Let me introduce you to Steve Rubel, Micropersuasion. I hope he’s on your feed list. If you’re in media, marketing or communications I suggest it’s a must have. Anyway, Steve just wrote a great post about how we need to change the way we describe new media. He seems to like “all media” as a term. Here’s some excerpts from his post.
With the democratization of media we’ve come to rely on a bunch of terms that are now completely unnecessary. These include “social media,” “user generated content” and - my favorite - “consumer generated media.” Do any of these matter any more?
The problem with all of these balkanized phrases is that they connote that the content created by digitally empowered individuals is somehow bush league. It’s like we’re a separate entity from the rest of the so-called “mainstream” journalists, filmmakers, photographers, etc. who do what we do and get paid more for it. We sit in a special dish like leftover meatloaf so we need a special name. If you use these phrases you’re unintentionally perpetuating that myth.
The fact is that everyone who is contributing to the dialogue - be it in video, text or photos - has earned the right to be called media. Let’s can the compartmentalization and recognize once and for all the world has changed. We are all media - period.
I like the idea of being a digitally empowered individual even though I didn’t grow up with the internet. A guy I met last week told me that his professional career matches the public introduction and development of the internet. He doesn’t even know a professional world without it. That’s what our young people are doing in an increasingly electronic world.
Don’t think I didn’t hear the announcement yesterday of the iPhone. MacWorld Expo is going on and Steve Jobs made the announcement. If you think this is just a neat looking new cell phone then think again. It’s a widescreen iPod, phone and internet communications device. It’s almost enough to make me want to switch from Sprint to Cingular since you’ll only be able to use one with just the one carrier (bummer). Watch the keynote address and iphone introduction.
Now why is this important to you and me? Jobs describes the iPhone as a revolutionary device. After seeing the introduction and demonstration I agree. This thing is a lot more than just a cool gadget. It’s also a great functional tool that we’re going to literally see “out in the field.” It’s an example of where things are going in the mobile delivered content arena. In fact you might want to check out this story on eMarketer.com, “The Hottest New Media Platform of 2007 Is Right in Your Hand.”
I guess the question would be, Are you preparing to communicate with your members and customers wherever they are?
I spent an hour in an Apple store yesterday getting a very detailed demonstration of a MacBook Pro. If you think I should make the conversion please email me.
For those of you who might have thought it would never happen, well . . . it has. You are familiar with mobile broadband cards for your computer that allow you to connect to the internet where you have mobile phone service but now you can turn your vehicle into a rolling broadband wi-fi hotspot!
AutoNet says that it’s going to unveil this new product/service this coming Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show. They expect to begin shipping them by the spring. It’s expected that the AutoNet Mobile Router will retail at $399 with a monthly service charge of $49. For those of you who spend a lot of time on the road like I do it’s certainly an option.
How much do you want to bet that this will be built into cars and trucks within the next year or so and come as standard equipment? Yee-Haw.
In designing our service we also knew it was important to enable a wide array of wireless electronics devices to get connected. Since most electronics devices use Wi-Fi, we decided to turn the car into a Wi-Fi hotspot, just like at the local Starbucks. By doing this we can connect devices ranging from laptop computers to mobile media players like the Fujitsu P1610, from Wi-Fi cameras to Wi-Fi phones like the VoIP Skype Phone, and from stationary videogame consoles to handheld gaming units like the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS.
I’d like to welcome you all to a brand new year. I can’t wait to see what new techniques and technologies will pop up in the communications business. ZimmComm New Media is planning on continuing to develop various forms of social communications platforms like blogging and podcasting and we’ve got some exciting announcements coming up in the next week or so.
Please keep us in mind if you’re wondering how to make new media work for you. We are very happy to provide consulting services in addition to full production, development and even hosting.
Thank you to all our clients. We’re nearing our 3rd year anniversary and it is only possible because of all the wonderful people we work with. We hope you have a fantastic 2007.