new media morning 2008 - bill thompson on social media
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New Media Morning 2008 - 17th April.---Bill Thompson's on Social MediaTRANSCRIPT
Why me?• Technology critic
– Writer, pundit, journalist– Regular BBC contributor
• Tame geek– Professional programmer– Systems administration, web developer
• Pundit and commentator– Trying to see where we are going– Looking at the future that is already here
Time for reflection
• The world has changed– We can feel it in the wind– We can see it on the screens– We can hear it from the iPhones
• We can join the ‘world has changed’ Facebook group
New Strategies are Needed
• From communique to conversation– Two way media require different skills
• Rapid pace of innovation– Twitter Seesmic Buzzspotr Qik.tv
• User-generated content– And user-generated services and interaction
• Who needs television was yesterday’s question– Who needs media websites?
It’s All Relative
• The world changed in 1907– Special relativity– Quantum theory
• It changed again in 2007– Facebook / MySpace / Bebo– Twitter / Dopplr / Seesmic
• Web 2 is a revolution– Take it seriously
Getting Lost in Web 2.0
Defining Social Network Sites
• We define social network sites as web-based services that allow individuals to – construct a public or semi-public profile within a
bounded system, – articulate a list of other users with whom they
share a connection, and – view and traverse their list of connections and
those made by others within the system.
• The nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site.
Long time coming
• Older communities like The Well– Some but not all characteristics
• Early attempts– Friendster– SixDegrees (1997-2001)
• Social networking today– Happening in a Web 2.0 world– Net using population large and growing– Access easy and cheap (in the West)
New Ways of Being
• Web 2.0 and SNS– Self-published content– Sharing, linking and embedding– Cross-references– Tagging and folksonomies
• Richer environment than before– Often spread over multiple sites and services
The New World
• Impact goes far beyond media– Affects our sense of self– Changes what it is to be ‘me’
• Importance goes beyond individual SNS– Facebook may decline, but the world has changed
• Understanding it will be hard– Social science approach– Discourse analysis– Ethnomethodology
Today’s Plays
• Media desperation– Have a presence anywhere they can– Get content in front of people– Hope some of it sticks
Worldwide
Not just the BBC..
No Connection
• The BBC has no direct link to audience– No billing relationship– Research tries to fill the gap
• Used to know who visited bbc.co.uk– No longer true
• The social networks own the audience– YouTube sees the profiles– Bebo gets the page views– Facebook serves the ads
Don’t Panic
• Remember the 15 Principles– Treat the entire web as a creative canvas: don’t
restrict your creativity to your own site (#5).– Link to discussions on the web, don’t host
them: only host web-based discussions where there is a clear rationale (#14)
• We don’t need myFaceBBCeBo
Life on the Social Web
• Let’s look at my online life…– Bit of an early adopter (1984)– Willing to play and learn– Some degree of technical understanding
• Boundaries increasingly blurred– Email, web, social sites, applications…
Widgets and the world
• The links are vital– Easy connections– Emergent social networks
• The technology is permissive– Open up APIs – Develop widgets– Encourage cross-pollination
• What you are doing in 140 characters
• Follow and be followed
• Immersive, evanescent, compelling
• The micro-community– A shared conversation
Where do the media fit?
• Get news from the main sites– Links and references from friends– Postings from blogs– URLs in tweets
• The BBC home page matters less– True for other sites too…
Bloglines
Where do you fit?
Threat.. or Opportunity?
• The conversation needs content– We discuss news stories, TV programmes,
films, politics
• Traditional media is a starting point– Can also keep the conversation lively
• The commercial model is less obvious– We don’t know how to make money out of
Web 2.0 either
A Free Content Movement?
• Like Free Software– Develop code– Give it away– Make money on service, support and the rest
• Can the media work like this?– Could it justify the licence fee or something
similar?– Will it attract advertisers?
Too Open?
• SNS encourage openness– Challenges our idea of privacy– Creates serious issues for journalism– May affect job prospects and relationships
• An inevitable conseqence?– Or do we want to step back?
• Applies at an organisational level too…
Biased BBC?
Good Research?
Tomorrow’s BBC
• Never mind ‘Future Media and Technology’
• What about ‘Future Audiences’?– Need to follow their behaviour– Need to spot new trends– Need to stay with them
Watching Spooks
TVersity
TVersity
We decide the future
• Sometimes SF doesn’t predict– It inspires
• For example– Wm Gibson and
Cyberspace– Minority Report and
gestural interfaces
Imagine Tomorrow’s Media
• Growth of SNS– Blurring of online/offline boundaries– Destination sites less important– Aggregators provide pointers to content
• Lose the home page– Content sits on servers – Available to all for linking and embedding– Feeds the continuous conversation
• There’s no newspaper there, it’s everywhere.
Be there too
• Join other people’s conversations– In blogs and photo feeds and websites– In chatrooms and virtual worlds– Across the social network sites
• Be part of the debate– Don’t try to own the conversation– Don’t assume people will come to you
• Don’t look for simplicity– We still don’t know where this is going
Don’t forget to play
• Watch the skies– Get there first with the cool stuff– Experiment and take risks– Move fast, spend little
• Join the sites– Learn how they work– Share your experiences
The new model
“be there, for everyone, everywhere”
or perhaps
Making the unlinkable, linkable
Thank You