Back at the turn, Andrew Nachison and I formulated the concept of We Media and coined the phrase to describe imminent social, technological and economic changes that would impact the news industry. Though seemingly apparent, business implications would be addressed by responsive publishers, media managers and strategic planners. They would recognize a catastrophic threat to the future of their companies, then steer them to safe haven. Or so we thought.
As analysts and futurists funded by the news industry, our mission then was prospective rather than prescriptive. The Internet had not yet yielded meaningful, quantitative data that revealed the Net’s full force. Our forecast was qualitative, based on analysis, social anthropology and a behavioral-contextual approach to understanding change.
With a bias toward what could be measured and barometers based on benchmarks and comparisons with peer companies, publishers regarded our forecast as interesting but theoretical. Besides, they relied upon internal finance practices, as well as external specialists, to conduct the calculus and strategic planning that determined present and future value of the newspaper enterprise.
Amid the warnings, we conducted research and held seminars on the question of “who will pay for news?” in the age of the Internet. However, we could neither write a prescription for then-healthy businesses nor create a reliable case for alternative business strategies for the shifting shape of the Internet.
Until now.
After years of study, we’ve reached a moment when we can describe economic impact and prescribe a response to it. WeMedianomics can help us understand how social media is transforming the way we live, how we conduct business, how we inform each other, share and apply knowledge, and what we can do about it. It introduces an economic metaphor to a social transformation we foresaw more than a decade ago.
WeMedianomics come at a pivotal moment for publishers, marketers, communities, networks and individuals. The transition to digital media has spawned a dizzying explosion of creative expression, technical innovation and data sharing. It has also put news-and-information providers across all sectors at risk. There are profound consequences for an informed society and the knowledge economy.
At the same time, discovering vital news and information is disjointed because consumers have a confusing and frequently unreliable array of experiences in their online lives. Many have separate identities in each network they visit. Digital Utopia is slouching toward Digital Dystopia.
WeMedianomics start with a business proposition: The essential information of Life Inc. will soon be organized around personal sites and platforms. People will conduct content and commerce transactions with peers, networks, communities and merchants on personal platforms that are always-on, continuously updated and mobile.
Consumers will rely on their peers as they make online decisions, whether or not brands choose to participate. Socially connected consumers will strengthen communities and shift power away from brands and traditional news outlets. The result is empowered individuals who define the next generation of products.
It is a system that turns traditional media economics upside down: a marketplace where almost anyone can communicate, share, recommend and trade in a digital village with the intimacy and ease of applied communications. In this system, the Internet is the great equalizer.
For better or worse, the structural impact for brands, marketers and knowledge itself is decentralization. Or looking at it another way, centralization at the personal level. Life is complicated and mostly unfamiliar in the emerging technocracy. But social business models are beginning to bloom on the Net.
In the coming weeks, we’ll describe key components, issues, and questions about WeMedianomics in a series of posts – a book-in-progress. We’ll describe the challenges of transition and prescribe a plan for changing your mindset. We’ll articulate the business problem, follow the money and address the alternative.
We invite feedback, contributions, conversation and suggestions as we go along.
