GoTime Communications Strategy

Money for Nothing and Shorter Content for Free?

I found Bill Wasik’s interview on “Big Think” to be very in-line with my views on modern media. I absolutely agree that one of the cons of modern media is the relentless distraction it encourages. I experience it myself every day. I feel like I’ve developed internet-onset ADD! As soon as I go to Twitter, I’m clicking on 10 different links. Those pages bring me to 10 more different links. Before I know it, I have 100 windows open at once, and I am giving less quality attention to each of them. Even as I sat down to write this blog entry, it took checking my facebook, email, twitter, facebook again and then email to finally settle down and concentrate on doing my homework.

I (we) have the most ambitious intentions to see/do all, but there is so much “dangling in front of us” as Wasik says, that it’s often quite difficult to retain everything. I have a hard enough time managing modern media now - I can’t imagine what it would have been like juggling these outlets when I was younger. Don’t get me wrong – I love the fact that there is an infinite, amount of data out there – and an abundance of ways to connect with like-minded communities, however, each day that a new site/application is released, my ability to concentrate only gets worse.

I really liked Bill’s example of the Kindle as a device conducive to making money, due to the experience it affords its users (so much so that I kind of want to get one now)! I think that choosing to consume content, on your own time, is a much more rich experience than doing so in a rushed environment, while at work, on a time crunch. There is less multi-tasking, and the consumption is done in an environment away from the chaos of blackberries and computers. People are much more willing to pay for this kind of leisurely experience, than accessing shorter content, which is actually more conducive to the busy schedule. There is such an over-abundance of shorter content that developing a model to monetize will be extremely difficult (unless the scenario described by Bill becomes a reality - companies start failing, shorter content becomes scarcer, and users are actually forced to open their wallets).

Hooray for Hulu

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, or so they say. I’d like to think of myself as pretty digitally savvy, however, I can’t break my habits of taking in programming the traditional way. I have watched online video on Hulu before, and while I appreciate its convenience and value, I am hooked on watching my favorite shows on TV (even if via tivo). There’s something to be said about coming home after a long day and unwinding in front of the tube. For me, I just don’t get that same experience watching The Office on a small computer screen.

Presently, I don’t think that offering free content on sites like Hulu takes away from the $120 billion television market. There will always be people like me who prefer to take in programming on TV over the internet. That said, trends are changing and there is a whole new generation who relies primarily on the internet to consume video content. In fact, I have encountered several individuals at UW who don’t even own a television (unimaginable to me, however, this is becoming the new norm). Moving forward, it will be crucial that content producers reach the viewers where they spend most of their time. Since eyes will be shifting away from television, commercial dollars will decline, forcing the networks and content producers to get more creative with their business models.

I don’t think that charging for Hulu is a video apocalypse, especially to their fans who find tremendous value in their service. Similar to how consumers are willing to pay a fee to access content via cable, DVR, premium channels, iTunes, etc. they will adjust to the concept of paying for online video content. I think that most regular viewers would be fine paying a small fee, rather than lose the service all together, or be bombarded by excessive advertisements, which would be the alternative route for Hulu to stay afloat. The key is to build a community of loyalists, now, while the service is free, who will stick with Hulu, despite commoditization, rather than look elsewhere on the web for content that may suffer in convenience and quality.

A Picture Tells 1000 Words

Friday is my favorite day of the week. Yes, it’s the start of the weekend, but it’s also the day that my guilty pleasure of a magazine, People, releases its new weekly issue. Each week, I pay $3.99 to look at the pictures and read the captions. Yet when I flip the last page, I pretty much have gotten the same gist of the stories as I would having read the issue cover to cover.

Granted, People magazine may not have the most compelling of all material enclosed, but in general, I have noticed that I tend to gravitate towards pictures, especially when taking in content online. I prefer You Tube to online stories and Picassa to status updates. Of course I still appreciate a good book or blog article and the words that flow together to create a captivating story, however, given the amount of content I am faced with each day, it seems like pictures really have become my preferred method of storytelling.

I found the article, Kids Consuming More Content (Research Brief), interesting, but kind of scary as well. I grew up reading, going to the movies, playing house and using my imagination/creativity to stay amused. My friends and I watched Saved by the Bell on tv after school, rather than Hannah Montana online by ourselves. Kids today (now I sound like my grandma), have so many options to stay entertained and consume content. The growth and development that goes along with reading, playing with friends, etc. seems like it is being compromised by the heavy auto-pilot consumption of online content.

Text as a currency is never going to go away. However, especially given the second nature usage of online video/photos at such a young age, I think that content distribution is going to shift to a more visual model. The challenge will be making sure that social media doesn’t become so overly consuming that it makes future generations less “social,” by negatively impacting the development which comes along with offline traditions such as reading and human interaction.

When I Grow Up....

In 4th grade, my art teacher had us make self-clay portraits representing what we wanted to be when we “grow up.” Every time I go home to Detroit I am embarrassingly reminded of my childhood dream to be a "Star Fashion Model" (my Mom still proudly showcases my art work for all to see).

4th grade response to "What I Want to be When I Grow Up" - I can't believe I'm actually sharing this : )

Sadly, I have not yet achieved my childhood dream, so it’s a good thing that new, more realistic dreams have evolved! This is such an exciting time in the ever changing digital space and I am thrilled to be a part of it. One of the many things I’m learning while in graduate school is just how much I don’t know! My teachers and classmates are such an inspiration to me and are motivating me to take in and absorb as much as possible during this journey.

After paying my dues, gaining additional real-world experience and further rounding out my skills, I’d like to ultimately combine work with pleasure. Travel, food, dogs, nature and photography are all great passions of mine; to be able to incorporate these into my career would be a dream come true. My goal is to be so passionate and driven about my job that I wake up every day and strive to do my best because I love it, not because I have to.

Two ideas that I’ve pondered for my adult self-clay portrait: travel writer/photographer or dog bakery/daycare owner. The former, inspired by my incredible experiences abroad, and the latter by an upbringing enhanced with the unconditional love of Golden Retrievers in the house at all times. Both incorporate things I love, and both have potential to contain some kind of viral/digital component in their business model. Either route would make me extremely happy.

Trip to Costa Rica

My Golden Rikki

For now, I plan to make the most of my time here at UW’s MCDM program so that one day soon, I can apply my skills, reach for the stars and make my dreams come true. Until then, graduate school and media equipment rental will have to suffice : )

ASU vs. UW - Sitting with the Enemy

Saturday was my first UW football experience. My sisters attend ASU, and last weekend was family weekend, coinciding with the ASU vs. UW game. Sitting in the extremely rowdy ASU home student section, my sisters warned me that I would be at risk sporting purple and gold attire. So, I hated to be a traitor, but really, it was for my own safety that I pose as a Sun Devil fan (even though I was obviously rooting for the Dawgs).

We had our moments, but at the end, the outcome was unfavorable (though it did get pretty exciting in the last 3 minutes). Looking forward to my next game, at home, where, I am free to wear my Huskie’s t-shirt without fearing for my life.

Please excuse the shakiness in video below - for safety reasons, they don't allow tripods into the Sun Devils stadium : )

Publish Post

Chicago Tribune and Online Video

http://www.chicagotribune.com/videobeta/

I am proud to say that my hometown paper, the Chicago Tribune, is doing quite a good job incorporating video into their news coverage. Their site is well structured and has a separate section just for videos which are organized by category (features, weather, sports, travel, etc.). This structure is extremely conducive to the Tribune readers who choose to get their news interactively. Additionally, this archiving system serves as a useful research tool.

One thing ChicagoTribune.com could improve on is reader engagement. There does not appear to be room for comments, which seems like it would be an easy fix. Additionally, I think that Trib readers would appreciate the opportunity upload their own video content and share in the news distribution experience.

Week 3 Blog Post - "Free"

I think that Seth Godin candidly sums up the value of “free” quite accurately:

"Should we want free to be the future? Who cares if we want it? It is."

"How will this new business model support the world as we know it today? Who cares if it does? It is. It's happening. The world will change around it, because the world has no choice. I'm sorry if that's inconvenient, but it's true."

No matter what Chris or Malcolm or anyone else may argue regarding the concept of “Free,” it doesn’t really matter since they are not the ones determining the outcome. The outcome/future is already being determined by a progressive digital society who has declared “why pay when we can get it for free.”

I think that the real issue at hand is working around these parameters. Given the fact that we are moving towards a “Free” market, how can journalists, content providers and all business alike for that matter adapt their models to fit the current landscape.

Anderson’s blurb on paying people to get other people to write for free makes me think of the Yelp model:

“If so, leveraging the Free—paying people to get other people to write for non-monetary rewards—may not be the enemy of professional journalists. Instead, it may be their salvation.”

Somewhere down the chain, the incentives go from monetary to non-monetary (attention, reputation, expression, etc).”

Yelp uses “free” to its advantage and in turn generates plenty of word of mouth. While I don’t know all of the specifics, I do know this much: Yelp hires community managers to throw free events (sponsored by local vendors) and build relationships with their members, who in turn, write reviews (for free). In fact, you can hardly keep the Yelp “elite” squad (active Yelpers) quiet – they review everything and talk A LOT! What are they getting in return? Maybe it’s the satisfaction that others make decisions based on their advice? Or that their reviews might show up in organic search results? Or the occasional free party? Regardless, Yelp is paying minimal staff to manage a community who is doing the writing for them, gratis.

I don’t think this is a lost cause for the editorial community, but as both Chris and Seth mention, they will need to be creative about monetizing their resources and developing a price model that can withstand the “free” wave. Newspapers might not be able to sell their papers, however, perhaps they can leverage sponsorships (getting brands to sponsor sections in non-advertising/intrusive ways). Musicians may not score big with CD sales, but the added exposure that comes with free music may indeed boost their concert ticket sales (after all, there’s something to be said about seeing a live performance, even if you can listen to it on your ipod for free).

As Chris mentions,

“To musicians who believe that their music is being pirated, Anderson is blunt. They should stop complaining, and capitalize on the added exposure that piracy provides by making money through touring, merchandise sales, and “yes, the sale of some of [their] music to people who still want CDs or prefer to buy their music online.”

If this kind of residual model doesn’t fit a particular brand, then that business /journalist/musician/etc. must create a value so unique, that their users simply can’t go elsewhere to achieve the same quality or level of convenience.

As Seth puts it,

“People will pay for content if it is so unique they can't get it anywhere else, so fast they benefit from getting it before anyone else, or so related to their tribe that paying for it brings them closer to other people.”

For instance, I am crazy enough to pay a ridiculous monthly fee for Showtime, because I love the shows Weeds and Nurse Jackie. Sure, I can probably find these episodes somewhere out there on the web, however, I want to watch them right when they air. And I want the quality to be perfect. And I don’t want to search and search for a site that can distribute premium channel content for free (mainstream sites like Hulu do not). In fact, Hulu has actually started charging for these episodes (in conjunction with Showtime) – looks like they both read Chris’s book and are getting a head start.

While it is what it is, I hope that quality doesn’t suffer as a result of this movement. It would be a shame if the best writers/musicians/journalists etc. are put out of business because the stage opens up for the rest of the world (less talented/quantity over quality). Then on the other hand, maybe “free” will actually stimulate the economy, giving others who may not necessarily have had the chance, an opportunity to shine (think American Idol, etc). "In a world of free, everyone can play (Seth Godin)."

At the end of the day, whether we agree with it or not, it's either sink or swim. The content/story-telling industry needs to quickly modify their business model if they want to stay afloat. They must reinvent their business to keep up with the changing times. Otherwise, their future might look as gloomy as some of the “free” economy adversaries predict.

Celebrity Whale Footage!

It was a beautiful day on the Bainbridge to Seattle ferry, and as soon as the captain announced that there were orcas near the boat, everyone b-lined over to check them out (including me and my shnazzy camera checked out from school).

I posted a close-up shot I took on Twitter and well, we all know the rapid rate at which information is dispersed on social networks. My friend Lindsay happens to be a reporter for Komo News here in Seattle. She spotted my picture and asked if it could be aired on the 11 PM news that evening. Sure enough, my whale pic was on the tv for all to see!

Please excuse the shakiness during my tivo taping (cereal box was a makeshift tripod)!

Komo News Broadcast



Actual Photo

My favorite view on campus

Getting "Seattled"

Class Project Proposal_We are Family

As the saying goes, “You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family” (depending on the relative, this might be a good or bad thing)! Whether we want to admit it or not, our background, heritage and traditions play a large part in shaping who we become. For our class video project, I propose the topic of “family.”

Across cultures, geography, language, politics, religion and social status, family is a universal concept to which we can all relate. Though definitions for “family” may vary from person to person, most of us have a special place in our hearts for those whom we coin our “family.” Some might view family as a traditional nuclear unit: Mom, Dad and siblings. Others may think of a favorite pet when they think of family. Then there are those who lean on their friends whom they actually deem family. Those of us new to Seattle may even think of our University community as family.

Regardless of the actual geographic proximity to our own families, I think there is a lot that can be done surrounding the notion of family. Some ideas including: personal experience with family, showcasing different kinds of families, family activities, animal families, tv families, communicating with family online, etc.

While I do propose and support the idea of “family,” I have to say that I also really love the ideas surrounding a “Seattle” theme. Having just moved here from Chicago, I know this would help me immensely with learning the “ins and outs” of the city. Regardless of whether this is chosen as the umbrella topic or not, I’d still totally be up for some kind of activity to further familiarize with Seattle (newbies and natives). Let me know if you are interested!