Somewhere
along the line large media companies arose, and confused creating and
distributing experiences with creating and distributing content [3].
Content is an important part of determining which pieces of media get wide distribution ("go viral") and reach the level of shared narrative or experience, but it is only one part. The Bible or the Koran did not achieve their viral spread around the world primarily because of the appeal of their content per se, they become global hits because of their remarkably effective distribution systems, the shared narrative they gave society, and the shared experience created by religious practice [4].
Content is an important part of determining which pieces of media get wide distribution ("go viral") and reach the level of shared narrative or experience, but it is only one part. The Bible or the Koran did not achieve their viral spread around the world primarily because of the appeal of their content per se, they become global hits because of their remarkably effective distribution systems, the shared narrative they gave society, and the shared experience created by religious practice [4].
Two examples are musical taste and the movie Avatar. If you are like most people, you
think you like to the music you like because it’s good music. I don’t want to
challenge your taste, but the definition of what’s “good“ changes over time,
with society. Music is one of the strongest forms of cultural identification;
consider the different cultural implications of listening to Phish or Don Omar,
Tiesto or Coltrane. You may not have identical musical taste to your friends’,
but in the universe of possible musical choices the similarities far outweigh
the differences.
Let’s
look at Avatar. Avatar holds the record for greatest box office hit ever, even
though most 3D movies prior and since have been flops. I really enjoyed Avatar, but most people I know who
didn’t think it was that great. Avatar
succeeded in part because of its content, but the difference between being a
well-performing movie and the greatest hit ever was the shared conversation is
created. Two years before the movie came out people were already talking about
it; it was James Cameron’s first move made since Titanic! The first blockbuster to feature new 3D technology! The
movie that would take Hollywood into a new era, it would do for 3D what The Jazz Singer did for talkies [5]! Seeing
Avatar meant being part of the conversation (which is why so many people who
haven't seen iconic movies like Avatar or Star Wars have made conscious
decisions to abstain; they are often contrarians who want to be part of the
conversation of not having seen them).
The
marketing machine of traditional media was a big part in both of the above
examples. So what happened?
Partly
it's the long-tail effect: when there are so many cable channels, so many
YouTube videos, so many sources of entertainment, it's harder for any one of
them to break through. It's hard to get the family around the TV set to watch Leave it to Beaver when everyone can
watch their own show in their room on their own TV or their iPad. But
communities still exist; they're just more fragmented.
Where
traditional media faltered, social media filled the void. Because the economic
structure of its production is geared towards organic content discovery rather
than spending tons of money on A&E and marketing, it can handle the
long-tail fragmentation of community really well. Traditional media would do
well to focus on its strength at creating mass experiences, and focus on making
an event out of its offerings and the social conversation around the
experience. The focus on piracy is a red herring in the greater scheme of
traditional media’s decline
[1] Pun
intended.
[2] http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/twitter-becomes-adult-playground-during-hurricane-irene/
[3]
I've read theories that attribute this to the rise of modern mass media as a
large, highly profitable industry requiring significant capital and the control
of physical distribution, but that's a topic for another time.
[4]
That's not to say that they don't have quality content; I'm not even going to
try to go there. Rather that they were spread by the tremendous efforts of
their believers rather than by someone picking them up and saying, "Hey,
this is a great book!"
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