The (industrial) (r)Evolution of Media

iroM, Social Media, National Security, and Progress in the news

The past few weeks have offered a mosaic of examples of how the industrial revolution of media (iroM) is shaping our future.  First, Iran's cell phone revolution was staged and crushed. Next, China is being seen applying their superior thinking on how to repress the social networking dynamic of human nature that threatens their centralized control.

Over on the right bar of this blog are links to three important observations I made two years ago. The three part post series on social media is a tad long but comes to three key conclusions that are inescapable no matter how brutal or underhanded any government decides to act toward its people.

1. The Era of Choice cannot be denied or turned back.
2. History's major disrupting developments happen at the seams of our generational perspectives and are demands for change. If denied, they promise to return until meaningful compromise is achieved.
3. Social media and all social tools in the digital universe will be about specialization of focus, not profitability (in the next decade).

What the Viacom - Google/You Tube Suit is telling us (entering year three)

(not fully edited but in the spirit of the day)

The subject of this aging lawsuit is of particular interest to me because it tells us a lot about where we are in relation to media's evolution as we traverse a period of rapid social change.  Any opinions here are not remotely based in existing laws. The perspective here is about how we are collectively proceeding toward a set of more evolved media tools that people may use to be better at everything we do as individuals and when gathered into our various formal and informal groups to create. Ultimately, this suit is about social progress and how an antiquated way of seeing content (all kinds) is to be expected and, is sure to see substantial change (in time).

Two years ago, when I first wondered (out loud) here about the ramifications of Viacom's suit against Google's newer division, You Tube, for allegedly illegally sharing (not protecting Viacom's aging content on behalf of  Viacom) their creative products in the digital environment, I laughed to myself.  It seemed preposterous then (to me) and even more so 25 months later. Technology is the ultimate disruptor in history.  Still, we have a socially valued process that we must go through in order to tell us 'what really matters most'. The legal system is a tool designed to do this (slowly) but even more in relevance now is a higher order process called a social correction that will exert its influence over time whether it is noticed or not. . We are in the midst of a large one right now and unfortunately, I do not like what I see in the short term for this movement. I suspect attempts at regulation will follow the trend of forbidding failure where failure is needed. Still, I remain confident that in the next several years, the amount of money and social energy spent on the issue of content sharing will be part of the larger process whereby we free ourselves from weak and outdated rules to write a new social contract that better suits who we are and where we need to go, both as a society, and as a productive member of the community of nations in the digital era. (The Global aspect may well take a couple of decades but Americans, in general, want and need to get going toward the future as our freedom drives creativity amongst people, not thievery.)

Yes, this is big picture thinking but I am certain it will become increasingly salient to everyday people as the younger generation finds it voice to challenge the fading Boomer perspective that is holding onto the past including past-dated notions of "this is mine!".  So, on our nation's birthday, I suggest we think about this big picture issue and especially how it matters to every young American that follows us in our third century as a nation.  Right Now, How We Value Things is Changing, a lot.   

Better metrics = Better media part II

This follow-up post is long overdue because the first few drafts each became chapter length discussions on the larger theme of this blog.  So here's the short punchy version without too much detail:

The current business model for media enterprises is based upon the idea that more is better in alignment with the idea of the CPM.  This approach worked wonders for many decades because everyone felt the same way.

The Era of Choice that began with new supply side dynamics of the digital environment changed this at the most fundamental level. Now, we feel the current recessionary psychology all around us as the marketplace is seeing demand for quality over quantity. This change is typical of a recessionary environment but the underlying cause, this time, is very different.

Better metrics = Better media

Not too many posts here lately and here's why:

This site is not a typical blog...I've used it to develop a topic and share the larger elements along the way. As the blog name indicates there is a large correlation with historic patterning as well as a working model behind what is here to break the subject down into useful chunks and to use this insight for media enterprises in the coming decade of the 10's.

And while there are always obstacles I have to push out of the way (slowing this down), the intention of all these posts is to sew them together, add depth and appropriate weighting, and then offer a useful (positive) way to see the incredible change in the next decade for the media business model. 

So that's the big picture I will bring into focus when many topics discussed here are compiled and organized as a short book sometime this year.

Right now, however, the daily and monthly war that  (old) media's enterprises are fighting down in the trenches is proving daunting as any ad-recession experienced in decades."This too shall pass" is not a mantra anyone should be counting on right now.  Add in the longer view of how owners cashed out equity beginning in 1996 and left an industry leveraged to the hilt with expectations that were not realistic beyond the cyclical time frame, and you have a really big mess today in the business of media.  And while everyone knows change is in the air, and that means innovation is a must, down in those trenches it is difficult to see the long term influences upon the competitive environment.  So far, the view from most old media executive suites has only succeeded in managing existing gross margins by tightening cost structures.  Sure, lots of grand experiments in "new media" have been attempted or bought but, none has yet figured out how to efficiently monetize the Internet user of content.

First things first.    

As the title of this post suggests, there is a very direct way to get from here to there, only, so far there has not been enough cooperation among competitive enterprises or between companies and their customers. Why is it like that? There are a lot of reasons. Some are better discussed very broadly and some are more narrowly defined by vertical. Some recent posts here have discussed a few of the broader social dynamics. Broadcasting, seen as a social tool, deserves a lot of attention too and is where the next best step is defined for media. Digital companies have already been addressing better metrics but the nature of the problem is highlighted particularly well in old media businesses.

Decades of managed market excesses are very difficult to shake off overnight.   No where is this fundamental truth more clear than in the business of broadcasting.

The FCC created a managed market for the limited spectrum of radio signals in 1934 with the admirable goal of managing a "limited" public resource. By the time Yahoo and Google entered the public consciousness 60+ years later the limited nature of the resource was completely removed no matter how much distinction some players still assign to how content is distributed. The digital environment is a new universe and is as unlimited as our imaginations will allow.   It follows that any business model designed for a managed "limited" market will not be competitive in the new media universe. 

The unprecedented nature of this change will not be contained. The Era of Choice as I've called it in previous posts is already well underway and managing it will not be possible with new regulation, though I expect the older generations to try earnestly (initially).  So where does this leave us and why are better metrics the answer to the challenges all media enterprises face today?

there is a new post at The Root Trend site that is universal in how it discusses trust and partnership in the context of branding. It's points are useful to media enterprises, even if they not obvious at first.

Managing brands in crisis during a social correction (lessons of Perrier & Tylenol revisited)

What characterizes the qualities of "partnership" during a social correction?

I've referred to Trust, Cooperation, and Partnership being essential dynamics for business in this period of social correction. How can business use these changing social benchmarks and apply them purposefully...especially those developing tools for business using social media applications?  Well, first try seeing it from two perspectives:

social media, social business, social tools

I choose to look at media very broadly, as a societal tool, because doing that allows me to appreciate how people (as a group, not individuals ** very important) in general see themselves in relation to the tool they created, and how they are evolving it to meet needs over time.

Go all the way back to the first third person stories shared around the campfire and then begin moving forward in very large chunks of both time and events related to media's development.  The FCC licensing of airwaves created a seemingly enduring social structure that damned up creativity for decades. right? And rather than getting stuck on any one point, keep flying forward focusing upon the smaller increments now because we are in the midst of a social revolution where time relationships are changing and incremental events speeding up.  

Media, the tool,  is universally attached to human progress and conforms to the largest social trending cycles we can view...suggesting longer legs of individual trends (from a socionomic perspective) as we work our perception of these events from largest to smaller in viewing its progress. 

 so what?

Where are we taking media?

This "new" blog is three+ months old and the original "Welcome" post is now transferred to a page in the right column for any new readers. 

This brief post is about expressing the trend behind the reason for branching this topic off from The Root Trend site into its own discussion.  This post answers, "What is the (industrial) (r)Evolution of Media"?    It's a topic that is a bit unwieldy for a punchy blog post. Observing any large social trend is a process. The benefit of applying the long view is to better see macro forces that shape such a large trend. How you use that information is up to you.  Here's the three minute version I will continue expanding upon later:

Trust is emerging as an essential social dynamic across the US and in the media business especially

 

How do businesses in the radio portion of the media vertical effectively deal with developing and maintaining the dynamic of trust with their key markets these days ? The short answer is: build better metrics that reflect value in more descriptive ways using today's technology.  In the medium and long term, this will create more trust through transparency on both sides of the business equation (with both consumers of content and the sponsors). Let's look at this for a few minutes because developing circumstances are exactly the opposite at the moment (in parts of the media vertical and in the larger horizon of the US society). By nimbly shifting your perspective to see the larger social forces that shape demand, you can see how to approach innovation and return to profit sooner.

Media's Brand New Business Model - What the four primary metrics tell us Part 2

editing in progress...

The point of this discussion is to help make clear the underlying changing dynamics of supply and demand in the broad business known as media.  Specifically, this perspective looks at very large social trends that are changing what we want as consumers of media, and especially how we will serve these varied markets as profitable businesses. If I can clarify the issue of strategy using a broad historic perspective and the benefit of how changing social mood will impact the demand (in general) to help see opportunity better, then my highest goal will be achieved. Since businesses are created as tools to serve demand, these basic and big picture observations can be helpful while leaving lots of room for creativity in the broad market for making and selling content. I believe this can be particularly helpful because, in the rush of short term events, we are inclined to lose sight of these bigger picture influences. Times are tough in the media vertical no matter where you are. There's no doubt about that. Those who are in tune with changing demand in their market,(really in tune), will be more able to evolve successfully in turbulent times.

The benefit of using the four metrics I will discuss next is to see how the immediate and longer term momentum in competitive markets is reflecting changing demand. These observations call for immediate shifts in the underlying business model. From this very broad perspective the business model used for many decades can be viewed as a social contract. There are a lot of details in this contract but a few major factors shaping supply and demand can be isolated, discussed, and used to see how we must better serve the various segments of the market in the future. This perspective affords significant opportunity to those who push the obvious obstacles out of their way first. As you will see, however, these are not small obstacles.