Welcome to issue #6 of next big thing.
The covid-19 pandemic has caused everyone to pay attention to the news.
And we're seeing knock-on effects. The Black Lives Matter movement, for example, has been amplified like never before around the world.
Technology has enabled this. So what's next?
But remember from here on in,
History has its eyes on you.
-Lin Manuel-Miranda in Hamilton: An American Musical
We're Watching More News
My family used to watch the BBC Nine O'Clock News every night. It's perhaps the ritual from my childhood that stands out the most; all of us, sitting together in the living room in our house in England, watching the news for half an hour.
As I look back on this, I feel grateful for two things in particular. First, that my parents instilled in me, through this ritual, an interest in current affairs from a young age. Second, that BBC News is considered a neutral source of information.
I've been reflecting on news consumption a lot over the past several months, but in particular in the past several weeks.
Since March, it has felt as though the world has been tuned into the news, perhaps more than ever before, due to covid-19.
Data published by Comcast in May confirms this trend in the U.S. “We're watching more news. A lot more.” There’s been a 64% increase in news consumption since the start of the pandemic.
Of course, TV is not the only medium by which we consume news today. The Internet has changed news. It has, as Ben Thompson wrote yesterday, brought us “closer to the truth by virtue of increasing the amount of information.” Take a look at the chart below, from the blog of Fastly, a cloud computing platform.
Digital publishing (news and publishing websites) averaged a 70.16% increase in global internet activity between February and March. Internet traffic was up in other areas as well, but the increase in news consumption was even more dramatic than the increase in gaming or streaming, for example, as the pandemic began. And, of course, a lot of social media activity, which has seen a big increase since covid-19, is consumption of news, too.
For a couple of months, the heightened awareness of the news was most focused on the pandemic - how covid-19 is spreading, the severity of the virus, what precautions to take, and how it is in particular affecting one's local community.
But in the last few weeks, we've seen a shift in attention in the news towards another topic: racism in the U.S., and protests following the murder of George Floyd by a policeman in Minnesota.
The Video that Shocked the World
The video of George Floyd's murder on May 25 was taken by a teenager on her phone, and posted on Facebook.
Since then, it has reverberated around the world.
According to Google Trends, George Floyd became the top trending search in many countries around the world in the days and weeks following the horrific incident. Below is a screenshot from June 7.
The video reignited a centuries-long conversation around justice and inequality in the United States, systemic racism, and the treatment of African Americans by the police.
The Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013 after the murder of Trayvon Martin and the subsequent acquittal of the man who shot him. It has gained national prominence several times since, but has never seen the level of amplification it's seen in the past two weeks.
There have been protests in over 1,000 cities across all 50 states in the U.S.
There have been protests all around the world, from Tokyo to Tunisia. Here are some incredible photos. Below is one that feels particularly iconic.
And, not far from where I grew up in Britain, a statue of a slave trader that had stood for 125 years was toppled and pushed into the docks by protestors.
Without technology invented since the turn of the millennium, none of the above would have been possible. The video wouldn't have been taken. The video wouldn't have been posted and seen by friends. The story wouldn't have spread to everyone.
And, I'd fathom a guess that had it not been for the world tuning into the news like never before already, the reaction wouldn't have been so strong. With fewer distractions in the form of events or sports, the news amplified further. Because so many people have been sheltered-in-place for the last several months, the desire to take to the streets and protest was perhaps higher than ever.
We were living in a pressure cooker for nearly three months. The video blew the top off.
What's Next?
First, I hope that the global uproar and Black Lives Matter protests lead to positive change, and to a path forward that ends systemic racism. Legislation for police reform in the U.S. is already on the table. I hope that this time is different, and that the momentum sustains. I hope that we as a society make choices that put us on the right side of history.
But, with the world tuning in like never before, and in this pressure cooker environment, all bets are off.
Will the protests and racism against the Black community stay in the global spotlight? Or will a match be lit somewhere else that sets the world aflame?
Will attention shift back to the pandemic due to a “second wave?” Or will it shift to another crisis, one more long-term, such as climate change?
Will this never-ending news cycle lead to even more power for the dominant social platforms? Or will a new platform rise in prominence as a source of disseminating and consuming information?
Will we all stay engaged? Or will we simply get too exhausted?
I don't have any of the answers.
But I'm fascinated to see what happens in this unique environment.
Because it feels like one in which the next big thing could take off at any given moment, anywhere in the world.