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The Next Great Media Company Won't Have a Web Site
Young Urban Professional
Lately I have noticed that many of the people, blogs, news services and more that I want to track are right inside Facebook. I have even filed them under a list called "feeds."
This is very convient since their updates are integrated right into my stream right beside the people that I follow - friends, family, coworkers, etc.
This has tremendous potential. Conceivably the next great media company will be all spokes and no hub. It will exist as a constellation of connected apps and widgets that live inside other sites and offer a full experience plus access to your social graph and robust community features. Each of these may interconnect too so that a media company's community on Facebook can talk to the same on Twitter.
Facebook might be the first venue where this starts. It could become a mini news reader for millions who don't care about RSS or Twitter. Over time this may obviate the need to create large news sites. It's easier to create a rich interactive experience there than start a new news site and hope that people come to you. They won't have time to find or visit.
In some ways this is a return to the old days of AOL where media companies rushed to develop a presence. Ultimately the web won out. But I wonder if we might see a return here to the days of old now that eyeballs are aggregating on socal networks and the connective tissue exists for them to talk to each other.
I do believe it's possible to be successful here. Witness for example the New England Patriots. That said it will be very difficult for existing media companies to make such a move. What's your view?
Reader Comments (40)
Facebook is a mall, and sometimes I just want the glamour, personal service and—yes—privacy of a boutique.
I agree with your expectations here Steve...all part of the paradigm shift to social network sites as integrated hubs for individuals, organisations and their extended networks to connect, communicate, access and share tailored news, information and entertainment. Media, advertisers and government and non-government orgs are all heading the same way.
You are absolutely right. Will we see a rise of the 1990s portal ("Facebook") in a new shape that will engulf the internet? I wrote a blogpost about "Facebook: the black hole that will engulf the Internet?" on:http://www.mobileforesight.com/2009/09/facebook-the-black-hole-that-will-engulf-the-internet/
Agree with AAinslie - now it's all about the interop-mesh. The era of self-generated, temporary hubs has started. They morph over time in response to need. Arguments about Facebook v Twitter v RSS v Wave miss this larger point. People will use whatever has attracted enough mass and the right features for their need *in this moment*. Susie Wee is smart to bring up churn; as she observes, technologists will continue to create new and improved frameworks for building hubs.
I am reading a lot each day to keep myself on the latest, but things are changing faster and faster and it is difficult to pic out what is of importance for me. Most important is my own brain and memory and even here are new tools out. For example: http://www.quantum-mind-power-system.com/cmd.php?af=1054204 For me facebook is a social site, there are many sites from which I get succintly info which is important.
Fragmentation will continue, but destination corporate sites will not go away. While we may interface with brands and have meaningful relationships with products and services or entertainment properties on FB in a very public way, destinations are needed and required from a corporate and deep knowledge standpoint. However destinations that will suffer greatly will be the media networks, as the vehicle for delivery will become invisible to consumers.
one sentence in your post struck home - talking about how the facebook stream will render more "geeky" solutions like rss or twitter obsolete. on my blog my primary target audience is the non-technical user. I was delighted to find the http://networkedblogs.com app for facebook. I can invite my facebook friends to subscribe with a click. new stories show up right in their stream, no need to figure out an external rss client. the next step will be an app that effectively replicates rss client functionality in a facebook tab. there are several already that are trying to do this (networkedblogs included), but I have not found one that gets it right yet.
Ok, i agree , it can be true until the similar networks are on the Top :-)
As usual, Steve, provocative. Yes, news orgs need a Facebook (and social media) strategy. http://bit.ly/f1glzAnd I believe they can figure out ways to "monetize" http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=169112 However, Steve, I do wonder about the dangers, both from a business and content perspective, of placing news across other platforms with no hub. Ownership and control -- which do matter in both venues -- are important, and ambiguous to date, in these arenas.And @jim, I am not just a marketing type.
The larger trend is for information to be available where you want it, how you want it -- not locked into Facebook or Twitter or AOL or a particular RSS reader, but all of those and more.
Ehh. Somebody new talking about the "next new idea." And, if you're using AOL as an example? Beyond that, "old media" will still be the primary *source* for this news. And, more and more of them will go to paywalls in the future, IMO. (And my hope.)
Excellent point, though I suggest you check also favit, as a place for content creation, sharing & tracking (plus it comes with great branding oppurtunities), more info is available here http://tinyurl.com/ylr3jad
Steve, You are right on the money. The key construct, beyond the "all spokes" meme is the interoperable "mesh".
I think this is a great thought and prediction but I do have my hesitations about Facebook apps taking over other forms of news and media. Facebook applications seem to be appealing to the "bored individuals" at work who have nothing better to do and whose bosses don't monitor their activities (and who don't mind annoying their casual Facebook using friends). The main market for reputable news are still the strong brands that have such a strong web presence, it would be difficult for Facebook apps to take them over.Who knows though, Facebook has beaten the odds many times already so it's hard to tell what the future might hold.
Fragmentation will continue, but destination corporate sites will not go away. While we may interface with brands and have meaningful relationships with products and services or entertainment properties on FB in a very public way, destinations are needed and required from a corporate and deep knowledge standpoint. However destinations that will suffer greatly will be the media networks, as the vehicle for delivery will become invisible to consumers.