Finally, The Internet As Intended.

Jeff updated his argument with a comment on my last post, Jeff Jarvis Hypes Consumer as the New Producer:

I don’t disagree. I think the fact that we can produce means that our production has a new relationship with the old producers. And production can be defined very, very broadly: empowered customers produce product ideas, customer service, marketing, and so on — because they can. And this, in turn, means that the old producers have a few choices, as you rightly point out: (1) fight, (b) ignore, (c) embrace, (d) update.

By the way, isn’t hate a strong word? ;-)

So. I’m busted. My mom would definetly not approve. There isn’t anything I hate about Jeff Jarvis - sorry Jeff :-)

Back to the consumer producer debate - Your response is the right one. We need to qualify “producer”. Your definition seems closer to ‘participant’ than producer, and not changing your terminology leaves you open to snipes like Nick’s.

So, maybe the right metephor for today’s consumer/producer is BASF: they dont make the products, they make the products better :-)