Did you hear there's a new iPhone? I'm guessing you did -- and I bet more people know this than can name the newest hit song from Taylor Swift. Or can name just two movies currently playing at the box office.
Silicon Valley now dominates pop culture. Not Hollywood.
It's no longer even close.
Silicon Valley CEOs are the new rock stars. That's why Stephen Colbert has been so keen to have tech CEOs come on his new network show. Already, Colbert has interviewed:
- Tim Cook,
Apple CEO - Elon Musk, Tesla CEO
- Travis Kalanick, Uber CEO
Cultural power matters. Who did more to move gay marriage into public consciousness? Apple's Tim Cook or Hollywood's George Clooney?
Who will ultimately encourage more boys and girls to study rocket science? Hollywood's "The Martian" or Elon Musk and his SpaceX enterprise?
Are the designers of smartphones, smart watches and other smart devices having a greater impact on culture and taste than everyone in fashion and film? It seems so.
It also seems as if Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg and her "Lean In" values will have a greater impact on young women than the combined accomplishments of Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Kathryn Bigelow.
Silicon Valley isn't just leading pop culture, it's making it.
We get our news through Facebook.
Apple is single-handedly destroying the advertising-based content model.
Netflix is gutting cable television and fundamentally re-making how and when we watch television.
Youtube is where we go to learn of the latest stars.
Do you listen to the radio or Pandora?
All these companies are based in Silicon Valley, a few short miles from one another.
Oh, and must-see-TV has suddenly morphed into must-listen-to-podcasts. That'll happen when hundreds of millions of us spend more time with our smartphones than with television and radio.
Disagree? Quick! Name two new television shows on one of the Big Three networks? No? Fine. Name two from the broadcast or cable networks? Just two.
Even massively popular 'tentpole' content, like NFL football games, now seems tangential to the real action: online fantasy football leagues powered by Yahoo and other digital platforms.
Radio, movies, television, these once connected us. Now, Facebook and Google are leading this charge, and they will likely connect billions more than old media ever imagined possible.
Silicon Valley is creating, re-making, altering and extending the bounds of popular culture, far more so than anything Hollywood even dares. Plus, after only a few short years, Silicon Valley knows me -- and knows you -- far better than does Hollywood, which has had a many-decades head start.
I trust Netflix algorithms before network executives. I rely on Instagram and Snapchat to reveal what's new and fun and hip far more so than Madison Avenue.
Google Photos auto-generates personalized photo stories that are more engaging than most of what's currently being shown on the 100 or so television channels I am paying for.
The talk out of Hollywood continues to focus on ways to make money in a world where everyone is streaming, everyone is on their smartphone. They ought to focus instead on what they need to do to remain relevant. Because right now, Silicon Valley is crushing them.
