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Liquid Age #2
The schizoid situation for news and journalism is that they are selling bad news and have to find ways to make money on the negativity of reality as we know it. The only good news that might sell would be sex, but the elite of education is too uppity to serve such lowly needs and demands. Yet they begrudge social media their blasting success on serving the latest updates on Miley Vitriolious and Justin Blubber. Something about the situation is tilted or stilted, and distinctly off-balance. Either the audience is too dumb and stupid, or the elite is too conceited ...
To make money and succeed as a business I need to know my customers and meet or exceed their expectations. It may help to look at another aspect of news and the media business — advertising. They seem as alienated from reality as the spongy masses of prospective customers as news and journalists are, desperately trying to figure out the dark matter of their audience. So far, their efforts to locate and read the obscure object of their craving still maintain the elitist perspective of times gone by — the vanguard of experts who know us better than we ourselves do. It is still experts versus us, their clientele. They just have not figured us out. It is still a Darwinian world, and to succeed, they assume they have to lure us in so they may devour us — suck as much money out of us as they can …
The success of social media has a message for all enterprises as players in the liquid age: the customer is king. This requires businesses and professionals to be part of the wave, to ride its crest instead of handing out expertise and surveys nobody has asked for. What the customer wants and appreciates are products that enhance their life. Social media seem much more adapt at it. Get the message. Since conditions and circumstances are in a continuous flux of changes, professionals and businesses must be part of the wave, learning and adapting while performing …
Being part of the wave is an attitude that is confirmed moment by moment. Performing will mean involvement and interacting with readers and with the subject matter. The topic is never closed, it just evolves into new frames of reference and relationships. Success cannot be planned, and the only criteria for professionals who do not want to suck up to the spongy, anonymous masses will be an approach that is its own reward. As a result, the product of news and journalism will have the authenticity factor as demanded by professionals and audiences alike …
A new business model may evolve from the very gap of inconsolable contradictions: selling news that tend to be bad, and at the same time garnering ad revenue. Why not take the platform model beyond distribution and fuse news/media/content with advertising, as suggested by Alexa Schirtzinger ‘s reference to news as an eco-system for building partnerships? News orgs and advertising are both professionals of high standards, but they approach the obscure object of their craving from different angles. As in biology and nature, crossing borders and merging different cultures and influences will spawn new forms of life, of creativity, exchange and interaction …
Advertisers are experts in seduction, journalists are experts in research and investigation. Fusing the two businesses promises multiple side-effects, repercussions and unexpected spin-offs for everybody involved. Advertisers may become more ethical and thus more attuned to the concerns of their customers, journalists may overcome their tendency to self-righteousness. As both their efforts will become transparent in what the business is about, the audience will be more inclined to honor their efforts and the product itself …
The cutting edge of the liquid age is transparency and honesty. Presenting and producing news as a product to earn money by while serving the needs of customers, will break down barriers in cognition and participation. The less fixed we are in our expectations and anticipations, and the more willing to be taken by surprise, the more easily we may adapt to whatever unexpected spin-offs may occur. Most innovations, if not all have occurred as unintended side-effects of efforts aimed at solving other issues …
As a moviegoer who at other occasion tends to be late, I always made it a point to be seated by the time the curtain rose. The trailers of coming attractions as well as the commercials (provided they were good) were part of the experience. All too often the trailers proved sufficient and more impressive than the full product. A business should leave it to the customer to decide what and how much they want of the product …
The success of Amazon is in large parts due to serving as a platform to meet a variety of needs that concern the same product. I may do research on a book, I may shop or browse, I may compare prices and conditions as well as different editions. I may find copies that are out of print. I may check the reviews of those who have read the book. I am offered choices that are related to the subject or product I am searching. The product is the same, and the services offered used to be distributed among several independent providers located in remote parts of physical reality. To succeed in the liquid age a business must operate as a platform that offers its customers a variety of choices to access and evaluate the product, including research on relevance for my personal needs, as well as interact — either with other customers, or with the traders, with the creators, possibly even with the ‘personalities’ that serve as decoy to lure in customers …
I’m just venting options and possibilities. The more open and accessible a product and a platform, the more varied the options for interaction and unexpected results, spin-offs that may evolve into new products and services. This would be an eco-system to build partnerships as suggested by Alexa Schirtzinger …
To find out what issues may warrant further development, and to react on time will be easier and more profitable if the sales team, the creative department, the advertising and marketing are in-house. Not just in terms of flat hierarchies and immediate response, but also in spawning a distinct and unique corporate culture of collaboration, which will result in an unique and authentic brand for customers and employees alike …
