Publishers on push: Luke Seemann
by Luke Seemann
So many talk about push as though it hasn’t been around since the turn of the Century, as though only now are others choosing which content we consume.
Content is pushed onto our doorsteps. Myself, I wake up three steps from the latest Chicago Tribune.
Content is pushed to us as we drive. Do we choose to look at that Absolut billboard?
Content is pushed into our TVs. Where are you every Thursday at nine?
Content is pushed onto our computers. How many choices in operating systems do you really have? Two?
Yes, yes. You can choose the Sun-Times instead. You can choose PBS. You can choose to hop along on a TRS-80. You can choose to drive blind-folded. But these choices are trivial: bones dropped under the table. Media choices have always been made for us. What we’ve thought was pulling, wasn’t.
But open the backdoor and there’s a clever opportunity to get revenge against this diabolical history: Push unto others. Avenge all those decisions that have been made for us by making decisions for everyone else. Make a Web page! Write a column for the church bulletin! Shoulder a cross down Main Street. Hell, that’s why I’m in journalism school: cold, methodical, bloody-gloved revenge! Avast!
Seemann, a once and future geek, pulls at least two large bowls of Lucky Charms a day. He’s responsible for Stubb (ex Machina).