This morning I moderated an AIMIA event on social media and user generated. It was extremely interesting. In the interests of getting this review up I’ll just post very lightly edited notes that I took during the event – you’ll have to make sense of them yourselves. Full details on the event here.
Forum agenda:
• Professional media vs. User generated content
• Social networking vs. Social Media
• The future of Social Networking
Social media and user generated content
Speakers:
Francisco Cordero, General Manager, Australia and NZ at Bebo Inc
Michela Ledwidge, Managing Director, MOD Films
Dominique Hind, General Manager, Mark.
Andrew Cordwell, Director of Sales, Fox Interactive Media
Moderated by:
Ross Dawson, Chairman, Future Exploration Network
Summary thoughts
What struck me the most was how richly the exact topic of social media and user generated content was addressed. What can be seen as buzzwords ended up being precisely about how users created and engaged with increasingly professional content, primarily video, in a social network context. In fact Bebo explicitly describes itself as social media rather than a social network, as it has shifted over the last year or so to be primarily a forum for rich video content.
I have long been deeply interested in crowdsourcing of movie-making (content and funding), having written before about the future of documentaries, A Swarm of Angels and similar topics. I found what Michela Ledwidge of MOD films had to say fantastically interesting – she is clearly on the leading edge of this. The name of her company comes from how mods are the foundation of the gaming industry, with users increasingly coming up with the latest modifications that make the games they play even more interesting. She wants to apply the same idea to films. I had already come across most of the things she mentioned, but not IndieGogo, a crowdsourcing site for independent film-making, a social network that creates extraordinary things by bringing together resources. While I know Blender, the open source 3D animation tool, and in fact spent a Saturday playing with it once, I didn’t know they’ve created completely open source films (animations) that anyone can pull apart and recreate any way they want. These are Pixar-quality films that anyone can modify or work on. I find that extraordinary.
Overall social networks are becoming places for rich content creation, and that’s a great thing. They are also absolutely where people will go to and find content. Content exists in social networks. It’s alive, or should be, and in a way social networks and content are one of the best combinations there is, tapping latent creativity among and between us.
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24 hours in Mumbai – thought leadership seminar
By Ross DawsonIt’s an extremely busy two weeks. On top of many client deadlines I have four speaking engagements in Australia and one in India this week and next. I’m about to hop on a plane to Mumbai and will be there for 24 hours – unfortunately this time I have to get back as soon as possible though I have a long term plan to do a longer trip around the tech centers in India to speak and find out the best of what’s happening.
The event I’m speaking at has already got quite a lot of attention – see one of a series of press releases that have got on the web below, also from Dishtracking, Indian Television, India Infoonline etc.
At the seminar I will be coming back to one of my key themes – the future of financial services. I have developed a scenario framework for the event that I’ll share later on this blog. If we’re looking out to 2020, then we do need to take a scenario approach, as there are massive uncertainties ranging across geopolitics, the economy, industry structure, volatility, and how technology is applied. I will be extremely interested to hear what financial services leaders in Mumbai are saying, as the sector underpins how India is participating in the global economy. More on this later.
NDTV Convergence and Wipro announce the launch of Vision 2020- Financial Services Sector
India Infoline News Service
‘Mr. Ross Dawson’, internationally renowned keynote speaker and authority on business strategy will be in India to speak at ’Vision 2020- Financial Services Sector’- a thought leadership seminar by NDTV Convergence and Wipro Infotech, the India and Middle East arm of Wipro Ltd. Ross is the CEO of international consulting firm, Advanced Human Technologies, and Chairman of Future Exploration Network, a global events and strategy company.
The seminar will feature eminent speakers from the industry who will be sharing their perspectives on topics like the future of private and retail banking, mergers and acquisitions, and competition and challenges in the financial sector in the Year 2020.
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Summary and notes from AIMIA event: Social media and user generated content
By Ross DawsonThis morning I moderated an AIMIA event on social media and user generated. It was extremely interesting. In the interests of getting this review up I’ll just post very lightly edited notes that I took during the event – you’ll have to make sense of them yourselves. Full details on the event here.
Forum agenda:
• Professional media vs. User generated content
• Social networking vs. Social Media
• The future of Social Networking
Social media and user generated content
Speakers:
Francisco Cordero, General Manager, Australia and NZ at Bebo Inc
Michela Ledwidge, Managing Director, MOD Films
Dominique Hind, General Manager, Mark.
Andrew Cordwell, Director of Sales, Fox Interactive Media
Moderated by:
Ross Dawson, Chairman, Future Exploration Network
Summary thoughts
What struck me the most was how richly the exact topic of social media and user generated content was addressed. What can be seen as buzzwords ended up being precisely about how users created and engaged with increasingly professional content, primarily video, in a social network context. In fact Bebo explicitly describes itself as social media rather than a social network, as it has shifted over the last year or so to be primarily a forum for rich video content.
I have long been deeply interested in crowdsourcing of movie-making (content and funding), having written before about the future of documentaries, A Swarm of Angels and similar topics. I found what Michela Ledwidge of MOD films had to say fantastically interesting – she is clearly on the leading edge of this. The name of her company comes from how mods are the foundation of the gaming industry, with users increasingly coming up with the latest modifications that make the games they play even more interesting. She wants to apply the same idea to films. I had already come across most of the things she mentioned, but not IndieGogo, a crowdsourcing site for independent film-making, a social network that creates extraordinary things by bringing together resources. While I know Blender, the open source 3D animation tool, and in fact spent a Saturday playing with it once, I didn’t know they’ve created completely open source films (animations) that anyone can pull apart and recreate any way they want. These are Pixar-quality films that anyone can modify or work on. I find that extraordinary.
Overall social networks are becoming places for rich content creation, and that’s a great thing. They are also absolutely where people will go to and find content. Content exists in social networks. It’s alive, or should be, and in a way social networks and content are one of the best combinations there is, tapping latent creativity among and between us.
Read more →
Effective governance unleashes the creative potential of Web 2.0 in the business
By Ross DawsonIT Business Edge has just published an interview with me on IT governance for Web 2.0 technologies, a topic I’m spending considerable time on in my consulting work with major organizations. The complete article, Set Policies to Unleash Creativity with Web 2.0 Tools, is available on their website, and the interview is reproduced below.
Hall: Just to make sure we’re on the same page, how do you define Web 2.0 technologies?
Dawson: Basically, they’re technologies that use mass participation to create value for the business. They can be wikis, blogs, social networking, social bookmarking, mashups and other tools, but [the term] also involves the underlying architecture behind those tools.
Hall: So what would IT governance for those tools look like?
Dawson: I look at governance in a broader context as having a full understanding of potential risks, potential benefits and having set-off structured policies and procedures where any risks are minimized and benefits are maximized, with a high degree of transparency and accountability for executives and other people in the organization.
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Keynote speech in India: The Future of Global Financial Services
By Ross DawsonIt has been several years now since I have been to India, where I last ran some executive workshops on high-value relationships for some of India’s largest companies. I will be back in Mumbai next week to deliver the keynote address on The Future of Global Financial Services at the Vision 2020 Financial Services conference, run by Wipro and NDTV Profit, the Indian business news channel. The speaker line-up includes the top executives of many of India’s major banks. I am the only international speaker.
The event is highly focused on the future, creating a vision of what the financial services sector will look like in 2020, and in particular the relationship between banks and their customers in a world transformed by economic growth, social change, and technology.
The overview of my keynote on the future of global financial services is:
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Now a major trend: Information visualization for everyone
By Ross DawsonNew York Times has a nice article on the collaborative information visualization tool Many Eyes. I wrote about Many Eyes in a post titled the magic of data visualization for everyone when the site was originally launched in January 2007. My post began:
The basic functionality of the site hasn’t changed much since the launch, though it’s great to see not only that it’s being used extensively, but also getting significant attention and being used in new and unexpected ways.
Want to make sense of the latest political speech? Use the Wordle visualization tool on Many Eyes to pull out the themes, as in the representation above of Sarah Palin’s self-introduction as McCain’s running mate.
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Media is becoming everything
By Ross DawsonPhoton Group, in their annual results presentation today (Revenue up 94% to A$376m, Net Profit up 33% to A$21.7m – go to ASX to download FY2008 Annual Results) used three quotes to support their “media neutral, consumer driven “ strategy:
The quote from me is taken from the introduction to our Future of Media Report 2008, which has been getting a fantastic amount of attention globally since its launch in July.
I have spoken and written before about how media is beginning to encompass almost everything in the economy (for example in my speech on Enterprise 2.0 at KMWorld in Silicon Valley last year). I think it’s worth reviewing the first paragraph of the Future of Media Report 2008 below. I believe this view is central to how media, business, and society will unfold over coming years.
Renai LeMay’s ZDNet blog increasing coverage of Australian start-ups
By Ross DawsonThe flourishing Australian start-up scene is about to get yet more coverage. Renai LeMay, having returned to CNET (now CBS Interactive) as News Editor from a stint at the Australian Financial Review, has set up Bootstrappr, a blog covering Australian start-ups.
Below I have put his guide to getting coverage on his blog – an extremely rare instance where I respond to a request for coverage, since it’s in a good cause :-)
So far excellent coverage of the Australian start-up scene has been provided by Vishal Sharma’s startup blog. I was one of the judges on his Startups Carnival earlier this year. Vishal has also just announced he is considering writing a book on Australian start-ups, which I think is an excellent idea.
Of course I also compile the annual Top 100 Australian Web 2.0 Applications list, which appeared in BRW this year, and which won’t appear again until around May.
Just the last 3-6 months have seen a real shift in technology entrepreneurship in Australia – there is far more activity and a higher level of sophistication. It’s great to see.
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Seven Driving Forces Shaping Media
By Ross DawsonI earlier posted the Seven Driving Forces Shaping Media framework below, which was one of the frameworks included in our Future of Media Report 2008. However the framework is designed to cover an A3 sheet, so while it looks great in the printed copy of the report it can be hard to read on a screen. In addition many people don’t click through to pdfs. So I’ve posted this content in a blog-friendly and more readable format below.
Seven Driving Forces Shaping Media (pdf 700KB):
Since the event I’ve heard that the seven driving forces have been used in a range of presentations inside organizations and at conferences, and also in some executive strategy sessions. Before I created the visual summary of the trends I’d used them in a variety of client offsites and found they were useful in framing strategic thinking, all of which suggests it’s worth providing these again in a more accessible format.
If you like this framework, also see our Future of the Media Lifecyle Framework and Future of Media: Strategy Tools framework.
SEVEN DRIVING FORCES SHAPING MEDIA
1. Increasing Media Consumption
Humans are intrinsically media animals. As we get greater access to media and content, we are discovering that our appetite for information and entertainment is virtually insatiable. It is commonplace for people of all ages to consume multiple media at the same time, with television, internet, newspaper, messaging, and other media frequently overlapping.
Implications:
Average total media consumption will exceed waking hours. Most media will be consumed with partial attention. Advertising impact will decrease.
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How smaller countries and regions can develop their film and screen industries – 5 key issues
By Ross DawsonOne of the issues that I am increasingly shifting my attention to is how smaller developed economies compete in an intensely connected global economy. For example, in different sectors Ireland, Finland, Israel, and Singapore have had significant success in shifting their economic structure. While the large economies of US, Japan, and Western Europe as well as the emerging BRIC giants face their own issues, there are a particular set of challenges for smaller countries or regions. In addition to the general drivers of economic success in a hyper-connected world, there are a range of specific issues within industries, particularly in the media and technology sectors.
The Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development in the Australian state of Victoria recently commissioned an independent review of the screen industry in the state, which goes through to a proposed vision for the future of the industry in the state. Beyond this specific initiatives will be established. The review was performed by consulting firm Nous Group, and I was an ‘Expert Advisor’ on the review. The Screen Industy value chain (as below) on page 14 of the report was developed based on some of my thinking, including my Future of Media Strategic Framework.
The Victorian Screen Industry Review can be downloaded, and makes for some very interesting reading.
Below is a summary of the key trends identified in the report across sectors, followed by five key issues raised by the report.
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ABC Interview: Google as an advertising aggregator
By Ross DawsonI have said for many years that the best way to understand Google is as an advertising aggregator (I would argue that even with its diversification over the last few years). Building on its successful search engine, it has sold ads that are served both on its search results, and also on a broad array of non-Google sites, initially through its AdSense program. It has for some years also sold advertising for delivery on radio, television, and newspapers. This was described in our Future of Media Strategic Framework which appeared in the Future of Media Report 2006.
Back in March I was interviewed by the ABC’s Media Report program about Google and Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo! at the time. While some of the interview topics are a bit dated now, much of it is still relevant, including my description of Google’s role in the media landscape. I’ll expand on this in another post soon.
You can read the transcript on the ABC site and below (note that there are some errors in the transcript).
Antony Funnell: Now let’s stay with search engines for a little bit longer, and look at the business manoeuvrings of some of the big players. Google last week announced it’s beefing up its presence in Australia with a new headquarters, and it’s seeking to grow in a whole range of areas. It’s also announced that it’s successfully acquired internet advertising firm DoubleClick.
Meanwhile, in another online universe, Microsoft appears to be still actively stalking the second-tier search engine company Yahoo. What’s it all about? Well let’s ask Ross Dawson. Ross is a communication strategy consultant and chairman of the Future Exploration Network.
Ross Dawson: It’s important to understand that Google is not just a search engine, and that it is in fact, more than anything else, an aggregator of advertising. What it does is it goes to advertisers and says, ‘We can present information about you, not just on our own search engine, but also on many, many other websites’.
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