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July 1, 2008
Tectonic Plates Shifting
I was one of the speakers at the second New Media Academic Summit hosted by Edelman and PRWeek last week in Chicago, which was attended by 70 leading US and Canadian academics. Here are some of the most compelling insights, specifically about how media and companies are adopting social media:
1) Media must become comfortable with the economics of fragmentation, not scale, according to Troy Mastin, media analyst for William Blair & Co. “We will see hyper-local products, targeted at specific suburban populations. Young people will associate based on personal interest, passion and professional affiliation.” Mastin was very bullish on community newspapers, particularly those smart enough to be open to consumer generated content, as “the cross-roads for rural areas.”
2) Advertising will be the primary revenue source for media, not subscriptions. Mastin contends, “There was great resistance to putting all content on-line because we don’t get paid as well to do it. But now it is clear that we will have an advertising supported media model; you cannot charge enough on the subscription side to have quality.” Mastin cited a 2007 William Blair study which said that 81% of college students in the US prefer ad supported to paid content, up from 73% in 2006.
3) News will move from being at the very core to become the supporting element to products and services. Dick Tofel, former associate publisher of the Wall Street Journal, suggested that sports sections of local newspapers could be supported by advertising from fantasy sports leagues or that the local newspapers could run those leagues. “Sports news then becomes the necessary adjunct. We need to stop thinking of news as the core product. In fact, newspapers will have to offer products and services supported by news.”
4) Newsrooms continue to separate digital and print products. According to Jim Kirk, business editor of the Chicago Tribune, this is a “crucial disconnect.” Newspapers are losing the 38 year old mother who is dropping frequency of reading from four days a week to Sundays only. He cited the revamping of the real estate section to include school test scores, crime statistics and Google Maps, leading to a 10% jump in traffic in the first weeks, as proof of the success of an aggregated product.
5) The skill set for journalists must evolve. To cover the recent shootings at Northern Illinois University, the Chicago Tribune sent reporters to the scene but found crucial facts on Facebook and MySpace. “Journalism graduates must be creative and powerful in both written and video formats,” said Kirk.
6) Evolution from top-down to open dialogue model—Steve Grove, political director of YouTube, said, “The Hillary Clinton campaign was very much top down communications, with controlled messages. The Obama campaign moved toward a next generation approach of innovation driven by the crowd, such as the Change video produced by Will.i.am.” He noted that 50 million people have watched the 1,100 videos up on the Obama YouTube channel, compared to 4 million who have watched the 200 videos on the McCain YouTube channel. The Fight the Smears site put up by Obama’s campaign to combat rumors about the candidate “shows that you must combat falsehoods aggressively and quickly,” Grove said.
7) Content is still king and mainstream media, particularly cable TV, is a powerful amplifier for new media. Grove said that “the influence of cable is critical; you get a 10x increase in YouTube traffic if (for instance) Keith Olbermann uses a piece on MSNBC.” This same philosophy was echoed by Dan Bracken of Church & Dwight, reflecting on the Trojan Evolve campaign (disclosure; Edelman client), which had an article in the NY Times, then became the most blogged item on the NY Times web site, then moved into social media.
8) Companies are embracing the open dialogue model, but slowly and carefully—At the vanguard is Starbucks’ with www.MyStarbucksidea.com (disclosure: Edelman client), where customers can make suggestions and get an update on the companies response and action to their ideas. Alix Wheeler of Starbucks spoke about creating a “seeing culture” with visibility through consumer input. “We add to the dialogue by putting in features such as Most Popular Idea or Most Recent Idea. We change policy based on feedback, such as availability of bold coffee any time of day in 800 stores. We have 50 employees from across different groups in the firm, who are ‘idea partners’ who contribute and respond to story threads. Our Ideas in Action shows how we are putting consumer generated ideas to the test.” Drew McGowan of Clorox (disclosure: Edelman client) noted that 75,000 people have taken the pledge to stop buying water in plastic bottles through the FilterforGood.com site, which connected with their audience through a partnership with mainstream media specifically NBC’s Biggest Loser show.
9) Social media requires a continuing dialogue -- Several panelists made the point the traditional campaign approach that has a start and end date is now moot because once you begin the social media conversation around your brand, you have to continue and maintain the relationships.
10) Blogs are not the most popular method of social media communication worldwide-- popular social media forms of communications, like blogs, Facebook, etc. varies per country. For instance, in China, Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) are the preferred medium, while mobile is key in communicating in lower-income neighborhoods.
I am more confident than ever about the role of public relations in the evolving communications world. We have to improve our game--to inform the conversation while listening and learning from all stakeholders. At the heart of our clients’ PR programs must also be public interest, solving problems that matter. I’d also encourage of all us in professional life to continue to send along case histories to academic institutions that demonstrate these attributes.
We blogged live and extensively from the Summit, and I encourage you check out the content. Your views are appreciated as always.
Tags: Public Relations, Academic Summit, Brita, Journalism, Social Media, Trojan, Starbucks
Posted by Edelman at July 1, 2008 4:47 PM
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Comments
Thanks for sharing such a thorough recap. Many brands are still hesitant when it comes to even testing the social media waters and insights like this allow us to continue sharing the positive benefits of joining the conversation.
Hope you have a great holiday weekend.
Posted by: David Mullen at July 3, 2008 11:30 AM
Does pumping oil for as long as we have change things for our tectonic plates? Thank you.
Posted by: Anne at July 3, 2008 7:41 PM
Thank you so much for this eye-opening "Top 10" list. As a recent journalism graduate from Ohio State, it was very interesting. And to be honest, not one of the ten points was ever covered in any comm class I took in college.
Posted by: Ryan at July 8, 2008 10:16 AM