The Future “New Media” - My Rant

July 28, 2008 | By Brian Wong In Web 2.0 Marketing |

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I had lunch with a really good friend yesterday who is also in the Internet industry and we talked a lot of about the future of the “new media”. Despite us both being very involved in the Internet and with Web 2.0 projects we agree that we are not even scratching the surface of what will soon become “the new media” in our society.
I would say that I am an early adopter of new technology personally but I feel really behind when it comes to fully utilizing all the amazing Web 2.0 tools out there today. If I feel this way, I’m sure people who have NOT even begun utilizing some of the tools below will find it hard to integrate them into their lifestyle in the future. I also believe that in the “information age” when the value in our society is determined by the quality of the information you have, anyone who wants to be successful in the future will NEED to adopt “new media” in their day to day routine. So my advice to you if you are reading this is to start now to embrace new media technology.

Here’s a round up of the top 6 key changes or features of the “new media” that we need to be aware of:

1. Democratic News As They Happen:
News in the old media is dictated by the large networks. They decide what IS news and what is not. In the “new media”, we would CHOOSE what is news to us by choosing news sources and being actively involved in nominating what is newsworthy. For example, with Digg.com you can get “news” items posted by individuals and ranked by Digg users themselves so its a kind of democratic news service. The more popular news floats to the top of the page. I actually don’t watch news on TV or even read newspapers anymore. I get all my news via RSS feeds and also via video podcasts to my iTunes account. All free. Also, with mobile devices that can record video and directly upload them to sites like YouTube, you will find a lot of instant news that will break before it reaches mainstream news channels.

2. Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
Surprisingly, a lot of people still do not know what RSS is and what it does. To me, RSS will become an indispensable tool because of the unfathomable growth rate of information. You can no longer read from one source (like traditional newspapers) but you will need to ready from multiple sources. RSS is the KEY standard to summarizing content into a format that can be read on news aggregators whether through your computer or through your mobile device. I use my Apple Mail as my default RSS reader on my computer. Other popular readers include NetNewsGator or Google’s RSS reader called Google Reader. This way, you can get a up to the minute digest of headlines from all your selected news source. You can then read from dozens of sites in a few glances and investigate further if a news item is of particular interest.

3. Going Mobile
My iPod Touch is the first device to bridge the gap between a mobile device and my computer. With my iPod Touch, I find that for the first time, I can actually not turn on my computer to satisfy my information addiction! For example here’s what I do with my iPod Touch - a quick search on the web, read RSS news updates, connect with my social networks (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace), update my blog, check my emails, get location/ map information, use the Bible, quick calculation, share a photo or video, watch a movie on YouTube and the list goes on and on. To think that this device was originally just for listening to music? This is truly the way of the future when all your daily communication and information needs are done through a portable mobile device.

4. New Social Communication Structure
I find today that I am closer to friends that I connect with online via FaceBook chat, or Skype as opposed to people I meet face to face! Is this a bad thing? Well I don’t know. The feeling of connection when you share a photo that is tagged with the friends you know and love seems to provide a very strong bonding feeling for me. Sometimes, stronger than the event itself when the photo was taken. Is it just me? I think as our lives get busier and friends becoming more global (I have friends who are on different continents each week!), electronic social networking becomes a truly VALUABLE tool in preserving that friendship and bond.

Also, I find that its now easier then ever to communicate with ALL of my friends at once. It the past, if you would speak with friends on the phone, you could probably maintain that kind of relationship with about 5 people. Now, with Facebook and Twitter for example, I find that I am reaching out to HUNDREDS of friends at once all over the world.

5. Location Based Services
One of the next big trends is the new media is being able to feed location based information to you on demand. I’m not just talking about GPS. For example, if you send a Twitter update today, you can also specify your location. If your Twitter friends have enabled updates via their phones for example, you will be able to tell when some of your friends are in the same vicinity to you. Another example, if you select “Starbucks” on Google Maps on your iPhone, you will then see all the nearest Starbucks to where you are. In the future, you could attend a function or watch a movie and then say “are any of my friends here” on your social network device and it will tell you which of your friends are there. Better yet, you can even specify what kind of people you want to meet and your device could connect you together. I know this may seem “weird” and kinda scary but I think it will become the norm in the future.

6. Entertainment 2.0 - Beyond YouTube
New services like www.ustream.tv allows you to watch live user created content AND interact with other viewers at the same time. As information becomes all consuming, our attention span drops significantly. People in the future will grow to prefer absorbing media content in 3 minute to 5 minute shots rather than 30 mins to 1 hour slots on TV today. Also, raw and quirky content created by mobile phone cameras or homemade camera’s will make more interesting content to the masses than the cookie cutter type content that is saturating traditional entertainment sources. People will also rely on Web 2.0 services to recommend content. For example, if you like a video, the system will also display related or similar content for you to choose from. Also, social networks allow you friends to recommend what is “entertaining” to you via video posts. Assuming if you are friends you will have similar interests.

Ok, having said all that - “new media” me up here:

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