Media Outlets

 Ok everyone here is another mad blog topic which has to do with publishing.  And that is the transformation of the meaning of “platform” in recent years.  I could be wrong but I think that “platform” used to refer more to a perspective and background of an author, sometimes even including their story communicated in their work itself.  Now, in some circles, the term is used almost interchangeably with “following,” referring to contacts on facebook or twitter, etc.  I agree that some overlap makes sense and is simply a fact, but mostly I think this conflation reflects slight cheating from the publishing industry, who wants it to go unnoticed that the author has to supply their own publicity now, as well as an aggression from other influencers who see their political and social advantage and want to equate the author’s worth and meaning with popularity. 

 

This leap of reference and the expectation that everyone will go along with it and either won’t notice the difference, won’t acknowledge the change, or just never knew until they were taught this new view of things, has implications that I think could go beyond the impact of books and communication, on into philosophical and religious grounding within this culture and others. It’s just a step in a selling-out process, and could be more dangerous than people realize when truth is up for a vote and majority mob rule has the last word. And that itself is the deception, because it’s not even a matter of having the last word, but a claim that the popularity is the word itself.  Go ahead and stretch that interpretation all the way to people thinking they’re God. It’s not far from the tragedy of a whole industry and profession agreeing on that shortcut together. People can say, oh, selling out, like how your books haven’t sold out so you’re complaining. Maybe, but I don’t know who can read them anyway if people are just going to change the definitions of words and exchange prophets for profits.