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:
The (industrial) (r)Evolution of media is a very compact way of seeing and understanding one of the largest social trends there is: the manner in which humans are presently handling our insatiable thirst for getting and sharing ideas (of all kinds), and how we use them in a social context.
Instead of attempting to be an exhaustive historical account, I leave it to interested reader to see the obvious trail across history we've collectively produced since gathering around the fire at night, and instead I choose to focus on what is happening here and now in the evolution of the media tool we've created for ourselves. By using another watershed social revolution from our recent historical past, and combining it with a basic behavioral concept called (aggregate) social mood, we can see what is happening today in a very different light that can be immensely useful. I believe this trending process matters to every business everywhere, not just media enterprises.Why?, should become apparent in time, if not immediately.
So, part one of a detailed discussion to explain this huge trend would explain how our basic human creative nature is expressing itself by repeating the social patterning associated with the industrial revolution in the late 1800's. A look through an unabridged history text would reveal multiple phases and names for the event called the industrial revolution. To me, what is more important is to notice how this pattern of social revolution is not uncommon, and each time it completely changes us...all of us.
The industrial revolution that happened in the US and around the world in the second half of the 19th and early 20th century is a phenomenon of humanity that has been documented over and over in our long history. At first glance, it may seem like innovations in technology are the essential ingredient in social revolutions but upon closer inspection one sees that each mega social revolution in mankind's history requires some critical innovation of a "tool" but, also requires social momentum which always fosters widespread adoption and further application of creative energy that only comes with increases in the number of people participating. Participation is the key ingredient to a social revolution. Indeed, participation is the driver of any social trend, anywhere. Participation = social momentum. New technology or an adaptable idea is not enough by itself. Many different people need to own a larger idea for themselves so they can express using it or thinking it through their own perspective, and through groups they associate with regularly.
So in this light media's industrial revolution has, in a decade, generated so much participation that the growth of supply (in the supply-demand equation) has exploded and upset balanced business expectations in the existing vertical. This disruption has been so great as to bump directly into long established
social contracts surrounding IP (intellectual property) and others too. The social friction this has caused and will cause in the years ahead can be directly attributed to generational shift.
And then, part two of the story of iroM (the industrial revolution of media) is about why it will be different this time in light of the developing social mood. This story for now is easily told by way of the social media trend and how it will impact old media in the years directly ahead. That such a large idea would present itself so plainly does not mean futurists have an easy topic. Billion dollar businesses are in the balance and as all will see, it is the market that matters, not the businesses. Social creativity, as applied in a societal context, always includes at least two parts chaos. So with this in mind, the outline of this trend offers a lot of valuable insight from which we can move forward confidently.
For instance; that media will require incremental specialization is easy to see. How the industry will break itself apart to accomplish this needed specialization is becoming more and more apparent with each passing day. What will actually cause it is less important. The subjects discussed very broadly (here) regarding Google/You Tube will smash up against widely regarded social contracts in more than one area. This is the work of a "social correction" (otherwise known as declining social mood). All progress in a trend must be corrected at some point. A social correction is familiar in an historical context but not so for many people living in the moment right now. The social correction phase we have entered will see this media trend develop in ways that are to be broadly expected. Even with that stated, certainty is not part of the immediate time frame of this discussion. The certainty exists in seeing the larger idea of the social correction and knowing that inside of this larger process will be an interim answer to balancing the needs of this larger social process with the needs of the market for media. Since this case involves the biggest issues possible in a society, the discussion is sure to own the headlines intermittently for many years to come.
The current social revolution (iroM) involves one of our primary tools as social beings -- media. It will be seen in years to come as more than a simple new paradigm for an old industry. It's the dawn of a new era for people and our productive capacity within our groups. In the years and decades directly ahead, we will collectively become much more efficient as we reallocate our social capital and the tools we use to take us to another level.That this is all happening in the context of a very large social correction will color this process differently than the last social revolution.
This is the (industrial) (r)Evolution of Media. Dave
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