Connect - share - collaborate - create (part 2)

Within the next ten years, information and jobs will find us instead of the other way around as a result of a sharing and collaborating world.

Internet killed the radio star

The most read article on On Line Opinion has been read more than 63,000 times. The first picture of the Hudson River plane crash was released via Twitter within minutes of the crash. Elvis Costello got it wrong, it was not video that killed the radio star.

Within the next ten years, at least one of the major Australian newspapers will fold, either becoming defunct or by moving away from the traditional format or going wholly online. A free to air (FTA) television station will also probably cease transmission. Radio will fare better as they seem to have grasped the realities of the Internet, many now streaming live on the Internet and providing podcasts.

It never ceases to amaze me that on the very few occasions that I actually buy a newspaper, I see an article that had appeared online a few days earlier. It also never ceases to amaze me that on the very few occasions that I watch FTA television, I see a show being broadcast for the first time that I had previously watched six months before hand. Traditional media are in a continual cycle of catch up and they are falling further and further behind.

I rarely read news and opinion articles about ICT in the major newspapers. This is because their journalists tend to have no ICT qualifications or little understanding of the industry. When they quote someone, it is usually a mate who has been tinkering with computers. When they do quote an expert, they usually muddle their meaning.

For an update on all that is happening in the world of ICT, I go to Slashdot. For opinion, I go to the blog of industry experts. In particular, I read Paul Graham who you will not see grace the pages of newspapers, even though in 2008 he had 10.6 million page views. The only comic I read is online, User Friendly, a comic for techies.

The most significant occurrence to happen within the past ten years within traditional media is the decline in importance of traditional journalists. This will continue unabated during the next ten years as people go directly to the source for news and opinion, rather than read a particular journalist’s take. There is always a “hot topic of the moment” with a myriad of journalists trying to be experts in presenting their opinions. I have stopped reading and listening to these a long time ago. Instead I prefer to go to online sites such as OLO where invariably there will be a professor who has spent decades studying and understanding the topic presenting his or her views.

One thing the past ten years has shown is that you do not have to have a communications degree to write and present. These skills are secondary; it is now preferable to have actual expertise in the subject matter.

The next ten years will see a continuation of people moving away from traditional media to other sources for their news and opinion. The movement to other sources will be especially significant to those that provide interaction with their consumers.

Traditional media have tried to change but have ended up with the same model. It takes more than to rebadging your staff journalists as bloggers and occasionally allowing readers to post comments. They don’t seem to be able to grasp the new sharing and collaborating nature of today’s generation.

My generation spent a large amount of time in front of the television, listening to the radio or reading newspapers consuming what was fed to us. Today’s generation spend a large amount of time in front of the computer interacting. Many download songs and television shows not because it is free but because it is convenient. Television and newspapers don’t seem to have grasped these concepts as they continue to push their existing models. ITunes has shown that people will pay if it provides an easy and convenient means.

The Internet is gradually replacing the television, radio and newspapers.