Succeeding in a recession is never easy but it can be easier when a business uses the tools that are available, especially when those tools are “free.”  New media has brought in a wide array of tools that can be used online for individuals and businesses.  People will always try to find the easiest and cheapest way to solving a problem but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the right thing to do.  When it comes to social media there’s no “correct” way to succeed as many have found success online in different mediums.  Through some thorough investigation online and a couple of interviews I was able to find out what is the best way to succeed online in Wichita, Kansas.

Death of the traditional and Rise of the New…New Media to be exact

            With the slow “death” of traditional media also comes the “death” of other traditional communication fields such as advertising, marketing, public relations, and customer service.  The rise of social media is here as this new medium plays a vital role in keeping these fields alive through a new medium.  Forrester Research predicts that “interactive marketing in the US will near $55 billion and represent 21% of all marketing spend by 2014 and will include search marketing, display advertising, email marketing, social media, and mobile marketing.” 

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            The world of social media is not an easy business to succeed in, one must engage and stay engaged in order to create, establish, and maintain ones brand in the social media community.  Facebook has seen a huge success to number of factors from growing popularity, friendly easy accessibility, functionality, as well as the idea of communicating online has gone viral.  “In 2010, Facebook pushed past Google to become the most popular site on the Internet for the first time” (Mui &Whoriskey, 2010).  Facebook as a corporation isn’t the only one seeing success with its recent 500 million users, as Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year.  Brian Solis stated that “It is no longer Google me, its Facebook me.” 

People want to communicate but it isn’t the same traditional communication one might think of as Americans are online for hours at a time now and their attention is no longer on the television screen but the computer screen.  Solis stated that “It’s been said that Google is the new resume,”  but it is what Google find that creates ones resume.  When searching for a person, their results is part of their “online resume” and their Facebook profile could very well be one of the top search results for them.  The rise of social media has not only given success to Facebook but to many others as now people can use Facebook as a tool and not just a manner in which one can communicate.  Social media and marketing agencies are now able to use a new medium to help their clients create, protect, and maintain brands online rather than simply in the offline world.  This is a big source of revenue if used correctly, especially since Facebook is a free tool for anyone to use.  Lou Kerner, a social-media analyst with Wedbush Securities says that “this is the most transformational shift in the history of the Internet.”

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            There are leaders and there are followers and Sullivan Higdon & Sink (SHS) is definitely a   leader.  At SHS they set the tone for how marketing campaigns need to be managed and they definitely don’t follow anyone else.  This mentality is the reason for why they have adopted their “We hate sheep” motto.  About 10 years ago they wanted to treat themselves like a customer and they want to do communications with clients that stood out from the flock, i.e. the flock being a metaphorical flock of sheep.  “The people of Sullivan Higdon & Sink hate sheep because they remind us of marketing that follows instead of leads” (SHS).

            Lead not follow is a motto that should be shared by many more.  Lathi DeSilva says, “don’t just get on the digital bandwagon.”  SHS may say they hate sheep but they don’t stray too far from the flock as they are the Sheppard leading the flock.  As much as they “hate” sheep they are actually a great leader for others to follow.  They have had great marketing campaigns that others can use in the future.  So although they may hate sheep and strive not to be sheep, the sheep are following close behind them.

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             “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change” (Charles Darwin).  The Internet is changing the path of the future for all of mankind not just the United States.  From mobile internet access capabilities to overthrowing a government via a Twitter protest, the Internet has affected history.  There have been several important and keynote evolutions in technology that have specifically affected traditional media companies, individuals, and even society but they all have also been affected by similar keynote evolutions.  Overall, the evolution of the Internet is affecting everyone.  The world once knew a medium known as media then they were introduced to new media and now the world knows of new new media.  The following are just a couple of the new evolutions in Internet that are affecting the world:

 

·         Internet Speed

·         Mobile Accessibility

o   Cell Phones

o   Smart Phones

o   Applications

·         Social Media

o   Facebook

o   Twitter

o   MySpace

o   Blogs

·         Google

·         YouTube 

·         Online News 

o   Journalism and Photojournalism (Print and Video)

·         Wikipedia

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Is television dead?!?!?!

            The world is evolving and it is either evolve with it or be left out.  I am no fortune teller but even though user generated content is growing drastically in comparison to production generated content, the future of television is very strong as the key for success is convergence.  Media giants such as Apple are closed systems and they are preventing others from profiting in their success with advancements such as the I-Phone where only AT&T and Apple have profited (now they have allowed Verizon Wireless to have access to the I-Phone).  But Suster makes a valid point in saying that, “[j]ust as in the mobile battle when Apple goes closed it creates an opportunity for somebody that is substantively open. Enter Google” (Suster, 2010).

Google and YouTube

Google seems to multi-task too much and although they have seen success with the android phones they are not the leading competitor in video search, as YouTube is not the most efficient online video searching platform.  Despite being used by many because of its popularity.  It used to be a strange thing to hear that one could monetize user generated content but Google has shown great success in its monetization of YouTube.  YouTube sensations and YouTube’s most viewed videos draw large amounts of traffic, creating an obvious decision to advertise.

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            As the public has grown fond of speed and reliability, the printing press has had to maintain its strong image of quality reporting and writing into the online world.  I remember when people had a 56k modem, which at the time was peak speed.  Now we look back at that speed and think that it plays no comparison to 1000k+ internet speed.  This increase in speed is a small image of how technology has evolved and the desire for speed has increased over the years. 

The transition in speed isn’t the only change in technology as many feel there are specific trends playing a “critical role in the reporting, delivery, and consumption of news” (Life beyond Print, 2008).  The Kellogg School of Management found in a study that the technology trends affecting the news world are ‘Information Divergence, Not Device Convergence,’ ‘The Democratization of the Tools of Media,’ ‘The Rise of Location-Based Mobile Information and Connections,’ ‘Richer, More Usable Information about Consumers,’ ‘Advances in Visual Media,’ ‘Advances in Getting and Measuring Attention’ (Life beyond Print, 2008).

Information Divergence, Not Device Convergence

            The customer will migrate where the popular item is and at the moment it is away from television and newspaper and instead towards the internet.  The consumer wants the answer fast and in their hand.  Mobile technology has made it easier for consumers to access the internet but that means that news media must now produce news content on a different medium to please its internet hungry audience.  “Instead of devices converging, software technology will be the link that effectively diverges or customizes information – over and across many different screens and platforms. In this environment, amidst software integration, content will become customized to the function of the platform” (Life beyond Print, 2008).  Eventually there is device convergence, we now see televisions that browse the internet but these changes can’t be forced and have to occur over time.  Newspapers must place their content on multiple screens and devices but they do not need to produce on all mediums and instead produce only where the majority of their public is so that the content can be monetized properly.

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            Uploading…buffering…loading…PLAY!  YouTube has become a vital part of the new new media revolution.  It gives power to the public and it known as the video relative of the blog.  People can not only blog and be authors with words but now the public can be producers, directors, and share their vision and experiences with the world.  It seems that no matter how many more amazing tools are created, i.e. YouTube, Google, Twitter, etc., (to share and spread new information across the world) there are more and more people within governments looking to control, censor, and even ban the use and access of certain information.  The Freedom of Speech and Fair Use Act are both a vital part in defending what makes up new new media, or in this case YouTube and other online posts.

            YouTube may seem to be such an innovated and new tool but it actually uses old media and new media.  It is safe to say that television is here to stay because without the traditional tube there wouldn’t be so many of the most popular uploaded videos on YouTube.

The radio was pronounced dead as the first music video aired on a new television channel, MTV, in the 1980s called “Video Killed the Radio Star” (Levinson, 2009).  Video did not kill the radio star and, in fact, radio “did not fade away, it thrived and became the most profitable medium, dollar spent for dollar earned.”  They took advantage of people wanting to multi-task by giving the public music to listen to while they got up in the morning and drove to and from work.

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“Extra! Extra! Read all about it!”  Or should I say tweet all about it?  The world of news has changed over time and technology has definitely had an impact on the evolution of the media.  It is important that one stays up to date with the change and evolution of the media, new media and what is now known now as “new new media.”  As soon as one falls behind it can be difficult to catch up with the trends of new emerging media.  Especially if you only rely on one source of media to receive news, most people rely on more.  According to Purcell, “Nine in ten American adults (92%) get news from multiple platforms on a typical day, with half of those using four to six platforms daily” (Purcell, 2010).  News is no longer only published on newspapers and distributed by paper boys on street corners yelling out the big headline.  The paper boy job has been outsourced to common citizens who are no longer just readers but publishers and writers as they tell and share the news on multiple platforms: from Twitter to Facebook to Blogs.

             There are currently popular platforms and mediums of use for sharing and publishing news across the internet but those can easily change.  Levinson states in his book, “New New Media,” that the original book was supposed to be called “Twitter and Pownce” but due to Twitter’s success and Pownce’s “failure” it would not have made sense to publish a book with a “new new media” platform that no longer exists (Levinson, 2009).  Levinson makes the point that Pownce is a prime example of how new new media is evolving and progressing allowing only the best to survive.  Facebook may be popular today but it may be that a new platform could become more powerful and popular, just as Facebook beat MySpace years ago.

 

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            It is amazing to think that in 2001 the first IPod was released and in 2010 the IPod 4G came out with many more features beyond music capability, from phone calls to even location based applications.  Technology has progressed over the years in all mediums but it seems that mobile has gone viral.  If you can’t access something on the go then you are falling behind.

             “Americans now spend an average of 2.7 hours per day on the MOBILE internet.  By 2013 the number of devices accessing the internet will surpass 1 billion”(Schindler).  Mobile is the new trend!  Why is mobile a trend if the cell phone has been around for years?  Cell Phones are actually not the beginning of this trend.  This trend dates back to the first cassette tape player sold in 1979.  People needed music on the go so music companies provided a solution.  Then there was a need to listen to multiple artists without the hassle of carrying multiple cassettes or CDs so the mp3 player was created.

 

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            Since the creation of Twitter in 2006, there have been users communicating messages and mini blogging in 140 characters of text.  Prior to 2006, people would think of text messaging when someone told them to send a message in under a character limit, in Twitters case its 140 characters.  Now these character limit messages are a quick and reliable way to build online communities as people share experiences and information.

             Some people are good Twitter users and some aren’t as they may over post or post annoying/pointless messages.  The good users are the people that have built Twitter into the communication powerhouse that it is today.  Many rely on Twitter as a faster source of information rather than watching news on television or news websites.

            If I were to decide which Wichita media-company is the best Twitter user I would choose The Wichita Eagle, @kansasdotcom, over its two biggest Twitter competitors, KAKE-TV and KWCH-TV.  All three have about 3,000 followers but the two TV competitors don’t follow enough Twitter users to establish a community.  The Eagle actually follows 2,188 users which is a manageable size of people to follow in comparison to the amount of users following The Eagle.  By following more users The Eagle can view those users’ tweets, making it easier to reply to their concerns.  By replying and communicating with their Twitter community they are able to build that relationship and even trust so The Eagle can receive tips before the competitors.

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