Social Media's Peter Pan Moment

Michael Hedges March 18, 2013 Follow on Twitter

Technology is magic, things appear and then disappear. Molecules, figuratively speaking, are sometimes rearranged. The media realm embraces all, except when it doesn’t. People, though, know what they want.

“Twitter is the new CNN, and Facebook Wants to Be the Morning Paper,” headlined a short note in Slate.com (March 7). The social media people believe they are on to something. Hopefully, for them, it will generate sustainable revenue. More traditional news media, cowed as they are by technology and, never forget, the advertising people aren’t exactly consulting the Mayan calendar.

Recent changes to Facebook’s news feed display are meant to create “a personalized newspaper,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the company announcement (March 7). More photos and videos will “engage” the text challenged and, he and his investors hope, revitalize the world’s best known social network by changing the habits of its one billion monthly visitors. The twin priorities of increasing time spent on the site and migrating to mobile platforms are aimed at gratifying the advertising people. Evidence of Facebook user resistance to advertising abounds, sponsored posts and links seem less annoying. But, Facebook is “free and always will be,” declares its homepage.   

Newspapers were targeted for replacement decades ago.  A year after launching CNN, Ted Turner announced to US newspaper publishers that newspapers were “an obsolete way of distributing information” and would disappear within a decade. That was 1981. US publisher Gannett launched USA Today a year later and the rush to serve headlines to readers and viewers complaining of temporal poverty was on.

News feeds, more accurately headline feeds, are indeed popular and transcend the traditional news model. This more personalized experience allows readers to give order, theirs, to the chaos of information overload. Following Kim Kardashian’s every twist and shout without visual interruption by Justin Bieber is possible through a hashtag. People (simply) know what they want and want what they (simply) know.

Google announced, softly, the demise of Google Reader. The RSS feed aggregator, one of many available, “made the process more efficient for publishers by reducing the number of requests for the RSS file,” noted the Economist (March 17). Being “in the cloud” it will simply disappear. It was a free app. So it goes. Google’s social network app Google+ has made but a small dent in Facebook’s realm, the new Facebook news feed is “eerily similar to Google+,” said ad:tech (March 7).

The gear-shifting at Facebook – as well as the weak share price – brought out critics well-versed in media, social and otherwise. “Facebook is in transition,” wrote web 2.0 expert Eric Delcroix in atlantico.fr (March 16). “The problem is that users often value what they have and are reluctant to change.” Reorienting Facebook for mobile platforms, he added, “begs the question whether Facebook will still be on the internet in a few months. If they succeed, they will have won everything.” 

Many of the techno-media titans “won’t be around forever,” wrote John Naughton in The Observer (UK) (March 3). Facebook eclipsed Friendster, MySpace and others and became the “de facto standard for social networking.” Its future, whether moments, months or millennia, will be determined by the network effect that has propelled every McLuhan defined media and “stickiness.”

Social networks have contributed to information overload, said a University of Regensburg study of a thousand “internet experts,” quoted by German consumer website tarife-verzeichnis.de (March 15). Nearly four out of five (79%) noted on-the job behavior change among employees, including less courtesy and concentration. Social networks have, however, made people 2more willing to communicate.”

CNN, now part of Time Warner, is undergoing its own revamping, many new faces to deliver headlines. A plethora of competitors have taken audience and thunder. “We won’t be signing off until the world ends,” said Ted Turner at CNN’s launch. “And that will be our last event.”

See also in ftm Knowledge

Social Media Matures (...maybe...)

Hundreds of millions use social media. It has spawned revolutions, excited investors and confounded traditional media. With all that attention a business model remains unclear or it's simply so different many can't see it. What is clear is that there's no turning back. 68 pages, PDF (February 2013)

Order here

Media Business Models Emerging

After a rough transition media business models are emerging. Challenges remain. There are Web models, mobile models, free models, pay models and a few newer models. It makes for exciting times. This ftm Knowledge file examines emerging business models and the speed-of-light changes. 137 pages PDF (January 2013)

Order here

Digital Transitions

Media's transition from analogue to digital has opened opportunities and unleashed challenges beyond the imagination. Media is connected and mobile yet fettered by old rules and new economics. Broadcasters and publishers borrow from the past while inventing whole new services. This ftm Knowledge file explores the changes. 75 pages PDF (March 2012)

Order here

We've Gone Mobile - And Nothing's The Same

Consumers have taken to smartphones in huge numbers. Competition among device makers, telecoms and content producers has created an insatiable demand. With so much volume markets are fragmenting... and nothing's the same. 132 pages PDF (February 2011)

Order here

Media in Spain - Diverse and Challenged – new

Media in Spain is steeped in tradition. yet challenged by diversity. Publishers hold great influence, broadcasters competing. New media has been slow to rise and business models for all are under stress. Rich in language and culture, Spain's media is reaching into the future and finding more than expected. 123 pages, PDF. January 2018

Order here

The Campaign Is On - Elections and Media

Elections campaigns are big media events. Candidates and issues are presented, analyzed and criticized in broadcast and print. Media is now more of a participant in elections than ever. This ftm Knowledge file reports on news coverage, advertising, endorsements and their effect on democracy at work. 84 pages. PDF (September 2017)

Order here

Fake News, Hate Speech and Propaganda

The institutional threat of fake news, hate speech and propaganda is testing the mettle of those who toil in news media. Those three related evils are not new, by any means, but taken together have put the truth and those reporting it on the back foot. Words matter. This ftm Knowledge file explores that light. 48 pages, PDF (March 2017)

Order here

More ftm Knowledge files here

Become an ftm Individual or Corporate Member to order Knowledge Files at no charge. JOIN HERE!