Participatory Media: Overview

Participatory MediaJune 2008

First for some background

Media Web: 1997

Media Web: 1997

Flash forward: Year 2008

Media Web: 2008

Media Web: 2008

What happened in along the way?

This happened

And This…

And This

Spot the difference?

1997: Everything is one-to-many

Spot the difference?

1997: Everything is one-to-many

2008: Everything is many-to-many

Before we proceed furtherA bit of jargon busting

• Social Media

All media is social, it is not media if it is not social

Before we proceed furtherA bit of jargon busting

• Social Media

All media is social, it is not media if it is not social

• Feedback loop

Redundant. Feedback already completes a loop

Before we proceed furtherA bit of jargon busting

• Social Media

All media is social, it is not media if it is not social

• Feedback loop

Redundant. Feedback already completes a loop.

• Web 2.uh oh

Evolution is inherent to products, it is not a philosophical paradigm shift.

Have you ever heard of a car 2.0 or a truck 2.0?

So, what is Participatory Media?

• It is about people being a part of the conversationthrough comments, forums, blogs

• It is something that widens the entry point for creation of content

through blogger, wordpress, wikipedia

• It is something that allows everyone to participate than the select few

Open for use (and abuse) by anyone with an internet connection

• It is something that amplifies your participation, mixes and mashes it up to create new contexts

Citizen Journalism, Citizens for Earth

The learning• Uptake has been good, but not spectacular

• 20% contribute, 80% consume, 5% stinks up the whole place for the 100%

• Expect the unexpected:

• In what will be said (good and bad)

• In how much will be said (average comment length, regulars )

• Inhow it will be said (local language comments)

The problem points• It is hard to scale participatory media

resource and time intensive

• Advertisers don't like it too much content can be very unpredictable

• Legal hasslescomments have generated legal notices and much ire at

times

• InconsistencyBoth in terms of quality and quantity

The FutureSometime towards end of 2007, on Wordpress.com, the top 3 blogs were

•http://icanhascheezburger.com

•http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com

•http://ihasahotdog.com/

The Future25 million page views per day on Wordpress.com alone

Hundred thousand posts made on a daily basis

10k users join every day

The FutureDiscovering content through peers

• Youtube is becoming the default mode of video/music content

• Shared between peers (email, IM, blogs)

• Usage led by context, than by brand (Google News)

• RSS readers/Twitter

Thank you