding admirably.
You may simply reply that they are only providing what people want - so what can be wrong with that? The same could be said for drug dealers - they are giving people what they want - very badly. In either case, the results are not good - and the results are what count: they teach people to be helpless consumers: slurping up the latest stuff.
Not all are this way, it is true. There are some sharp people out there, also using the latest stuff. But they know what is going on, and use it - instead of letting it use them. But they are an exception.
Myself, I am scared of them and give them a wide berth. I get frequent notices that so-and-so is now following me on Twitter, but I ignore them. That is another world, one I do not want to inhabit.
I am not a twit.
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