But Where are the People, Man?
Posted by tim on October 19, 2007 at 01:08 PM
I recently returned from this year's New Media Expo in Southern California.
Well, it feels like recently, but I guess the show wrapped almost a month ago now. It's fitting though, because that kind of pace seems to just about fit perfectly with the world of new media that we're seeing right now.
Meeting with people at the show and just hearing about some of the ideas floating around, it's obvious that as the barriers to access keep getting lower and lower for people to live life in a mixed media world, the potential for excellent, creative content is basically limitless. Even watching the light come on for some long established companies about what's possible was really a lot of fun.
I have to ask the question though; how is this content going to get to the masses?
Now granted, a ton, and I mean a ton of user generated content is meant for the creator and their friends/family/facebook list, etc. No matter how big a list that is, it's clearly not intended for mass consumption.
Even the greatest Jimi Hendrix Air Guitar Maestro has a limited audience.
But what about the content that is intended for the masses? How do the masses find it? There is more and more new content to sift through everyday. Throwing your 'viral' (and I use that term almost dreamily) video into the World Wide Web hoping that people will come running is a bit naive, at best.
The scary truth of it is, if you want mass consumption, you have to market. That's never going to change. What changes is how you market, and who you market to.
There's a boatload of fantastic content producers working today, but before you go to the trouble of getting great content, make sure you know what you're plan for it really is.
Posted on October 25, 2007 01:45 PM
Hmm! Scary truth? I see your point, but I'm not scared about the potential of podcasting. And I met you guys at the conference, and I think you're brilliant. But are you missing the point about podcasts, a little? Podcasts, by and large, are NOT about mass consumption--they're about communicating to small, targeted audiences with very specialized needs and interests. If I was selling Kleenex, sure, I'd go for the Olympics and not podcasts. But I'm promoting lifestyle approaches to English-speaking parents of children with moderate to severe autism between ages 2 and 10 years. A really focussed audience, unless you consider that in the U.S., 10% of all 8 year old males do have autism (CDC). So, IMHO, content does not have to reach a mass audience to make a real impact, and as a podcaster and marketer, I'll always be marketing to those little audiences, because it's not always about the amount of the check, at the end of the day.