I live in the UK, and GodBlogCon has passed over me, but apparently is was a conference for discussing new media from a Christian perspective. Andy from Think Christian posted a summary of John Mark Reynolds’ talk.

Andy summarises thus:

The day is not far off when these new media outlets will be brought under the control of a few major profit-driven players, and Christians will be marginalized again if we haven’t taken the initiative to leave our mark on it.

I don’t agree with this. Blogging and the so-called ‘new media’ are different to newspapers/films/tv etc., in the sense, that large players cannot control it so easily. In the sense that they cannot control the Internet. To make and distribute films or newspapers widely requires big financial outlays, but blogging and social networking are different. They reach out on a more personal, individual level and cannot be interfered with so easily.

Of course, some countries (or employers) can block access to websites, but Internet privacy and freedom are other issues.

Maybe I am missing the point of his talk, but even from the GodBlogCon website report on his speech it says:

More players get in the game, the standards are raised, small players will become squeezed out.

Neither do I think that:

The revolution is in its final stages.

Because, although many cannot see how technology can go further, it is still a minority of world’s population who are online, let alone contributing to the blogosphere or attached to social networks. And surely that is the difference. While technology may be nearly there, the things that matter (people) are not.