Participatory Participatory Media: The Media: The view from view from

insideinside

June 07, 2008

about: self

Who: Shyam Somanadh (aka codelust)

What: Erratic writer/blogger since 1999 and a platform junkie

Why: Economics grad, trained in journalism, fascinated by technology

Where: With Network18 since 2005; job profile: principal enabler

WWW: http://fatalerror.in http://twitter.com/codelust

about: scope

• What: Participatory media

• How: Our experience in participating in it

• Where: On http://www.ibnlive.com

• A bit about the product

• Our learning

• Problems we faced

• End-user perspective

• Your questions

But…

We thought this event was about Social Media?

But…

We thought this event was about Social Media?

AND

But…

We thought this event was about Social Media?

AND

What on earth is this participatory media?

I CAN HAS MY SOCIAL MEDIA PLZ?

First

A fair warning *

* Do not attempt this stunt at your Web 2.0 household

Because. This. Could. Hurt.

Brace for impact

Ready?

Here we go

There is nothing called social media

Once more, louder & clearer

There is nothing called social media

WTF?

BUT..

WTF?

BUT…. WHY??

Social Media does not exist because

• The converse would then have to hold true

Social Media does not exist because

• The converse would then have to hold true

• That rest of the media is asocial or antisocial

Social Media does not exist because

• The converse would then have to hold true

• That rest of the media is asocial or antisocial

• Any media, by nature, is social

Social Media does not exist because

• The converse would then have to hold true

• That rest of the media is asocial or antisocial

• Any media, by nature, is social

• You write about people/events, which are consumed by more people

Social Media does not exist because

• The converse would then have to hold true

• That rest of the media is asocial or antisocial

• Any media, by nature, is social

• You write about people/events, which are consumed by more people

• Ergo, something that is not social, is not media

Going Further…

• There really is no ______ Media

Going Further…

• There really is no ______ Media

• There is only Media

Going Further…

• There really is no ______ Media

• There is only Media

• Which delivers content created by someone - about someone or something

Going Further…

• There really is no ______ Media

• There is only Media

• Which delivers content created by someone - about someone or something

• That is finally consumed by an individual, group or groups

Going Further…

• There really is no ______ Media

• There is only Media

• Which delivers content created by someone - about someone or something

• That is finally consumed by an individual, group or groups

• ______ Media is the classic Bollywood 'zara-hat-ke' (it is different) approach to product differentiation

What is Participatory Media?

• It is about people being a part of the conversation

What is Participatory Media?

• It is about people being a part of the conversation

• It is something that widens the entry point for creation (blogger, wordpress, livejournal, tumblr) of content

What is Participatory Media?

• It is about people being a part of the conversation

• It is something that widens the entry point for creation (blogger, wordpress, livejournal, tumblr) of content

• It is something that allows everyone to participate than the select few (comments, forums, blogs)

What is Participatory Media?

• It is about people being a part of the conversation

• It is something that widens the entry point for creation (blogger, wordpress, livejournal, tumblr) of content

• It is something that allows everyone to participate than the select few (comments, forums, blogs)

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

Our Story: the bulleted version

• IBNLive.com started in December 2005 as the online presence of CNN-IBN

• We wanted it to be different: based both on belief and business necessities

• The traditional television establishment did not 'grok' the Internet

• But they realized it was the future and backed us fully and wholeheartedly

• We have done a fair bit, but we still have a long way to go

Our Story: the product

• Pushed user comments as a must-have, than as an optional extra

• Introduced blogging (internal and external) from day one

• Introduced podcasts

• Your Voice: The news in your voice

• Introduced topic/theme-based blogging

• Flagship initiative: Citizen Journalism

• Public Ka Kaptaan for cricket

Our Story: the learning

• Uptake has been good, but not spectacular

Our Story: the learning

• Uptake has been good, but not spectacular

• If you are in it for the traffic, then get out and stick to the usual suspects

Our Story: the learning

• Uptake has been good, but not spectacular

• If you are in it for the traffic, then get out and stick to the usual suspects

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

Our Story: the learning

• Uptake has been good, but not spectacular

• If you are in it for the traffic, then get out and stick to the usual suspects

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

• Brands matter a lot: Established names get excellent recall/repeat traffic

Our Story: the learning

• Uptake has been good, but not spectacular

• If you are in it for the traffic, then get out and stick to the usual suspects

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

• Brands matter a lot: Established names get excellent recall/repeat traffic

• People matter a lot: Consuming news is a habit; switching that is hard to pull off

Our Story: the learning

• Uptake has been good, but not spectacular

• If you are in it for the traffic, then get out and stick to the usual suspects

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

• Brands matter a lot: Established names get excellent recall/repeat traffic

• People matter a lot: Consuming news is a habit; switching that is hard to pull off

• Expect the unexpected:o In what will be said (good and bad)o In how much will be said (average comment length, regulars )o In how it will be said (local language comments)

The users’ story

• Remuneration: should we not get paid?

The users’ story

• Remuneration: should we not get paid?

• Copyright: should we not 'own' our content?

The users’ story

• Remuneration: should we not get paid?

• Copyright: should we not 'own' our content?

• Liability: sites indemnify themselves, liability rests with the commenter

The Challenges

• It is hard to scale participatory media (resource and time intensive)

The Challenges

• It is hard to scale participatory media (resource and time intensive)

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

The Challenges

• It is hard to scale participatory media (resource and time intensive)

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

• Legal hassles: comments have generated legal notices and much ire at times

The Challenges

• It is hard to scale participatory media (resource and time intensive)

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

• Legal hassles: comments have generated legal notices and much ire at times

• Inconsistency: Both in terms of quality and quantity

The Challenges

• It is hard to scale participatory media (resource and time intensive)

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

• Legal hassles: comments have generated legal notices and much ire at times

• Inconsistency: Both in terms of quality and quantity

• Next steps: Where do we go from here?

The greatest challenge

for both ______ Media proponents and the non-believers is this:

The greatest challenge

for both ______ Media proponents and the non-believers is this:

The greatest challenge

for both ______ Media proponents and the non-believers is this:

How do you – as an established media entity or otherwise – compete with funny speaking dogs and cats for prominence in the same

space?

Questions?

Thank you