Most Significant Flattener

Thomas Friedman spoke in his book The World Is Flat: A Brief History of The Twenty-first Century about "ten flatteners." Ten occurrences that leveled the global playing field or, more appropriately, started the globalization of information. Of the ten flatteners, "Uploading" is the most significant because information from anyone can be posted to the internet.

Uploading, in its most simple interpretation, is posting items to the internet via a blog, YouTube, Wikipedia, etc. Uploading is the opposite of downloading, which is when a user takes information or files from the internet. Anyone from anywhere can upload items to the internet. This is significant because two people from different ends of the Earth can collaborate and run a blog together without ever being in the same room or even the same country. A blog is a great example of uploading. It’s a simple user friendly version of a personal website. I can post my thoughts, pictures, videos online for the world to see. Users can keep their friends and family informed with their happenings. People can upload pictures to Flickr and have online photo albums to show their friends. People can retrieve current and to-the-minute information from anywhere in the world via uploading. Being able to upload pictures saves people so much money. In my family my mother used to always have her photos developed and made them into giant photo albums. Now she just uploads them to the internet and no longer has to have them developed, which costs money, to view them. She can show them off to her friends without having to carry around a giant book, or having the friends come to the house.

Uploading has completely changed the world of entertainment. Artists can upload their music online and have it reach the masses without having a record label or a contract. Anyone can upload a video for people to see. Many artists and bands today get their start by posting their videos online. Actors searching for work can post videos of their shows, or athletes can post videos of their sporting events. People can get themselves to every corner of the earth with just a click of a button; by uploading their information. Uploading videos to the internet has also made the unlikeliest of people famous. Average humans have become internet sensations over night just because of a video they have posted.

Uploading has changed the way information is distributed. Companies and people no longer have to send their documents through the mail or by other outdated means. Companies can upload their financial reports to their websites or to the internet so that investors or stakeholders can have current and update numbers. No longer do they have to mail them out. They can save time and money by just uploading their reports.

Uploading has completely changed the world. It has also changed and affected most every aspect of daily interaction between companies and people. This is why I feel it is the most significant of all the flatteners. Information is at now our fingertips.