Virtual Lecture

New Media in Marketing, Advertising and

PR:
The background

Robin Croft, Bedfordshire Business School

University of Bedfordshire
Revised February 2011
 Outline

This virtual lecture

What are the new media?
Why are they important?
What are they like?
 New media…new ways
New ways of communicating
Blogging, instant messaging, virtual worlds, MMS
SMS and email are SO last year!
New ways of socialising
For example through social networks such as Facebook, Bebo, Myspace
Or virtual online communities such as Second Life
New ways of finding knowledge
For example Blogs for unbiased views or ordinary people, Wikipedia for pooled expertise,
Google searches, checking prices through Amazon and eBay
New ways of entertainment
For example watching and sharing videos on Youtube, listening to your own customised
radio channel (streaming radio)
New ways of doing business
E-commerce: consumers are used to buying, now they are getting into selling through
eBay and Amazon
Financial transactions
Business start-ups: low start-up costs, no market research, no strategy… just small ideas
Of all of these, having fun…
A new generation which doesn’t take itself seriously
 The new media
Social software
In order of importance, Facebook, Myspace, Bebo
sharing
Pictures (Flickr), music (LastFM, Spotify), video (Youtube)
New money
Virtual money being earned and spent on simulations such as Second Life
Alternative digital payment methods like PayPal
Using mobile devices as payment tools in developing markets where there is little access
to banks or credit
Tagging and streaming
Using technology to keep track of what we see, to share pages with friends, to get
notifications as pages are updated
Wikis
Not just Wikipedia, but any site that enables users to adapt and contribute
Light devices
The mobile phone, PDA, MP3 player, handheld PC – they are all digital devices and
increasingly are carrying out more than one function
 Why are NM important?
Some numbers
Youtube sold to Google for $1.65 billion
Myspace sold to News Corporation for $580 million
Skype sold to Ebay for $2.6 billion
Google worth over $40 billion
Bebo sold to AOL for $850 million – Bebo was just 3 years old
Limitless growth?
235 million Google searches per day
China has360 million internet users, but this is still only about a quarter of the
country, which has 703 million mobile phone users
Kenya has 3.4 million internet users, but 17.5 million mobile phone users
Providing information is also gathering data (clickstream)
Consumer research insights
The whole promise of direct marketing – the real value of information
The user base… see next page
 New media, new markets
Extensive
350 million FaceBook users worldwide (including 19 million in UK alone), 11 million in France and 4.3
million in Germany. Total of 108 million active users in Europe
Qzone in China has 376 million users. Facebook has only 1.4 million in the country
125 million MySpace users worldwide, but still level with FaceBook in US
45 million Bebo users worldwide
7.3 million UK Myspace users, 110 m worldwide
Young, fun-loving
Typically under 24, communicating differently, bored by TV and mass media
Intelligent, sceptical
Typically degree-level, distrusting of companies, brands, politicians, media
Affluent, global
Settling down later, more disposable income, hedonistic
New young, large middle class in China, India, Pakistan and other places
Very attractive target market – but how to reach them?
Mobile, wireless
In mature markets users don’t want to be tied to the PC, but need to stay in touch
In developing economies there is often no cable-based comms infrastructure or reliable electrical supply
Geeky, and geeks are now cool
Tribal
Users defining themselves by their music and tastes, and by membership of virtual communities – young people
especially through music
 Multimedia Sources
click here to view a BBC Newsnight piece showing how in Kenya the mobile phone
is used to access the internet, to send cash, to keep business moving...
The music business is going virtual and digital: click here for link BBC report on how
digital is changing everything
Music and everything on the move: click here to watch a BBC report on
developments in multimedia
 New ways to stay in touch
Advertising ineffectiveness
Rising costs of media and production
Declining audiences, fragmented
Sceptical consumers
(Old) media clutter
Fragmented media, multiple channels, ambient advertising
Internet information overload
Both the number of pages available and the amount on each – where do we start and who do we trust?
Memory and fatigue problems. Hence tagging systems such as Bluedot
Fast changing environment
Largely driven by broadband – there is so much more we can do now, but it is users and audiences
customising the technology, not companies. Hence need for RSS
Media environment has its own dynamic
Unpredictable because user-driven
The future is here already…
High speed broadband, still getting better in UK, penetration increasing in all major markets
Mobile broadband GPS and Bluetooth technologies embedded in social networks, alerting us when
friends are nearby
 New media convergence
Power of hand-held devices
Enabling more applications such as computing, internet, telephony, music, video, GPS
Devices get smaller, more portable, more efficient
Cost of mobile devices
Based on reducing manufacturing/component costs and increasing market sizes
Global potential, emerging markets Portability and lifestyles
I want it now, I want to be in touch, I want to be in control
Electricity and infrastructures
Solar chargers in developing countries more dependable than electricity
Culture
Importance of family/community/tribe
Voice and conversation valued in a digital age
Customisation
New generation wants their own individuality on mass-market technology
User-driven, content-rich
Connectivity
Need for 24/7 connectivity
Whatever, whenever
 Multimedia sources
Click here to watch BBC report on new technology: consumer adoption is more
rapid than ever
Connectivity is the future, according to Microsoft. Click here to watch 3 separate
BBC news articles from the Consumer Electronics Show and to hear what Bill Gates
believes
New battleground is the digital living room: click here for BBC article and links to 3
broadcasts
Click here to watch BBC broadcast about mobile internet
Click here for text article from BBC about enhanced mobile internet
Nicknamed New Youtube, a new web-based service promises video on demand, via
broadband not broadcast. Click here to watch BBC item on this
Click here to listen to Guardian correspondent talking about the new Apple iPhone
 Economic drivers of NM
Power of hardware
Increasing incrementally, in PCs, PDAs, handhelds, mobiles (Moore's Law)
Devices can get smaller and more energy-efficient
Broadband
Power and speed increasing in most markets
Mobile broadband suits developing markets – cheap, reliable, quick, flexible
Availability of broadband means that users start doing new things with the
technology – a major driver of Web 2.0 applications. It’s not just that the platforms
are available, it is that we now have the bandwidth to make possible (for example)
streaming video and Voip which previously was out of the question
Cost reduction
Hardware costs halving each year
Connection to broadband – price reductions, price wars
Bigger audiences
www now 10 times bigger than 1998
And in emerging markets there are often 4 times more mobile devices
 Key features of new media
Communities
Open to all – also called Me Media
Closed – our group, our tribe
Collective intelligence
Building ideas and consensus on Blogs
Collective/collaborative knowledge of Wikis
Free, open source
The original principles of the internet, no proprietary tools
Collective intelligence improves the tools
Often the new users are kids who can’t/won’t pay out for new software tools
No entry barriers based on cost
Democratic
New Web 2.0 applications mean users can produce creative applications in minutes – no
special IT skills needed
Blogging is becoming an important part of political protest
SMS has been used to mobilise large anti-government and anti-war protests
Providing platforms and tools
Blank canvases for users to express themselves on
Range of tools to customise applications
 New media content
Rich
Pictures, sounds, movies
New open source software enables us to edit and digitise our personal media and then
share it on the web
Tools provided with new digital devices (cameras, mobiles, PCs, MP3 players) to make
uploading and downloading easy
User-generated
Two-way connectivity
Customising the space
Often looks chaotic – but that is the authenticity
More of everything
More information to more people in more ways – this is Google’s unofficial vision
statement
Blogs not splogs
Software used by companies crudely to infiltrate blogs with brand messages (spam + blog
= splog)
Counter-software developed to identify and delete splogs
There are 200 million blogs worldwide – with about 50 million active
 What’s new in new media?
Connectivity
staying in touch 24/7
Watching/listening where you want on the device of your choice
Tagging
finding your stuff in a cluttered media environment
Socialising
With your tribe
Just hanging out in cyberspace
Fun, cool, authentic
Users can spot the commercial messages
English is just another language
Only 30% of Wikipedia pages are in English
Other languages part of democratisation
Young users customise language anyway – slang and new forms such as txtng
Filters
Interactivity – don’t show me this ever again – this is spam
Streams
Update me as your pages update through RSS streams
Freedom to express yourself
within limits, don’t hurt anyone
Away from control of parents, teachers, authorities
 Business development in NM
Small ideas
Creativity grows incrementally, not in a linear fashion
Paradox of creativity, moving forward quickly but cautiously
No strategy
no planning
no market research
Ideas tested in real time
Flexible and pragmatic response
Accidents
Chance meetings in Sillicon Valley coffee houses
Nurturing and seeding
Trialling the ideas with small groups
Ideas spreading out naturally
Small start-up costs
Lowering costs of hardware and connectivity
Small entry and exit barriers
Tipping Points (Malcolm Gladwell)
Point at which adoption gains its own momentum
When we all want to be a part of that piece of action
Maybe this creates ‘first mover advantage?’
 Multimedia sources

Click here to listen to how Hewlett-Packard sees the

blurring of boundaries between home and work
Cisco believes that broadband access is revolutionising
the creative process and putting the power into the
hands of users: click here for their podcast on the
subject
Launching a new media product is often about reaching
online opinion leaders. Here expert Idil Cakim talks
about the process
 Tools of new media – how is it done?

Enabling technologies
Web 2.0 applications easy to use by complete novices
Giving scope to the imagination and creativity of users
Emphasis away from corporate web developers to users themselves
Companies provide the platforms and the tools – users do the creative development
Pragmatism
Providers are watching, listening, learning
Real-time research
Facilitating more of what is popular, dropping facilities that are not used
Understanding
the space – what are people able to do with the platform and tools?
the ecosystem – how everything relates to everything else
 NM: before and after

Old New
The Internet Web 2.0
E-commerce
Socialising
Searching
Interactivity
Seeking out
Web authoring Connectivity (2-
Audiences way)
Email Citizens’ media
Control Reach
Rich content
Policies, norms
 Language of new media
Democratising
Experiences, culture, creativity
Finding (fragmented) communities of like-minded people
Open media landscape
Not dominated by companies, systems or technologies
No boundaries, no barriers
Leaning back, leaning forward
Inviting audiences to become participants
Wisdom of the crowds
Collective intelligence drives knowledge
Trusting friends and communities more than companies, brands, governments
Sharing good experiences, feeling better about negative ones through ranting
 New media: Web 2.0

What is Web 2.0? Wide ranging article on new

media here in Guardian
Click here for video interviews with ‘web
revolutionaries’, part of Guardian feature
New Media: enhanced search engines

Web 2.0 is freedom: what about censorship in

searching? Articles from Guardian, click here and here
Click here for first of two BBC World Service radio
programmes about Google
Click here for second of two BBC World Service articles
about Google
Examples
google.co.uk
New Media: online classifieds and auctions

Click here to listen to Guardian interview with Craig

Newmark, founder of Craigslist
Examples
www.ebay.co.uk
www.bid.tv good example of enhanced web
presence working with interactive TV
www.craigslist.com
 New Media: social networking sites

Click here to listen to Guardian interview with the

founders of Bebo (before they sold to AOL)
Examples
www.bebo.com
www.myspace.com
www.facebook.com
 New media: tagging and streaming

Click here to listen to Guardian interview with

Joshua Schachter of Del.icio.us on tagging
What is an RSS feed? Do I need one? Guardian
Interview here with Dick Costolo of Feed Burner
Examples
http://del.icio.us/
http://www.feedburner.com/
 New media: file sharing
Click here to listen to Guardian interview with Flickr
founders, Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield.
Flickr is now part of Yahoo (2005). It was originally
designed as part of an online multi-user game. It
hosts 4 billion user-generated pictures.
Examples:
http://www.flickr.com/
 New media: digital downloads

Click here for Guardian article on Last.fm

Examples
http://www.napster.com/ now subscription, legal,
download
http://www.apple.com/itunes/
http://www.last.fm/ an online ‘radio station’ which you
customise to your own tastes
http://music.yahoo.com/launchcast another online,
customisable music channel
 New media: blogs
Click here for Guardian article on Digg, sharing blogging
experiences
Click here for Guardian interview with David L Sifry, founder of
Technorati (blog search engine)
Better ways of writing? Guardian interview with Sam Schillace here
1999, the beginning of blogs: click here for interview with Evan
Williams in Guardian
Blogging and blocking splogs: interview with Matt Mullenweg here
in Guardian
More about splogging in Guardian, click here
Examples:
http://www.technorati.com/ search the 55 million blogs worldwide
 New media: collective intelligence

Click here to listen to Guardian interview with Tariq

Krim, founder of Netvibes
Click here to listen to Guardian interview with
Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales
Spam problems make Wikipedia an internet black
hole? Click here for Guardian article
Examples:
www.wikipedia.org (a non-profit organisation)
 New media: Voip

Voice over the internet protocol

Examples:
http://www.skype.com/
 Conclusion: it’s all new…

Technologies
Audiences
Platforms
Cultures
Language
Ways of thinking
Business models