Following is a long segment from an interesting column by Brian Solis. Following that is a much shorter response.
A comment on a column by Brian Solis
http://www.briansolis.com/2012/05/the-future-of-tv-is-more-than-social-its-a-multi-screen-experience-that-needs-design/
Segment of Brian’s column:
Today, we’re seeing
experimentation across the screens with strategies that invite audience
participation. Some live shows now run social media tickers during programs.
Other live events feature tweets and also live statistics based on social media
analytics. Some programs are integrating community participation into content.
Others are using social media to tell supporting stories between seasons or
airing special webisodes to keep interest and anticipation high between on air
programs. Apps are also emerging to open new windows between programs and
mobile audiences.
So what?
What we need to do for any of
these initiatives to work is to align them with a higher purpose and a vision
for what the new relationship looks like between viewer and the program, the
viewer and the program’s elements, storyline and characters/roles, between the
viewer and the screen, and between viewers and other viewers.
You must first answer these
questions…
What is the objective and the
purpose of your social TV initiative?
What kind of relationship are
you striving for and how will you enliven it through each channel in a way
that’s not only engaging, but also relevant?
What would the “Tweet heard
around the world” look like and what is the social spark that would trigger
activity?
What does the experience look
like on a mobile phone, tablet, PC, and a TV? Meaning, what does the second and
third screen experience look like? Design it and also design it back into the
first screen programming.
Programming is just the
beginning. Advertising also has a new opportunity to engage in a more
meaningful way.
Rather than simply buying
seconds and using spots to promote social media campaigns, visits to Facebook
pages or rallies to Tweet a branded hashtag (brandtag), think about it as a way
to tell a story that can live beyond the spot or beyond the campaign. Old Spice
learned that its commercials were too successful to treat as traditional
campaigns that would start and stop. Viewers don’t “turn off” so why wouldn’t a
great story continue to live on across distributed platforms where consumers
are more than willing to engage?
Now, Old Spice hosts an
ongoing experience where its campaign has become a transmedia experience that
perseveres across online, broadcast and social channels. The story, the
product, the series keeps viewers engaged. The series also strives to make
consumers part of the story where custom videos are created based on input and
participation.
Product placement is also open
for reinvention. By making products or brands part of the story, advertisers
have new opportunities for contextualized storytelling across multiple
platforms and the ability to host new interactions, build communities or drive
desired outcomes. Everything of course is based on the story advertisers wish
to tell and the experience they wish to delivery. The point is that advertising
doesn’t just have to end nor does it have to be limited to a finite engagement
in new networks and platforms. Storytelling and consumer engagement are
infinite if they’re compelling, delightful and shareable. But then again, it
takes a different vision supported by an irresistible purpose or intention.
Through experimentation, we
are seeing what’s possible. However, networks, advertisers, and producers, must
think beyond technology and rethink experiences. By not focusing on the
experience or defining the nature of relationships, we fall to mediumalism
a condition where we place inordinate weight on the technology of any medium
rather than amplifying platform strengths to deliver desired experiences,
activity, and outcomes.
The future of Social TV is not
yet written nor has it been broadcast. It takes vision. It takes creativity and
imagination. It takes innovation. Most importantly, it takes the architecture
of experiences to engage, enchant and activate viewers across multiple screens.
A hashtag is not a second or third screen experience. Right now, viewers are
taking to multiple screens without any cues or direction. What it is you want
them to do or say requires explicit design for each screen. Doing so will
inspire more informed and creative ideas through the entire broadcast
ecosystem, including the original programming on the main screen.
My comment:
Interesting. He is commenting on the distinct uses and
gratifications of the related media and realizes that new media and new uses
for that media should lead to new forms of content. That content has not
materialized yet.
There are a number of variables that need to be accounted for as
a generation embraces the new media and "experts" determine the next
big thing in terms of medium and programming. Sophistication of the content,
storyline development, ability to gain a large audience in an increasingly
fractured marketplace are all variables with a wide range of potential
execution success.
The
term "social media" seems to limit the perceived uses of the
media. Traditional uses and
gratifications research looks at issues such as the public's desire to gain
orientation to the world around them through the media offering of surveillance
of the world, advice on how to deal with issues and developing
quasi-relationships with media persona.
Will those traditional uses of the media change with new media or will
content providers have to find new ways to fill the old needs?
