The (industrial) (r)Evolution of Media

Media's Brand New Business Model & The Era of Choice Part 1

The consumer's Era of Choice (as it relates to media consumption)is the result of dramatic shifts in the supply/demand dynamics in markets for content.

That this is obvious to some executives in the industry is not enough. Basic insights demand closer looks at how markets respond to unprecedented events.  The technology of the worldwide web and the tools that come along with it have been a watershed in sharing information. The Internet is part of a trend as old as us being socialized beings. We gather, we share, we learn, we use that to endeavor to prosper. And while telegraphs and telephones were big leaps in this trending process reducing the need for proximity, the Internet has now achieved the needed social momentum where we are now organizing ourselves and allowing groups (markets) to effectively get what they want with little or no lag time.

Old media properties first encountered this effect in music sharing and then movie sharing. And while these proprietary forms of content are troubling many different business models, the new social dynamic is much better observed in the developments in the areas referred to as social media.

In the meantime, old media businesses are struggling mightily with profitability issues and remain focused upon new ways in which to monetize the Internet as a distribution platform.  This is a natural reaction by the groups of businesses based on what seems obvious but, the real insight is available by looking a little deeper at the social impulses driving the behavior.

Four key trending implications for media as the battle for branding rights on the web encounters the realities of frontier living

update: an article I missed on Sept 7th in the NYT clearly demonstrates key point #4 at the end of this post. Thanks Mark!

Brave New World of Digital Intimacy

To me there's no doubt that the primary tools of social media are forcing issues like we read in this NYT article from Sept 1st(link below). The question in this discussion is both, why? and how is this impacting the world of media?  Leaps in convenient communications technology explain only part of it. And while the rest might be explained by big ideas like that over at Chris Anderson's Long Tail site, I submit that considering the broad social force of social mood is an essential part of that understanding, especially if your business touches any part of the media vertical.

A New Battle is Beginning in Branding for the Web  NYT (9 01 08)

two key quips:

The first round of trademark conflict on the Internet, focused on cybersquatting, has subsided. Cybersquatters were early profiteers who bought up the Web addresses, or domain names, of well-known trademarked brands, and then tried to charge the companies huge amounts of money to buy them.

The new areas of conflict, according to legal experts, include trademark owners trying to assert their rights to stifle online criticism of their products, and to stop trademarked brands from being purchased as keywords in Internet search advertising.

It's a wild west mentality in many respects but larger branding considerations were clearly established, separately this summer, when a court told the Tiffany Co. that policing its brand was their responsibility, not Ebay's.  And while there is lots of legalese to go along with that thought, let's gather all of this into a even bigger thought that may be used to guide current strategic direction.

social media shows old media: what really matters

At the top of the right column are three (longer) posts looking at social media and its message to all marketers and especially those managing old media enterprises. The term social media became a catch phrase very quickly and is being used by marketers of all stripes. A very insightful analyst's blog offers up a great list of the who and what of this developing social/business trend. My three posts mentioned above look at the same trend from a very broad behavioral perspective, and what this implies about where we are taking our social experience (generally) next. Since this is not obvious on its face, I submit there is great value in the ability to generalize correctly (right now anyway).

When I became interested in using trending insight as a practical method to see demand more clearly in markets, what I did not appreciate, was how long it would take for me to develop a qualitative appreciation of social trends. For example, in order to understand what was really happening in old media, I first needed to be able to see social trending in its most basic form and only slowly apply that to the markets of people who consume media in chunks.  How businesses determine what really matters when big newness unfolds (like social media is now) is a function of trial and error in the short term but often it is much more practical to begin by seeing the much larger picture. That is how responsible forecasting begins. My contribution here will (hopefully) demonstrate that by following the lessons derived from business-related applications of new technology like social media marketing, we may end up chasing lagging indications (or even incorrect ones) of what matters. So then, what really matters (in the big picture) ?