Why less blogging is a matter for national concern

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A feature article by Graeme Philipson titled The Lost Art of Blogging in the Sydney Morning Herald last Tuesday covered some of the analysis I released before the Future of Media Summit, comparing Australian blogging behaviors compared to the rest of the world.

The article quotes me as follows:

“Of the top 25,000 blogs globally, around 9000 are in English”, says Mr Dawson. Of those, only 75 originate in Australia. But there are 420 million native English speakers in the world. “With Australia’s population of 21 million, we comprise 5 per cent of English speakers. But with 75 blogs out of 9000, we comprise less than 1 per cent of English blogs. We are underrepresented by a factor of six or so.”

…

“I think one key reason is lack of bandwidth in Australia, and of its high cost. Australian internet connections are slower than they are in the rest of the world, and Australia is almost unique in capping usage at quite low levels.”

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Future of Media: Panel discussion on emerging business models

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A quick review of the first cross-continental panel at the Future of Media Summit 2007, which was on Emerging Business Models, featured Keith Teare, CEO of edgeio, Anne-Marie Roussel, Director – Stategic and Emerging Business for Microsoft, Chris Gilbey, CEO of Vquence, and Rob Antulov, CEO of 3eep. A few reflections on the discussion (from memory, so please excuse misquotations :-) ):

One of the themes of the discussion was whether business models are changing. Rob said that after much consideration, he’d decided that there were no new business models: the three that continued to exist were 1) customers paying directly for your content; 2) a third party paying to be associated with or incorporating your content; 3) third parties paying to distribute your content. Keith in particular disagreed, noting the new approaches possible through social media. Edgeio’s business model itself suggests new possibilities for intermediating value. Chris, a doyen of the music industry, said that it is moving to a point at which it is no longer possible to monetize music directly. Consumers are no longer prepared to pay for music, so advertising or other indirect revenue models are becoming essential. Anne-Marie talked about the web as a basis for social entertainment. People are primarily influenced by their peers in buying entertainment, and it is now possible for people to buy from or through their peers. Keith used the phrase“selling content through peer relationships,” noting that edgeio will shortly release tools for monetizing sales of content through third-parties.

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Media and blog coverage on Future of Media Summit

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The Future of Media Summit has received a stack of coverage in print media, including all of Australia’s major broadsheet newspapers featuring various aspects of the event:

The front page of The Australian’s weekly Media & Marketing section had a large piece titled Internet TV Push ‘Unstoppable’, drawing on commentary at the Summit.

The Sydney Morning Herald had a long piece on The Lost Art of Blogging discussing my research and commentary on the blog space – more on this article soon.

The Australian Financial Review had a feature article on the discussion about micro-payment on the Emerging Business Models panel (the article is not available online).

Communications Day featured extensive coverage of the panel discussions on mobile media and user generated content.

For blog coverage of the event, the best starting point is the Future of Media Summit participant blog, where quite a few speakers and attendees have already blogged about the event. Both on the Summit blog and elsewhere, there has been some great commentary in particular from:

Noric Dilanchian

Chris Gilbey

Stuart Henshall

Brad Howarth

Nichole Kahn

Hugh Martin

Phil Sim

Other great pre-event content on the Summit blog from speakers includes insightful comments from Dan Fill, Laurie Lock Lee, Mark Pesce and others.

Let me know if I have missed some interesting media and blog coverage. If you were there, please add your thoughts and reflections on this blog!

Key elements of media business models

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In the lead-up to the Future of Media Summit 2007 held in Sydney and San Francisco next week, we will feature some excerpts from the Future of Media Report 2007, recently released to accompany the event.

In this post we will cover the Key Elements of Media Business Models frameworks which are the centerpiece of the Report. The centerfold image and commentary on each of the four elements of the framework is below – click on any of the images below to get the Report with full details.

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Below are the frameworks and commentary for the four elements of the media business model framework:

* SCALING OF BUSINESS MODELS

* VALUE IN CONTENT PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION

* DRIVERS OF VALUE OF ADVERTISING

* MEDIA PERSONALIZATION

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SCALING OF BUSINESS MODELS

The emergence of the long tail has created a complete spectrum of media of different scales, from the mass media at the “head” of the curve, through mid-sized professional publishing at the “shoulder”, and on to an extended “tail” of micro-media outlets, each with small audiences. Media have significantly different characteristics along the curve, leading to a variety of business models and approaches to scaling businesses. Characteristics that differ include:

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Thoughts on user generated content meets mainstream media: Scott-Bradley Pearce, CNET

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As part of the lead-up to the Future of Media Summit 2007, I did a video interview with Scott-Bradley Pearce, who is Strategic Adviser Content Syndication and Multimedia, CNET Networks Australia. Scott-Bradley will be speaking at the Summit on the User Generated Content Meets Mainstream Media panel, on the Sydney side of the event.

The video interview covers issues including:

* What kinds of media organizations are best positioned to take advantage of user generated content

* Legal and other issues in using user generated content in mainstream media

* Global and Australian trends in the media landscape

Lots of interesting ideas here!

Launching the Future of Media Report 2007!

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The annual Future of Media Summit held simultaneously in Sydney and San Francisco (the Future of Media Summit 2007 is on next week) is as much about providing new content, research, and insights as it is about an event. Last year the Future of Media Report 2006 certainly succeeded in its objective of sparking debate and discussion on the future of media, with over 70,000 downloads, commentary generated in seven languages from over 20 countries, and use of our content in magazines across three continents and in at least one government submission on the future of media.

This year we are following the example of last year, creating an entirely new report that looks at different angles and perspectives on where the media landscape is today and where it is going. The Future of Media Report 2007 is now officially launched – download it here.

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Future of Media Report 2007

Some things you’ll find in the report:

Eight Developments in Media July 06 of June 07. Examples of key developments, including industry transactions and acquisitions, layoffs, new channels, intellectual property, and consorship.

Shifting Global Advertising Channels. Data and commentary on shifts in advertising spending, and a comparison of ownership of the online classifieds segment in the US, UK, and Australia.

Comparison of Fastest Growing Properties and Internet Access. Exclusive original research from Nielsen//NetRatings, comparing uptake of new media properties in the US, UK, and Australia, and different online browsing behaviors across nations.

Key Elements of Media Business Models. Following the extremely popular Future of Media Strategic Framework from last year, we have created four complementary frameworks looking at Scalability, Value of Distribution, Value of Advertising, and Media Personalization. These can be applied to understanding emerging media business models. Each of the frameworks is explained in detail.

Media Industry Network Analysis. An analysis by Laurie Lock Lee of the recent acquisition of Southern Broadcasting Corporation by Macquarie Media Group, and insights on the impact on the Australian media industry landscape.

Media Transactions. A list of media mergers and acquisitions of at least US$1 billion over the last 15 years, putting the massive surge in recent media industry activity into context.

Download the complete Future of Media Report here.

Please feel free to pass on word or comment. As with all our work, the Future of Media Report 2007 is released on a Creative Commons license, which allows anyone to post it, use it and build on it as they please, as long as there is attribution with a link to the Report on this site or to this blog. The framework is intended to be a stimulus to conversation and further thinking, so if you disagree on any aspect, or think you can improve on it, please take what is useful, leave the rest, and create something better!

We’ll be releasing parts of the Future of Media Report separately over the next days and weeks.

Attendees at the Future of Media Summit 2007 in Sydney or San Francisco get a very nicely printed copy of the Report, so get along! Hope to see you there.

The Imperative of Service Delivery Innovation

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Service Delivery Innovation will be a critical theme for professional service firms over the next five years. Technology reconfiguration, the use of global talent, and changing demands from local and global clients all contribute to the necessity of finding new ways to deliver services. While commoditization is a reality that must be addressed in how professional service firms function, being able to bring the best possible resources to create unique solutions for clients means premium pricing will absolutely still be possible.

SAP recently engaged me to write a White Paper and speak in a webcast on Service Delivery Innovation. The webcast is primarily for the US market, on July 12 at 1-2pm Eastern Time. Description as below and contact details for registration on the SAP website.

At this informative Webcast, you’ll discover how a service delivery innovation program can help you improve service quality, boost innovation, increase efficiency organization-wide, establish internationalized systems and processes, and collaborate with services and materials partners. And you’ll get unique perspectives from Ross Dawson, CEO of Advanced Human Technologies and bestselling author of Living Networks.

The White Paper on Service Delivery Innovation is not yet launched. I’ll post details on this blog on how to get the White Paper when it is out.

Participate in the Future of Media Summit blog!

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The Future of Media Summit participant blog was recently launched. This is a forum for speakers, partners, and attendees at the Future of Media Summit 2007 to discuss the issues covered at the Summit before, during, and after the event. When you register for the event you will be given a login and instructions to post on this blog (If you have registered recently you will receive your login shortly. Click here for full details on the blog, including how to get a login if you cannot physically attend either the San Francisco or Sydney events).

Last year we only launched the participant blog for the Future of Media Summit 2006 at the time when the actual event kicked off, so we garnered a range of comments during the event itself, then a very healthy and extremely interesting discussion between the event participants in the month after the event.

Check out the Future of Media Summit blog before, during, and after the event – this is where speakers will be providing pre-event insights and perspectives, participants will be live-blogging, and discussion will be engaged after the event.

Also associated content, including the Future of Media Report 2007 and other research will be posted here.

The most recent post on the blog is a reposting of an extremely interesting blog post from Anne-Marie Roussel on collaborative filtering, a topic I believe will be central to the Future of Media. Anne-Marie, who manages Microsoft’s entertainment portfolio (Zune, Xbox, Video), will be speaking on the San Francisco side of the Future of Media Summit.

Australia needs a debate on why it lags in online and network thinking

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Smartcompany.com.au, the online-only business magazine which launched in February and is already doing very well, has an article titled Left behind Down Under (second story on the page) based on our release from last week and an interview with me. Some of the quotes from the piece:

Ross Dawson, founding chairman of Future Exploration Network, says the average bandwidth of Australian broadband is around a third that of the UK and a fifth that of the US.

“When you go to access video and audio it is so slow and clunky many people give up, so people spend less time on sites,” he says. The average time on an internet site in Australia is just under a minute.

Cultural issues also affecting Australians’ online usage. “We are less inclined to put forward an opinion in a social environment,” he says. “This means that we are slower in participating on blogs, forums and social networking sites.”

Dawson says the takeup of Web 2.0 by businesses is also trailing other countries, which is affecting productivity and marketing. “In the US in companies like Disney and McDonald’s use less email and do far more collaboration on projects, which contributes to better outcomes.”

Australians are also slower to use blogging platforms and other Web 2.0 for marketing.

“Organisations need to be far more innovative in how they use technologies internally and externally because as we shift to the global network economy we must be connected to other ideas and knowledge or we will be disadvantaged as a nation.”

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Gaining insights into the services economy

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In my keynote speeches I often ask the audience what proportion of the US economy is services. The majority of people guess far below the correct figure, which is 82%. I often point to the following chart, which illustrates the opening words to my book Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships:

“In 1980 the US economy was worth $4.9 trillion, producing 1.3 billion tons of goods. Fast forward 20 years to 2000, and the US economy had almost doubled in size to $9.3 trillion, yet the weight of goods produced had only edged up by a few percent to 1.37 billion tons. The economic activity that accounted for this near-doubling in size of the economy was associated with almost nothing of substance, nothing that you could see. This massive growth in the economy was driven by information, ideas, services, and knowledge—things that weighed nothing.”

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I’ve long held that the future of the economy is in professional services. Almost everything will be become commoditized in a global connected economy. But deep specialist knowledge applied effectively will have rapidly increasing value, so that over the next 18-25 years as the global economy doubles in size, professional services will account for the vast bulk of economic growth.

Despite the massive predominance of services in the economy, study and research of the services sector is massively under-represented. Only recently has activity picked up in the field. One significant initiative launched a few months ago is the Services Research & Innovation Initiative, established by IBM, Oracle, Technology Professional Services Assocation, and Service and Support Professionals Assocation, which intends to increase funding to study and enhance performance in the services sector.

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