Speaking of cash rich stratas of society – last night at an interesting panel discussion about niche social networks I had the unpleasant experience of hearing someone talk about ‘A Small World‘, the private online community for those rich enough to aspire to own their own jet. Their goal is, to quote “Aggregate the world’s most interesting people with the world’s most interesting information”. Wow. I think they meant ‘arrogant’ instead of ‘interesting’, but I guess if your life’s interests are the latest Hermes purse and how to spend daddy’s money they knock yourselves out in finding new ways to do that. No really – knock yourselves out. Hard. Of course to the high rolling brands that this affluent clique want, this website is a godsend – so advertising and marketing dollars flood in there.
Now obviously this site didn’t create this strata of people, they just cater to them, but what’s fascinating is that this site, along with daily gossip columns, makes these people much more visible than before. Strangely, most people don’t like what they stand for – in fact in the presentation last night a noticeable coldness swept over most of the audience, full of those folks thrilled with the current ‘democritization of content creation’. I wonder how long before the proletariat will rise up and overthrow them? Or at least create an amusing video mashup on youTube that everyone watches… I can see it now, ‘A Small World: The Real Life’ – it’s the next Bold and the Beautiful.