Recently, I’ve had the chance to listen to the recording of an interview, back in the 30s, with a very popular Italian playwright, director and actor,
Eduardo De Filippo. He said: “When I’m asked which of the characters I created for my plays is my favourite, I always hesitate because I’m afraid to hurt the speaker’s taste. But in front of such a large audience with no possibility of an immediate reply
– it was a radio interview –, I’ll willingly tell the truth. My favourite character is…”
A question came to my mind straight away. Does such an attitude still make sense in a 2.0, Social Media context?
A “traditional” face to face interview is then published or broadcasted, and possible comments come delayed. It is meant for a public but carried out as a one-to-one discussion. A “2.0” interview, e.g. on a blog, can start as a one-to-one discussion but normally it is soon turned into a large public exchange of questions and opinions, depending on the popularity of the persons involved. All posts and comments, most of the times, remain one-to-one discussions, though within a purposely public environment. A domino effect can also occur and the discussion is even taken far off topic.
When an artist chats with fans on his website, a peculiar act of communication takes place. (See the picture bottom of the page). We have a series of one-to-many ones (everyone on his own) and a certain amount of many ones-to-many ones (again everyone on his own), happening at the same time and within a public environment (the yellow circle and area). The messages sent and commented refer to the main topic either directly or indirectly and appear either real time or delayed. The succession of posts and comments is so scattered that it is likely to soon lose its meaning along the way and partakers’ involvement may end up as poorly self-referential.
Incidentally, this environment also allows others to simply assist passively and, unless the web pages are deleted, these open discussions are accessible then for years and much easier and quicker than any other records filed ever (e.g. Newspapers articles collected in a library).
A blog is not a Greek 'agora' where the speakers were in touch with one another. Nor a TV talk show where a moderator is present, too. The framework is complex and original with its continuously shifting in and out and through a private, then public, then private again approach. Still very hard to understand in its full present extent and possible future developments, especially for all those who were not born digital and still make a large use of paper and pencil.
But one thing we can be sure of is that Eduardo would have got by with flying colours anyway!
