Online media

GROWINGPAINS Matthew Buckland

Publishermatt@mg.co.za

www.matthewbuckland.netwww.blogmark.co.za/matthewbuckland

www.mg.co.za/netsavvymatt@mg.co.za

all mediums eventually

powered by the internet

murdoch“What is happening is a revolution in the way

young people access their news. The next generation have a different set of expectations about the kind of news they will get, including when and how they will get it, where they will get it from, and who they will get it from.“

“They want control over their media, instead of being controlled by it.”

murdoch

“…unless we awaken to these changes, and adapt quickly, we will as an industry, be relegated to the status of also-rans, or worse, many of us will disappear altogether…”

Rupert Murdoch at American Society of Editors (2005)

background

Dot.boom hype: Fast expansion, huge revenue predictions Wild predictions: “Print dead in 10 years’ time”

Dot.bomb industry crash: Online advertising dries; e-commerce slows Tech stocks, perceptions about sector crash

Dot.reality Unviable players disappear, serious players left Online advertising recovery Rise of Web 2.0 & Google

now...

Hype turning into reality… New revenue stream for company New audiences (young/int’l) New types of journalism Empowered, active audience Strong day-time/work channel Aggregating to new platforms Permanence of content

south africa Elitist, niche medium Expensive connectivity & socio-

economic restraints 7-million worldwide readers 2,9-million local readers OPA: www.opa.org.za On same measurement platform

www.mg.co.za

Run as a separate business with own editor, subs, journos

Create a competitive “online culture” 3X readership; but generates 1/10

revenue of paper Profitable division first time in 11 yrs Multimedia skills

Trust

Legally stronger

In-depth

Better story

advertising Online advertising recovery Emerging as THE key day-time channel Highly measureable Access high LSM Still in its infancy/rudimentary Multimedia advertising Convergence with TV ads via broadband Search advertising (via Google adsense) Google bringing model to radio & print

bill gatesInteractive Advertising Bureau conference, Oct 2005

“The future of advertising is the internet”

(Saying that all media channels will ultimately be powered by the internet)

what’s next?

Rise of citizen media Power shift? Media model changing Segmented, 1-to-1, decentralised Bloggers competing for audience Bloggers competing for ad revenue Reader = mini-media owner & competitor!

web 2.0 lexiconblogging, splogging, wikiing, vlogging, tagging,

podcasting,

Pluck, Digg, Flickr, Technorati, del.icio.us, blogosphere,

RSS feeds & RSS readers, cosmos links,

trackbacks, pings,

mash-ups and folksonomies

mainstream media

Join in, or get left out Embrace, learn & utilise citizen media Symbiotic & competitive relationship Not a replacement, but complementary

media stream Blogs: traffic / watchdog / niche topics /

alternative views Beware of the hype, ask the hard questions

how?

Create blogging platforms Give up control, users to set news

agenda? Be part of the conversation: Link to &

acknowledge blogosphere Journalists to blog Podcast your news & link to podcasts

the big question

…a shift in media via technological advances & changes in

[reader/viewer/user/listener] behaviour

…is there a bigger shift, a shift in the very nature of society itself?

the future?Technology will empower individuals but

disempower the control governments have over their citizens…

Nation states will become less important and

probably collapse while the netocrats and their networks, their “electronic tribes”, will have a huge impact on world events.

Netocracy, by Jan Söderqvist and Alexander Bard (2001)

the future?“To find something comparable, you have to go

back 500 years to the printing press, the birth of mass media – which, incidentally, is what really destroyed the old world of kings and aristocracies.

“Technology is shifting power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now it’s the people who are taking control.”

Rupert Murdoch

THANK YOU