NOTES FROM THE MEDIA REVOLUTION

How Twitter reminds to be fair

Recently a couple of events got me thinking about how social media shapes the way we debate, review and otherwise address each other in public. One was a rather negative tweet I was about to do about a particular musician and a recording he just released, when it occurred to me that he was actually following me, and I thought twice, and decided to moderate my view a bit. Another time I was at a conference and criticized the moderator on Twitter, and a few moments later he read it out loud on stage. I have actually started bringing my iPhone with me on stage when I do talks, and I use it to check and respond to tweets - so I was prepared for the exposure. But again I came to the realization, that if I had been talking in the hallway of the conference I might have been more radical in my criticism than I was on Twitter.

I guess there is nothing new in that - most people have always moderated statements in public or face to face with the person in question. What is new is the fact that communication is instant and everything can be broadcast to the world seconds after it leaves your brain (guess we all know that by know). In the past journalists would write their reviews, their op-ed’s and most likely be able to avoid direct confrontation with their “victim”. People would debate and write columns without ever standing face to face with each other.

Now it is different. Everyone can follow what others write about them, and reply instantly. I think this means two things: A. Most people will think twice and weigh if what they put out there is fair. B. The ones who don’t will be challenged.

It reminds me of my first job as a journalist. I worked at a tiny local newspaper north of Copenhagen. If I wrote something critical about the Major, I could be sure to have him on the phone first thing after the paper hit the streets - and I had better be prepared to argue my case. Others would simply turn up at my desk and start shouting. This taught me respect for people and facts, and to strive to be as fair and balanced as possible. The emergence of social media, and Twitter in particular, has dusted off that old basic rule of public rambling.

Here is a business model for Newspapers

One of the main things bugging traditional media folks at the moment is how to find a new business model, now that it has become apparent that the old business of collecting news and selling them does not really work anymore. Everyone can twit and blog about what they see, photograph and record out there in the world, and it is faster and more reliable than the old press.

I just gave a talk at the DONA (Danish Online News Association) 10 years anniversary conference last week on the future of journalism, and that forced me to actually structure my thoughts, and try to make a real analyses. One of the things I am certain of, is that the media corporations that survive in the future, are the ones who understand that you have to be a hub that makes it easy for people to find and manage all the vasts amounts of user generated journalism - instead of trying to position yourself as the proprietary producer of stories that can only be bought exclusively form you (there might be a business model for this but it is very niche).

Once again Google leads the way. In this interview Googles Eric Schmidt calls figuring out how to rank real-time social content is “the great challenge of the age”: http://bit.ly/2u0Jlm. Part of what he calls “real-time social content” is what old media is calling “breaking news”. In other words Google is working hard at becoming the best at collecting and organizing breaking news produced by all of us.

While most of us had no idea what Google was about to do first time around (I remember thinking it was a great service but too bad they would never make money), this time around the Newspapers and the rest of the media industry actually have a chance to compete. Why should the best brands in old media not be able to create a great search technology and future business model for breaking news?

Will they do it? I doubted very much. Right now most old media organisations and the people working there are extremely far from the innovative culture of silicon valley and web startups. But my point is that it is a matter of mindset. If they actually started to think the right way, and support the right strategies, they would have the brands and the muscle to compete with Google (and others) in the future.