New Media in 2009

2009 promises to be another exciting year for new media. A majority of organisations are beginning to embrace the concept of exclusive online content and service delivery, hence new, exciting web applications are now frequently launching.

In Australia, Nine News is offering daily video podcasts called Nine News Now, exclusively filmed for Internet delivery - and these clips are of a surprisingly high quality. Through podcast and vodcast aware devices, such as an iPhone, these clips can be enjoyed anywhere, at any time.

Information and media on demand is no longer a pipe dream - it is fast becoming an everyday reality. Mainstream uses of this sort of technology are cropping up everywhere, and as demand increases, we will continue to see high quality productions like Nine News Now targeting a purely online audience.

In this post I’ll explore how we got here, and where we are going.

The Decline of Old Media

A symptom of this new online wave is the decline in relevance of “old media”, and hardest hit right now are print based newspapers. In our industry, we have been hearing about the end of newspapers for quite some time. However no longer is it just high profile bloggers pondering what the decline of newspapers will mean, the latest USA-based Pew survey shows that the Internet has now overtaken all news media with the exception of Television, and reliance on Internet for up-to-the-minute news is continuing to grow at an impressive rate.

Image courtesy of Pew Research Center

Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in no small way contributed to this uptake - Internet usage records were set on US election night, and then smashed again on inauguration day.

How this will effect the broader media industry is not yet clear, however it is obvious that in 2009 newspapers will be doing it tough - not only is the public migrating to cheaper (read: free) and more frequently updated online news sources, but the economic downturn will serve to further reduce newspapers primary income stream; advertisers.

Resourceful newspapers are already moving most of their content online, and considering unique business models in an attempt to see what will work. There is certainly a piece of the new media pie available to old media organisations willing to rethink their basic business model, however I fear they don’t have much time to make it happen.

Social Matters

Social Media is undoubtedly the fastest growing phenomenon on today’s Internet. It accounts for over 10% total Internet usage in the UK, with similar numbers in other developed countries. That is a staggeringly large number.

It’s predictable that Facebook is still the undisputed king, with roughly half that traffic finding it’s way to the Grand-daddy of social networks.

UK Social Media Traffic as % of Total Internet Traffic courtesy of Hitwise

This large proportion of total Internet traffic is not surprising when you consider that humans are by nature social creatures. From the telegram through to SMS, we have always taken to any technology that allows faster, easier and cheaper communication over distance. With social networks, we are now seeing constructed frameworks for enabling social interaction in larger and more diverse groups than ever before, with oodles of rich media thrown in to the bargain.

Twitter, currently the online media darling, is the fastest growing social network, finding great success as a micro-blogging platform. But with a large percentage of our social interactions now online and publicly available, there are bound to be some great examples of how not to use social media. One particular twitter user found out the hard way.

Corporate usage of social media was initially very much a case of the uncool guy gatecrashing the party, and then trying to sell you stuff. Needless to say, it didn’t gain much traction. These days, organisations have for the most part caught up, and some famous examples of great corporate new media include; the Sun CEO’s Blog, IBM blogging almost every facet of the company, Dell’s virtual island in Second Life (a virtual reality simulation), Adobe’s informative Delicious bookmarks, and Blendtec’s amusingly inventive Will It Blend videos.

The Web Operating System

With all this online activity, there are increasing signs that monolithic operating systems are becoming a thing of the past, and general computing is migrating towards a more web-centric operating system (OS). Maturing technologies like Flex and AJAX are allowing developers to build rich, highly interactive, and completely cross platform web applications, where the underlying OS is virtually redundant. In fact, it’s becoming more and more likely that the future of applications and computing in general will be based in the cloud.

Here at NMCG we exclusively use web based software for our day-to-day operations; Basecamp for project collaboration, Google Apps for email, calendar, contacts, chat and document management, WordPress for blogging, Twitter for micro-blogging, LinkedIn for business networking, Campfire for company meetings, etc. The only offline applications we heavily rely on are the ones needed to build solutions for clients!

Complex data, such as project specifications and large Word documents are still better served with desktop software, in that particular case MS Office or OpenOffice. However today’s web based software offers a much more convenient and cost effective way of creating and collaborating on less complex data, with it’s capabilities growing daily.  Editing documents concurrently, from any PC or Netbook, without having to even consider sharing files or worry about version management is an eye opening experience. I strongly suggest you dip your toes with Google Docs.

With the majority of basic applications already moving online, there are of course data security and integrity concerns. And while service providers do their best to ensure your data stays safe, isolated privacy incidents will likely occur.  However, offline disasters are just as likely, and if you are to truly participate in the connected future, staying offline won’t be an option.

So Where To From Here?

So what does this all mean for the average business in 2009? And with the current economic woes why should you care?

It essentially boils down to one thing; commoditisation. “Web 2.0” as it were, has been commoditised. That means lower costs, more features, better customer service, and more channels to promote your products and services.

There are two main area’s where a business can immediately take advantage:

1. Better online tools, in some cases rivalling desktop applications. Existing off-the-shelf solutions (such as Google Apps) will fill the needs of most  small to medium organisations. If these don’t meet your requirements, you can always consider;
2. Reduced premiums on custom development for new media tools and applications. As the technology to develop these products becomes readily available, and hence less expensive to implement, custom development for organisations is an increasingly attractive option.

For example; Start a blog or twitter account to connect with your customers in another way; Develop an iPhone application to add value to an existing product, or; Build a cloud based tool to extend your existing services or deliver an entirely new solution.

Despite what others may say, there is no silver bullet. No quick fix for everyone. None of these new technologies or mediums are likely to instantly boost your traffic or sales, but careful and considered implementation will help in achieving realistic business objectives.

So despite all the current gloom and doom, have you considered starting any new media projects in 2009? Do you already use any of the new media tools outlined in this article or elsewhere? If so, I’d love to hear some feedback on your experiences.