Author: Dan Blank

Making Digital Media More Personal

Many people enjoy print books, magazines and newspapers because of the personal meaning and behavior that is associated with them. Even for friends I know who fully embrace digital media, it is hard to replicate the feeling of spending a Sunday morning with The New York Times and a cup of coffee. Or, the feeling of hiding in a nook with a good book, and escaping the world. Hard to do that when reading a book on an iPad, when email, Twitter, Facebook and the entirety of the web, is merely a swipe away.

But I see the gap narrowing between the personal connection we have with print, and the personal connection we can have with digital media.

This morning, I’ve been checking out a new iPad app called Flipboard, which is a “social magazine” that presents social media content in a magazine-like format. See Robert Scoble’s in-depth review here. What I like about Flipboard so far is how it lives up to the iPad’s “lean back” philosophy – that reading magazine content is a casual and personal experience of discovery. A break from the day, not a drive towards digging and sharing in a Twitter-like manic fashion.

As publishers and media companies continue to feel pressure to innovate in the digital arena, while protecting their established revenue models, I want to consider how we establish personal connections with media. I’ve heard the statement again and again that nothing can replicate the feeling of holding a book, of putting it on your shelf, of looking at it for years – a validation and reminder of one’s experience with it. Perhaps this is a cognitive trophy of sorts? Or can we not admit that sometimes our bookshelves are a way to show off to visitors – how smart we are, how varied our interests. That they are physical manifestations of what we feel we know, what we have experienced, what we are passionate about. And let’s face it – nobody cares about how varied or extensive our RSS feeds are. Or how many Apps someone has.

Music has been a passion of mine for (eek!) decades. Beyond the music itself, records and CDs have always had personal meaning to me, which I described in a recent post about physical media vs lifestyle media.

For me, music is no longer about ownership. Instead, it is about experience, sharing, connection to the artist, connection to other fans, and personal filtering, be it by playlist or mashup.

As I play with Flipboard this morning, I am getting the sense that a similar evolution is happening with magazine content. I still subscribe to plenty of magazine – but more and more find myself reaching for my iPad. And with Flipboard, I’m wondering if it doesn’t have to be a choice between one or the other.

And that in the future, my relationship with magazines will be less about that quiet Sunday morning with a cup of coffee, and more about experiencing, sharing, commenting and filtering.

Arguments about the ‘death of print’ seem besides the point to me. I love physical media for all the obvious reasons, including some sentimental ones. But I don’t feel great about dumping a newspaper in a recycling bin everyday when I know I can read it on my iPad. And for all the calls that “printed books will NEVER die,” it seems more like a debate than us really just choosing to make personal choices as we each evolve as individuals.

In my life, I am realizing more and more that media is not about stuff. Quite frankly, I’m tired of dusting stuff. Rather, media for me is increasingly about experience and connection. And I have to say, my life feels fuller because of it.

Thanks!

-Dan

Perception: How An Idea Changes Reality

The movie Inception posits the following:

“What’s the most resilient parasite? An idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world, and rewrite all the rules.”

This sounds a lot like the mission of TED conferences:

“Ideas worth spreading.”

This can be seen in both a positive and negative way. I was amazed at the Steve Jobs performance last week during an Apple press conference. How he addressed the iPhone 4 antenna issue, by shifting our focus. When he used the word “antennagate,” I wondered if Jobs’ idea would take hold. That instead of people labeling this issue an Apple issue, they would label an antenna issue?

I couldn’t help but be amazed as Jobs didn’t stretch reality, but stretched our perception of it, or at least tried to. Dilbert creator Scott Adams commented on this as well, calling Jobs’ tactic the “higher ground maneuver.”

This is the opportunity and the challenge for companies in transition, for those whose business models have been disrupted by the web.

The ideas in the movie Inception are true. An idea is powerful. It can shape reality. It can change how information spreads. It shifts the course of our culture and changes our behavior and perceived value.

Ideas are an evolution. They are a birth, and sometimes, a death. I couldn’t help but view Inception in relation to 2001: A Space Odyssey. How is something born – how does it evolve? How does each relate to beginnings and endings?

The best example I can find is the double rainbow. An incredible video has been spreading around the web of a guy who sees a double rainbow.

His reaction is incredible in both its depth, and how it evolves. This is his reaction:

  • First: Surprise on discovering the rainbow.
  • Second: Celebration – he cheers the sky.
  • Third: Profound experience – he cries and questions “what does it mean?”

His reaction matters more than the actual thing. The rainbow – the inception of an idea – is neutral. How the world deals with it is what matters.

And this is the challenge for companies in transition: how they deal with opportunity. How they choose to – or not to – move their organizations forward.

Are you working towards building something new, riding a wave of new ideas? Or are you defending your brand from an attack, as your market shifts? How you perceive this situation will dictate your future – perception is reality.

Thanks!

-Dan

From Mix Tapes to Social Media – Lessons for Publishers

A couple weeks back, I explored the idea that media is turning from physical media, into lifestyle media – that media is becoming more about the experience, and less about the actual product of a book, record or magazine. One comment on that blog post was interesting:

“I still have books and CDs in my house. There’s some comfort in re-discovering a line or a tune on a Sunday afternoon. But, I’ve fully embraced the digital world — and have little to no need for physical things outside of my Sunday New York Times and my magazine subscriptions.”

Why do we love reading the Sunday Times in print, and relish dropping the needle on a record? What about this is psychologically comforting? Here are some ideas:

  • Focused Attention
    Many of us are overwhelmed with email, Facebook updates, and the millions of shoes we could be browsing on Zappos, or books to buy on Amazon. On the web, every piece of content leads to two more pieces of content, and so on. But a book is a single story. A record a single piece of music. It focuses our attention, allowing us to experience a single thing.

  • Sentimentality
    When you grow up with something, you often have a sentimental attachment to it. Even if you have no desire to own a rotary dial phone, you will still enjoy the memory of dialing a friend’s number on it when you were 13. Likewise, even a generation that didn’t grow up with something, can appreciate its retro appeal. There are tons of teenagers who are embracing vinyl records, even though they grew up in the age of MP3’s.

  • Form
    Yes, sometimes I look at my iPhone or my iPad and think: “I am Captain Kirk, this is the future!” A newspaper is less challenging. It is not a magic black box, it is just paper. There is something about it that says it should be appreciated leisurely over a cup of coffee.

  • Personal Connection
    In an age where social media makes every experience a shared experience, I can understand why some reject this in order to have a personal connection – a personal experience – with something, be it a book, a piece of music, or a magazine. The pressure to share, to influence or be influenced, can be too much sometimes.

These are powerful psychological reasons, and I am considering how they do or don’t evolve with digital media. EG: will our kids have this same attachment to a book – that personal connection? Will they too become sentimental about discovering a CD in the corner of some music shop in a distant city, and the anticipation of bringing it home – always keeping it as a treasured personal experience? Will they get sentimental about the first generation iPod, about viewing a web page that looks like it was created in 1998, and will MySpace become a retro trend in 5 years time?

I can’t bring myself to throw out mix tapes from high school. In reality, these are cheap, low quality cassette tapes that have already degraded over time. They are filled with 2nd generation copies of music off of other tapes. In fact – I haven’t owned a cassette player for years, so the likelihood of me every listening to them again is unlikely.

Objectively, there is little personal experience here. Some tapes I made myself, others were made for me by friends.

But like the web today – curation IS a form of self expression. Ownership of the original media was not the goal, the experience of lower-quality versions of songs from a friend was wildly more important.

A record company executive in the 1980’s would have hated this. They would have preached about the value of owning the official release of a piece of music – the higher sound quality, the collectability, the connection a fan needs with the artist. Mix tapes were the opposite, they were unofficial, low quality and about the connection between fans.

That same record company executive would have feared for the future of their industry because fans were copying and trading music freely. They would have lobbied Sony to keep a ‘record’ button off the Walkman, they would have pressured Maxell to keep the prices of blank cassettes at higher levels.

You see this happening today with digital rights management systems on eBooks, on music companies suing fans for file sharing. I’m not going to pretend that both of these issues aren’t very important – they are.

But when you see them as a risk, you miss the opportunity. The opportunity of fans sat up in their bedrooms in the 80’s, making mix tapes. How they extended what the music was, and made it personal.

That is why social media is critically important for the future of all media. Because fans have become empowered not just to consume, but to extend and create.

Thanks!

-Dan

The Anatomy of an Online Discussion

I witnessed something yesterday that showed a savvy use of media, connections and community – something that illustrates why nimble upstarts are gaining power on the web.

On most days, I watch a live interview on Mixergy.com, where Andrew Warner profiles an entrepreneurs. Yesterday, the person Andrew was going to interview had cancelled at the last minute. Here is the timeline of what happened next:

  • With about 10 people in the chat room watching the interview, Andrew simply left the camera on and began chatting with us. He answered questions we came up with, he talked about how he was still trying to make today’s interview happen, and talked about topics he was following on Twitter.
  • One of the topic he brought up was a back-and-forth exchange on Twitter between Matt Mullenweg, a founding developer of WordPress, and Chris Pearson, founder of Thesis theme for WordPress. I’ll spare you the details, but there is a debate about whether Chris’s Thesis theme should conform to the General Public License that WordPress does. A full explanation can be found here.
  • Then, Andrew had a flash – an idea. What if he can get both of them to call in to this live show right now. Andrew had interviewed both of them before, and was hoping he could serve as moderator for a civilized discussion. Twitter didn’t seem like the best place for the discussion, and that’s how they were currently going back and forth.
  • Andrew sent out a Tweet to both Matt and Chris, and some of us also asked them to consider Andrew’s offer. Andrew also had Matt and Chris in his Skype address book, and noticed that at least one of them was online at the moment.
  • Within minutes, Chris responded that he was game. Matt soon responded saying he would prefer not to. Andrew gave Matt another offer – to have a private conversation that Andrew would moderate, and if all parties agreed afterwards, then Andrew could share it with the world. A few minutes later, Matt agreed to the live interview, and we were rolling.
  • Andrew usually does live video interviews where the audience can view him and the interviewee in two separate panels on the screen, and a chat room is below it. For this, Andrew quickly setup an audio chat – so you heard Matt and Chris, but the video was only of Andrew moderating.
  • The discussion lasted an hour, with Andrew ensuring each person had the space to respond, and tried to ask clarifying questions to bring the two together. About 80 people were in the chat room – triple the normal amount, and news of the live show spread through Twitter and Matt & Chris’ communities quickly.

Here are some lessons I can pull from the experience:

Turn Failure Into Success
Andrew’s daily session started off as a failure. The interview he was supposed to have had cancelled, after a ton of work Andrew did to set it up. He was on the video with an audience, and had nothing. Instead of focusing on defeat or ‘what ifs,’ Andrew kept himself open, and let his curiosity explore new avenues. That expression about luck is true – Andrew looks for luck, and finds it.

Look For Opportunity, And Act On It
Andrew identified a key topic at a key moment, and took action even though (I thought) it would be unlikely to pull it together so quickly. But he did, and the result was a compelling online discussion.

Build Your Network Before You Need It
Before the idea to call Matt & Chris came up, Andrew was just chatting with the live audience. One point he made was how surprised he was that more people don’t do what he does – interview people – because it gives you so many great connections and such a large network. Then, minutes later when he had the idea to call Matt and Chris, he knew he could reach them because he had already interviewed each of them. Andrew seemed confident that Matt & Chris would respond to him, and sure enough, they did. Both of them already knew Andrew, and already trusted him. Here they are in the middle of a heated debate, and they trusted Andrew to moderate in a live chat. That says so much about the power of what Andrew has built.

Know Your Tools
Andrew has been doing these live interviews for a long time, and in doing so, has built up his skills to setup calls like this. Even though his normal interviews were two video panels, Andrew quickly setup an audio chat with Andrew on video as monitor. Watching him do this – it took moments for him to conceive the best way to do this. But from experience, I know that many people might hit a wall at that moment, and not think it’s possible to proceed simply because of their familiarity (or lack thereof) with the tools.

You can listen to the discussion between Matt, Chris and Andrew here.

Thanks!

-Dan

Publishers: Embrace Your Journey

In the movie Forrest Gump, there is a scene where Captain Dan (played by Gary Sinise) has reached his wits end. His life didn’t pan out as he expected, he felt he had a destiny, but instead, his journey took a different course. For years, he fought it, bitter.

When he reaches rock bottom, he is in the middle of a hurricane stuck out at sea on a boat. He climbs to the top of the mast, and challenges mother nature. For years, he rejected his journey, but suddenly, he is full of drive.

He survives the storm, and it becomes a catalyst for him to accept how things are, not how he expected them to be. And he moves on, building a fruitful life with what he has. In the end, he becomes wealthy, finds love, and even overcomes a disability.

In the same regard, publishers and media companies need to embrace change, not fight it and wish for “what they thought the future would be.”

I know that there are many in publishing who are working towards change, who are experimenting with new formats, new products, and new ways of relating to their audience.

But often, those people don’t get the support that is required to really turn the ship. They do great things with very few resources, but progress is slow. The problem with eeking along on one’s journey reluctantly is that it focuses on the wrong things.

The hero’s journey is less about the destination, than the journey itself. What we learn about ourselves, those around us, and the larger context of the world we live in.

What if Frodo never left The Shire?
What if Dorothy never left Kansas?
What if Luke never left Tattooine?

And if you think these are just fictional stories that don’t relate to the real-world challenges of shifting an industry the size of publishing, then consider: What if Steve Jobs sat home and counted his millions when he was fired from Apple in 1985, and never continued on his journey? What if Jeff Bezos never got in that car to Seattle, writing Amazon.com’s business plan on the way?

Be wary of the excuse of protecting existing business models. Because that can prevent a business from understanding their audience, and the scope of the world around them. It can prevent them from uncovering real value, real solutions, and real meaning in their industry.

Every week, I get to meet smart passionate people who work in publishing and media. People who are looking to the future, and appreciating the amazing things that are happening in the present. Some publishers have the vision. Some publishers have been experimenting with new media. In some ways, nearly all publishers are ‘working on it,’ trying to evolve carefully.

But the future is coming, quickly. Your audience is changing their behaviors, quickly. And new competitors are encroaching, quickly.

When considering your future, and the journey you are on, consider: If not now, when?

Thanks!

-Dan