New Media Academic Summit: What's Next

The last session of the conference featured:

David Weinberger, Harvard Berkman Center

Steve Rubel, Edelman

Peter Spande, Federated Media

David: identified major theme of "loosening of boundaries." As an example he pointed to Richard Edelman's concept of public engagement. It would be a mistake to think that's the same as WOM marketing -- public engagement means you don't know what the outcome is going to be; it's open-ended, and you have to be open to change because of it. Otherwise you're just pushing messages through. That removes a big boundary from the old public relations process. Another example: how do you handle when people post negative stuff on your own site? In a hyperlinked world the boundaries of your business are automatically transgressed. Maybe boundaries will re-form, but maybe not -- the erasing of boundaries is the new state. It's a far messier world, and that's good; there are benefits as well as problems with that. Another effect is on authority, and the old basis of authority is wiped away. Trusting "people like me" is efficient, although it can also be small-minded. Finally, metadata creates a new condition for trust and authority.

Steve: It's really easy to be wrong in predicting what's next. Two examples of when he was wrong: first, Second Life -- "digital marketing's Vietnam." Went in with guns blazing, and Rubel said they should be there, and that turned out to be wrong. Second, Twitter -- thought it was going nowhere, but that was wrong. With that caveat in mind:

Trends and directions

• Social as a "thing" -- every Web site and experience will have some kind of social aspect to it, i.e. see what reviewers have said on Amazon.com, but also what they've said on other platforms. 
• Search within social networks and trends from friends. 
• Semantic Web -- example: CNET ratings within Google search results
• Tangible forms of media will be gone by 2012, or 2013 (movies, digitally downloaded games, Kindle, etc.) 
• Mobile is going to be huge; the geolocation technology will connect online and offline
• Utility -- people visit an average of 111 domains a month; that funnel is not big, and people will have to break through by creating utilities that people can use in their daily lives 

Peter: (missed the first part of his talk, this is from Q&A) early marketing was similar in principle 300 years ago; advent of broadcasting changed advertising. At some point the boxes/spaces/time given to marketing versus time given to the content creator is going to get more and more fuzzy. (Steve: monetizing content and community -- social networks will not make big money from advertising; where they will make money is in data.) Marketing budgets are going to Web site development, subsidizing content, etc. rather than TV or print ads. There are so many options for entertainment, education, etc. that you have to create compelling content -- students now in their future jobs will have to make that connection in an authentic and genuine way.

Comments

[Richard Bailey]

That's very good. I met David Weinberger last year and remember thinking he's the most intelligent person I'd ever come across (and that includes some Cambridge professors: the old Cambridge, not the one on the Charles River...).

[Karen Russell]

Yes, I was looking forward to his presentation the whole time. Last time he spoke at the summit (the first year, which I watched on video) he said that he wasn't sure we should be teaching social media to marketers, so I wondered what he'd say this year. I like the loose boundaries concept -- would like to see/hear him elaborate on it.