Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 334
January 24, 2012
Does This Blog Make Me Look Fat?
Is it just a question of getting the facts straight when it comes to our media?
What Blogging brought forth is the notion that opinion lies neatly next to news (and that it is sometimes very difficult to tell the difference between the two). In fact, it's worth arguing that opinion is the new news. Without looking at the political sphere for examples (you get more than enough of that here on The Huffington Post and on other websites, news outlets and Blogs),what does it take create great media?
The heart of the matter.
Emotion is key to driving interest. Human beings are creatures of habits. We like being able to see the actual people who are creating our media and being able to shake their hand. In digital terms, the handshake happens by following them on Twitter and Facebook, or by checking out their LinkedIn profile and seeing if there's any videos of them on YouTube. These online social networking channels not only provide a way to connect more directly with the people who are creating the media, but they also provide a level of social proofing. While these things can be gamed, what we're seeing is a new media landscape that is less driven by facts and realities and much more driven by following those whose opinions are either like yours or share in a similar value system. Imagine that, with all of these new media channels, perhaps our perspectives are becoming that much more narrower.
Does this Blog make me look fat?
It also come from the presentation. This goes well beyond proper grammar and spelling and spills into everything from the way the text, images, audio and video stream from the screen. It has to "look good" (and yes, looking good is about as arbitrary as anything these days). Face it, you've fallen for a Blog post here or there that wasn't exactly Pulitzer material simply because it not only looked good, but was presented in a way that way pleasing to the eye. Don't believe me? The ascent in popularity of infographics has given rise to a lot of attention being doled out to some very minor players. The contents of the infographic is almost as questionable as some of the business practices being put out into the world by the business that are funding these graphic. But, they get the attention because, "hey... infographics are cool and this one has a pleasing color scheme with a lot of statistics on it!" (well-founded or otherwise).
The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
In the end, the discourse will set you free. It's increasingly harder to lie, cheat and steal in a world where anyone and everyone has a platform to publish an opinion. So, while your view of what quantifies as honesty may be different from mine, the newer media channels that are experiencing both growth and profitability trend towards the ones that are being honest and not filling their publishing white space with too much hyperbole, marketing pap and industry jargon. Blogs should still amaze you - each and every day - simply because the best ones (no matter how mis-guided some of the content may be) are written from a very open, honest and transparent place (and if they are not, you will know about it by the comments that follow the blog post). With over a decade of Blogging under our global belts, it's still a new and developing form of communications and media that has yet to fully mature and find it's permanent place in the media landscape. It's unique in that the discourse that takes place within the Blog comments - or as the content streams into other channels through sharing - creates new layers that require more in-depth analysis and critique... something that most casual readers don't either the time or interest in.
So, which new media wins?
If your company is looking to publish content and own your own media channels, the content should be emotional (written from your heart), presented well (and this means both from a visual design and user interface perspective), it should be honest and - ultimately - it needs to reflect both the culture and value of the brand (and the person creating the content). It's a tall order, and (probably) the main reason why so few brands have mastered it.
As big as this all is, It's still an open opportunity, and one that most businesses still haven't formally committed to. Sadly.
The above posting is my twice-monthly column for The Huffington Post called, Media Hacker. I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original version online here:
The Huffington Post - Does This Blog Make Me Look Fat?
Tags:
blogging
business book
business column
business practices
communications
content creation
digital marketing agency
discourse
editorial
facebook
infographic
linkedin
marketing
media
media column
media hacker
media landscape
new media
news
news outlet
online social networking
opinion
publishing
pulitzer
six pixels of separation
the huffington post
twiter
youtube
Thinking Smarter
I've been thinking a lot about thinking lately.
I know, that's very "meta" of me. When was the last time you spent five minute thinking about not only how you learn, but where it's all taking place? People often laugh when they hear that I am reading all of my books exclusively on my iPhone with the Amazon Kindle and Apple iBooks apps. In fact, most people scoff at the notion (as if I'm doing some kind of retinal damage or that it's heresy). The truth is that technology has not only facilitated our ability to learn but it has sped it up. I read over thirty books last year, and it would have never happened if I had to carry them all around with me in my backpack.
It's too bad that most people don't realize this and/or take advantage of it.
I love our local library. They have everything there - from books, magazines and newspapers to CDs, movies and activities for the kids. I wouldn't want it to go anywhere, but the truth is that I have most of the information available in that massive space in my smartphone. An exaggeration? Hardly. Do you know how many books I've looked for to no avail at the library, only to pop open my iPhone and buy it through one of book apps that I use? Instead of trolling through the pages of Harvard Business Review, Fast Company or Wired Magazine, I simply subscribe to their feeds and I'm able to not only know when an new issue is on the newsstand (and, for the record, I'm starting to prefer the digital versions of the physical magazines), but their websites are complimented with additional reporting, Blogs, Podcasts and more.
The Internet is nothing new.
...But every day new content comes online that can (and will) make you smarter. Most people don't even know about iTunes U, where you can download, watch and/or listen to some of the best lectures from the most prestigious universities in the world... for free. I can understand why people don't take/make the time to go to their local library to learn, but really, what's the excuse now?
Thinking smarter.
Education is your own problem. I sucked at school (from the beginning until I dropped out of university). It just wasn't for me. Thankfully, my parents instilled in me the importance of education from an early age. That being said, I was much better at playing video games, watching TV and reading comics books than I was at delivering a book report to my teacher's on time. Thankfully, I didn't let my lack of motivation for school interfere with my education as I got older. Yes, you can take courses, add some degrees to the old resume or attend conferences (all powerful and useful ways to keep educating yourself), but you can also set your own curriculum like never before. From text and images to audio and video and it's all (mostly free). Curious about physics? Modern literature? Architecture? Marketing innovation? It's all here. Right here. Just waiting for you.
The brutal truth.
People will often tell me that they can't wait to go on vacation so that they can catch up on their reading. They'll also talk about the sabbatical that they're taking to spend time learning. Here's the truth: you can't catch up on reading and you don't need a sabbatical to learn. In our hyper-connected and competitive business world, you need to be thinking about getting smarter as an iterative and critical part of your day-to-day regiment. Every day that you're not reading or learning something is a waste and you can't "catch up" on vacation. If you make time for the gym, you better make time for the brain too. Thanks to the Web, mobile and touch, it's never been easier.
What do you do to get smarter?
Tags:
amazon
apple
blog
book
cd
comic books
conferences
education
fast company
harvard business review
ibooks
information
iphone
itunes u
kindle
learn
learning
library
magazine
marketing innovation
motivation
movie
newspaper
newsstand
podcast
reading
smart
smartphone
technology
thinking
university
video games
website
wired
January 23, 2012
Thinking Smarter
I've been thinking a lot about thinking lately.
I know, that's very "meta" of me. When was the last time you spent five minute thinking about not only how you learn, but where it's all taking place? People often laugh when they hear that I am reading all of my books exclusively on my iPhone with the Amazon Kindle and Apple iBooks apps. In fact, most people scoff at the notion (as if I'm doing some kind of retinal damage or that it's heresy). The truth is that technology has not only facilitated our ability to learn but it has sped it up. I read over thirty books last year, and it would have never happened if I had to carry them all around with me in my backpack.
It's too bad that most people don't realize this and/or take advantage of it.
I love our local library. They have everything there - from books, magazines and newspapers to CDs, movies and activities for the kids. I wouldn't want it to go anywhere, but the truth is that I have most of the information available in that massive space in my smartphone. An exaggeration? Hardly. Do you know how many books I've looked for to no avail at the library, only to pop open my iPhone and buy it through one of book apps that I use? Instead of trolling through the pages of Harvard Business Review, Fast Company or Wired Magazine, I simply subscribe to their feeds and I'm able to not only know when an new issue is on the newsstand (and, for the record, I'm starting to prefer the digital versions of the physical magazines), but their websites are complimented with additional reporting, Blogs, Podcasts and more.
The Internet is nothing new.
...But every day new content comes online that can (and will) make you smarter. Most people don't even know about iTunes U, where you can download, watch and/or listen to some of the best lectures from the most prestigious universities in the world... for free. I can understand why people don't take/make the time to go to their local library to learn, but really, what's the excuse now?
Thinking smarter.
Education is your own problem. I sucked at school (from the beginning until I dropped out of university). It just wasn't for me. Thankfully, my parents instilled in me the importance of education from an early age. That being said, I was much better at playing video games, watching TV and reading comics books than I was at delivering a book report to my teacher's on time. Thankfully, I didn't let my lack of motivation for school interfere with my education as I got older. Yes, you can take courses, add some degrees to the old resume or attend conferences (all powerful and useful ways to keep educating yourself), but you can also set your own curriculum like never before. From text and images to audio and video and it's all (mostly free). Curious about physics? Modern literature? Architecture? Marketing innovation? It's all here. Right here. Just waiting for you.
The brutal truth.
People will often tell me that they can't wait to go on vacation so that they can catch up on their reading. They'll also talk about the sabbatical that they're taking to spend time learning. Here's the truth: you can't catch up on reading and you don't need a sabbatical to learn. In our hyper-connected and competitive business world, you need to be thinking about getting smarter as an iterative and critical part of your day-to-day regiment. Every day that you're not reading or learning something is a waste and you can't "catch up" on vacation. If you make time for the gym, you better make time for the brain too. Thanks to the Web, mobile and touch, it's never been easier.
What do you do to get smarter?
Tags:
amazon
apple
blog
book
cd
comic books
conferences
education
fast company
harvard business review
ibooks
information
iphone
itunes u
kindle
learn
learning
library
magazine
marketing innovation
motivation
movie
newspaper
newsstand
podcast
reading
smart
smartphone
technology
thinking
university
video games
website
wired
January 22, 2012
Thoughts From The Content Marketing Institute
Episode #289 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.
As each year passes newer and more impressive forms of content marketing become available to brands. Social Media acted as a massive catalyst for this. We now live in a world where any business (or individuals) can publish their content - in text, images, audio and video - instantly (and for free) for the world to enjoy. The big question is this: is the world enjoying all of this branded content? Producing relevant and timely content is (and will continue) to be one of the biggest challenges and opportunities for brands as more and more clutter occurs. There's no one better than Joe Pulizzi to help us navigate through the noise. Pulizzi is the founder of the Content Marketing Institute and SocialTract. He writes one of the most popular Blogs on content marketing and is the co-author of two business books on the subject (Get Content. Get Customers and Managing Content Marketing). Enjoy the conversation...
You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #289.
Tags:
advertising
bite size edits
blog
blogging
blue sky factory
book oven
cast of dads
cc chapman
chris brogan
christopher s penn
content marketing
content marketing blog
content marketing institute
digital dads
digital marketing
facebook
facebook group
get content get customers
hugh mcguire
in over your head
itunes
joe pulizzi
julien smith
librivox
managing content marketing
managing the gray
marketing
marketing over coffee
media hacks
new marketing labs
online social network
podcast
podcasting
pressbooks
six pixels of separation
social media 101
social media marketing
socialtract
strategy
trust agents
Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #83
Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, PressBooks, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".
Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:
Your body wasn't built to last: a lesson from human mortality rates - Gravity And Levity . "A sobering explanation of how likely we are to die, and how death stems from the accumulation of problems over time. With graphs, even. Just take solace in the fact that, on average, you'll have twice as many years as your great-great-ancestors to walk this mortal coil. If life's too short to read it, here's the TL;RD: you're twice as likely to die 8 years from now as you are today. Compound interest is a bitch: go update that will." (Alistair for Hugh).
Lockdown - BoingBoing . "A week or so ago, it occurred to me that with tablets, we copy and share at the pleasure of the application. This seemed the germ of a powerful idea; as with most such things, I tweeted it, resolved to write it down, and went on to other things (like making anti- SOPA T-shirts.) Then I read this, and realized that I didn't have much to add. I've long been a fan of Cory Doctorow 's writings. I met him briefly at an O'Reilly event last fall and was amazed that he's not just wide, but deep. He knows the ins and outs of protocols and legislation as well as he knows his characters' warts and wonderments. Lockdown is no exception. He takes a step back and offers a clear, crisp explanation of the real war we're facing -- a war on general-purpose computing -- of which DRM , SOPA, Bittorrent , and Napster are merely skirmishes. It's superb, meaty, and doesn't suffer fools." (Alistair for Mitch).
How Copyright Industries Con Congress - CATO@Library . "The big news this week was the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) blackout, a sweeping protest by thousands of websites over proposed legislation in the US that the entertainment industry say is essential for protecting copyright, and the tech world says will break the Internet. You should inform yourself about these issues, and make your own decisions. But, in the mean time, you should read this article about the numbers bandied around about by proponents of the law, claiming $58 billion annual losses due to piracy, and hundreds of thousands of lost jobs. Turns out the numbers are bullshit. So says the General Accounting Office , the non-partisan government organization tasked with analyzing the numbers presented to congress. That doesn't stop every journalist writing about this issue from quoting the numbers though." (Hugh for Alistair).
Dodd Calls for Hollywood and Silicon Valley to Meet - The New York Times . "If you want to know what's wrong with how laws are made, read this article about former good-guy and ex-US Senator, Chris Dodd , who is now the chairman and chief lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association of America , and one of the main guys tasked with pushing SOPA through Congress. What's shocking about this article is how irrelevant the substantive concerns about this proposed law seem to be to Dodd. Instead, the failure was one of lobbying power: Dodd and company didn't move fast enough, or lobby hard enough. They say that if you like eating sausage, don't watch it being made. Oh, and by the way: the bullshit $58 billion claimed in losses due to piracy? Yep, quoted without comment in this article." (Hugh for Mitch).
Introducing the i-Lab - Harvard Magazine . "I believe that the next five to ten years of business are going to be radically different from anything that we have seen before. While we'll still see a ton of disruption, I think the shift to the creative class powered by technology will push us into a new post-disruption world. More simply put, 'ok, we have online social networking, mobility, connectivity and new business models everywhere, but now what?' It's going to be a very telling time, and it pleases me to see more traditional institutions (like Harvard) making tangible attempts to keep education at pace with this brave new world. If we can foster the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship with those making serious life decisions in terms of professions and opportunities, there's a much higher chance that we'll all wind up being just a little bit better off." (Mitch for Alistair).
Quit Whining About SOPA and PIPA. Where's the Public Outrage Over Internet Piracy? - Seattle Weekly . "I wasn't going to pile-on another SOPA - PIPA piece (there's plenty of 'em to go around... just look above), but I could not resist. In this op-ed piece, former Guns n' Roses bassist, Duff McKagen, states his pro-SOPA case: 'The fury from the Internet class is that the broad language in the pieces of legislation will be bad for start-ups, might prevent the next YouTube , or give the government the ability to take down a whole site because of one link to copyrighted works. In short, they're opposed to the legislation because they think it will be bad for the Internet business. Bad for business. Anti-piracy legislation could be bad for the Internet business. It almost takes my breath away. Internet piracy has claimed half of the recorded music business, and made the prospect of making a living as a musician harder for artists of all rank and file. Why didn't Google , or Facebook , or Wikipedia ever stand in solidarity with musicians, actors, and writers - most of whom have never known fame and fortune - as their works were stolen with no recourse on their sites?' Remember folks, there are (at least) three sides to every story. What is the best part of this op-ed piece? Why, the 270+ comments, of course. Poor, Duff." (Mitch for Hugh).
Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.
Tags:
alistair croll
bitcurrent
bittorrent
boing boing
cato at library
chris dodd
complete web monitoring
copyright
cory doctorow
drm
duff mckagen
facebook
general accounting office
gigaom
google
gravity and levity
guns n roses
harvard magazine
harvard university
hugh mcguire
human 20
i lab
iambik
internet piracy
librivox
link
link exchange
linkbait
managing bandwidth
media hacks
motion picture association of america
napster
oreily
pipa
pressbooks
seattle weekly
sopa
story
the book over
the new york times
wikipedia
year one labs
youtube
Thoughts From The Content Marketing Institute
Episode #289 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.
As each year passes newer and more impressive forms of content marketing become available to brands. Social Media acted as a massive catalyst for this. We now live in a world where any business (or individuals) can publish their content - in text, images, audio and video - instantly (and for free) for the world to enjoy. The big question is this: is the world enjoying all of this branded content? Producing relevant and timely content is (and will continue) to be one of the biggest challenges and opportunities for brands as more and more clutter occurs. There's no one better than Joe Pulizzi to help us navigate through the noise. Pulizzi is the founder of the Content Marketing Institute and SocialTract. He writes one of the most popular Blogs on content marketing and is the co-author of two business books on the subject (Get Content. Get Customers and Managing Content Marketing). Enjoy the conversation...
You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #289.
Tags:
advertising
bite size edits
blog
blogging
blue sky factory
book oven
cast of dads
cc chapman
chris brogan
christopher s penn
content marketing
content marketing blog
content marketing institute
digital dads
digital marketing
facebook
facebook group
get content get customers
hugh mcguire
in over your head
itunes
joe pulizzi
julien smith
librivox
managing content marketing
managing the gray
marketing
marketing over coffee
media hacks
new marketing labs
online social network
podcast
podcasting
pressbooks
six pixels of separation
social media 101
social media marketing
socialtract
strategy
trust agents
January 21, 2012
Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #83
Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, PressBooks, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".
Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:
Your body wasn't built to last: a lesson from human mortality rates - Gravity And Levity . "A sobering explanation of how likely we are to die, and how death stems from the accumulation of problems over time. With graphs, even. Just take solace in the fact that, on average, you'll have twice as many years as your great-great-ancestors to walk this mortal coil. If life's too short to read it, here's the TL;RD: you're twice as likely to die 8 years from now as you are today. Compound interest is a bitch: go update that will." (Alistair for Hugh).
Lockdown - BoingBoing . "A week or so ago, it occurred to me that with tablets, we copy and share at the pleasure of the application. This seemed the germ of a powerful idea; as with most such things, I tweeted it, resolved to write it down, and went on to other things (like making anti- SOPA T-shirts.) Then I read this, and realized that I didn't have much to add. I've long been a fan of Cory Doctorow 's writings. I met him briefly at an O'Reilly event last fall and was amazed that he's not just wide, but deep. He knows the ins and outs of protocols and legislation as well as he knows his characters' warts and wonderments. Lockdown is no exception. He takes a step back and offers a clear, crisp explanation of the real war we're facing -- a war on general-purpose computing -- of which DRM , SOPA, Bittorrent , and Napster are merely skirmishes. It's superb, meaty, and doesn't suffer fools." (Alistair for Mitch).
How Copyright Industries Con Congress - CATO@Library . "The big news this week was the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) blackout, a sweeping protest by thousands of websites over proposed legislation in the US that the entertainment industry say is essential for protecting copyright, and the tech world says will break the Internet. You should inform yourself about these issues, and make your own decisions. But, in the mean time, you should read this article about the numbers bandied around about by proponents of the law, claiming $58 billion annual losses due to piracy, and hundreds of thousands of lost jobs. Turns out the numbers are bullshit. So says the General Accounting Office , the non-partisan government organization tasked with analyzing the numbers presented to congress. That doesn't stop every journalist writing about this issue from quoting the numbers though." (Hugh for Alistair).
Dodd Calls for Hollywood and Silicon Valley to Meet - The New York Times . "If you want to know what's wrong with how laws are made, read this article about former good-guy and ex-US Senator, Chris Dodd , who is now the chairman and chief lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association of America , and one of the main guys tasked with pushing SOPA through Congress. What's shocking about this article is how irrelevant the substantive concerns about this proposed law seem to be to Dodd. Instead, the failure was one of lobbying power: Dodd and company didn't move fast enough, or lobby hard enough. They say that if you like eating sausage, don't watch it being made. Oh, and by the way: the bullshit $58 billion claimed in losses due to piracy? Yep, quoted without comment in this article." (Hugh for Mitch).
Introducing the i-Lab - Harvard Magazine . "I believe that the next five to ten years of business are going to be radically different from anything that we have seen before. While we'll still see a ton of disruption, I think the shift to the creative class powered by technology will push us into a new post-disruption world. More simply put, 'ok, we have online social networking, mobility, connectivity and new business models everywhere, but now what?' It's going to be a very telling time, and it pleases me to see more traditional institutions (like Harvard) making tangible attempts to keep education at pace with this brave new world. If we can foster the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship with those making serious life decisions in terms of professions and opportunities, there's a much higher chance that we'll all wind up being just a little bit better off." (Mitch for Alistair).
Quit Whining About SOPA and PIPA. Where's the Public Outrage Over Internet Piracy? - Seattle Weekly . "I wasn't going to pile-on another SOPA - PIPA piece (there's plenty of 'em to go around... just look above), but I could not resist. In this op-ed piece, former Guns n' Roses bassist, Duff McKagen, states his pro-SOPA case: 'The fury from the Internet class is that the broad language in the pieces of legislation will be bad for start-ups, might prevent the next YouTube , or give the government the ability to take down a whole site because of one link to copyrighted works. In short, they're opposed to the legislation because they think it will be bad for the Internet business. Bad for business. Anti-piracy legislation could be bad for the Internet business. It almost takes my breath away. Internet piracy has claimed half of the recorded music business, and made the prospect of making a living as a musician harder for artists of all rank and file. Why didn't Google , or Facebook , or Wikipedia ever stand in solidarity with musicians, actors, and writers - most of whom have never known fame and fortune - as their works were stolen with no recourse on their sites?' Remember folks, there are (at least) three sides to every story. What is the best part of this op-ed piece? Why, the 270+ comments, of course. Poor, Duff." (Mitch for Hugh).
Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.
Tags:
alistair croll
bitcurrent
bittorrent
boing boing
cato at library
chris dodd
complete web monitoring
copyright
cory doctorow
drm
duff mckagen
facebook
general accounting office
gigaom
google
gravity and levity
guns n roses
harvard magazine
harvard university
hugh mcguire
human 20
i lab
iambik
internet piracy
librivox
link
link exchange
linkbait
managing bandwidth
media hacks
motion picture association of america
napster
oreily
pipa
pressbooks
seattle weekly
sopa
story
the book over
the new york times
wikipedia
year one labs
youtube
The Digital Push Pushes On
You can bet I'm going to sound the trumpets any time online advertising makes an impressive move.
On January 19th, 2012, eMarketer dropped another stunning bomb for the advertising world in the news item, US Online Ad Spend to Close in on $40 Billion. Beyond the big numbers (40 billion dollars big) and the impressive growth (online advertising will grow 23.3% in 2012) came the news that "this year, US online ad spending will exceed the total spent on print magazines and newspapers for the first time, at $39.5 billion vs. $33.8 billion. And as online shoots up, the print total will continue to inch downward," according to the report. This is an incredible shift in the media landscape, especially if you consider that we're only talking about advertising and not overall digital marketing spend (Web development, mobile development, Social Media engagement, etc...).
Will online advertising surpass TV advertising next?
Not likely (at least not any time in the near future). According to the report, "spending on TV, however, appears largely unaffected by the growth of online. As internet ad spending rises, so will TV--albeit more slowly, and from a larger base. eMarketer estimates TV will grab $72 billion in US ad dollars in 2016, $10 billion more than will go online." What we're witnessing is the rise of active media as the dominance of passive media continues to do what it does so well (anesthetize the masses so that they can forget about the boring/terrible day that they had as it fills their heads with dreams and wants). The rise of active media (more on this here: The Next Layer Of Social Media) is where this gets interesting. Perhaps brands are no longer seeing this as a zero-sum game and are getting better (and wiser) at the notion of creating engagements that can be appreciated in both the active and the passive platforms.
Media is no longer a passive game.
There is no doubt that the digitization of media will continue to push on, The big shifts in the more passive media (TV, radio, print, etc...) will be in figuring out which of these media can actually morph into something that much more active (as consumers continue to become more and more comfortable with an active media engagement). The biggest and most telling move in this space will come from what both Apple and Google do with their pending television plays. According to the hints and whispers we hear about Apple's television products, they could well be using the Siri platform for vocal commands (bye bye remote control) or we could see Xbox Kinect-like technology for more of a Minority Report like kinetic movement experience. The other interesting factor will be how Facebook expands and develops its marketing and advertising opportunities. With close to one billion connected people, sharing and creating content, the time is ripe for the engagement to go well beyond targeted display advertising real estate.
No boiling the ocean.
With close to two decades of a commercialized Internet, the rise has been both swift and disruptive. It's going to continue. While some brands are struggling with the digital transition, it's becoming clearer that all brands understand both the power and the opportunity that lies before them. While it's never too late to transition to a digital-first posture, the brands that still attempt a "boil the ocean" strategy are usually the ones who are not being both strategic and iterative in their marketing mix and in understanding this developing opportunity for a new brand narrative. Ultimately, it's exciting to see this transition, but even more exciting to be a marketing professional during this time.
The question is: will brands see this as the amazing opportunity that it is or cave in from fear and apathy?
Tags:
active media
advertising
apple
brand
brand narrative
digital first posture
digital marketing
digital transition
digitization of media
display advertising
emarketer
engagement
facebook
google
internet advertising
kinect
magazine
marketing mix
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January 20, 2012
Adapt Or Die
Do you like the saying, "adapt or die"?
There are days when it is the soundtrack of my life and then there are days when I shake my head at what the connotation truly means. You see, it's easy to be an armchair quarterback and say that the newspaper industry, the music industry, the book publishing industry, the retail industry, a traditional advertising agency... and almost every other industry should adapt or die. We live in interesting times (to steal a turn of phrase from the ancient Chinese curse) but it's not so easy to make the pivot that Eric Ries writes about in his business book, The Lean Startup when you're not a lean startup but a business that's been around the block (and has the scars to prove it).
Instead of shaking your finger at those businesses turn the question on yourself.
Do you find it easy to adapt? Most of us do, but when it comes to the saying, "adapt or die," we're not just talking about learning a new skill set or taking on more duties at the office. What we're really saying is change everything and start fresh. Think about it. When we say to a newspaper, "adapt or die," what are we really saying...
Your business model is no longer viable.
Your current business model is becoming obsolete.
All of your investments (printing press, skilled labor, transportation, etc...) are now a liability.
Your staff are no longer in touch with the newer business models.
There are less and less consumers interested in what you are selling.
Your way of doing things converted to the digital frontier does not equate to the same revenue.
Your channels of innovation aren't nimble enough to beat a fresh startup.
Your technology is already considered a legacy system.
Your employees (who may even be unionized) don't make it easy to change.
Your shareholders will not stand for a revolution, they want continued and stable growth. Not risk.
What would you do?
It's easy to say, "go digital. It's all about the Web or mobile or Social," but these are companies that have both a legacy and a functioning business model. While that business model may be tarnished in this day and age, it is still profitable and keeps many people employed. Must that all be destroyed in order to truly thrive in our ever-changing economy? Again, put yourself in their shoes... would you be able to pull the trigger? To break the leaseholds, to fire everyone (or almost everyone), to completely disrupt the business model for a new one, to begin the long (and arduous) process of (basically) starting over, to recruit, hire and train a new team for the this new work, to educate both yourself and those who may be able to make the transition effectively... and on and on?
Adaptation, disruption and resting on your laurels.
Is there an example of a business that didn't completely implode everything and start over and - by the same token - didn't just sit back and let the evolution of business send them towards distinction? The answer is, of course, "yes." When you actually start digging down deep into how these companies have evolved and stayed relevant, you won't see business models that look like anything from the playbooks of Apple, Google or Facebook. These aren't radical organizations in a constant state of innovation and breakthrough technology. There are, literally, thousands of companies that have been around for over three decades that have managed to turn profits (maybe not year on year, but overall). Many of these companies we would consider to be both conservative and boring (I'm sure the shareholders are fine with being described as such), but things are about to get just a little more funky.
This isn't the end.
The fallout of these disruptive times in business shows us that we're still in the middle of it. The challenge for business is to not remain stuck in the past and not get too comfortable with how things are today. Pushing that further, you can't only be focused on the future (because we all know how bad we are at predicting that). Is it time to take chances? Absolutely. Is it time to blow everything up and start over? Maybe for some, but not for many. Is it time to kill even the profitable business units because you know there's no future in it? That's a very tough call. Regardless of what we - as business owners - are capable of, there are bigger forces at play: technology, connectivity, mobility, analytics, data, creativity, commerce, publishing and more will continue to reshape and change how we do business. My guess is that the next five to ten years are going to make the past decade's disruption seem minor in comparison.
Adapt or die? Maybe it's more like tweak and iterate?
Tags:
adapt or die
adaptation
analytics
apple
book publishing
business
business evolution
business model
commerce
connectivity
consumer
creativity
data
digital frontier
disruption
eric ries
facebook
google
innovation
mobile
music industry
newspaper
newspaper industry
retail
technology
the lean startup
traditional advertising agency
January 19, 2012
Adapt Or Die
Do you like the saying, "adapt or die"?
There are days when it is the soundtrack of my life and then there are days when I shake my head at what the connotation truly means. You see, it's easy to be an armchair quarterback and say that the newspaper industry, the music industry, the book publishing industry, the retail industry, a traditional advertising agency... and almost every other industry should adapt or die. We live in interesting times (to steal a turn of phrase from the ancient Chinese curse) but it's not so easy to make the pivot that Eric Ries writes about in his business book, The Lean Startup when you're not a lean startup but a business that's been around the block (and has the scars to prove it).
Instead of shaking your finger at those businesses turn the question on yourself.
Do you find it easy to adapt? Most of us do, but when it comes to the saying, "adapt or die," we're not just talking about learning a new skill set or taking on more duties at the office. What we're really saying is change everything and start fresh. Think about it. When we say to a newspaper, "adapt or die," what are we really saying...
Your business model is no longer viable.
Your current business model is becoming obsolete.
All of your investments (printing press, skilled labor, transportation, etc...) are now a liability.
Your staff are no longer in touch with the newer business models.
There are less and less consumers interested in what you are selling.
Your way of doing things converted to the digital frontier does not equate to the same revenue.
Your channels of innovation aren't nimble enough to beat a fresh startup.
Your technology is already considered a legacy system.
Your employees (who may even be unionized) don't make it easy to change.
Your shareholders will not stand for a revolution, they want continued and stable growth. Not risk.
What would you do?
It's easy to say, "go digital. It's all about the Web or mobile or Social," but these are companies that have both a legacy and a functioning business model. While that business model may be tarnished in this day and age, it is still profitable and keeps many people employed. Must that all be destroyed in order to truly thrive in our ever-changing economy? Again, put yourself in their shoes... would you be able to pull the trigger? To break the leaseholds, to fire everyone (or almost everyone), to completely disrupt the business model for a new one, to begin the long (and arduous) process of (basically) starting over, to recruit, hire and train a new team for the this new work, to educate both yourself and those who may be able to make the transition effectively... and on and on?
Adaptation, disruption and resting on your laurels.
Is there an example of a business that didn't completely implode everything and start over and - by the same token - didn't just sit back and let the evolution of business send them towards distinction? The answer is, of course, "yes." When you actually start digging down deep into how these companies have evolved and stayed relevant, you won't see business models that look like anything from the playbooks of Apple, Google or Facebook. These aren't radical organizations in a constant state of innovation and breakthrough technology. There are, literally, thousands of companies that have been around for over three decades that have managed to turn profits (maybe not year on year, but overall). Many of these companies we would consider to be both conservative and boring (I'm sure the shareholders are fine with being described as such), but things are about to get just a little more funky.
This isn't the end.
The fallout of these disruptive times in business shows us that we're still in the middle of it. The challenge for business is to not remain stuck in the past and not get too comfortable with how things are today. Pushing that further, you can't only be focused on the future (because we all know how bad we are at predicting that). Is it time to take chances? Absolutely. Is it time to blow everything up and start over? Maybe for some, but not for many. Is it time to kill even the profitable business units because you know there's no future in it? That's a very tough call. Regardless of what we - as business owners - are capable of, there are bigger forces at play: technology, connectivity, mobility, analytics, data, creativity, commerce, publishing and more will continue to reshape and change how we do business. My guess is that the next five to ten years are going to make the past decade's disruption seem minor in comparison.
Adapt or die? Maybe it's more like tweak and iterate?
Tags:
adapt or die
adaptation
analytics
apple
book publishing
business
business evolution
business model
commerce
connectivity
consumer
creativity
data
digital frontier
disruption
eric ries
facebook
google
innovation
mobile
music industry
newspaper
newspaper industry
retail
technology
the lean startup
traditional advertising agency
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