Depending on who you talk to – it is good or bad.

Media, as we all know, is in transition. And with this huge event coming up in June, the Fifa World Cup, we can see a huge influx of ideas and new ways of doing things and we should seize these developments. 

I don’t want to harp on about the depressing sad topic that we all know so well – print is dead. I don’t necessarily agree with that in its entirety, but in some aspects, we can’t deny that this is so – the old business models are not working like they used to.

But I want to look forward – because content certainly isn’t dead and that is essentially what I do and essentially what media does, even thought they wouldn’t like to admit it – we create and distribute content.

 

So what can we look forward to in 2010? To answer that I want to rely on an expert in the field of media – Daniel Munslow, a young guy that was, until recently, the executive strategist at Newsclip. He lists some areas of development that he thinks will take place in the next 12 months and I have selected some that I agree with.
- Media measurement will evolve. The value of media will take on a more qualitative unit of measure.
- New media measurements will be explored. Social media is being used more and more across industries and there is a pressing need to measure the impact such exposure has on the businesses represented online.
- Use of social media in a business context. The use of social media as a tool linked to corporate communication is now starting to finds its feet, especially within organisations.
- Accepting digital media as complementary to traditional media. It’s a combined effort, people. Digital isn’t going to get rid of traditional media.
- Vertical integration into mobile media platforms. Mobile media is one of the fastest growing tools to engage with audiences, and media will need to explore ways of integrating this channel into their offering.
- Editors will create content with consumers. We will see more co-creation of stories with consumers. This also means that companies will take it on themselves to curate information for their audience.
- Marketing will want to use media to create conversations. We will see much more consumer involvement in brands in the South African landscape.

To continue this conversation, contact me or follow me at www.scottsmith.co.za