Results tagged “FOM08” from Future of Media Summit Blog

Media and Social Networks Roundtable

Firstly, let me say congratulations again to Ross for a great conference. I was asked to moderate one of the Roundtable discussions held during the day - namely one of the three on the topic: 'Media and Social Networks', although we probably discussed 'Social Media' more broadly than we did the specific topic.

Participants in this conversation were:

  • Gavan Heaton (aka Servant of Chaos)

  • Josh Mehlman, Editor at Nett

  • Chris Saad, CEO of Faraday Media (Paying Attention)

  • Stuart Buchanan, General Manager at Community Engine

  • Stephen Collins from acidlabs

  • Ulash Tiwari, Web Analytics from IBM (sorry if I got the name/title wrong, Ulash)

  • Gemma Maughan, from Lewis PR

  • Myriam (sorry Myriam, didn't get your surname or company)

  • Jemma Enright, from DaVinci, and myself,

  • Rob Antulov, CEO 3eep Pty Ltd

  • Some of the discussion around the table follows ...

    Definition of Social Media

  • while social networking is mostly about connections, social media is more about content creation

  • personal media - enables individuals to express themselves, thereby socialising that expression with others
  • Corporate Participation in Social Media
  • employees as bloggers or social media participants - blend of individual prespective and the 'corporate' brand
  • many companies about which conversaion occurs online are NOT tracking this conversation, so are missing out on a unique opportunity to listen and engage with some of their passionate consumers
  • ignoring social media (by a corporate) doesn't mean that it doesn't exist - the conversation continues even if ignored
  • invoking the Cluetrain Manifesto, Chris made the point that a company thinking that it can still strongly control its 'public face' is begin severley undermined by social media (and used his own example of Twittering about his poor experience with Qantas as an example)
  • companies are not resourcing internally to listen to or participate in the online conversation
  • companies' strategies should be about listening and engaging - the tools are easy to use and relatively inexpensive
  • companies can use social media to 'close the feedback loop', right back/down to the product if that is identified
  • companies can use 'crowd-source' strategies - for example, with product support to other users
  • companies should aim to build relationships with people online in a similar way to that which they would use in a 'face-to-face' situation - treat them as real, use authenitc communications, enable access to real people (eg CEO, COO, etc)
  • How does a 'corporate' (eg Qantas) do it? - get involved, encourage employees, set boundaries; but, will require changes in the way companies hire, train and 'guide' staff
  • Stephen used a great example of how 10 Downing St has engaged with their online community by 'participating in the conversation' that occurs about British politics and the Prime Minister
  • NFP and Community Social Networks

  • NFPs often don't have $ or resources to engage with their stakeholder coimmunities as nmuch as they'd like

  • They can use social media to communicate with their communities


  • Advertising Considerations on Social Media
  • social media ad budgets are generally miniscule for major brands

  • proposal is that companies could shift even just 10% of their ad budget into 'new' media for powerful and measurable results

  • ROI is not always the right metric to focus on

  • "What is the value of a conversation about your product?" - immeasurable!

  • Hope that gives you some insight into some of the thoughts that were discussed by a table-full of passionate and interested observers and participants in this very interesting time we find ourselves in!


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    Fantastic insights from the blog coverage of the Future of Media Summit

    Sorry I’ve been slow to follow up on the Future of Media Summit – it’s been a very busy time since the event, including some long flights :-)

    To start off here are some of the most interesting blog posts on the Summit. There are some fantastic ideas and insights in these, so well worth a read. In no particular order :

    Stephen Collins: What will the future of media look like?, including the ‘artificial split’ between journalism and new media

    Chris Bishops: Monetising future content: business models as traditional content models break down.

    JD Lasica: Takeaways from Future of Media Summit, including the ‘Great Decoupling’ and media as ‘Distraction Machine’

    Phil Morle: A Future for TV: The Collaborative Crowd - the future is (crudely) present

    Seth Yates: Comprehensive Future of Media Summary including notes on all the panels

    Jay Cross: review of Future of Media Summit, including the US future of journalism panel

    Stilgherrian: Note to “old media: journalists: adapt or stfu!
    (Same post at Crikey with different comment stream)

    Jonathan Este: Bloggers: the biggest whingers since journalists (Response to Stilgherrian, originally posted on Crikey and reposted on Stilgherrian's blog with comments)

    Brad Howarth: Live from Future of Media Summit Part 1, Live from Future of Media Summit Part 2, Live from Future of Media Summit Part 3 - detailed insights and commentary

    Craig Wilson: review of the Future of Media Summit, including discussion of the Twitter backchannel at the event

    Gavin Heaton: review of future of Media Summit: the future of media is PARTICIPATION

    Alex Gibson: compilation of ideas and annotations from the event Twitter stream

    Kathy Drasky: live blogging and commentary from the Future of Media Summit in Silicon Valley

    Gordon Whitehead: Future of Media: Opportunity or Train Wreck – believing in opportunities

    Also be sure to see the initial review of social media commentary on the Future of Media Summit. Since then, additional posts on the Future of Media Summit blog include two additional summaries of discussions on Participant Roundtables on the Sydney side:

    Media and social networks Roundtable
    Shifts in the advertising industry Roundtable

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    Unconference - New Media

    New Media

    - Is consumer a dead word? It implies that they are passive
    - Does the same content player work for all audiences?
    - Participants drive
    o Content
    o Format
    o Delivery
    - Segmentation – not age but levels of interaction / media usage
    - Content
    o What you want, when you want it
    - Progression of people
    o Media literacy/interfaces
    o Demanding short attention spans of people
    - As quality increases peoples standards go up
    - Production quality not important on a 2x2 screen
    o Versus relevance quality
    - Advertising – selling a product through need or desire
    -
    - Content
    o Interaction vs experience
    o Peer recognition
    o Sharing value with others
    - Technology
    o MID – Mobile Internet Device
    - Cheaper – increases penetration
    • Fundamental change in internet demographics
    - Variable content by device
    o Quality of the idea
    o People are not necessarily looking for production quality (time, relevance immediacy)

    - Funding notes
    o Selling product vs trafficking
    o Traditional model – aggregate – very little mass appeal content
    - We can’t make all of the good stuff free – public sponsorship
    - Wider distraction channels
    o Audience distribution / greater reach
    o What is the measure of sources and how can discussion be monetise / the value recognised

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    Unconference: New Media

    Notes from the group discussion...

    Consumer
    Generational difference
    "Consumer" is a dead word (implies passive) > changed to participants, but not every participant is active
    Does the same content player work for all audiences?
    Participants drive: content, format, delivery
    - Differences for different cultures
    - Participants drive the creation of niches
    Segmentation: Not age but levels of interaction/media usage; how much time do they have
    Progression of people - how does it change the formats people are looking for
    - demanding short attention spans
    - media literacy/simplification of interfaces
    - unleash untapped potential in audiences
    - transferred knowledge
    Segment by need vs product segment

    Content
    what you want, when you want it, how you want it, how you will make it
    - production quality vs. relevance quality
    As quality goes up, peoples standards go up
    Production quality not important @ 2x2 screen. Therefore, free/grass roots content acceptable
    Need content - what is it people really want?
    - information vs. experience
    - peer recognition
    Variable content by device
    - Quality of the idea
    - People are not necessarily looking for production quality but time, relevance, immediacy (e.g. happy to view grainy footage of the Gulf War that has basically been filmed on a mobile phone)

    Funding models
    Selling product vs trading traffic
    Traditional model - aggregate eyeballs
    - BUT very little mass appeal content (hard to create content that appeals to everybody)
    How do you fund content?
    Community supported content models (e.g. Wikipedia) - make value judgement about what's important then voluntarily contribute to support it
    Reality is we can't make all the good stuff free (Australian film industry) > public sponsorship
    - Implications for creating a "user choice" model
    Wider distribution channels
    - audience distribution/greater reach
    - leverage this idea to divide content up and sell it in different ways
    What is the measure of success and how can success be monetised/the value recognised
    - Multiple forms

    Technology
    MID - Mobile Internet Device
    Cheaper - increases penetration, fundamental in changing internet demographics (i.e. currently the most people on the internet are English-speaking Westerners, but predictions are that this will change)

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    Predictions for the Future of Media

    Top Australian media executives discuss the findings of the prediction markets, and offer their own insights into directions for the media industry.

    Belinda Rowe (Zenith Optimedia)
    - Optimist at heart
    - Get tired of discussion around whether mainstream media will survive - most of the big media companies have moved into the digital space and are using this to enhance their customer relationships

    Angelos Frangopoulos (Australian News Channel)
    - Don't see any option other than to grow
    - A case of embracing as many opportunities as you can
    - Digital since 1996
    - Fanastic future for mainstream media because we are all diversifying - those who don't embrace change will suffer

    Wendy Hogan (CNET)
    - CBS integration
    - Contrary to last session, CNET employee a significant number of just for web journalists, who are allowed to blog if they like!
    - Different payment models for how you recognise the contribution of people
    - Inviting the audience to participate is a method people are using to bring their production costs down
    - Give bloggers the opportunity to be seen by audiences

    Mark Scott (ABC)
    - Positive picture for ABC - recognise they are a good content creator
    - Deliver content to audience at a time they want in a format they want
    - Advantages for ABC: has a lot of content and don't need to execute that in a model that makes money
    - Business model relies on getting a big cheque from the Commonwealth Government, by showing they deliver unique content to Australians

    Australian media landscape is distinctive
    - Urbanisation, distribution of population
    What will make Australian media landscape distinctive in the future?
    - Global boundaries that have already been strong are broken down - Aus consumer can engage with content from all around the world
    - It will be harder for media companies than when there were far fewer content providers. Who will be able to financially deliver content created in local communities and delivered to local communities?
    - Access to 24 hour content from countries all around the world - challenge for mainstream media is about being more and more relevant to local markets. What is unique about us compared with operator overseas?
    - Australia has successfully exported content overseas (e.g Neighbours, Home & Away). Opportunity for Australia to produce more content to export, technology can pave the way - need investment in broadband for this to happen efficiently and easily
    - CNET: add content with a local context to a site that already exists (e.g. Game Spot - need to tweek Grand Theft Auto for Australian players). Deliver contextually relevant ads too. It's all about putting decisions back in audience's hands regarding content and where they want to read/view it
    - ABC: how to find a program that is intrinsically Australian? The real challenge for Aus program makers not that the global market is open to Aus content, but that the global market is available for audience here to see, but you still have to make your money back from the audience here as well - i.e. it's not about selling Australian content overseas.
    - No doubt that online will be a big distribution mechanism - more and more people will watch traditional TV content online. How do you monetise it? No one wants to buy/watch pre-rolls? CNET says there's a big drop off from pre-roll to video content, especially for 30 sec pre-rolls

    Media channels will be increasing age fragmented
    - Teenage audiences using social networking to share content experiences (e.g. MySpace page for Jamie from Summer Heights High)
    - Younger audiences are more personalised and selective about what content they consume, they are more content loyal rather than channel loyal (i.e. content is channel agnostic)
    - Advent of data

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    Round Table Discussion: Mobile Media and Content

    Clearly the iPhone is changing the way that the Australian audience thinks about consuming products via their mobile devices. Where arguably the technology has been available for some time, getting your head around the application of that technology - getting excited about it - that is a different matter.
    We discussed the potential of mobile as both a medium for consuming media product and a tool for creating it. As Stephen Quinn from Deakin University suggested, the mobile sphere has an enormous potential to reach people, particularly younger people, like never before.
    Viacorp's Ian Gardiner made the point that the Australian mobile carriers are desperately trying to maintain a kind of "walled garden", restricting access and hoping to protect their revenue accordingly, but perhaps "Carriers need o stop trying to be media companies, because they're bad at it," as was suggested by Christo Van Egmond from Stripe.
    The carriers might be trying to shore up their revenue models, retain ultimate control over content (however questionable the quality), but is there a real, substantial market for the content they are fighting so fiercely to protect?
    Generally the group believes there is - at least for certain content, and assuming Australian carriers loosen the leash in terms of download limits...
    Diverging for a second, does anyone reading this know the details and dynamics of the deal that lead to Telstra acquiring rights to distribute the iPhone and why 3 was left out? Would love more info on that.
    Anyway, returning to the point at hand, there is some debate over whether mobiles can compete with free content on larger screens over the internet.
    First foremost there needs to be appropriate infrastructure in place to accommodate the desire to view any content, to make that experience enjoyable and convenient, but once that is established, really the group agreed that there should be no "for mobile" content. It should all just be content, and platform agnostic. Some sites/uses will lend themselves more heavily to mobile - Van Egmond suggests sport results and breaking news - but really if I want to shop online, if I want to view YouTube, if I want to watch a streamed TV show, I should be able to do it.
    Mike Zimmerman from Technology Venture Partners suggests carriers might find some success and continued control if they begin to supplement subscription/pay-per-usage models with ad support, so offer a cut-rate cap plan in exchange for eyeballs during use time or SMS/MMS ads.
    Ultimately, as wifi becomes increasingly prolific and accessible and various different enabling technologies undermine the telcos' ambitions, perhaps as Gardiner suggests "the carriers are doomed".

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    Future of Journalism

    Newsrooms are laying off staff, print journalists are being asked to use video cameras, bloggers are going professional, and sub-editors are writing headlines for search engines. Who will the journalists be and how will they earn a living?

    Gen Y don't want to read papers. But some say the newspaper is the best browser - selects the stories for you to read, rather than you going online and searching for only the stories of interest to you

    Currently the revenue for media companies comes from newspapers and online is being funded - this balance will evenutually change

    Newspapers are not as 'green' as online?

    Is the future of journalism only in the hands of journalists?
    - It will have to involve people who don't consider themselves journalists today
    - Newspapers as a technology will have to adapt
    - Most people won't read it front to back but will choose what they want to read
    - Green nature of newspaper publishing - allowing people to purchase only the sections they want thereby customising newspapers for the audiences that read them

    Skill and professionalism involved in journalism
    - The more likely user generated content will come in the visual form (rather than video) because making text requires a lot more work - being a professional journalist requires a certain expertise, it's a craft.
    - Blogger is a columnist, not a journalist. You can't be both.
    - Need to clearly identify 'reporters' versus 'bloggers'
    - But, a blog is just a tool, a piece of paper or web page - some bloggers use the tool to report. Right now I'm using this Future of Media blog to record what is being said during today's panels, rather than to simply express my opinions on the topics

    Why don't journalists like bloggers and why don't bloggers like journalists?

    Craze of blogging - everyone wants to have a blog
    That will settle down so that only the people who really have something to say in a blog will make use of one
    Need to move away from the idea of thinking that blogs are just a place for people to say 'this is what i think'

    People are stretched right now in the amount of time they have and the amount of information they have to absorb (like Ronald Regan insisting that documents he had to read consisted of no more than one page)
    Journalists will become more required to be sythesisers of masses of information

    Fairfax Digital has employed senior, well-known journalists to write for SMH/The Age Business Day (online business site). If you have a blog that has enough credibility and funding then you could employ journalists. For now it is traditional media that are the main employers of journalists, however this will change

    What is the business model for the future of journalism?
    - Imcumbent of journalists to break news, but as is human nature there is also a tendency to cut corners to save time
    - Surprised if we see the same continuing pressure of newspapers over the next few years and no change in the status of journalists
    - Journalist at The Australian says she writes for online as well as the papers. When a story happens she has to quickly write the online story - is this the future of journalists? Reporting in a multi-media world
    - As newspapers driven by revenue and costs start to shed staff (e.g. LA Times has gone down by about half in the last 5 years) the quality and quantitiy of stories go down
    - Correlation b/w the number of jobs in the industry and the quality of the output

    Decline in newspaper market in America
    - No one has invested in them for years - no glossy liftouts like in Australia
    - Pressure on revenues requires them to cut, cut, cut
    - In Australia we have 3 very large print companies with huge earning bases from which to fund new ideas
    - Most of the cost cutting has gone into getting rid of the salaries of people
    - If we go into online, theoretically reducing paper already reduces costs
    - Jobs are there for people with certain skills - movement from print to online
    - Police force tends to lose people at certain ages, but then they go into similar jobs (e.g. driving instructers, security guards). This could happen for journalists too

    CONTROVERSY! Bloggers don't pretend to have objectivity, journalists do
    - Journalists have let us down in the last 10 years or so with the focus on Monica Lewinsky, etc
    - Trying to set up a dichotomy b/w journalists and bloggers, but blogging is just a tool
    - Where a journalist will go off and research people, an individual has already blogged about it
    - False dichotomy to say that blogging and journlism are opposites? They are just different?

    Branding - you read something in The Australian and this guarantees a certain credibility for the content. With blogging the wheat is being sorted out from the chaff gradually. Some bloggers are gaining credibility, others are good for a laugh but you wouldn't base your opinions on what they say

    Would journalists be happy being paid on how many page impressions a certain article gets? i.e. paid on performance

    Conversation with US panelists

    Is objectivity attainable?
    - Values of journalists: fairness, balance, choose stories that matter and not the stories that get the most page views (we know what stories those are already). It's okay to have some Big Macs occasionally, but if you have Big Macs too often you become one sick person
    - Do we all agree about the notion of fairness?
    - Importance of certain stories
    - Goal for all of us is to become more educated and informed about the world around us, rather than just focusing on the stories or marketing products that we want (avoid star gazing)
    - Is such thing as too much of a good thing
    - Formula for reaching mass audience with the Big Macs and also providing the content that will clean their arteries of the cholestoral! Don't know how to convey the important stories with this news medium of online

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    Predictions for Future Media

    Embracing change and opportunites as there is a lot of room for diversifying. Financially, it all comes from quality content. Blogs/news content - different payment models for contributors - there will be recognition for video or photo content

    ABC - new ops in digital media offers more ways in more situations to communicate to Australia - advantages are from content and it isn't under a business model framed to earn money - purely quality content. Online, off-line - all consumers of ABC are access in significant numbers. No-one else is in this position to do so.

    Australia is disctinctive in its media landscape - how/ what will continue this in the future?
    Urbanisation
    Distribution of population
    Global opps

    - Global boundaries have broken down around media - global newspapers etc content are now accessible. Regional and rural australia - who will be able to deliver content that is created in local communities & made for local communities?

    The landscape is much different in the future.

    Angelos - ANC

    Access to 24 hours news content - is a threat to ANS
    Being more and more relevant to each and every market - which sees them offering localised portals to various areas
    As a provider of info - what is not going to be easily replicated overseas

    Z.O
    Australia produces high quality content and production - technology - australia has the opportunity to produce/export more.
    Reliance on investment in broadband is needed for this to happen sooner and more easily

    CNET - content in a local context - you need a local context for many platforms - simply to make it contextually relevant to various locations (e.g GTA - may need to be censored). Putting it into the audiences hands - show what they want and what they want to know/interact with. Sport, interest, hobbies etc.

    ABC - what australian t.v product has expanded globally/domestically on it's own
    Summer Heights High - BBC etc
    Challenge program makers - you still have to make your money back - how do you create programming here that competes domestically with global/o.s. shows - competitively

    There is a growing division in the age demographic

    Advertisers opp - amount of data and knowldge that is now available

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    Global Media Strategies

    How can content creators localise content, distribution, and audience engagement to reach multiple markets?

    French perspective: alienate yourself if you don't consume media in English
    - More people consuming media in English in Europe even though there are so many different languages
    - When you launch something in the US it can reach a minimum of 3 million people, whereas in Europe there are 20-21 different languages which restrict the reach of a single message

    Is English becoming viable as a media language?

    Search: despite the efforts of Google in China, Baidu remains ahead in search

    Multi media consumption: ahead of the game in Australia

    People care about what is going on locally, especially in smaller places. As opposed to engaging about national/global issues, people want to complain about their neighbours

    Yahoo: challenge as an organisation is to develop platforms to deliver scale, but localise formats

    Compared to US, the diversity you find in Europe is amazing. South Europeans very active in blogging (ego led, especially if you use your name) and converstaion platforms - but the more you go north blogging is almost non-existent (e.g. Germany, Switzerland). Germans have a tendency not to expose their names, they walk under a cover.

    Linked In - dominate US first and then localise.

    In terms of where Australian businesses stand in terms of exporting content into Chinese markets, it's going to be challenging. The relative cost of media is some $10X cheaper than it is in Australia. India is a bit of a different kettle of fish. There are a number of businesses succeeding in taking content service over there.

    What is the easiest place to get dollars? How do we get the advertising dollars in China?

    Baidu is never going to leave China, Google is never going to get there

    China is one day going to have companies that come out and compete worldwide

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    There is a mention of Customer Relationship Management...perhaps Service Management should be considered instead

    There has been a thread talking about how important "customer relationship management" is. I propose we look more at the new field of Service Science:

    Services Sciences, Management and Engineering

    Service Science, Management and Engineering

    Or look up James Spohrer and Service Science...

    -b

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    The Future of Live Television

    While on stage at the Future of Media 2008 Summit, I did have a bit of a brainwave, the crashing together of all my recent research on self-organizing social systems and the last five years thinking about media.

    I had a bit of a vision, and it looks like this. There's an event - in Australia, it's arguably a footy game - which has many thousands of people in the audience. Many of these people have high-end smart phones (Nokia N80/N95 or iPhone, etc.) which have good cameras and 3G/HSDPA radios. Add in a nice piece of software, such as Qik, and you immediately have turned every one of these folks into live broadcasters.

    OK, that's nice, and it's reasonably revolutionary. But that's not where this ends. That's where this begins.

    All of that massive live coverage is essentially uncoordinated, at least to begin with. But as soon as the capability exists to have this massive live coverage, tools will begin to be developed which can coordinate and crowdsource this coverage.

    Consider: these mobiles all have AGPS receivers - they know where they are. They can all handle a large amount of IP traffic (both up and down). This means that it should be possible to create tools which allow the users (live broadcasters) themselves to optimize their coverage. So that everyone is getting a unique shot.

    Plus, all of this will be fed into a master "console" - again, available to anyone - so that the streams can be chosen, mixed, and rebroadcast out to a broader web audience - all in real time.

    This is where Qik is going. Perhaps not this year. But certainly next year. And I can see a huge market opportunity for these tools, for the audiences these tools will aggregate, and for the events thus covered.

    That's just the beginning. I've just scratched the surface. But this will be huge.

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    Future of Privacy & Personalised Advertising

    Will advertisers' and publishers' desire for highly targeted advertising be thwarted by the desire for privacy?

    Targeted advertising: Where are we today and where are we going?
    - Changing from push to pull model of advertising
    - Holy Grail of marketing - deliver the right ad to the right person at the right time
    - Most of the marketers out there are subscribing to the same tennants that traditional direct marketers have been for years (using consumer data to deliver advertising)
    - Ask Clients - what is the state of your database? Always problems. The issue is how much time & money do they want to spend on making their database healthy
    - Lack of innovation or room for innovation at the ad delivery level because everyone is too busy trying to sort out their data. Everyone is worried about how much personal information companies like Google have, but the thing is they actually have no idea how to use that information!
    - Search is your experience (you're choosing to search for something) - targeting makes sense
    - Social advertising - Mistake a lot of sites are making today is trying to target too hyper-optimised. Users are creating content and participating in converations about content. There is room for non-targeted advertising where the advertisers participate in a social community and inform the social context - targeting doesn't always make sense

    Who controls or owns data?

    Key points to clarify when talking about data ownership and privacy
    - The word privacy has a number of negative connotations, very vague. Can't implement privacy, privacy is a biproduct
    - Data is personal and should be owned by the user. The problem is not one of ownership, what is missing today is control
    - Dataportability project is advocating tools to control personal data

    - When a person discloses data to a particular company/party they might feel comfortable doing so. Starts to become scary for an individual when data is collated through merges of companies, etc
    - Usually some sort of incident leads to public outcry and the government steps into to mandate privacy laws
    - Need to develop techniques and mechanism to protect ourselves before someone else tells us how to do it
    - Put control in the users' hands to revoke permission to use it

    Who are the players in this world of highly targeted advertising?

    From a consumers' perspective, if you are using a service you have a relationship with that particular service. But at the moment it's relatively easy for a third party to get
    - How to avoid getting individual data sent around?

    Goods and services that provide utility in exchange for data (e.g. Users know there is a trade off between getting free Gmail and seeing ads)

    Users are the main players. Personal digital assistant - program to receive any of the information you're looking for and serve as a data repository

    Vendor relationship management - customer collects as much data about themselves and then provides access to vendors

    Important to remember that not all advertising leads to an immediate transaction

    Trust is missing - how do we gain trust?

    Marketing is the process of having a dialogue with the people you're targeting. Puts Facebook and other social networking platforms ahead because they create converstaions. However, Facebook may have made the mistake of trying to monetise word-of-mouth

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    some photos from today in Mt. View

    http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47050&id=500634407

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    Future of TV and Video

    How existing broadcast and cable TV are shifting into an open landscape including user generated video, IPTV, and video conversations?

    Where is the TV landscape going?
    - It's a landscape getting more and more challenging - securing distribution and getting access to consumers
    - Key is to figure out how to package TV and present to people in a way that is compelling and doesn't lose the editorial voice, but also to figure out how to make money of this business which is always evolving
    - Innovation - bring new things to this medium
    - TV is a medium which hasn't changed much in the past 40-50 years
    - Time to innovate, time to bring new ways of consuming and participating in television for it to prosper

    Can current TV broadcast be maintained?
    - People yearn for experience and current broadcasters can still provide some of these experiences
    - But some broadcasters have been complacent in regard to some of the changes going on and need to consider new ways of attracting revenue

    TV broadcasters as far apart from consumers now as they've ever been. Media should be singular

    Two components of what broadcasters do
    1. Content (primary)
    2. Distribution (secondary)

    One simple solution to the problems is content. None of it matters (how/where they get the content) if the content isn't compelling. You won't get any readers or viewers if you don't produce good content
    - No one cares about 'quality of presentation' they care about 'quality of content'. But you also need to produce a 'volume of content'. If you can do that you can win in any media

    We all create content - broadcasters & consumers

    We can now as individuals go into live broadcasting - 500 people in a crowd covering events live from their phones. Can TV win this 'live broadcasting' match?

    Broadcasters can pull the user generated content together?
    Content creation & editing - consumers can do this too

    All of us are in an information revolution where QUALITY of content is key. If you can distribute this content then you will succeed. If you're controlling a large amount of content (editorial) you have to have regular & effective quality control. If you have this you can win in a commodity market

    Rise of documentary as a form is attracting significant audiences (think An Inconvenient Truth), whereas previously a niche genre. This is just one example of changing content forms. If broadcasters are smart and adapt the new forms of content then they will succeed and have a successful future

    People consuming more and more short form video
    - YouTube is a fascinating example of the profiliferation of different forms of content
    - YouTube is an extention of people forwarding content
    - YouTube can promote broadcast content

    Moving towards 'salience-based aggregation' of content (away from time-based aggregation)
    - Sending content you think someone will appreciate
    - If I keep sending my friend crap he will no longer open my emails! This is true for broadcasters too

    TiVo launching this month
    - A bit of a yawn (i.e. not the revolution it would have been a few years ago)
    - People have already got used to the idea of consuming content on demand

    We now can be active in searching out what we want to see ourselves - at work you'll look at your favourites (content you know you like/care about). At home you turn on the news and discover content you didn't know you cared about - key is credible, usable content you care about

    What does the consumer actually care about? What are they looking for?
    - People want content that is more relevant for them. They don't want a top-down media experience
    - Look at the success of YouTube! YouTube is still struggling to build an economic model - if Google hadn't come along they would be a very different business today - but while you need to take economic factors into account, ultimately the most important thing is what the consumer wants

    Previously all you had to worry about was distribution - Large viewership, easy money. It's much more interesting now - How do I get my audience interested in this? How do I get advertisers interested in this?

    Gruen Transfer - spend a lot of time talking about the low end ads (the screaming low end ads). They only need to get a few people viewing their ads to make money. With the changing nature of content (i.e. short form video) and advertising models, why don't we have millions of little ads dropped into a certain, tangled video stream rather than placed on television (when people may just turn it off)?

    You've got to produce as much as you can at a low price, but you've also got to produce some Mercedes along the way. People are beginning to make choices based on content - if you have this mix of 'base level content' and 'quality content' it's a good model for world domination!

    Three ways we consume information
    1. Read
    2. Listen
    3. Watch
    These are the three ways news/content providers need to dominate. Media organisations must be able to do all three to succeed

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    Ross Dawson: Future of Media Report

    Media and entertainment industries growing massively

    Seven driving forces shaping media
    1. Increasing media consumption - 'we want to swim in an ocean of media all the time'
    2. Fragmentation - proliferation of new channels (mobile, video, etc)
    3. Participation - people sharing their stories
    4. Personalisation - of content & advertising, issues with privacy
    5. New revenue models - advertising networks
    6. Generational change - younger people becoming dominant in marketplace
    7. Increasing bandwidth - shifting what is currently being delivered over other channels > iPhone mania

    Personal Cloud - content we own and create
    - From this rains down the 'precipitation of participation' - sharing our photos, stories and lives with others
    - To what extent do we control our Personal Cloud?

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    Global Media Strategies

    You will isolate yourself if you do not speak/provide content in English - this is needed in order to reach people. Think about Europe - you need to provide up to 22 languages.

    -Search - yahoo!7: local language is the biggest driver of success

    - Multimedia comsumption in australia is ahead of USA comparisions... laptop, mobiles, iPods etc
    - Across USA there is a desire of consumption in social context - large consumption in small - medium towns
    - as a way of becoming more aware about what is going on in the world and within their town - they do not use facebook at all. In fact most of middle America have not heard about/of facebook. Their online interactions are about information and keeping in touch with friends/family.

    - Revenue models/business models - should these be adapted in different countries?
    - Yes - try to standardize the advertising platforms throughout the globe - people want a single point of contact
    - Develop platforms in order to deliver global scales but level locally in pricing etc
    - Publishers - games company: USA generating $1 RPU off advertising and d/ls - while in Asia they are getting 5- 10 times the revenue
    - Social software is extremely different from Europe to USA - USA stop at UK and get the perception
    - Blogging in latin countries are very high + are willing to pay for a type pad
    - Blogs are Ego driven - the more you move in Europe i.e. Switzerland they are much more secretive as individuals and do not participate in blogging.
    - Northern Europe - a lot of young people, however they too are not blogging - therefor the social networking is very different. North East Europe is where the blogging declines/dies

    - Online advertising dollars are in the USA - not in Europe - aside from the UK which has more ad dollars than entire Europe.

    - UK is the largest online advertising spender, followed by US at 4th place

    - Australia - is Australia in a good position?
    Some business have succeeded - however from a content perspective Australia has not yet set a high example.

    China and other markets are growing at a pace that the USA will not be able to match/keep up with - this is clear. With this comes the advertising - however the Chinese government will have many restrictions on this.

    SAP

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    Summit tags are fom08 and #fom08

    If you are blogging or Twittering about Future of Media Summit, use the tags fom08 or #fom08 (for Twitter/ micro-blogging).

    I gather there will be plenty of activity - it will be interesting to see what kind of insights can be gleaned by people who don't make it along...

    Have fun!

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    Future of Media Drinks in Sydney tomorrow – all welcome!

    After the Future of Media Summit in Sydney tomorrow speakers and participants will be gathering at the Firehouse in North Sydney from 5:30pm for drinks and general post-event conviviality. We’ve simply named it as a spot for all to gather to grab a drink, so anyone is welcome to turn up, irrespective of whether they’ve attended the Summit or not.

    Venue details and directions are here.

    I will be in Silicon Valley for the US side of the event and long since in bed after a long day, so will miss out on all the fun, but the Future of Media Summit Sydney Chair, Jenny Williams of Ideagarden, and Jessica Hough and Julian Hill from Future Exploration Network will be there to welcome you and say hi. Pass on word to whoever you wish. Have a great time if you make it along! I’ll hear all about it afterwards…

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