HOW will we consume words in a few decades' time? To answer that question, the McKinsey Global Institute, the in-house think-tank of the eponymous consultancy, looked at trends in communication in America since 1900. It compared not only communication technologies with each other, but with speech and traditional mail. The findings contradict some well-worn themes: print's share of our communication with each other has not been squeezed as dramatically by the rise of the internet as some might think. Radio, on the other hand, has undergone a clear sharp decline. Television, too, accounts for a declining share of American media consumption. McKinsey's purpose with this report is to show room for growth in social media. The consultancy is no doubt right, as several of the other media they describe (television, for example) are digital, and so can and presumably will be made more social in future.
