Social Networks and the Media

Bill Thompson

bill@andfinally.com

Why me?• Technology critic

– Writer, pundit, journalist– Regular BBC contributor

• Tame geek– Professional programmer– Systems administration, web developer

• Pundit and commentator– Trying to see where we are going– Looking at the future that is already here

Time for reflection

• The world has changed– We can feel it in the wind– We can see it on the screens– We can hear it from the iPhones

• We can join the ‘world has changed’ Facebook group

New Strategies are Needed

• From communique to conversation– Two way media require different skills

• Rapid pace of innovation– Twitter Seesmic Buzzspotr Qik.tv

• User-generated content– And user-generated services and interaction

• Who needs television was yesterday’s question– Who needs media websites?

Qik TV

It’s All Relative

• The world changed in 1907– Special relativity– Quantum theory

• It changed again in 2007– Facebook / MySpace / Bebo– Twitter / Dopplr / Seesmic

• Web 2 is a revolution– Take it seriously

Getting Lost in Web 2.0

Defining Social Network Sites

• We define social network sites as web-based services that allow individuals to – construct a public or semi-public profile within a

bounded system, – articulate a list of other users with whom they

share a connection, and – view and traverse their list of connections and

those made by others within the system.

• The nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site.

Long time coming

• Older communities like The Well– Some but not all characteristics

• Early attempts– Friendster– SixDegrees (1997-2001)

• Social networking today– Happening in a Web 2.0 world– Net using population large and growing– Access easy and cheap (in the West)

New Ways of Being

• Web 2.0 and SNS– Self-published content– Sharing, linking and embedding– Cross-references– Tagging and folksonomies

• Richer environment than before– Often spread over multiple sites and services

The New World

• Impact goes far beyond media– Affects our sense of self– Changes what it is to be ‘me’

• Importance goes beyond individual SNS– Facebook may decline, but the world has changed

• Understanding it will be hard– Social science approach– Discourse analysis– Ethnomethodology

Today’s Plays

• Media desperation– Have a presence anywhere they can– Get content in front of people– Hope some of it sticks

Worldwide

Not just the BBC..

No Connection

• The BBC has no direct link to audience– No billing relationship– Research tries to fill the gap

• Used to know who visited bbc.co.uk– No longer true

• The social networks own the audience– YouTube sees the profiles– Bebo gets the page views– Facebook serves the ads

Don’t Panic

• Remember the 15 Principles– Treat the entire web as a creative canvas: don’t

restrict your creativity to your own site (#5).– Link to discussions on the web, don’t host

them: only host web-based discussions where there is a clear rationale (#14)

• We don’t need myFaceBBCeBo

Life on the Social Web

• Let’s look at my online life…– Bit of an early adopter (1984)– Willing to play and learn– Some degree of technical understanding

• Boundaries increasingly blurred– Email, web, social sites, applications…

Widgets and the world

• The links are vital– Easy connections– Emergent social networks

• The technology is permissive– Open up APIs – Develop widgets– Encourage cross-pollination

Twitter

• What you are doing in 140 characters

• Follow and be followed

• Immersive, evanescent, compelling

• The micro-community– A shared conversation

Where do the media fit?

• Get news from the main sites– Links and references from friends– Postings from blogs– URLs in tweets

• The BBC home page matters less– True for other sites too…

Bloglines

Where do you fit?

Threat.. or Opportunity?

• The conversation needs content– We discuss news stories, TV programmes,

films, politics

• Traditional media is a starting point– Can also keep the conversation lively

• The commercial model is less obvious– We don’t know how to make money out of

Web 2.0 either

A Free Content Movement?

• Like Free Software– Develop code– Give it away– Make money on service, support and the rest

• Can the media work like this?– Could it justify the licence fee or something

similar?– Will it attract advertisers?

Too Open?

• SNS encourage openness– Challenges our idea of privacy– Creates serious issues for journalism– May affect job prospects and relationships

• An inevitable conseqence?– Or do we want to step back?

• Applies at an organisational level too…

Biased BBC?

Good Research?

Tomorrow’s BBC

• Never mind ‘Future Media and Technology’

• What about ‘Future Audiences’?– Need to follow their behaviour– Need to spot new trends– Need to stay with them

Watching Spooks

TVersity

TVersity

We decide the future

• Sometimes SF doesn’t predict– It inspires

• For example– Wm Gibson and

Cyberspace– Minority Report and

gestural interfaces

Imagine Tomorrow’s Media

• Growth of SNS– Blurring of online/offline boundaries– Destination sites less important– Aggregators provide pointers to content

• Lose the home page– Content sits on servers – Available to all for linking and embedding– Feeds the continuous conversation

• There’s no newspaper there, it’s everywhere.

Be there too

• Join other people’s conversations– In blogs and photo feeds and websites– In chatrooms and virtual worlds– Across the social network sites

• Be part of the debate– Don’t try to own the conversation– Don’t assume people will come to you

• Don’t look for simplicity– We still don’t know where this is going

Don’t forget to play

• Watch the skies– Get there first with the cool stuff– Experiment and take risks– Move fast, spend little

• Join the sites– Learn how they work– Share your experiences

The new model

“be there, for everyone, everywhere”

or perhaps

Making the unlinkable, linkable

Thank You