afghaniSad

At a Center for Communication event on Social Media Marketing this week, Mark Ghuneim, CEO of Wiredset responded to a question about timing Tweets and other social media content posting with a tongue in cheek, "Don't post on a day when Apple is announcing something."

That was on Tuesday, October 4th, when Apple brought good news to our ears - the arrival of iPhone 4S, along with other product improvements and innovations.

The very next day, Wednesday, October 5th, Apple once again dominated news feeds with the sad news of Steve Jobs' passing.

Ever since, tributes to Jobs have been almost endless - reflective of the impact he has had on individuals, businesses, and our culture in general.  According to Facebook, for instance,

628 million active users changed their Facebook profile picture to a real Apple, the Apple logo, or a picture of Steve Jobs.

You may have seen a lot of "status" postings of "iSad" or this visual:

YouTube exploded with videos - some traditionally media driven, like the CNN tribute below; others more grassroots produced by brand fans and loyalists.

CNET's retrospective video on Jobs puts it perfectly, describing his uncanny ability to make Apple's highly sophisticated and innovative technology, "simple, magical, and fashionable" to us as users.

In the shadow of Jobs' passing, however, important stuff is going on around the world, that is getting little or no attention.

Today, October 7, 2011 is the TEN year anniversary of the War in Afghanistan - making it the "longest war" in America's history.  For the past 10 years about 100,000 US soldiers have had their "boots on the ground" in Afghanistan, and 1,780 of them have given their lives in the line of duty.

I am not hating on Steve Jobs, or diminishing the impact of his death.  It does, however, make me think about how lives are valued in our society today.  When what we care about is so dependent on what the media emphasizes and reports on, it is not surprising that Facebook, and social media is more abuzz with Jobs' passing, than the sacrifices of our soldiers in Afghanistan.

To illustrate - in my NY Times "Today's Headlines" email this morning (timestamped 3:05AM) there were 38 clickable links to content.  11 of these links, almost 30%, were to Steve Jobs, or Apple related content.  There were no links to content related to the 10th Anniversary of the War in Afghanistan.  Furthermore, a review of the NY Times' homepage, around 11:00 this morning, yielded no news about the Anniversary.

This makes me AfghaniSad.