TPC Web Plan 2013

D M A / T P C

F o r t M e a d e , M D

O c t o b e r , 2 0 1 3

A comprehensive plan for

TPC’s online, mobile and Social

Web future.

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“In order to effectively communicate our message, we must be communicating across all platforms, new and old. By creating richer, more interesting content, we can create a deeper connection with the American public, and nourish the growing news appetite, on our terms.”

– George Little, State of Public Affairs in the DoD, 7/25/2013

In 2012, a continued erosion of news reporting resources converged with growing opportunities for those in politics, government agencies, companies and others to take their messages directly to the public.

Newsmakers and others with information they want to put into the public arena have become more adept at using digital technology and social media to do so on their own, without any filter by the traditional media. They are also seeing more success in getting their message into the traditional media narrative.

– Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, State of the Media 2013

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Overview

We are witnessing sweeping changes throughout the media environment driven by what has been called “The Rise of the Visual Web.” It is a revolution in digital communication driven by mobile video and the “Social Web.” TPC is uniquely positioned to take advantage of these changes. To begin this process, and start shaping this strategy, TPC should merge pentagonchannel.mil into the DoD homepage (defense.gov).

In the current environment of undermanned news organizations and rising power of social media and mobile video, TPC is in a unique position to deliver DOD information into the public arena by tailoring its content to mobile video and social media. These two elements of the online world should play a key role in TPC’s future web-based plans within DMA’s overarching mission.

We are seeing what is being called “The Rise of the Visual Web.” We’ve seen rapid growth in visual-based social media such as Pinterest, Instagram and Vine as well as rapid growth in other mobile video and mobile news (see table at right). In 2012, online video accounted for more than 50% of all consumer web traffic for the first time ever.1

At the same time, we are seeing a revolution in what’s being called the Social Web2” – the ability of individual users to access and share content – making them potential “force multipliers” in our mission to deliver DoD information to a wider audience.

Audiences appear more focused on the subject of the content rather than what organization produced it.

This report proposes a short-term plan to update TPC’s current Web role and a

1 Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data traffic Forecast Update, 2012 - 2017

2 For the purposes of this paper, “Social Web” uses the definition from About.com: “The Social Web describes any

piece of technology, website, app or software that supports online communication between two or more people. This could come in the form of a social game, a social music streaming site, a social network, a video sharing platform or anything else that integrates social interaction into its services.”

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long-term strategy to prepare TPC to meet the challenges of this changing environment as a part of DMA’s overall strategy.

TPC content, and the way TPC delivers that content, must change to meet the realities of how our audience is accessing information. At the same time, TPC must maintain its current, traditional website users as it transitions to meet the needs of mobile video and social media platforms.

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Defining Our Audience

TPC’s audience is being redefined somewhat by the change in the mass media

environment.

For this report, we’ve identified our audience as these target groups:

Because of the power of the Social Web, the audience members we’ve labeled

“Influencers” can be used as a “force multiplier” to deliver DoD’s message to those

groups farther down the list – service members and the general public – often more

effectively than we can do directly. For example, some AFPS pages have higher

viewership rates than the landing page for defense.gov. This is indicative of readers

being sent to the individual article from outside sources such as hyperlinks in blogs or

commercial news websites.

We should take special note that the “Influencers” are likely to increasingly rely on

mobile data and mobile video for gathering information. It is likely that more and more

of their work is being done away from a desk.

•OSD Staff

•Other DoD Leaders

Civilian Defense Leaders

•Joint Staff

•Combatant Commanders

•Other Commanders

Military Leaders

•Reporters - General Interest

•Reporters - Trade/Defense Specific Media

•Bloggers

•Individual social media followers on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.

Influencers

Service Members & Military Families

General Public

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Likewise, the groups below them are part of the trend toward mobile data and mobile

video consumption. These are people who we ultimately want to share DoD PA

information across their personal social media feeds.

To take advantage of this force multiplier, we should focus on the ability of each group

listed above to utilize and re-use TPC videos.

In the long-term, this means delivering videos online and via mobile video in a way they

can be easily shared across social platforms. And it means TPC must focus on

producing videos that meet the best standards and practices of social media to

maximize sharing across the Social Web.

In reaching this goal, TPC’s Web presence should begin a transition that takes on the

look and feel of the Social Web. In the long-term, as this paper will outline, the structure

exists to allow TPC videos to merge relatively seamlessly into the fabric of the emerging

Social Web.

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Interim Plan

The current pentagonchannel.mil was designed for a different mission and a much

larger production staff. It assumed the production schedule TPC maintained before

budget and manpower cuts in 2012.

It was also structured to deliver content downrange to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan

using what was the cutting edge technology of the last decade; for instance, TPC

utilized live streams of its broadcast signal delivered on a webpage and video podcasts

of its programming to reach troops who might not be able to pick up a television signal

at a forward operating base.

Iraq is long since behind us and Afghanistan in the process of a drawdown. Likewise

TPC’s strategy, and the technology used to deliver content, has been overtaken by

changes in the way our audience chooses to receive information.

TPC must prepare now for the next time troops are sent downrange – wherever and

whenever that may be. To do that, TPC must deliver content in a method consistent

with how its audience chooses to receive content.

Desktop and laptop computers have given way to mobile devices just as traditional

broadcast, cable and satellite television has given way to video on demand, mobile

videos and mobile apps. Content itself must reflect the influences of social media.

In the long-term, we propose doing away with pentagonchannel.mil and integrating

TPC’s Web presence into defense.gov. Public Web is already at work on this plan –

scheduled to take effect around the end of 2014.

But we propose an interim plan to help with the transition – both in the way we present

content and in the way we move current TPC Web users to the new platform. This way,

TPC maintains its current Web audience while transitioning them over a year or more to

defense.gov.

The next page features a mockup of what this new, defense.gov/pentagonchannel

would look like.

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Highlights of the TPC page

on defense.gov:

1) Top Story of the day

prominently featured in

larger, centrally placed

player window.

2) Main body features

latest stories, links to

latest original program

uploads and links to

live coverage. Stories

can be moved around

for greater

prominence, keeping

top stories on top.

3) Live Streaming player. Users can click to watch TPC’s streaming broadcast feed

and click to make it full screen.

4) Icons linking to archived show pages – TPC News, Briefings and Speeches,

Recon, etc.

Here’s how the interim or short-term plan would work:

TPC will continue uploading video to DVIDs, RSS feeds will show the uploads in

boxes on defense.gov/pentagonchannel. The long-term plan would be to shift

content storage to a cloud-based, DMA source to take ownership of our content

storage.

Users going to pentagonchannel.mil will be redirected to

defense.gov/pentagonchannel. This page will replace the current Pentagon

Channel tab on defense.gov.

The defense.gov/pentagonchannel page will feature a column of icons on the

right-hand side of the page linking to archived show pages maintained in the

current pentagonchannel.mil playlists at DVIDS,

The defense.gov/pentagonchannel page will allow for the upload of still images

and text-only content allowing content managers to provide links to breaking

stories or live events -- eliminating the need for creating labor intensive rotators

on the current pentagonchannel.mil site.

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Why Change?

The current pentagonchannel.mil page was – as mentioned earlier – designed for a

different mission and different audience expectations.

This interim plan provides a site that is more in line with the way our audience is likely to

use the Internet today – with an emphasis on social media, ease of sharing our content

on their social media feeds. Each story box features one click sharing.

Moving it to defense.gov also improves the one-voice goals of DMA – to place DoD-

related video on the DoD’s main website.

In addition, it offers qualities of appearance, flexibility and mobility that work well with

the emerging Social Web structure and how users recognize content in that

environment:

APPEARANCE

The look is clean, uncluttered and full of big, bright images arranged in an organized, but non-rigid

format that allows users’ eyes to float over it naturally.

Emphasis on visuals – features

large stills or video thumbnails.

“Fully stocked” effect – the large

size of the boxes give the users the

idea that there is a lot of fresh

content here.

FLEXIBILITY

It allows for editorial control and mixed

media.

Easily curated – gives TPC content

managers the ability to reposition

stories to keep top news at the

top – (the current model puts the

most recently uploaded story on

top and can bury the big news

story of the day).

Allows for inclusion of still images,

text stories and other content in

addition to videos.

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Ability to add greater detail to text captions beneath video thumbnails to promote live events

or tie in with content from another DMA division such as links to AFPS articles.

MOBILITY

It translates content to work across almost all digital platforms.

Focuses on immediacy – emphasis on delivering the most up to date message (the current

platform – pentagonchannel.mil – has a much greater emphasis on archiving).

Allows users to easily share TPC videos on major social media platforms – Twitter, Facebook,

etc.

Stronger TPC Presence on defense.gov

To make defense.gov users more aware of TPC videos, and to drive users to the

defense.gov/pentagonchannel page, TPC’s presence on the defense.gov home page

should be enhanced.

We should modify the

TPC box on the

defense.gov homepage to

feature two thumbnails;

one to linking to the top

story of the moment and a

second linked to the TPC

broadcast stream. (See

detail at right).

Clicking on either of these

icons would take the user

to the top story or the

broadcast stream,

respectively. Clicking on

the box’s top bar – The

Pentagon Channel …

More> -- would take users

to defense.gov/

pentagonchannel.

A direct link to the broadcast stream benefits our audience. The great majority of

people looking for TPC’s stream come looking during major announcements TPC is

carrying live. With the exception of graduations at the various military academies, this

interest peaks for live coverage of major briefings by the Secretary of Defense or other

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Defense leaders. It should be prominently featured on the Defense Department’s

website so that it can be easily found.

This change would also bring TPC’s presence more in line with the look of the Special

Feature and Photos boxes on the defense.gov home page. (see image below).

The TPC box should also be moved up on the defense.gov homepage to take

advantage of the growth in audience interest in mobile video.

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Long Term Web Plan

Public Web has pretty much written the technical aspects of the long-term plan for

TPC’s Web presence. These are in line with Director Ray Shepherd’s “One Voice”

vision outlined earlier this year. It also embraces concepts of the Social Web. First let’s

take a look what a re-imagined defense.gov/news page may look like:

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Emphasis on the Social Web

In addition to traditional print, still photo, video and Web content, this layout addresses

the changes in the way our audience receives and consumes information. There is a

strong emphasis on mobile apps, social media and mobile video.

1) “Social Web Bar” -- offers links to defense.gov mobile apps for the most popular

devices.

2) “News Bar” – On the first two-

thirds of the bar, a constantly

changing News Ticker,

powered by TPC’s on-screen

ticker, AFPS’s headline RSS

and other sources of headline

text feeds. The remaining third

of the bar is a traditional

Navigation Bar allowing one-

click access to AFPS, TPC,

Web Specials, Photos, and

Live coverage.

3) “Lead Story of the Day” –

features a powerful still image

and headline, that hyperlinks to

the “Story Page” which

features all print, video, and

other media on a single story

(more on the Story Page later).

4) “Social Media Dashboard” –

takes users to DoD’s social

media pages, YouTube and to

TPC’s live stream.

5) “Features Dashboard” – links to Photo Essays, Special Web Reports from

defense.gov and the TPC Video page (which utilizes the short term page design

mentioned in the previous section of this report).

6) “News Articles” – AFPS headlines hyperlink to the “Story Page” for that particular

story.

7) “Social Media Stream” – powered by a social media aggregator, it brings in all DoD

social media feeds – Facebook, Twitter, Vine, Instagram – into a single box showing

the latest information coming from DoD.

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The message takes precedent over the messengers

The long-term plan would shift focus from the individual entities within DMA delivering

DoD’s message – to the message itself. And make audience wants and needs for DoD

information a top priority.

That’s the basis of the Story Page. Clicking on a headline takes users to a single page

where all DoD media coverage on the story is centered.

This image shows how a

Story Page may look –

similar to major

commercial news

organization’s online

pages. In this example,

the story Defense

Secretary Chuck Hagel’s

joint Pentagon news

briefing with New

Zealand Defense

Minister Jonathan

Coleman.

A TPC video news story

features a large

thumbnail, and brief

description.

Immediately below, a

truncated version of the

AFPS print story on the

same event. Users can

click a “Read More” link

to expand for the full

print article.

In the right hand column,

hyperlinked thumbnails

to a photo slideshow of stills snapped at the event and the full-length news briefing

video from TPC.

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Below that, the DoD social media stream of relevant posts related to the event. And

finally, a link to biographies of the principals involved in the event – in this case,

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

Clicking on any of these options will bring up content that has one click sharing so the

content can be easily sent to the audience member’s social media feeds or embedded

in a blog or website.

Combining different media coverage of a single story into the same space – allows the

audience members to choose the media they want. Overall, the plan makes it easier for

the “Influencers” and other individual audience members to share DMA content in a

variety of ways over the social media networks of their choosing.

This is a brief synopsis of how it would work as explained by Director of Public Web Les

Benito.

TPC’s future Web presence

This design is in line with the way our audience uses content. They don’t care so much

about what organization created the content – they are interested in the content they

want and about the event they want to know about.

We must also assume that this plan will be shaped by the demands and opportunities

presented by the “Rise of the Visual Web” and the “Social Web” to make all the

individual pieces of content on these pages readily sharable.

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TPC & the Social Web

The long-term plan described above creates a Web portal. Beyond that, it lays the

framework in which TPC will serve as DoD’s mobile video platform.

While TPC will remain a traditional television broadcast platform, it should be conscious

at all times of ways to make its content – both live and VOD – more Social Web-friendly.

In the past, TPC has simply re-purposed its television products for use on the Web.

With the rise of mobile video, TPC must start thinking differently in how it creates video

content so that content is “multi-purpose” – suited for multiple screens from TV sets to

desktop computers to tablets and mobile phones – and focus on ways to deliver that

content in ways our audience is choosing to receive it.

In recent years, the broadcast industry has been filled with talk of the “second screen” –

the idea that broadcasters should try to engage TV viewers who are on their computer,

tablet or smartphone while watching television.

TPC and DMA should develop a content style in which the Second Screen approach becomes the “First Screen.” The understanding that our audience chooses to use a variety of screens – mobile devices, computers, tablets, smartphones and mobile apps – will be a focus of how each TPC product is developed, created, branded and executed.

While the broadcast program for television will stand on its own, it actually is part of the overall support for the DoD mobile app.

DMA Mobile App

Beyond placing videos in social media, the most obvious way for DMA to utilize TPC on

the Social Web would be with the creation of a defense.gov mobile app. The goal of a

DMA/DoD mobile app must look beyond simply delivering content. It must also aim to

for engage our audience, further knowledge and interact with users so they can interact

with the platforms of their choice and present an appetite to be more in the know

through this approach. TPC video could play an important role with that.

The app should feature alerts about live events, so users can choose to watch live

coverage from TPC on their mobile device or follow live Tweets of the event from DMA’s

Social Media Division.

Quick connection between mobile video and the social streams from Twitter and

Facebook will allow us to capitalize on the social interaction during a broadcast to

encourage engagement from both casual and dedicated viewers.

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Through the use of tags, the app could be designed to bring up related content – a

viewer watching a news story on the Secretary’s briefing could be offered a single click

option of watching the full briefing, seeing a photo gallery of the event or reading the

AFPS article on the event – effectively mirroring the re-worked defense.gov During a

2001 proof of concept experiment for a second screen plan, TPC produced 13 media

products from two interviews and b-roll shoots for “Command Performance” (list

attached as an appendix to this paper).

Any such app should also feature TPC’s full video feed and the ability for users to easily

and quickly share those TPC videos on prime social media sites or embed them in a

blog from the user’s mobile device.

TPC & Mobile Video

Both industry and independent surveys show people are watching more video online

and watching those videos for a longer time. Mobile devices – both phones and tablets

– appear to be driving this trend. These are important facts to consider when planning

DMA’s future efforts to reach its audience and the role TPC can play in that outreach.

Here are some figures to consider:

More than half of all Americans with a mobile device have used it sometime in the last

24 hours to

get news.3

And as

mentioned

earlier in

this paper,

“In 2012,

online

video

accounted

for over 50

percent of

all

consumer

web traffic for the very first time ever, making it the most significant year yet for online

video consumption.”4

3 Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, September 27, 2012

4 Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Traffic Forecast Update, 2012 -2017

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Predicted Rise of Mobile Video Volume

The average smartphone generated about 342 MB of monthly traffic in 2012, and that

number is

expected to

skyrocket up to

2.7 GB in

2017.5

This indicates a

789% increase

in traffic to

smartphones,

suggesting

mobile videos –

which have a

greater “gross

tonnage”

among data –

to play a major

part in this

expected

growth over the

next four years.

In 2010, early into the so-called “Rise of the Visual Web,” the Poynter Institute analyzed

mobile video users and found: “Mobile users are socializing, multitasking, and passing

time.”6

This behavior is indicative of a large swath of our perceived audience – particularly the

“Influencers” and individual social media users within the general public we should enlist

as force multipliers in sharing DMA/TPC content.

At the time, the Poynter analysis also said: “And they’re [mobile users] conscious of

data rates and battery life, so they want it fast.”7

That has changed.

More recent numbers suggest the proliferation of Wi-Fi-enabled mobile devices and free

Wi-Fi___33 and longer battery life have eaten away at many of these concerns.

5 Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Traffic Forecast Update, 2012 -2017

6 10 Questions to Help You Craft a Mobile Strategy (Before It’s Too Late), Poynter, May 24, 2010

7 Ibid

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Watching Live Events on Mobile Devices

Users are

spending

more time

watching live

video on their

mobile

devices. For

instance,

tablet users

watch video

in patterns

similar to

those of

traditional TV

audiences –

as shown in

the image at

right.8

And a study by Motorola found tablet owners watch 6.7 hours of online content every

week. Non-tablet owners watched only 5.5 hours per week.9

This suggests live content carried on TPC could find a welcome audience on mobile

devices.

And -- considering the numbers in the graphic at right10 -- if given a choice, users appear to favor live content over video on demand on their mobile devices.

While this ratio may skew to trends in Asia, those usage habits tend to migrate across the Pacific along with the hardware available in the region.

8 Ooyala Q1 2013 Video Index, Metrics from 200-million unique viewers in 130 countries

9 Fourth Annual Motorola Media Engagement Barometer

10 Ooyala

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Tailoring TPC News Videos for the Social Web

Changes in technology from color cameras to videotape have altered the look of

traditional broadcast television throughout its history. Commercial news programs are

increasingly taking on a look to mimic the look of online, mobile and social video.

While retaining its traditional television mission, TPC must look at adapting its videos to

fit in with the Social Web.

TPC producers should create content with an eye on how the finished product will fit into realm of the Social Web – particularly as mobile video or as a post to Facebook, YouTube, blogs or other social media sites.

That means TPC News videos must balance TV appearance with the needs of smaller screens of mobile devices.

Use of larger, simpler graphics.

Blending still photos with video.

More reliance on b-roll over talking heads.

Faster pacing when possible.

Guidelines should follow standards and practices similar to these, outlined by Digimarc: “[Mobile videos should] create payoffs which are mobile-optimized. A payoff that is difficult to view and interact with on the [mobile device’s] screen creates a poor user experience. Pay-offs should be engaging, but they don’t need to be complicated.”11

TPC should consider targeting high-profile reports for this treatment – particularly those news reports on the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and other senior leaders, events or stories of particular interest to DoD.

It should also consider aesthetic, staffing and technical changes to make TPC videos more suited to a broad spectrum of media platforms beyond television. These should include:

Creating a producer position dedicated to leadership or other top story packages

specifically assigned to this style of cross-platform packages.

Creating these packages in addition to quick-turn VO/SOTs covering the same

story.

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Digimarc Discover Implementation Guide

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Deploying a new graphics package, relying on larger, simpler and animated

graphics more readily visible on smaller mobile screens.

Promoting the longer, mobile/Social Web-ready stories to DMA’s Social Media

division.

In the end, TPC can build a flexible, multi-platform future for TPC’s video and live

coverage capabilities.

The end goal should be to create video and live event coverage that works effectively

across traditional television, Web, mobile and Social Web platforms.

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Appendix A

Command Performance Second Screen

Content list from 2011 Proof of Concept

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Command Performance Second Screen

Outline of products and their descriptions

A. Command Performance: Eric Church (0) Standard Command Performance episode: Country performer Eric Church talks about his

Grammy nomination and the possibility of doing a USO tour in 2012.

a) SECOND SCREEN ITEMS:

1. Eric Church iPhone Message: Eric Church sends a personal video message to MC2

Michael Wilken’s wife via iPhone video

2. Behind the Scenes: See what goes on behind the scenes during our raw interview with

Eric Church

3. Around the Services story: Watch the Around the Services story about our interview

with Eric Church

4. Photos: Screen grabs and photos of Eric Church during the interview and with the crew

afterwards

B. Command Performance: Josh Gracin (0) Standard Command Performance episode: Josh Gracin talks about the challenges in being

an active duty Marine while he competed on American Idol.

b) SECOND SCREEN ITEMS:

1. Acoustic performance: Josh performs an acoustic version of his new single “Can’t Say Good-

bye”

2. Behind the Scenes: See what goes on behind the scenes as the Command Performance crew

tapes Josh Gracin’s acoustic performance of “Can’t Say Good-bye.”

3. Around the Services Story: Watch the story from Around the Services about our interview

with Josh Gracin.

4. Photos: See photos and screen shots of Josh during the interview, during his acoustic

performance and with the crew afterwards

5. Social Media: Screen capture of photo and write up posted to Pentagon Channel’s

Facebook page after the interview

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C. Additional Second Screen Items (Can be added to either Gracin or Church content or dropped into a

separate, standard BTW page)

1. Bleu Knows Boots: Cowboy Bleu has sold boots to Nashville and Hollywood celebrities. He

shows us his autographs and tells stories about his old friend, the late Jerry Reed.

2. Banjo Man: Music Row lures people who want to be stars, and people who need to pay the bills.

We talk with one of the people who play for tips on the street – and he shows us his banjo skills.

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