Comprehension (Business)
As we enter 2008 I still don’t believe that the majority of the Business sector ‘gets’ what newmedia is and how important it is to the most important aspect in their business, their customers. But 2008 is the year they will finally ‘get it’ and comprehend that they have to engage this medium. The next question is after they comprehend its importance, will they include it as part of their business (internally and externally). It is yet to be determined if the ‘inclusion’ stage will be the second half of 2008 or the ‘big thing’ for 2009.

Mobile
I’m not talking about the mobile phone here, please note the heading is MOBILE. 2008 is the year where people will not have to rely on being linked through cables, and hence their desktop computer, to be connected to their media’s and digital conversations. This is a technology evolution that will free people to connect to anyone, from anywhere through the medium of their choice, text, photo, video, audio and through the platform of their choice. This is a major revolution which will change the way people connect and the ability of companies to connect with people. OldMedia (print, tv, radio, static web) will take a hit in 2008 as people choose HOW and WHEN they consume their entertainment and media.

Video
2008 is the year of video or as others like to call it, motion. Technology has advanced to the point where it has become easy to capture, deliver and consume video content. This is going to open new ways for people to connect through live broadcasting (from mobile devices), through faster networks (faster delivery) and more content being made available from many sources. 2008 will see the quality of content rise as professional start generating content for specifically for digital delivery.
Time-Shift Media
Television and radio (oldmedia) have a serious problem, they dictate the time and place where you consume their content. 2008 will see a major shift away from the constraints of ‘programming’ to allowing the user to dictate when, where and how they will consume their content. This is called time-shift media. Basically it means that the user can load the media on any device they want (Computer, iPod, Mobile, etc) and then watch it whenever and wherever they want. They can pause, rewind, stop and start again at a later time. Total user empowerment. Once users shift to time-shift content they will find id hard to transition back to a system where the broadcaster dictates everything. Is this bad? Absolutely not!!! This opens the opportunity for a new system to develop with new economies and new business models for the creation of content for the user. These models are yet to be developed, but we will see them developed and tested in 2008.

Always keen to test new web offering I headed out to the www.yourstreet.com site to play with this unique concept that officially launches tomorrow.

YourStreet combines Google Maps and local news, it detects where you are and delivers news stories that have recently occurred in your area as well as comments from people who live near you. It is the first website to map news to a specific location.

CEO James Nicholson explains, “The thing that distinguishes us is that we can get down to a specific street level”. As a business model this means YourStreet can develop advertising campaigns to a specific “street level” audience.

Many people will remember Nicholson from his previous startup NetVentures which was sold to CNET for US$12 million way back in 1999. So far he has self invested around US$400,000 although this figure has not been confirmed.

Now back to the testing.

As I am located in Australia I thought it appropriate to see if this would be localised or to be another US only offering so I typed “AUSTRALIA” into the search and was surprised to find myself looking at at the ‘Mississippi River Leave’ (road) next to the Mississippi River in the middle of Rural Arkanses USA. What was more mystifying was the fact that the word ‘Australia’ was not indicated on the map at all. OK so its going to be US only for startup.

Keen to take it further I decided to see what news and conversations there were in NewYork. Punched it in and was presented with 21 different New Yorks in the US, who knew!!! So i took the New York City link and found myself amongst news and conversations all tagged to specific locations. AMAZING – I was entranced. I was literally walking through news and conversations down the streets of new york and could get the vibe of what people are talking about and why in specific locations.

I hope that this comes to Australia as this WILL be a tool that I will use to see what the local communities are discussing around local issues. Its worth a look. http://www.yourstreet.com

Photo Copyright © Donncha O Caoimh – go to blog / flickr

Like all great concepts it all comes down to bringing two very simple concepts together. PA’s ‘bridge the gap’ between platforms and allow you to ’subscribe’ to a information source (be it a person or company).

Lets look at both points individually.

Bridge The Gap:
Traditional PA systems only allowed a connection between the same platform, like SMSmobile to SMSmobile, newmedia PA’s allow people or companies to interact via many different platforms. This means that when someone sends a PA message from their computer that people (depending on their preferences) can read that message on their mobile, IM, Browser or Custom App.

Subscribe:
The two cornerstone’s of the newmedia phenomenon are subscription and collaboration. Anytime someone takes a traditional media and attaches subscription functionality to it, they have developed a popularity winner. And so it is with services like Twitter, Jaiku and Pownce. Subscriptions to PA’s is known as “Permission Based Stalking“, those creating the PA feeds are allowing their subscribers to ‘watch’ their personal commentary on their lives and interaction to other PA friends.

But are PA’s just a platform for personal use? No. Lets have a look how some companies and organisations are using Twitter for more efficient communications.

The LA Fire Department is using twitter (link to their twitter feed) to give an ongoing commentary on emergencies and situations they are dealing with. Anybody can plug in to learn more about a current emergency situation.

ABC (Australia) Radio National show is giving updates (link to their twitter feed) on programs for their Australia wide radio program.

1-Day is an Australian website (link to their twitter feed) that provides 3 amazing deals every day for 24 hours.

Sky News (USA) is sending the latest news via twitter (link to their twitter feed).

I am using twitter to keep my students studying Visual Communications and Multimedia degrees updated with the latest subject news.

So back to the original question of “So how is this technology changing the way we connect and interact?”

It all comes down to one simple word, ‘presence’! PA’s are allowing people to have a presence in peoples lives that matter to us. It also allows us via subscription to allow others (maybe mentors, celebrities etc) to have a presence in our lives by following their feeds. This can only be a positive thing as having a presence allows us to work on the other foundation of newmedia, it allows us to ‘collaborate’ in a more powerfully effective way, by allowing us to connect quicker and more efficiently.

There have been some detractors of PA’s saying that it is only a passing fad and the next newmedia ‘thing’ will kill it. But I don’t think so!

If you have not tried it – do it today.

Here are some links for you. Twitter – Jaiku- Pownce

Photo Copyright © Melanie J Cook – go to blog / flickr

I had to go to the shopping centre, not something that I relish, to pick up some supplies for the 23 people that would grace our home for an evening of food, games and socialising. I quickly found a park, raced in, purchased the items and exited to my car. Driving away from my parking space I noted in my rear vision mirror two cars fighting for the recently emptied spot. The sight of flying hands and harsh words bemused me enough to stop and examine what was happening within the confines of the carpark.

The Setting:
Imagine a shopping centre with a large carpark surrounding it with rows of potential spaces for cars to park. Now imagine that near the entry/exit doors the carpark is full but the further from the door the more spaces are available until you get to the edge of the carpark where all spaces were empty.

The Action:
So here is what I observed. Cars would pull into the carpark and immediately drive as close to the entrance of the shopping centre as possible, here they would scan for available spaces. None ! So they would drive “around the row” passing many available spots near the edges (but further away from the doors) back to the centre in the vain hope of finding a spot as close to the door as possible. The humour in this is that they spend many minutes driving past available spaces that were only 15 – 20 seconds walking distance further then the spaces they are trying to get.

The Connection:
Although this may seem inconsequential and simple, it shows that human nature is not logical and more often then then not, narrow-sighted. But what does this show us about newmedia? Lots actually

People use newmedia the same way they use a carpark. They enter with a narrow mindset that is focused on one thing, the goal, be it the entrance to the shopping centre or in newmedia the information they are seeking. When someone interacts with newmedia they expect to be able to park not just near the door, but in the shop itself. They expect that you are providing a service that has been specifically designed to fulfill their needs and only their needs. Nothing else is good enough and if you provide a park away from the door, they will go elsewhere. One of the five keys in the formula for newmedia success, is understanding “what is valuable to the user” and allowing the user to execute that value as simply and quickly as possible.

Let me explore this further correlating newmedia with “how we use cars”. There are three different ways that we use a car (and newmedia):
- To get us to a destination
- For the journey
- For Status

Destination:
The shopping centre is the example of the destination, where the carpark or the building is not important, its what is inside the building that is of value. In newmedia this is when you provide information or a service that executes a value to the user. Value is determined by each user and the same information or service can have different values to different users. It is of the greatest importance that before you create newmedia you gain an understanding of the users and their “perceived values”.

Journey:
The country drive, seaside curving road or freeway, its all about the experience. Newmedia can deliver many different and unique experiences to the user. Be it a virtual world, gaming consoles, a video clip on youtube, a series of messages in facebook with a friend you have not talked to for years or even podcamp’s, OpenCoffee and Geek Dinners. Don’t be fooled into thinking that newmedia exists solely in a digital world. Experiences are greatly enhanced with a good mix of digital and sentient. Once again to deliver effective newmedia journey’s you must deliver a ‘value’ to the user. The curving road gives the motorbike or sports car a value to the driver and the view from the straight freeway gives a different value for the different driver. So you must tailor your ‘road’ to the ‘driver’ you are targeting.

Status:
The vehicle has mags a wing and rumbles, you stare as it drives past. Status is something we all long for. Within the newmedia realm it is delivered in many different ways, the blogpost, the technorati ranking, the hits on the youtube video, the ability to purchase that rare item, the ability to purchase the item that others will value, organising events and meetups, association with elevated peers, the person in the street recognising you from your online avatar. Each status item is like bolting on another part to a souped up eyecandy vehicle. If you allow your users to gain recognition and status through newmedia then it will enhance the users experience and successful longevity of the newmedia piece.

Mix and Match Cars:
Better still is the ability to mix and match drive styles. An example is ’social shopping’ that mixes Destination and Journey together. (Plus status for the organisers) Social shopping is where a group who wishes to purchase a specific item form a online group who then approaches the manufacture directly to obtain a better deal. The products are then shipped to a central point, where the group has a ’shopping party’ to accept the goods. This is a great mix of all the styles, digital and sentient.

Conclusion:
Understanding and delivering ‘perceived value’ underpins the potential success of all newmedia. Driving around wasting valuable minutes looking for that 10 second closer carpark is bad value, but not in the mind of the driver. One of the hardest roads for the newmedia creator to go down is that ‘perceived’ is not always the best solution. The reality is, it is the narrow minds of the user that will determine the success or failure of your newmedia project. Create a understanding of your targeted user before you develop your newmedia project.

What do carparks and newmedia have in common? People!

This fragmentation and the reversal of interaction is not bad news for companies, far from it. As people use newmedia tools to fragment into ‘peer groups’, that is people who have similar interests to each other, it is becoming easier to target specific interest and peer communities with your companies message and products. The internet and all its associated newmedia tools are becoming more sophisticated in finding and connecting with these social groups. There are amazing opportunities for companies to research, or to hire newmedia professionals to research the newmedia landscape and find ‘peer holes’, that is a peer group that does not have a structure for community interaction, and provide the platform for them to communicate.

It is also important for businesses to provide content that users can get delivered to ‘their internet’. Never expect someone to come to your site, deliver your site to them!!! If you don’t have feeds in your site then you are missing out because surfing the internet was yesterday, today most people find their content via referral from peers. Notice the most, not all, but there is a trend going away from surfing to referral.

But its a jungle out there, so how do you stand out? How do you make sure its your content that gets referred? Here are 5 ways to stand out and get referred.

1 – Know Your Audience (Consumer)
Before you do anything you must realise that your audience or consumer does not care about your company or your business. The only time they care is when a message or product has a benefit for them. There are many different types of benefits from, feeling good passing on information to others (referral) to the fact that your product will help them in their lives. First you need to know WHO your audience is, WHAT is important in their lives and WHY it is important to them (see Maslows hierarchy of needs). The HOW and WHEN to deliver message will be determined by the WHO, WHAT and WHY. Know your audience before you act or it will be to your peril.

2 – Deliver Exceptional Content
All your competitors are just one click away! In newmedia there are two levels of content, exceptional and everything else. If you don’t deliver exceptional content then you are simply another part of that newmedia jungle and you will never be noticed. There is an unspoken belief amongst newmedia users that if it is important it will stand out above all other content. It is amazing the different response that the same message will receive with different delivery. Be exceptional, don’t settle for anything else!

3 – No Control / Know Control
Think that newmedia is a scary place to put your message or products? There are many companies that afraid of people criticising them, their company or products in a public arena. Some executives believe that there is ‘no control’ over the newmedia conversation, so they run in the opposite direction. Their problem is they have simply spelt it incorrectly by their inward perception of their company. The wonderful thing with newmedia is that it is transparent and if someone criticizes you then you have a chance to fix the issue publicly and when people see that you as a company have a forum where people can go vent and get help it build respect and trust in you and your company. The key here is not to think that there is ‘no control’ but to ‘know’ how you will ‘control’ these types of issues when they appear. We call this ‘know control’ and it is simply being prepared and knowing how to react in these circumstances.

4 – Memorable – Actionable – Transferable
Three important points all rolled up into one.
4.1 – Make your content memorable! If it is memorable then it makes it easier for your audience to progress to the next two sub-points.
4.2 – Your content must always have a avenue for them to put it into action. Here is a simple deadly mistake people make all the time on the web, they use the words, “coming soon”. Never create content or show content that the audience cannot use or put into action. Always have either a single or multiple avenues for the content to become active in the audiences lives.
4.3 – Deliver the content so the audience can then on-deliver it to their peers, easily!!

5 – Create Outstanding Value
Edward DeBono states, “The future success of any business is going to be all about value”. In fact he has developed a new word that describes the business age we are in, valufacture. It is no longer good enough to simply manufacture goods and sell them to the market, now our goods must provide ‘real value’ in the lives of the consumers. This is the same for promoting or participating in the newmedia world. To be successful in newmedia you MUST develop ‘outstanding value’ for the audience. Without exception all successful newmedia campaigns and projects have moved beyond simply providing content to providing value. They have broken conventional industry concepts and practices to develop new ways to achieve a goal and deliver real value.

This is what is so exciting about newmedia, there are no rules and no manual, simply a blank piece of paper waiting for you to develop a new way to engage your audience that delivers outstanding value.

Sound far fetched. Far from it!! In fact this could become the next big wave presenting an easy way for consumers to “tag” real world items so they can organise, purchase or simply gain more information. The technology is already successfully in use in Japan and Korea and Nokia is embedding the technology into its new S60 and S40 models for the Chinese market, a market of over 500 million phones.

Here is a McDonalds chip package from japan with the code on the back (Photo thanks to Chion Wolf – flickr link)

The possibilities that such a simple but powerful bridge between the physical and digital world brings is simply mindboggling! Simply put, anything in the real world can become a entry point to a world of digital information. That is a powerful value concept!!