There was an interesting article in the New York Times today about convergence. Not so long ago this term usually conjured up images of strange hardware hybrids, but now that the masses are themselves becoming an increasingly vibrant part of the mass media, a good deal of the chatter surrounding the most startling innovations tends to concentrate on emerging new patterns of usage (and user-to-user connectivity in particular).
Organisations rooted in traditional delivery models rightly fear that their existing business models are being eroded as they experiment with possible replacements; and figuring out how to manage the spread of new (and hybrid) media choices is a task CNN's Jonathan Klein likens to "3D Chess". The launch of Google Video, where there is no distinction between personal and mass media, has alerted many more people in the industry to the threats and opportunities posed by convergent media in the hands of convergent consumers.