Seth Godin is worried about a different digital divide that has opened up, one that is based far more on choice than on circumstance. Several million people (and the number is growing, daily) have chosen to become the haves of the Internet, and at the same time that their number is growing, so are their skills. He calls the group that is choosing to participate the ‘Digerati’.

A few years ago, pundits were quite worried about the Digital divide.The short definition is that the haves would have reliable, fast access to the Net, which would give them employment and learning opportunities that others wouldn’t be able to get. This would further divide those with a head start from everyone else.

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Five years ago, geeks pretty much kept to themselves. They’d be sitting in IRC chat, or arguing about Unix vs. Linux, but it didn’t spread very fast and it didn’t influence the rest of the world outside the tech community.

Today, though, the Net is far more robust and far more ubiquitous than it used to be. And it’s bloggers who are setting the agenda on everything from politics to culture. It’s bloggers that journalists and politicians look to as the first and the loudest.

As a result, your most-connected, most influential customers are part of the digerati. They can make or break your product, your service or even your religion’s new policies. Because the Net is now a broadcast (and a narrowcast) medium, the digerati can spread ideas.

The second thing to keep in mind is that the digerati are using the learning tools built into the Net to get smarter, faster. A new Net tool can propagate to millions in just a week or two. Unlike the old digital divide, this means that the divide between the digerati and the rest of the world is accelerating.

Why I blog this? Because for those of us like myself who are in the digerati, we already know this is happening. I have access to more information than ever before. It is not just piles of information - it is valuable, directed content that I choose to learn about, based on my interests, not the interests of others. I am learning faster than I ever have before, and learning how to learn even faster every day.

I am more informed about almost every topic than I was before blogging. I am currently subscribed to over 335 feeds and that number increases daily. Old media is dead. TV, newspapers, and magazines are all obsolete. Every individual is a printing press. Everyone can choose to be a voice.

My thanks go out to Seth for saying what all us of in the digerati have been thinking and living. Choice is the fundamental difference. Choosing to ignore rather than choosing to participate is the new digital divide.