The State of "Communication"

Rob Walker is great at finding pithy ways to sum up problems. In this edition he ruminates on the state of "online dialogue" (which I copy in full because it's such a short post, but go over and subscribe to Rob's blog as it's great):

Yesterday somebody using the Robwalker.net contact form sent a message, and all it said was: "Read my blog." Followed by a link.

I found this depressing. Somehow it seemed to sum up the entire state of online "dialogue" these days -- a blunt demand for attention. But points for honesty, I guess.

It's true and it is kind of depressing. For all the talk about changing the way marketing works and relying on word of mouth and tapping into networks, there is still a whole lot of screaming until somebody listens going on.