Paul Sherman of Potomac Tech Wire leads a conversation with Steve Case

Engaging, inspiring, and invigorating -  how I describe the Digital Media East  conference that I attended last week in the DC metro area.  Let’s face it, some of these confabs leave a little to be desired – shop worn topics, the usual suspects peddling the same presentations.

This was not one of those conferences. The Digital Media Conference is produced by Digital Media Wire, who run a number of smart events throughout the year, in addition to newsletters and media focused on the business of digital media.  If you’re interested in the future of media, I would urge you to attend one of their events.  My only complaint is that they packed so much valuable content into one day, that I was forced to choose between great sessions that took place at the same time.

Takeaways: Data Points to Strong Future for Digital Media

My personal takeaway from the Digital Media Conference is that the data, the investment, and the innovation in action-based advertising all point to opportunities for entrepreneurs to create new internet TV networks and for legacy media to engage new audiences in creative ways.  Here are the panels I was able to attend:

• Research Presentations: Top Digital Media Trends
• Keynote: Steve Case,  AOL, Revolution LLC, The Case Foundation, Startup America
• Investing in Digital Media: VCs Speak
• Cutting the Cord: Checking in on the Revolution
• Cross Platform Video Distribution
• Branded Entertainment

Notable Quotables from the Digital Media Conference

I managed to jot down some salient points from the various panels that resonated with me.  To find more conversation about the conference, you should check out the #DMCE hashtag on Twitter.

Steve Case Keynote

people will be watching more television through the internet

imbalance between where people spend their time and where advertisers spend their money

- Steve Case - Co-Founder, AOL Chairman, Revolution LLC Chairman, The Case Foundation Chairman, Startup America

Research/Data Panel

next iteration of TV advertising will be centered on reaching and engaging consumers via internet-enabled devices

Consumption trends among young consumers will drastically alter distribution and business models

- Heather Way, Research Analyst, Parks Associates

when we’re flooded with information, discovery becomes king

- Shawn DuBravac, Chief Economist & Director of Research, CEA

Venture Capital Panel

the environment has improved a lot so that means more money going into startups

– Thanasis Delistathis, New Atlantic Ventures

Subsctriptions are going to make a comeback as a business model

- Don Rainey – Grotech Ventures

Don’t try and be the ‘Facebook of X

- Tige Savage, Revolution, LLC

(Social Media) “one of the most overfunded areas of the internet

- Thanasis Delistathis, New Atlantic Ventures

Cross Platform Video Distribution

at the end of the day, you want to make it easy for the publishers to use the content

- Alvin Bowles CEO Grab Networks

everything about doing this for mobile has been very very hard

- Jon Brendsel VP Products, PBS on app development

(on ad revenue) it’s peanuts right now… the missing piece is just scale

Richard Bloom – SVP Biz Dev 5min Media/AOL video

Branded Entertainment

what we see coming… fully interactive experiences that do incorporate video… that actually allow for you to participate

- Jeff Gomez, CEO, Starlight Runner Entertainment

(on product placement) if the tone is correct an there is some smart thinking behind the brand then yes it is ok

- Jeff Gomez, CEO, Starlight Runner Entertainment

Paths to Success

Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback at the Digital Media Conference East

So what we see here are fragments of a robust, growing, and maturing ecosystem in the digital video space.  The actual conferences sessions filled in all of the blanks with quality panels guided by engaging moderators. While none of this is easy – this is a complex and evolving space – there are succes stories. I had the opportunity to meet Jim Louderback of Revision3 at the conference.  He is one of those success stories.

I caught up with him to ask him how his company has become successful in this emerging marketplace.

Q&A with Jim Louderback, CEO of Revision3
Q: One of the VC guys on an earlier panel said he’d never back an ad revenue based venture, yet at the same conference another Steve Case said there’s a disconnect between where ad $$ is being spent and where people are watching (digital). Are you optimistic about the future of ad supported internet TV? Why? Where do you see this stuff going?
A: Absolutely, ad support is a key component of media in general, and it is only going to increase. I’m optimistic about ad supported internet video because the viewing percentage compared to regular TV is so much higher than the revenue percentage – and it’s proven to be a better branding and action-based environment than both the internet and traditional TV
Q: Established, linear media are using social extensions of their brands to engage new audiences and create loyalty. Emerging, upstart internet TV plays have lived on the web and have built their brands there. How essential is social tv to both legacy and emerging media brands. How do you do it “right”? What is “social TV”?
A: All media is social, internet delivered media has the advantage of using the direct social tools already available to spur the kinds of social connections we already use to talk about traditional media. Doing it right means focusing on your audience, what they want, and listening to them, rather than shoving social down their throats.
Q: You travel about as much as I do, how important is it for you to attend conferences like Digital Media Conference in terms of building brand awareness about Revision3?
A: It’s very important to talk to people face to face and to listen to them talk about their ideas, visions and products. I get inspired by what others are doing, and it makes me envision things in ways that I couldn’t just sitting at home playing with Facebook and Twitter.
Q: What makes you guys so successful, what’s your secret sauce?
A: Lots of hard work, listening to the audience and not being afraid to make mistakes

So as I look back on the conference, the engaging panel discussions, and meeting great people like Jim Louderback, I’m energized about the future of digital media. What about you? Are you a digital media entrepreneur? Are you entrepre-curious? What is you’re path to becoming a micro media mogul?

Let my start by saying that my career in media has been paying the bills since 1988.  So I firmly embrace corporate media, advertising revenue and all media endeavors that enjoy commercial success. The lure of a life in TV (i’m a news cameraman by trade) was its combined appeal of an adventurous lifestyle and comfortable livelihood.  This is what prodded me to take my plunge into TV news.  But as with many things in life, my timing was off.  I came up in the ranks of cameramen well into cable’s affront on broadcast dominance,  admiring the legendary lenslingers before me, or more precisely their glorious tales of lavish travel and limitless budgets. Those were the glory days of TV news, and I got to see the vanishing apparitions – the vestigial remnants of those times.

Disruption Past

As a child of cable’s disruptive power,  I understood that challenge, that shift, that imperative for change.  So when blogging, podcasting and social networking emerged on the radar screen of my consciousness,  I wasn’t prepared to grasp their nascent and then unrealized impact on mainstream media.  Not until an unlikely series of events prompted the purchase of an iPod, did I come to realize that great numbers of people out there were dissatisfied with passively consuming mainstream content and advertising.  They were out there creating their own content and speaking to each other and were quickly becoming disintermediated.  With revolutionary zeal, web-preneurs sprang up like weeds creating platforms empowering people to share content and ideas.  Brands, of course, took note and migrated their messaging and their spending from TV, print, radio to the then “new” media.

Join the Conver$ation

This media revolution made YOU Time magazine’s Person of the Year back in 2006 – and was at once an empowering energizing force, but at the same time, made me fear for the future of my career.  Back then, it was all about the “conversation”.  As a brand, one couldn’t just stumble in and “sell”, one had to honest, transparent, conversational.  As social media has matured,  I get the sense that we have moved beyond that – and now we’re back to where we once were.  Brands just want access to us and the transaction remains the same.  Look, I understand that companies need to make money and that investors need to get returns on hopes of 10x exits.  But i’m struck by the rapacious speed with which social media, its adherents, and platforms are pursuing the buck.  Ironic to me, considering that it was dissatisfaction with traditional media and “push” advertising that in many respects gave rise to social media.

It’s strange, but I still haven’t completely shaken my nostalgia for the salad days of old media as I begin to feel twinges of longing for new media’s simpler times.  When old media was king it was advertisers buying access to passive audiences.  Now, marketers are paying to become part of this:

Power Shift

The mantra of the Social Media Club, “If you get it, share it” has been modified by “ninjas”, “gurus”, and “experts” in the field with the following addendum: “for a fee”. Meanwhile, tech/Web 2.0 headlines point to leaner, meaner more competitive times. Here are some trends pointing to a shift in social media from being people-powered media to corporate driven:

In a move akin to ABC News recent staff slashing, popular, free social network platform Ning is free no more and has cut its staff by 40%.
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How Facebook shares private information with third party companies is being scrutinized by Washington now, prompting one Senator to urge the FTC to get involved.
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Twitter has announced “sponsored tweets” prompting some to point out – if companies were using Twitter right, they wouldn’t need sponsored tweets.
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Pepsi passed on Super Bowl ads this year in favor of a $20 million social media campaign, and it’s probably not just about meeting new Twitter and Facebook friends.

So while this post may seem wistful, and perhaps critical of the direction that “people-powered” media has taken – none of this should be terribly surprising and it is perhaps inevitable. I still believe that successful, profit-motivated media can coexist with the community/individual driven kind. For my part, I’m just trying to stay ahead of it all and finding my place in this ever evolving landscape.

Politico, Newschannel 8, and WJLA TV Parent company, Allbritton Communications, has announced that it is jumping into local media here in the Washington DC metro area. Planned for launch next spring, the yet unnamed site hopes to leverage social web technology to lure audiences who have become disenchanted with traditional media. They also hope replicate the success of the reportedly profitable Politico.

GAME CHANGER

So is this a game changer for local media in the Washington area? The New Republic’s website, TNR.com, who originally broke the story, framed this as a direct challenge to the Washington Post. But as more local TV stations place greater emphasis on their web presence, this “local Politico” will pose a challenge to TV stations as well. So I asked Twitter the following:

HEY DC PEEPS!! what are your thoughts on Politico’s foray into the online local news space??

Predictably,  there was no shortage of opinion.  Here are just a few.

Faryna

@newmediajim Considering WP’s gestapo tact on the opinion of their own journalists, is Jim Brady prepared to get out of the box? We’ll see.

anamariecox

RT @newmediajim: HEY DC PEEPS!! what are your thoughts on Politico’s foray into the local news space? http://is.gd/4H4We // SUPER PSYCHED!

Audreyforshey

@newmediajim I would subscribe, listen to POLITICO interviews on WTOP and they appeal to me. Like my news on the go.

loudoun

@newmediajim Politico local news…they should read this…http://bit.ly/3kjwhf – and then curate/cultivate relationships with the locals

ScottEblin

@newmediajim Means that the future is here. If they do as good a job as they did with Politico, the WaPo should be worried.

chrisobrooks

Just got this WAPO email re: redesign of their local news site. 1 day aftr Politico scare, coincidence? http://twurl.nl/k80fr7

Jim Brady At The Helm

Courtesey Michael Schwarz - Politico

Jim Brady, former WashingtonPost.com editor, will oversee a staff of 50 at the operation. In his presentation this past week at an Online News Association confab, entitled – Mobile: The Future is Now – Brady may have betrayed the strategy of the new site. I suspect there will be a very strong emphasis on mobile apps and geolocation, which makes sense. Mobile strategy is timely.  ComScore data indicates daily mobile news consumption has more than doubled in the past year. And if he believes what he preaches, not only will he staff the newsroom well, but he’ll bring on a strong mobile app development team. I also suspect that these mobile apps will be bi-directional, meaning users will be able to consume stories and upload their own content to the site. Another interesting data point from a Universal McCann study shows that 53% of smartphone users are clicking on mobile ads.

Catalyst For Change

So now that the story is out, it will be interesting to see how other local media respond. Competition is good, and hopefully better multimedia/online journalism should result from this. This could be a catalyst for great change for local media in the DC metro area. Will this new site embrace social tools and encourage networked journalism, crowdsourcing, hyperlocal news? While all of that “webby goodness” appeals to the web 2.0 evangelists, it’s noteworthy and encouraging to this media worker that, according to this NY Times piece, Allbritton plans on paying competitive, large market newspaper salaries for seasoned pros.

Ultimately, a site like this will live or die on how it serves the needs of the local community. So assembled readers, what is it that will make a site like this work, for the publisher and the community. Why have so many other hyperlocal, local web plays failed? What would you like to see from a local web news provider? Please discuss in the comments below!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to chat with the folks at TV Newser on their podast Morning Media Menu, as a preview of my panel participation at today’s TV Newser Summit in New York City.  We covered a wide range of topics, from how I began exploring emergent, social media, to how traditional media has taken a shine to new media tools like Twitter.  Steve Garfield called into the show and talked about the Today Show’s Jamie Gangel and her introduction to Twitter last week.

You can see @jamiegangel’s interaction with the Twitter community here.  I’ve added some of the comments to my favorites.  As part of that story, Jamie spoke with David Gregory who has really embraced the spirit of dialogue and smart community on Twitter.  I’m guessing my most quotable soundbite from the podcast is:

“We’re Moving From Meet the Press, and Now We Can Meet the People”

Follow Meet the Press moderator @davidgregory and you’ll watch it happen.  He understands the value of tapping into the collective intelligence of the very smart group of people on Twitter.  Twitter is a tremendous equalizer.  The community there will give corporate titans, rock stars, Hollywood celebrities, media notables, and politicians one chance to listen and contribute, and get it right.  If they fail in those areas they get called on it. In a recent Howard Kurtz article, ABC newser Terry Moran crows about how Twitter counters:

the whole notion that newscasters speak from Olympus

- Terry Moran, ABC News

I really don’t think the folks on Twitter ever suffered from that misapprehension.

i’m really sad that I’m not able to make SXSW this year,  because it’s a great conference to discover where much of this is heading.  But last year at that very conference I witnessed first hand the challenge faced by traditional media.  As I ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant a waiter – transfixed by the talking head on the cable news show, and apparently at odds with the pundit – began shouting at the TV.  It occurred  to me that this was a rather inefficient feedback loop.  Social web tools like Twitter now give mainstream media the opportunity to do something they haven’t always been in a position to do that well.. LISTEN.  But as Twitter friend Adele McAlear put it, traditional media must understand this is about  JOINING the conversation, not controlling it.

Did you ever have control of the conversation? No. It always went on in people’s living rooms. Difference: Now you can hear it

@adelemcalear via Twitter

Still, these are turbulent times for media. Part of my motivation for embracing social web technology is precisely because it has shown to be a tremendous disruptor of traditional media and I need to watch where all of this is heading and determine where I fit in.  And as serial consultants like Michael Rosenblum, the architects of what may be the sunset of my craft, engage in schadenfreude tinged rhetoric on the web,  I’m left feeling both hopeful and fearful of what lies ahead for media workers like me.

Being asked to sit aside a panel of very savvy media influencers is a very great honor indeed.  I just hope I live up to the billing.  At the end of the day, I’m just a news cameraman try to stay relevant in a rapidly changing media landscape.

NBC’s Local Media Initiative

In a move that acknowledges the diminishing influence of one-way communication channels, NBC has renamed the Television Stations Division “Local Media Division”. There was a great deal of coverage in industry blogs. Media Week and Lost Remote have both framed the change as a fundamental shift in business.

NBC Local Media better reflects the full scope of our capabilities, as well as our ability to offer clients a fully-integrated, local media solution across the full portfolio of our assets.-John Wallace – President, NBC Local Media Division, from press release

As marketers continue to shift ad dollars from traditional media to online, it’s vital for companies like NBC to take the brand where the people are. Increasingly, that means web and mobile. As newspapers and TV move to build online, the distinction between the two becomes meaningless. Right now local “newspapers” appear to be winning online.

Creating an Engaging Experience While Building a Business

The static web sites of most TV and Radio stations have been eclipsed by the more interactive offerings of newspapers. Perhaps the economic imperative of the dying newspaper industry has forced print publishers bring online innovations to market faster. So the challenge for local media is to build an engaging, imersive, media platform that actually becomes something the community can’t live without – at the same time scaling the user base to a point where the enterprise is economically worthwhile.

What would that platform look like? What key elements would satisfy both the community and the media company? I took that question to my very smart Twitter posse and they came up with some great ideas. Here’s a small sampling:

All very smart ideas from early adopters of social web technology. Smart ideas about the evolution of local media can be found in practice and in theory, but ultimately big media companies are looking for the ones that will generate increased traffic and ad revenue. I do think it is vital for those in charge of any local media initiative to get input from outside the corporate meeting rooms. They should be talking to the local blogging, tech, and social media communities. They should be sponsoring conferences, discussions and meetups with the pioneers of the social web in their local communities.

I strongly feel that media companies need to discover and encourage the brand champions within their own organizations to use social media. While there may be some who grumble about already burdensome workloads – and believe me, TV news is a pretty thankless sausage factory – standing by and hoping that the sales and promotions departments will save careers is not a good career strategy. I’ve discovered that meeting and listening to people on the social web, through platforms like Twitter, blogging, Facebook, and meetups, has enriched my life both personally and professionally. It’s also allowed me to bring the NBC News brand into this space.

Envisioning Local Media

Mel Taylor outlines the key points of a recent speech by former CBS News chief Andrew Heyward. In it, Heyward outlines the current problems with the state of TV news, and discusses some forward-thinking approaches to building succssesful online platforms. Don Dodge, while blogging about newspaper strategy, puts forth ideas that are equally resonant in television’s web efforts. Essentially he says be local, be a marketplace, and be the best local search engine out there. A good example of very useful local search platform is the Boston local search platform Citysqaures.

I think the key to success in transforming local media is to build a platform that people can’t live without. It should be a place where people can connect around ideas and affinities, build their own social netowrk profile, network and create events, have a robust mobile component, and should recommend content and events based on the users profile. People want to share and create content and links. Making that easy and customizable, in a locally relevant way, is key to getting the Facebook generation passionate about local media.The bottom line is, of course, the bottom line. But while media companies have to focus on profits, they should not look at their web presence as a secondary effort, or simply repository for recycled newscast content.

For local media platforms to be successful, they will have to implement imersive, relevant, engaging, and useful experiences for the community. So my assembled readers, how would you build a successful local media platform? What are some good examples of ones you’ve come across?

Greg Cangialosi over at The Trend Junkie has tagged me with the “measurement” meme in a post entitled “Metrics, Measurement, and Social Media”. In the same week author, entrepreneur and marketing strategist Geoff Livingston included me in a “DC Area’s Top 12 Social Media, Marketing, and PR blogs” list. So I’m scratching my head here. I’m a cameraman for a major network news organization, right? I’m not a marketer… or am I?

In my journey with social media, my blogging, and use of platforms like Twitter and Facebook, I’ve discovered that I’ve become somewhat of a personal micro-media brand. I’ve been able to measure the tangible results of my personal brand building in terms of hard data, and in terms of harder to measure, yet deeply enriching professional and personal connections. The hard data is readily available and demonstrates that listening to the very smart people in this space, and engaging them in meaningful conversation goes a long way in building your brand. By hard data, I’m talking about Google search ranking and analytics, Technorati ranking/authority, blog traffic data, and friends in my circle of influence on various social networking platforms.

That more difficult to define measure of my social media involvement is how it’s enabled me to connect with incredibly smart, visionary, driven entrepreneurs. With fourteen hundred Twitter friends, I have a knowledge base of deeply engaged, early adopters drawn from the ranks of venture capital, PR, marketing, social and traditional media, web strategy, and technology. Social media enabled CC Chapman to connect me to my first professional speaking engagement and meet Geoff Livingston and Valeria Maltoni. People like David Eckoff of Turner Broadcasting cite me as a case study of how to use social media on panels at Streaming Media West. I use Facebook to organize events and affinity groups. Recently, I hosted a breakfast for Seesmic CEO, Loic Lemeur here in Washington, DC. In short, I’ve become relevant in this space. None of this would have been possible without my deep engagement in social media. I see TREMENDOUS value in all of that.

Talking Twitter to marketers, Photo courtesy of CC Chapman

Twitter is my most front-facing social media tool. I post frequently every day, much of it on assignment for NBC News. People tell me they find this behind-the-scenes look into the news fascinating. Many have told me that I put a human face on “the media” that they would otherwise have no real connection with. So I think there is a real value here in being a bridge between the Facebook generation and traditional media. Those type of fuzzy metrics, while interesting, aren’t enough for corporations. They want ROI – and whether you define the “I” as “investment” or as Valeria Maltoni prefers “involvement” – a social media effort should produce measurable results. So it’s not enough that I’m the “crazy uncle” running around NBC evangelizing shiny new social media platforms. Big companies, like my current employer, want real definable results.

Kami Huyse points out that you should begin any social media effort with well defined relational objectives.

One of the things I will stress is the importance of having well-defined objectives. By definition, objectives have to be measurable, “What would you like to see happen and by when as a results of engaging in social media?”- Kami Huyse

John Bell, of Ogilvy’s 360 Digital Influence practice, helps us further define some of the nuance of social media measurement, exploring the distinction between influence, authority, engagement, and impact.

So, dear readers, how do you measure your social media activity, or in fact, do you measure at all? How are you defining reach, influence, and impact? Frankly, I’m still much of a noob at all of this. At the end of the day, at the core of my being, I’m just a cameraman..right?

Speaking at the Direct Marketing Association of Washington’s “Era of Conversation” conferencePhoto by CC Chapman

Last Thursday, I had the unique pleasure of speaking before a group of marketing executives at the Direct Marketing Association of Washington’s confab in DC. I spoke to one of the many break-out sessions on “new media basics” – fitting for me as there there is SO much I’ve yet to absorb about the social web. In fact, I began by telling my breakout session: “I have no business speaking before a bunch of marketing executives, but..”

From that jumping off point, I discussed my nascent (only been blogging since March of this year), but reasonably engaging blogging efforts, and my use of Twitter as primary tools of social media. Essentially I riffed that if I can do it, you can do it, and basic tools are a good place to start, especially when shifting from less conversational communication. Fortunately for me, and for the rest of the attendees, there was an abundance of thought leadership on wide-ranging strategies for launching social media efforts. Overall I think it’s key to find the tools that are right for you or your organization.

For me, blogging is most rewarding when I leave my posts open-ended, and people WAY smarter than me complete my thoughts in the comments section.  Sure, you can be confrontational, and link-bait to generate traffic, but I like the notion of what Stephen Marino, of Ogilvy’s 360 Digital Influence practice calls “Return on Involvement”. The day was filled with terrific speakers, and I had the chance to meet some of the brightest minds in this space like keynote speaker Valeria Maltoni (she’s not yet convinced of Twitter so get over to her blog and give her a nudge!), and keynote speaker CC Chapman, who I’ve been eager to meet for some time. CC connected me with Geoff Livingston, another keynote at the conference who really did a great job of blogging the event with the help of Larissa Fair. Geoff pointed out, in support of Marino’s premise, that participation IS marketing.

In my presentation, I demonstrated how Twitter can be used and misused an engagement tool. At one point i called out to all of YOU on Twitter and asked if you’d say hello to the DMAW session. While waiting for some responses to generate, CC Chapman, in what can almost be described as a movie moment, stopped me and said almost chillingly: “Jim.. refresh the page”. You guys had come through!! Imagine if that hadn’t worked . There were no less than 80 immediate responses. (thank you!) I think that aptly demonstrated Twitter’s immediate, conversational, attention directing value. I also pointed out that Team Twitter had  helped shape my presentation in the comments on my blog. (again thank you!)

So despite this being my first ever presentation before a professional group, I think I was able to get people thinking about social media and what tools are right for them. Social media allows us to connect on a deep human level across social, cultural, and corporate barriers in a way we never could before. Conversations no longer happen from the top down. More importantly they are no longer controlled by corporations. Media that aren’t conversational or social are becoming less and less relevant. Funny that I felt like odd man out speaking at this event. At the end of the day I’m a network news cameraman, not a social media consultant. Ogilvy’s John Bell advises on his blog:

Spark ideas by mixing up odd-fellows and odd exepriences. Oh, and let go of the reins a bit.
John Bell

I think that’s fitting here. Social media enables the exchange of good ideas and allows the the best ones to take root and propagate, creating value, involvement, and engagement. So maybe that’s why I was invited. I want to thank Donna Tschiffely, Executive Director of DMAW, for bringing this all together. I hope i get a chance to do this again soon.

A few weeks ago CC Chapman connected me with DC area author, marketing strategist, and entrepreneur, Geoff Livingston. Somehow these two got it in their heads that I’d be a great speaker at the “New Media Marketing Day – The Era of Conversation” session that the DMAW is hosting. So I’ve got some ideas about discussing personal branding, avoiding missteps when using social media, video as conversation agent – and I plan on referencing the usual suspects: Robert Scoble, Connie Reece, Chris Brogan, and Chris Heuer to tee off some “big ideas”. I just want to make sure I’m not missing any important thoughts. Here’s my track from the DMAW website:

Track 1 – Sponsored by Executive Biz
New Media Basics: Hammers brass tacks into some of the more popular social media tactics. Forget the exotic. We’re talking about the everyday activity your organization needs right now to enjoy immediate success in the emerging social media/web 2.0 elements.
from DMAW website

This is where I need YOUR HELP. Do YOU think I’m using social media successfully? If so, why? How can big companies better use social media? What are important points that I should draw from our collective experience in social media? As always, your comments here MAKE this blog. I’m looking forward to your insights! Thanks.

“It’s been a great year with Amanda — a great experiment for both of us. We thank her for her many contributions and know that she’s about to embark on new endeavors and expect there will be times in the future that we can again work together.”
ABCNews.com statement

I wonder if the news that Amanda Congdon and ABC have chosen to part ways isn’t emblematic of the diminished value of “celebrity” in media. Congdon, whose efforts with former Rocketboom partner Andrew Michael Baron pioneered the emergence of succesful new media brands, deftly positioned herself as a crossover talent after her split with the Rocketboom creator. Big media took notice and soon she was videoblogging for ABC News. While that relationship may have never been a perfect fit for either party, it was notable that big media had validated “new” media. I think part of the problem that big media still struggles with is that in many respects, they simply try to ape and replicate what is happening in emerging social media platforms. For instance, on a number of occasions, I’ve heard television colleagues talk of making things “look webby”

Talents aside, it’s not simply an Amanda Congdon or Joanne Colan that make Rocketboom cool, it’s the fact that the entire experience is built around participation and involvement. They are simply the facitlitator or custodians of community. Their “celebrity” is merely a net effect of the interactivity of the show. I don’t know whether ABC may have failed to take this fully into account, or simply wasn’t able to replicate that participation, but it appears the end result was an experience that wasn’t entirely what fans had hoped.

Katie Couric in Iraq

Celebrity’s fickle nature isn’t limited to the new media crossover talent. Just look at Katie Couric’s less than stellar transition to CBS News. I was recently with her in Iraq as she was reporting from the region. Despite her notoriety, and the timeliness of the reporting, the CBS Evening News tied for its lowest ratings (5.5 million viewers) since she took the helm. Now, CBS has given all kinds of explanations for the shows lackluster performance since she took the job, but in my mind they made a bet on her celebrity and it simply isn’t panning out.

I think we’re entering an era where celebrity in media is of far less value then the quality and authenticity of content. There is unlimited choice in how we get news, information and entertainment. We seek content that speaks to us, engages us, and gives us avenues for interactivity and participation. We want to speak with, not simply listen to the messenger. There are so many avenues now for robust discourse, that one-way media is simply having a hard time getting through. As I always say, none of this is zero sum, but certainly the shifts are pretty obvious. There is tremendous opportunity for established media to learn from emerging media and vice versa.

There are some examples of these disparate forms of media drawing on best practices learned from one another. Big media companies are are empowering their workers with new storytelling tools. My current employer, NBC News, has embraced blogs and video blogging and is making plans to do more. Just this past week they featured the enterprising work of my friend and colleague Amna Nawaz. Amna produced this web-only video about the under-reported story of land mine victims in Columbia.

Young victims of landmines
MSNBC.COM has such a thirst for original, unique first-person content that they encourage everyone to produce original video and blogs, not just re-purposed broadcast stories for the web. I’ve even gotten in on the act.

Just as old media are taking cues from new, emerging media are drawing from the experince of their corporate counterparts. Take the webisode drama “35″. “35″ is a dramatic web video series that is shot with three cameras and switched and fed live via Ustream to the web. To me the strength of this project is that it combines the ubiquity ot the internet with the spontaneity and unpredictability of live TV. “35″ was recently featured in a Wall Street Journal article, so once again we see mainstream media taking notice of creative, upstart, emerging media. “35″ runs from September 19th through the 30th, live at 9PM EDT. The show has a post show chat where fans talk with producers.

Who knows where all of this is going, but from my vantage point this is at once daunting as it is exhilarating. But for someone who makes a living in media, it’s vital to keep on top of trend. Seeing what resonates with audiences, what do they ignore, what engages them -these will be the measures of success in this dizzyingly changing media landscape. This seems clear though, treat your community, your audience as a valuable partner in your media and youll likely have a winner. Celebrity in and of itself is of limited value.

yours truly… multitasking

What’s in your business communications toolkit?

Hi, I’m Jim and I’m a Twitterholic. My addiction to the very popular, multi-platform SMS tool is mentioned with a quick quote from me, tech evangelist Betsy Weber, and consultant Cathryn Hrudicka  in a smart piece by Podtech rock star, Twitter Hall of Famer, FastCompany.com contributor, and blogger Robert Scoble. I’ve blogged about Twitter’s value as a branding tool, and have encouraged big media to empower their employees to be brand champions with these tools. Pownce, Jaiku, and Facebook are also used as examples of these new tools in the business communications aresenal. Scoble adds an interesting twist, pointing out all the behavioral data made available by seemingly mundane posts. Scary or promising depending on where you stand.

given what it and other companies spend acquiring new customers, there’s an untapped gold mine in Twitter and Facebook because we’re volunteering so much information about what we’re doing right now.Learning how to tap it correctly–both to sell to me directly and in seeing major trends in the millions of daily public posts–will be the next major challenge for these companies.
Robert Scoble, on Fastcompany.com 9/07  

He sums up the piece with a look in to the future:

If we revisit this conversation again in three years, I suspect that we’ll have found all sorts of little uses for these services, and they’ll simply become what email is today: something we must do just to participate in the heartbeat of business.  

Besides Twitter, what social media are you using to promote your brand (read what should be using that I don’t know about!)? What are you using to learn more about your community? What will be the next killer tool? In addition to Scoble’s Twitter presence, check out his Twitter link blog.