Online Media Cultist - Latest Comments

Re: Twitter-based ad networks: a different perspective

Brandon J. Mendelson — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:23:47 -0000

Hi Eric,

As promised ...

1) I think, purely from an advertising and marketing perspective, that online media was able to supplant print media because of declining readership from the papers. Advertisers, the spine of the old media, decided to invest their money elsewhere.

I'm convinced if this did not happen, much (but not all) online media outlets would struggle for relevancy among mainstream Americans.

That said, I follow the shift workers and not the digerati, so I know I am in the minority on this one.

2) I always thought blogs were designed with the intention of being monetized. The second (the royal) we figured out we could publish and design, we searched for ways to cash in. Just think about banner advertising in its heyday, those things were everywhere, even on the smallest sites and blogs. The flexibility of the design lent blogs to be monetized as fast as they were created.

3) There is a contradiction in my argument. Essentially, Twitter (as far as the designers were concerned) was not designed to do anything beyond answering the question of "What are you doing?" I could be way off on this, but that's my impression.

The usage of Twitter in replacing blogs, I think, is limited to headlines and pithy comments. You're right in that it is open, but much of the innovation on Twitter has been user generated. Look at services like Mr. Tweet, Twitpics, Tweetlater, and Magpie. Twitter itself (as far as I know) does not participate in the creation of those services, so that lends me to think the service was simply designed for one thing, and we are grafting parts on to it. There's nothing wrong with that ... except for advertising ... and that's for now.

One thing I didn't touch on: When you follow a brand, and the brand converses back with you, that can be effective as a method of advertising through Twitter. In that case, people are choosing to follow the brand, whereas with Magpie the advertisement is thrust upon you.

Re: Twitter-based ad networks: a different perspective

ebrage — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:42:06 -0000

Brandon, very interesting take and thanks so much for your great republishing idea ! Now obviously we have very different opinions about this issue, which is what makes all of this so much fun to debate, poke holes in, pontificate about, etc. :-)

That said, I'll just point out a several quick things that struck me:

1) You did not mention online media's role in the decline of newspapers/print media and print ad sales. Is it your view that online media had no role here?

2) You state that Twitter was not "designed to be anything" and yet you attempt to strictly define it as a place for "headlines" and "conversations" at a few different points. My view is that Twitter is a wonderfully open and flexible platform that helped to create a platform for conversations, link sharing, *and* a nascent publishing form called microblogging.

3) You also state that Twitter "is not designed for monetization." Is it your view that blogs were not originally designed for monetization as well?

My overall opinion is that microblogging is brand new and flexible to many different kinds of uses (including monetization) just as blogging was in a similar position just a few short years ago. And newish platforms like TwitWall (which allows comments to be tied to Twitter comments) and FriendFeed are bending and playing with the "rules" as we know them evermore.

It's interesting times as I always like to say -- and glad to engage you in this debate on OMC Brandon!

Re: “It’s clear now that the Web has once and for all replaced TV’s role in the music business.”

Tim — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:28:15 -0000

Well you can see what G'n'R's manager has to say here:

http://www.webcastr.com/videos/music/guns-and-r...

Not exactly 'new school.'

Re: The Butterfly Effect and social media

ebrage — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:47:23 -0000

LOL! Sorry about delay in getting back to you, this comment got caught in the spam filter... hmm... the butterfly social media effect in action or... ???

Re: The Butterfly Effect and social media

LaneVids — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:54:40 -0000

Hmm... this is a very interesting subject. I never thought of the butterfly effect in social media. So if I post this comment, will this alter the entire universe? Hmm.... post or not to post..... POST!!!

Re: The Butterfly Effect and social media

ebrage — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:21:00 -0000

That's super cool annalie! To think the social media Butterfly Effect touching the real world... crazy! :-)

Re: The Butterfly Effect and social media

annalie Killian — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:18:47 -0000

I thought I'll share my own twitter butterfly effect story with you. This one was triggered by @ChrisBrogan
http://catalystformagic.wordpress.com/2008/07/0...
The story didnt end there. 3 weeks ago I met with the poet in question in NY and he is coming to Australia next year to run some workshops at AMPLIFY- the Innovation & Thought Leadership Festival I produce in sydney.

Re: The Butterfly Effect and social media

ebrage — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:33:33 -0000

That's interesting that you frame it that way, Brandon, as you could easily (and perhaps more easily) argue that Facebook does "virtually the same thing" as Twitter.

Personally I would argue that all three are unique and different and serve different purposes and different needs. I go back and forth overall on how relatively hot I am on Twitter vs. Friendfeed. I'm very high on Twitter at the moment but think both are pretty spectacular services, communities, and social media platforms.

Re: The Butterfly Effect and social media

Brandon J. Mendelson — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:22:17 -0000

For Twitter, I would absolutely agree with you. I'm not yet sold on the long term viability of Friendfeed when Facebook can do virtually the same thing. Not to mention, Friendfeed hits that critical mass of "too much information". But who knows? I'm excited to see what dethrones Twitter.

Re: “There’s a complete disconnect between the two worlds”

ebrage — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:49:57 -0000

Yes you bring up a good point. Good content that reaches an audience is what it's about regardless of the medium. Dr. Horrible's unique content was its strength more than whether it was "real content for real people."

Re: “There’s a complete disconnect between the two worlds”

mvermut — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:25:21 -0000

Oh, I agree with most of what you're writing about. Just dislike the artifice of the internet being a place for "non-professional" real content for real people. It's about attractive content (for a market/demo) that leverages the specific strengths of this medium. So yeah, true that.

Re: “There’s a complete disconnect between the two worlds”

ebrage — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:35:51 -0000

LOL to that last bit! But seriously though, what other platform easily conforms to the criteria you lay out: smaller audiences, unusual formatting, interactive, etc. That in my mind points directly to the online realm. And then you throw in the highly unusual/niche content (musical-meets-science fiction-meets-tragicomedy basically... not the stuff of normalcy that) and you have a really intriguing combo that just happened to be a big hit by online standards. That's how I see it, anyway. :-)

Re: “There’s a complete disconnect between the two worlds”

mvermut — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:35:38 -0000

"the web is about showing real life for real people, rather than the artifice and perfection shown by Hollywood."

While I agree that Dr. Horrible was a successful implementation of content online becoming commercial...it is exactly the type of content that could play elsewhere (on platforms that support a smaller audience). I don't think it's about the specific type of the content, just that it is formatted appropriately, allows for more interactivity, and, most importantly, is entertaining, engaging and satisfying. I'll buy the "real people in real life" line when Felicia can introduce me to Bad Horse at the next digital media networking event.

Re: Google Reader’s “shared with note” + FriendFeed = whole new way to microblog

ebrage — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:12:40 -0000

It's a great way to easily share stories and information, and a great way to seed conversations over on friendfeed. Enjoy! :-)

Re: The post-election edition

ebrage — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:11:26 -0000

Your project looks very interesting and cool, hope you get lots of data for it! Certainly the Obama campaign has taken social media and politics to a whole new level, and there has been positive buzz in recent days that unlike past campaigns, the Obama administration will continue to play in the online / social media space.

Re: She’s fantastic, made of plastic

ebrage — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:31:49 -0000

Same here and lolz !

Re: Google Reader’s “shared with note” + FriendFeed = whole new way to microblog

Denise — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:36:41 -0000

Emailing this to myself. Sounds like a great way to generate buzz.

Re: On social media “micro-apps,” Twitter, and business models

Bunny — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:33:06 -0000

My word of the day is 'fremium'. Thanks!

Re: She’s fantastic, made of plastic

Bunny — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:28:32 -0000

I vaguely remember this show and that disturbs me greatly.

Re: On social media “micro-apps,” Twitter, and business models

Mike Templeton — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:15:14 -0000

It's interesting that Twitter has let the business model question go on this long without an answer. I'm with you though. It would be easy for them to throw on a banner ad (like they are already doing on Twitter Japan) or some Google Adsense and start to rake in some additional cash.

I feel like they are waiting for the "undiscovered" business model that just might not exist. Eventually they are going to have to make a decision though. They can't keep raising more capital forever.

Re: The post-election edition

Matt K — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:39:52 -0000

Thought the maps were pretty great myself. I like your blog and am adding it to my subscriptions. I'm trying to promote (which Im not so keen at) a project I am trying to get researchers/academics interested in new media & politics to get involved in. The article you've got posted (The Vote) is one of the things that got me thinking about the idea.I imagine quite a few read your blog so I hope you don't mind if I drop a link. It is basically an open reference list for social media & politics research to begin amassing the academic collective intelligence.

Link: https://mysite.wsu.edu/personal/mkushin/com420/...

I explain it all on my blog.

Keep it up and I'll keep on reading!

Re: Charting a course in post-web 2.0 waters

ebrage — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:03:25 -0000

Thanks so much Jason !

Re: Twitter, politics (of change), and social media revolutions

ebrage — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:02:20 -0000

Very cool visualization tool, dig it !

Re: Twitter, politics (of change), and social media revolutions

Matt — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:38:26 -0000

Also check out this new Twitter tracker called Fresh Squeezed Tweets- http://anorangeamerica.com/
We rolled this out for Tropicana just as the polls opened on election morning at New Media Strategies.
It pulls Tweets in real time, crunches the numbers and displays the connections between conversations with some pretty cool graphics. Election may be over, but its got some fascinating stuff there to look at, especially now. Give it a look...

Re: Charting a course in post-web 2.0 waters

JasonFalls — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 05:32:55 -0000

Great points. Thanks for including me in the list of things you'd found. I'm off to read a couple of the others myself.