|
Interview with Robert Brown, President at RDB Consulting
(Editor's Note: When we saw the title of the "white paper" that RDB Consulting Firm Inc. founder Robert Brown helped write, "Silent Presses: The Future of Print Media," ...well, that said it all, "Silent Presses," and Mr. Brown sounded like a guy whose views we'd like to hear. So here they are.)
 Do social media have much of an impact in your consulting business in how your staff works or how the public relates to you?
I do not yet have a FaceBook page, and I am still learning how to use Twitter effectively, but I use LinkedIn constantly. I especially like to use it before an interview, so that the person's background is fresh in my mind when I meet them.
Do you foresee much impact from social media in major news operations such as newspapers and TV news, or in the future of journalism generally?
Yes, in our white paper, Silent Presses, I interviewed Mike Orren, the founder and manager of Pegasus News, a blog web site dedicated to local news and culture in Dallas, Texas. Orren is a very sophisticated practitioner of web analytics, really a pioneer in this field starting several years ago, and by now he has it down to an art. He uses the data to determine the content most relevant to Pegasus News readers. I plan to drill down in more detail how web analytics can be used to increase online advertising revenue in a future article, but, as we illustrate in Silent Presses, sophisticated use of Web analytics can be used to pinpoint customers. Web analytics will soon drive major news operations as well. Web analytics is the mechanism that will drive the proliferation of targeted messaging across the web to users via the ever-growing array of social media tools, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Digg and so forth. Orren calls this convergence of media into one vast network “Web 3.0.” The idea of a single website as a source of content is quickly becoming archaic. As Orren says in Silent Presses, “With Web 3.0, it no longer matters where the information lives. Once you post something, it will be quickly disseminated via social networks to those users who care about the information.”
There seems to be a quick turnover/burnout rate in Twitter and devices such as Facebook and YouTube seem used mainly by the young. Whether these devices can become or remain profitable is in doubt. Do you see these as permanent limitations on the scope of social media?
I am not sure I agree with your first statement. I’ve read that people over 40 are one of the fastest growing user segments for FaceBook. Increasingly, businesses and non-profit agencies are building Facebook sites. Twitter is a little more challenging to those of us who did not grow up texting on a mobile phone, but just yesterday I read Jack and Suzy Welch’s column in Business Week extolling the benefits of Twitter. If Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, is tweeting, you can be sure the rest of corporate America is fast on his heels.
Today’s headlines are about the results of yesterday’s presidential election in Iran, and the big story there is that the first thing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s ruling government did to squelch opposition protests was to shut down Facebook and turn off cell phone communications.
In 2008 social media in the U.S. reached a tipping point coincident with the election of Barack Obama. We have all read the stories or experienced how the Obama campaign so skillfully mobilized thousands of volunteers via social media.
I believe that social media represents a transformative cultural shift in how we receive and transmit information
How social media can be monetized and turn a profit so that it can continue to flourish has not been completely worked out yet, but I’m also not sure this question is being asked in the right way. Referring again to Iran, a writer in a recent Newsweek notes how he sees a cell phone sticking out of the back pocket of almost everyone riding on a motorcycle or scooter in Iran. This same phenomenon is true throughout the third world. Cell phones have become ubiquitous for almost everyone on the planet living above basic subsistence level. People use cell phones to send and receive tweets and text messages, so that means that cell phones are the predominant social media device. Cell phone makers and cell phone service providers around the world long ago figured out how to run profitable businesses, so how can we say that social media is not profitable? Now, if the companies developing social media software are giving their products away free to the cell phone companies or Internet service providers, then maybe these software developers need to re-think their business model, but we can’t say that social media is not profitable.
Of the various social media, do you see any one in particular as having the greatest potential on the media or generally in society? Any that will fade?
As I said above, I think Twitter already is having a profound effect on the process of democratization, in both the developed and developing world.
I think with the rise of what Orren calls web 3.0 we will see a decline in the number of and interest in single-issue blog sites. I’ve always questioned the proliferation of blogs in that much of the content is too long and of questionable quality.
Web 3.0 allows for a sort of natural selection process in that content that is of value and interest to people will tend to be disseminated more widely. With the widespread use of agents and RSS feeds, there will not be a need to periodically visit blog site and plow through dozens of entries to find information of interest. It’s important, though, not to assume that what is picked up and scattered throughout the Web will be of high quality or truthful. Unfortunately, the opposite is probably true.
Which would mean more to you, a Twitter message from someone or an old-fashioned handwritten note from that same person? Do social media represent a dumbing down of America, a liberation of new possibilities, or both, or neither?
Definitely an old-fashioned written note. I keep a supply of stationary at hand, and typically send several notes to friends and colleagues each week. There is nothing like the personal touch, and people always appreciate the fact that you took the time to write the note, address it, and take it to the post office. I always really appreciate the handwritten notes I receive.
Social media is a tool. Just as you can use pen and paper to send something silly, hateful, insightful or kind to a friend, you can do the same with social media. The stereotype we have of social media is of the teenaged girl sending 50 or 100 texts a day to her friends. Nevertheless you have to give this girl and her friends credit for being early adopters and seeing the potential of this new form of communication. As adults, we have the obligation to ourselves and others to use these tools wisely and constructively.
Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summit complained that players on the team bus were texting each other rather than speaking face to face. Your reaction?
I see this all the time, and it bothers me—people tend to take themselves out of reality by getting so involved in texting or twittering. We saw the same problem 10 years ago with cell phones, with people answering them in inappropriate situations. Slowly social norms caught up to the new technology, and now it is uncommon for people to answer their phones in movie theaters, conferences or other inappropriate situations. I think once the novelty wears off, the same thing will occur with social media. Once the general consensus is that it is no longer “cool” but rather “rude” to text in certain situations, then this behavior will diminish.
Big-name athletes and entertainment celebrities seem to have taken to Twitter because 1) they can control their message, 2) the message is short and nontaxing, 3) they bypass reporters, 4) they can have "contact" with fans that really isn't contact and 5) fans end up thinking they have contact though they really don't. The Obama campaign used social media for organizing and a means of getting out the message. Can you see an expansion of uses of social media, perhaps taking a serious turn with politicians and public officials using them to create better policies?
Members of Congress have rapidly adopted are already using Twitter to gauge public response. I also cite an example in Silent Presses of a state official who changed a tax form in response to a twitter he received.
There have been abuses in the social media such as parody sites allowed on Twitter that pretend to be a celebrity's thoughts but really aren't. Is there much abuse in your opinion and if so, how can it be prevented?
Soon there will be a lawsuit or two filed by an offended celebrity, and the celebrity will receive damages. Once this occurs a couple of times, this problem will go away.
Do you have any other thoughts on social media you wish to share?
Social media is a good example of the symbiosis of technology and culture. Due to technological advances of the last 10 years (including the build out of a sturdy broadband/satellite communications infrastructure), we are seeing a convergence of media into a steady stream of information available anyplace at any time. In addition, people are communicating more often with more people than ever before in history. It’s as if the long heralded information revolution has finally reached the streets, and now everyone is a citizen in this revolution. Like all revolutions, we don’t know how this will turn out—it is at once thrilling and frightening. I’m an optimist. As a journalist, I believe that there is never too much information or communication. I think that in the long-term, the rise of social media will have a positive effect on our world and it citizens. At any rate, it’s going to be interesting.
Before Mr. Brown formed his business in 2001 ... it's at www.rdbconsulting.biz ... he worked as a consultant for Accenture and held positions with Dallas Area Rapid Transit, the U.S. Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory and Texas Instruments.
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
www.boots-outlet-stores.us