Not to get too meta here, but since Susan Mernit is at the center of conversation at MediaMorphosis, running the Morph blog, I thought it’d be interesting to hear her overall perspective, so I just quizzed her via IM:
She says the most interesting thing she’s learned came from Howard Rheingold and DJ Spooky: “That persistent identity, sampling the culture, and phones as the key personal devices and publishing and information platforms are all bleeding edge points that are getting real and relevant to media companies. Bottom-up influences are powerful, and the need is to closely track how they operate and influence behaviors that drive usage and revenue.”
Susan says what’s most surprised her so far is “the number of people — I do it myself — who talked about their pre-1999 ‘scars’ from earlier stages of the business. It started to feel like we were looking back more than forward… not the best when innovation and new products are part of the need. Experience is valuable, but fresh outlooks and creativity drive business success.”
(cross-posted on cyberjournalist.net)
So what’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned?
And what’s surprised you?