Ben Elowitz brings together eight of the most thoughtful media industry influencers and offers their most cogent assessment of the future of media on the social web.
Rebooting Media: The Digital Publishing Revolution for a Fully Social Web
1. A digital media thought leadership publication sponsored by
for a Fully Social Web
Rebooting Media: The Digital Publishing Revolution
Jeff Berman
NFL and
Buddy Media
Greg Clayman
The Daily
Lewis DVorkin
Forbes Media
Erik Flannigan
MTV Networks
Entertainment
Group
Jason Hirschhorn
Media
ReDEFined
Wenda Harris
Millard
Media Link LLC
Theresia Gouw
Ranzetta
Accel Partners
Anthony Soohoo
Digital Media
Entrepreneur
Ben Elowitz
Wetpaint
2. 03 Introduction
by Ben Elowitz, Co-Founder and CEO, Wetpaint
05 How Facebook Is Crushing Search
by Jeff Berman, General Manager of Digital Media, NFL; board member, Buddy Media
08 Facebook Delivers Sharing on Steroids
by Greg Clayman, Publisher, The Daily
10 Tearing Down the Walls That Traditional Media Built
by Lewis DVorkin, Chief Product Officer, Forbes Media
12 Building Great Relationships With Your Social Media Fan Base
by Erik Flannigan, EVP Digital Media, MTV Networks Entertainment Group
14 The Three S’s of Social Media–Surprise, Serendipity and Spontaneity
by Jason Hirschhorn, Curator of Media ReDEFined
17 Turbo-Charging the Web’s New Personal Recommendation Engine
by Wenda Harris Millard, President & COO, Media Link LLC
19 How ecommerce Is Blazing a Trail on the Social Web for Publishers
by Theresia Gouw Ranzetta, Partner, Accel Partners
22 The People-Powered Web Is Revolutionizing Innovation
by Anthony Soohoo, Digital Media Entrepreneur
24 Conclusion
by Ben Elowitz, Co-Founder and CEO, Wetpaint
Rebooting Media: The Digital Publishing Revolution for a Fully Social Web
Winter 2012
3. 03 Introduction
By Ben Elowitz
Co-Founder and CEO, Wetpaint
3
The Ultimate Social Network –
Confronting an Industry’s Greatest Challenge
As Don Graham, Chairman and CEO of The
Washington Post Company, recently remarked on-
stage at a conference of leading CEO’s, the media
industry as we have known it for the last 100 years
is collapsing. The basic structure of our industry
– content creation, packaging, distribution, and
monetization – have shifted so substantially that the
rug has literally been pulled out from underneath
media’s business model.
A new model must be created – and the DNA of the
medium itself has been irreversibly altered so that it
is now innately social.
And yet, in the midst of this upheaval, I’ve found
that even the brightest and most well informed
strategies are able to tap only part of media’s new
nature and capture just a slice of the industry’s
remaking.
At a time like this, to get a complete picture of
the territory ahead, there is nothing wiser than
integrating perspective from the best and brightest
people in the publishing world. And, over the
course of the last several years, I’ve been immensely
grateful for those leaders’intelligence and vision.
So, I thought it was only fitting to help create the
ultimate social network – one that will enable our
industry to share the smartest ideas as it remakes
digital media.
That’s what this compendium is all about.
Rebooting Media: The Digital Publishing
Revolution for a Fully Social Web brings together
eight of the most thoughtful influencers and offers
their most cogent assessment of the new online
relationship-building that is helping to connect
people in absolutely unprecedented ways.
Together, these eight contributors reinforce three
dominant themes:
Building a media brand on the new social Web
means that publishers have to meet consumers
where, when and how they want. It’s all about
user-driven pull, and publishers need to offer
experiences and establish relationships that may not
be on their own terms.
4. Anthony Soohoo, a digital media consultant and
adviser, focuses on the way that the people-powered
Web is changing innovation.
Wenda Harris Millard, President of Media Link
LLC, advances the notion of a new personal
recommendation engine on today’s Web.
Erik Flannigan, EVP of Digital Media at MTV Networks
Entertainment, shows how to build great relationships
with social media fan bases.
Theresia Gouw Ranzetta, a Partner at Accel Partners,
zeroes in on the way that ecommerce is blazing a trail
for social Web publishers.
I have already learned a lot from each of these people
and their pieces, and I hope you do, too – not only to
build your own ideas, but to help our industry move
forward. To that end, I invite further conversation with
me, and with our contributors.
The digital dialogue is so essential as we all work to re-
invent publishing for 21st
century audiences.
Sincerely,
Ben Elowitz
CEO and Co-Founder of Wetpaint 4
continued from page 3
03 Introduction
Facebook is a transformative platform driving
new personalization and connectivity across the
upstart social Web. We are still waiting to see all of
what Facebook ultimately becomes, but we know it
represents a once-in-a-generation paradigm shift.
Any way you look at it, search (as we know it) is
declining. The open sharing of social networks, and
the power of social endorsement, are seriously altering
what consumers look for on the Web, and how we’re
engaging with content. The search algorithm has lost
out – big time – to the will of the audience.
But the most powerful insights are in the essays that
follow from each of our eight contributors.
Jeff Berman, General Manager of Digital Media for the
NFL and Buddy Media board member, talks about how
Facebook is eclipsing search.
Greg Clayman, Publisher of The Daily, explains why
Facebook is taking sharing to a whole new level.
Jason Hirschhorn, Curator of Media ReDEFined,
considers the element of surprise in social media.
Lewis DVorkin, Chief Product Officer at Forbes Media,
discusses how he’s tearing down the walls that
traditional media built.
5. 05 How Facebook Is Crushing Search
By Jeff Berman
General Manager of Digital Media, NFL; board member, Buddy Media
5
Q: How does the rise of Facebook change the
relationship between media and its audience?
Radically. The conversation has historically been
pretty much one way – media to audience or
audience to audience. And it hasn’t been at scale.
In the new world, however, the conversation is
scaled and omni-directional. Since Gutenberg, or
at least since Marconi, media has had a massive
megaphone. But the audience hasn’t had real
power. Thomas Paine and his patriotic pamphlets
may be the exception; Paine had a voice and a
platform, but it wasn’t a scalable model and it lacked
speed. Today, everyone is a publisher, and there
can be millions of Thomas Paines, reaching tens
of millions of people instantaneously. Everyone
who wants to create compelling content, or a
movement, now has the tools. This is a very different
world from even seven years ago.
Q: What’s changed fundamentally about media
with the rise of the social Web, and what do
publishers need to do to adapt?
First, if you’re involved in a one-way discussion,
you’re not taking advantage of the social Web
opportunity, and you’re leaving a ton on the
table. Another advantage if you’re a legacy media
property – let’s say The Wire or The Godfather
– is that you now have a chance to stay in the
conversation and continue it, so you’re alive and
you remain active in the culture. You can keep
the property and the franchise in front of new
and existing audiences, thanks to the new digital
tools. If the show is taken off the air, for instance,
it can still be all over Facebook. Audiences are
empowered today, and folks want to participate in
the conversation. No one may be able to control the
conversation, but people do want to shape it – and
they can. The social Web gives them choices, and it
provides options and alternatives for publishers and
media players, too.
Q: We’ve gone from SEO (SearchEngine
Optimization) to SMO(SocialMediaOptimization),
so how will search change as the Web becomes
more social?
Here are some powerful numbers from a recent
Forrester report. In 2004, 83 percent of Internet
users deployed search engines to find content.
That was before the rise of Facebook. By 2010, it
was 61 percent. So, we saw a drop of a quarter in a
six-year time frame, the same time frame in which
“Audiences are empowered today,
and folks want to participate in
the conversation. No one may be
able to control the conversation,
but people do want to shape it –
and they can. The social Web gives
them choices, and it provides
options and alternatives for
publishers and media
players, too.”
6. social media took off. This isn’t a coincidence; it is,
however, a causal relationship – and it makes sense,
given what we know.
On a more sweeping level, we’ve historically learned
about shows to watch and diapers to buy because
we’ve spoken to friends and family. Now we’re taking
these word-of-mouth conversations to the digital
networks. And we’re not just using Google to search for
the answers; we’re going to our friends’Facebook pages
(and, increasingly, to Twitter, particularly for real-time
multi-platform engagement). This is trusted referral
at scale, and it’s fast and reliable. That’s why Facebook
represents such a monumental shift.
But let’s not forget that Facebook is just seven years old;
You Tube is six years old; Groupon is three years old;
the iPad is 18 months old – so anyone who proclaims a
clear vision of the digital world even five years into the
future is either a prophet or a fool. Broadly speaking,
you will see evolution in SMO, and a continued deep
integration of social functionality. The key point here
is that Facebook is a part of today’s Internet operating
system, so the efficiency and reliability of social sharing
and peer reviews is going to increase big-time. In other
words, the 83 percent, which fell to 61 percent, will fall
even further as the social Web grows.
Finally, I’m especially interested in what Apple does
with TV, and what will happen when Web TV is
connected at scale and social functionality is built into
the experience. The ability to share in real-time
straight from whatever screen you happen to be
viewing will meaningfully change the way we
choose what content we engage with and how we
engage with it.
Q: How do you build a brand in publishing when,
with greater frequency, media is distributed
through social channels?
There’s an apparent conflict out there right now.
The brand world has never been more crowded than
it is today. And yet it’s never been easier to build
a massive new brand. The reason? As the universe
gets more crowded, brand-building tools are being
disintermediated. Spotify is a good example. All of a
sudden, it’s skyrocketing, in no small part, because
its offering is social. The same is true for LivingSocial
and Groupon. These businesses have exploded
like we’ve never seen before largely because of
social functionality. People find it easy to share
their experiences about the products, and they
like having others show them the way to the
marketplace. This is authentic social content.
6
continued from page 5
05 How Facebook Is Crushing Search
7. Q: What are the critical success factors in
publishing as we look to 2020; and who will
be the winners?
The old axiom that you have to fish where the fish are
holds true so it starts with platform ubiquity. We’ve
seen this already with the explosive growth of mobile,
and it’s just going to intensify as a necessary success
factor over the next decade. For the vast majority
of publishers, you will have to empower your
audience to experience your content where, when,
and how they want.
For startups, this is in their DNA. But the recent history
of media suggests such change is not easy for mature
publishers. You simply may have to cannibalize
profitable (but declining or soon-to-be-declining)
businesses to build for the future. That, or risk watching
a newcomer come along and eat your lunch.
Jeff Berman is the General Manager of Digital Media for the
NFL. He previously held a series of positions at MySpace,
ultimately serving as President of Sales & Marketing. Prior to
entering the digital media space, Berman was Chief Counsel to
United States Senator Charles E. Schumer and a public defender
representing children charged in the District of Columbia’s
adult criminal courts. He also held an adjunct professorship at
the Georgetown University Law Center.
7
continued from page 6
05 How Facebook Is Crushing Search
8. 08 Facebook Delivers Sharing on Steroids
By Greg Clayman
Publisher, The Daily
8
Q: How does the rise of Facebook change the
relationship between media and its audience?
Facebook allows media to engage with audiences
in new ways, and the amount of commentary,
feedback and interaction with audiences is greater
than ever. Facebook also allows for a greater
degree of discovery. By dramatically simplifying
the ability to share anything, Facebook has hyper-
charged distribution for all media products: free,
paid, subscription, ad-supported; they’ve made
distribution friction-free. It’s one thing to tell a friend
about something you like. That’s been happening
from the beginning of time. It’s quite another to
“like”an article, a song, a video, etc. and be able to
instantly broadcast to everybody you know.
Publishers need to embrace the social Web.
They have to be where their audiences are and
do what they can to make their content easy to
share, and to digest across any given platform.
Q: We’ve gone from SEO (SearchEngine
Optimization) to SMO(SocialMediaOptimization),
so how will search change as the Web becomes
more social?
Before the social Web, online search was entirely
about looking for pages. And relevance was defined
by how many influential sites were linking to a given
page. This is the Google world: the link economy.
Social adds an imporant layer to this –“What is
it that the people I know and trust like?”“Where
do they go?”“Who do they trust?”“What’s in their
worldview?”This examination of one’s own orbit is
part of what makes social media so fascinating from
a search perspective, it’s a whole new dimension to
explore. And one that’s clearly not lost on Google as
evidenced by their recent launch of Google+.
We’re in the age of the curator. The more
“infinite”the Web becomes the more difficult it
is to find the media that is relevant to me. I think
curators are going to be ever more important in the
coming years –Mike Allen’s POLITICO Playbook and
Jason Hirschhorn’s Media ReDEFined are two great
examples who come to mind.
“By dramatically simplifying
the ability to share anything,
Facebook has hyper-charged
distribution for all media
products: free, paid, subscription,
ad-supported; they’ve made
distribution friction-free.”
9. Q: How do you build a brand in publishing when,
with greater frequency, media is distributed
through social channels?
For one thing, you have to allow many-sided
conversations on today’s emerging and evolving social
Web. That means ceding some control in order to
engage with consumers and give them the experience
that they want. Sharing is the cornerstone of brand
building on the social Web today.
It’s also important to have a strong editorial voice.
Content aggregators, for example, might give you
a tool to find just what you’re looking for. But that
specificity can lack the serendipity of stumbling
on something new by following a strong editor or
curator. That serendipity is important and is how
we learn to trust some voices over others.
Q: What are the critical success factors in
publishing as we look to 2020; and who will
be the winners?
You have to be nimble with distribution and go
where the audiences are. You also have to work
very hard to engender trust and build recognition
and reputation. You want people to know you
and feel good about your brand so that you can
move quickly to take advantage of any and all new
technologies as they develop and scale. This represents
future growth.
Greg Clayman is Publisher of The Daily. Launched by News
Corporation in early 2011, The Daily is a tablet-native national
news brand built from the ground up to publish original
content exclusively for the iPad. Prior to joining The Daily,
Clayman was executive vice president of Digital Distribution
& Business Development for MTV Networks (MTVN). Before
MTVN, Clayman co-founded Upoc, one of the first mobile
content companies in the United States.
9
continued from page 8
08 Facebook Delivers Sharing on Steroids
10. 10 Tearing Down the Walls That Traditional Media Built
By Lewis DVorkin
Chief Product Officer, Forbes Media
10
Q: How does the rise of Facebook change the
relationship between media and its audience?
There is an interaction between the two. Facebook
turns everybody into a publisher. They publish
what’s important and interesting to them, and they
share it with friends and colleagues; they become
publishers like the media. A whole group of people
is distributing content to friends and putting a value
on it. And that value is important to friends. People
all over are distribution channels today, and
they’re editing their feeds. But as they edit their
feeds, they’re editing themselves.
Q: What’s changed fundamentally about media
with the rise of the social Web, and what do
publishers need to do to adapt?
Publishers who adapt to the social Web need to
understand that content is content. Publishers,
marketers, and audiences all create content; each
brings knowledge and expertise, and it’s mingling
in one place. So publishers must accept this new
reality. They no longer control the content platform,
and they have to invite others into the process.
The traditional role as media gatekeeper isn’t
valid anymore. The question is how you let others
participate. I think you have to clearly state and
transparently label each contributor’s identity, so
users can form their own judgments. In the old
world, traditional media would decide who got
respect and who was worthy.
Q: We’ve gone from SEO (SearchEngine
Optimization) to SMO(SocialMediaOptimization),
so how will search change as the Web becomes
more social?
Search will always be important as a way of
discovery, so publishers have to continue to
optimize; they can’t give up SEO. But now there’s
a new layer, and that’s social media. So you have
to work with tools like Twitter and Facebook to
understand where the conversations are, who is
spreading the word, and how to get your relevant
content in that stream in a way that’s positive. There
are a number of opportunities to become part of
this world; and social media, which drove zero traffic
in the past, can now be a significant traffic driver
if you optimize content for it. The key question is
how you get the edge in Facebook ranking versus
Google page ranking.
“Publishers who adapt to the
social Web need to understand
that content is content. Publishers,
marketers, and audiences all
create content; each brings
knowledge and expertise, and
it’s mingling in one place. So
publishers must accept this new
reality. They no longer control the
content platform, and they have
to invite others into the process.”
11. Q: How do you build a brand in publishing when,
with greater frequency, media is distributed
through social channels?
At Forbes, we now have a core group of full-time staff
people and a core group of contributors. Most of
these contributors are publishing content under their
own individual names and own individual brands of
knowledge. By doing this, we’re curating, and we’re
extending the Forbes brand, especially with all the
comments and conversations that result. Advertisers
and marketers can take advantage of this extended
brand, and they get to use the same tools, because
they can also create content. Everyone who’s involved
believes in our brand attributes – enterprise, the
entrepreneur, smart investing, and doing something
good with wealth that will make a difference. So, the
extended Forbes brand is enabling like-minded
people, people who believe in what we believe in,
to share information and insights.
Q: What are the critical success factors in
publishing as we look to 2020; and who will
be the winners?
The economics of publishing today and going forward
are vastly different than they were 20 years ago. And
we’re not going to return there. Publishers must create
scalable new business models for content creation and
the voracious appetite for content. Staffers alone can’t
meet this need, or equal the expertise of thousands of
contributors. Publishers can’t control this experience
either; so the trick is how to open up and still maintain
brand values and attributes, while helping people feel
a sense of partial ownership. Traditional media built
up walls – between journalists and audiences;
journalists and advertisers; and advertisers and
audiences. But media is about connections. If you
control the connections, it’s not what everyone wants.
You can’t maintain silos; I just don’t see how you can do
that anymore.
Lewis DVorkin is the Chief Product Officer at Forbes Media.
He joined the company after True/Slant, his entrepreneurial
content network, was acquired by Forbes in the spring of 2010.
Previously, Dvorkin has been Page One Editor of The Wall
Street Journal, Senior Editor at Newsweek, and an editor at
The New York Times. He has also been Senior Vice President,
Programming, at AOL, and played a significant role in the
launch of TMZ.com
11
continued from page 10
10 Tearing Down the Walls That Traditional Media Built
12. 12 Building Great Relationships With Your Social Media Fan Base
By Erik Flannigan
EVP Digital Media, MTV Networks Entertainment Group
12
Q: How does the rise of Facebook change the
relationship between media and its audience?
Facebook is a platform, not just a Web site,
and it has created a public sentiment meter.
In fact, sometimes there seems to be wild over-
reactions to the sentiment expressed by the“Like”
button. And many people might suggest that“Like”
has created a currency of some kind. Whether it’s
actually worth something or not remains to be seen,
however. It may end up being the lowest possible
of all audience benchmarks of interest. We don’t
know yet. Some of our properties get modest traffic
through Facebook; others get 75-80 percent of their
traffic through Facebook. From my perspective,
though, it offers a measure of sentiment, a measure
of what is most socially relevant.
Q: What’s changed fundamentally about media
with the rise of the social Web, and what do
publishers need to do to adapt?
On some level, the social Web breaks down the
walls for those who want to go there. Real people
tell us how they feel in an unvarnished way, in an
unfiltered way. There is a fan base that’s active
on social media platforms that wants more,
and that is looking for relationships with shows
and personalities. That means we have to create
more and more digital content, and it has to be
content that can stand alone. If you want to build
a fan base, you have to do this with content. And
this has probably made us at MTV think more
about marketing our shows all year long, not just at
premiere.
Q: We’ve gone from SEO (SearchEngine
Optimization) to SMO(SocialMediaOptimization),
so how will search change as the Web becomes
more social?
Search is like fixing your tire. There are times when
you have to do it. So, it will continue. That said, the
idea that search is the end all and be all is definitely
changing. We saw this in focus groups we did with
young men. They said if something is important
enough, it will find me. All I need is Twitter and
a newsfeed. Also, I think more and more people
understand that search is a game, that the search
system is gamed. And so, search has become less
satisfying, and consumers are moving away from
their reliance on search. Social filters are better
and more timely, especially because you can
run out of things to search for. We’re moving
“On some level, the social Web
breaks down the walls for those
who want to go there. Real
people tell us how they feel in an
unvarnished way, in an
unfiltered way.”
13. to a future where we’ll have some version of tracking,
managing and increasing prominence of the super-
influencers. And I believe that parsing out the most
influential of your social followers will become big, and
become a business.
Q: How do you build a brand in publishing when,
with greater frequency, media is distributed
through social channels?
It’s tough. And it’s easy to disassociate brands and
content. That’s why we need to do more when
it comes to thinking things through to the end
experience. This is important, and you can see that
consumers are giving publishers credit when there’s
an open dialogue. Instagram is a good example here.
They have thought about the end-to-end experience.
It’s much more than a name. Its identity is tied to
an experience, to sharing. And they didn’t allow
themselves to just be a platform. They are aspiring to
become a noun, not just a brand.
Q: What are the critical success factors in
publishing as we look to 2020; and who will
be the winners?
We must fix the issue of monetization in digital space.
There is a horrible battle brewing between the
growth of the audience and the lack of currency
to monetize. And there’s nothing – no real answers
– on the horizon. TV has been online for five years, for
example, and the problem hasn’t been solved. There’s
big growth and big innovation, and yet we haven’t
figured this out.
Erik Flannigan joined MTV Networks from AOL, where he was
vice president of programming. Before that, he was at Buena
Vista Datacasting / The Walt Disney Company as vice president
of programming. And prior to that, he served as vice president
of music services and programming at RealNetworks. Earlier,
Flannigan was senior vice president, Entertainment Verticals,
for the Walt Disney Internet Group.
13
continued from page 12
12 Building Great Relationships With Your Social Media Fan Base
14. 14 The Three S’s of Social Media – Surprise, Serendipity and Spontaneity
By Jason Hirschhorn
Curator of Media ReDEFined
14
Q: How does the rise of Facebook change the
relationship between media and its audience?
Facebook is obviously a transformative platform.
It’s a disruption in the distribution of content. The
social endorsement in“sharing”or“liking”a
piece of content on a platform like Facebook is
almost as important as the content itself. And
while they like the digital“word of mouth”I think this
scares the film, TV and publishing industries. Why?
Because, unlike in the past, they are not controlling
the distribution and conversation the way they used
to. The“feed”is taking on search, too, because users
are ultimately using it as a discovery platform. You
may go to Google to find what you already knew
you wanted but now the content streams deliver
you content you had no idea you wanted, and with
an endorsement from someone you know or follow.
This social endorsement changes the way you
discover and consume content.
Q: What’s changed fundamentally about media
with the rise of the social Web, and what do
publishers need to do to adapt?
It’s clear that media is becoming unbundled. It’s also
multi-platform as the access points are fragmented.
It’s real time or archived and it’s on-demand. This
sets the trend for what and where people consume.
In today’s new and evolving social environment,
the packaging and distribution are under less
control. Again, the social endorsement of content
is just as important as who created the content or
what it’s about. Our interests widen on Facebook or
Twitter, and we’re able to see the tastes and interests
of people we respect or know. We used to turn
to TV, radio and print for all our cues, but we’re
now going to Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr… to
our friends and the people we follow. Traditional
media seems slightly hindered because it holds on
to its traditional standards. Whether it is scheduling
in television, definitions of journalism, and creators
as curators or controlling the entirety of your brand.
But things are slowly changing. New forms of media
bring spontaneity, serendipity and personalization.
There are always surprises within your content
“Traditional media seems slightly
hindered because it holds on to
its traditional standards. Whether
it is scheduling in television,
definitions of journalism, and
creators as curators or controlling
the entirety of your brand. But
things are slowly changing. New
forms of media bring spontaneity,
serendipity and personalization.”
15. stream. I realize now I only know a little about the
things I like. The fun is in discovering those things you
never knew you’d be interested in. That’s what I like
about it.
Q: We’ve gone from SEO (SearchEngine
Optimization) to SMO(SocialMediaOptimization),
so how will search change as the Web becomes
more social?
My personal view is that search is falling down. People
are now using it more for navigation than discovery.
“Where is the thing that I want?”Maybe search isn’t
about real discovery. I use search less today because of
Facebook and Twitter, which are becoming significant
parts of my content decision-making process. I’m
interested in seeing the news that my friends are
reading today. That would keep me on Facebook even
longer, and add to the discovery element. Despite its
huge impact, though, Facebook and Twitter haven’t
even begun to really take advantage of content
discovery experiences. They will. It’s going to be a
great evolution to watch and positively disruptive.
Those changes will be a perfect match between
gathering or discovery technologies and a truly human
filter. Ultimately, content discovery needs to have
human layers. Without them, it has no“life”, no context.
This is where Google has fallen down as a product
company. Algorithms vs. Humans. When it comes to
content, which always has an emotional bent, humans
always beat the computer. Clearly Google+ is trying to
address some of that, but they have a ways to go.
Going forward, I believe we need to see more
influencer targeting and noise-level targeting. How
do you help people or companies find those who
are moving the social media mountain? How do you
find these influencers and deliver highly relevant
and personalized content without infringing on their
privacy or conversation and then let them run with it?
That will be a key part of the new optimization. These
changes will revolutionize advertising and make media
spends way more efficient. What it takes to get“lift”will
be far different and mediums like television will need to
fall in line and adapt.
15
continued from page 14
14 The Three S’s of Social Media – Surprise, Serendipity and Spontaneity
16. Q: How do you build a brand in publishing when,
with greater frequency, media is distributed
through social channels?
From my point of view, curation is the next great
layer of value on the Internet. In a world where
everything is available, Curating content helps users sift
through everything. Trusted sources are coming back.
The New York Times is curating when it decides what it
will cover. But they don’t seem to curate other’s work.
And yet the journalists at The Times pass around links
and stories on Twitter that are written by other sources.
Those journalists are trusted sources and now curators.
I think publications should be establishing relationships
with curators; and then they can re-package and re-
bundle content into new and important layers. You can
build big and important brands with curation today. I
know I’m going to try.
Q: What are the critical success factors in
publishing as we look to 2020; and who will
be the winners?
There are five areas I’d touch on here:
1. Curation, for the reasons I’ve explained above
2. Form factors. Content should be allowed to
shape shift.
3. How you distribute. Your site to RSS to email to
Flipboard to Twitter and beyond.
4. How you allow social media inside your content
5. How smart your paywall strategy is. The New
York Times has done the best in this area.
Allowing for social media linkages while
continuing to build a pay-model.
Jason Hirschhorn, a media and technology entrepreneur, is the
curator of Media ReDEFined (@MediaReDEF), a free daily news
feed covering the changing world of media, communications,
entertainment, marketing and technology. The former
President of MySpace, Hirschhorn has also served as President
of Sling Media, Chief Digital Officer at MTV Networks and is on
the Board of Directors of MGM Studios.
16
continued from page 15
14 The Three S’s of Social Media – Surprise, Serendipity and Spontaneity
17. 17 Turbo-Charging the Web’s New Personal Recommendation Engine
By Wenda Harris Millard
President & COO, Media Link LLC
17
Q: How does the rise of Facebook change the
relationship between media and its audience?
I’m not sure that Facebook is media. But Facebook
has changed everything. I see it as a platform for
connection. The challenge for marketers is in
connecting effectively with audiences in these
kinds of social environments. I think advertising
by its very nature is often intrusive, but it tends
currently to cross the line and be disruptive in
social media. It may violate trust with audiences.
So, how are advertisers going to reach people most
efficiently and effectively in a social environment?
Advertising or commercial messaging is going to be
like nothing we know today.
Q: What’s changed fundamentally about media
with the rise of the social Web, and what do
publishers need to do to adapt?
If you’re a brand marketer, you can no longer
interrupt the discussion. You have to be part of the
discussion. This has a lot of implications. And you
have to ask yourself whether people come to you,
or do you look at social platforms as a way to build
and distribute content and your own messaging.
The economic models have changed. In the past,
in a siloed world, you had your own site, and you
went about the business of attracting an audience
and monetizing that site. That’s a simple formula,
and it’s not nearly as relevant anymore. We are
now living in a world where you have to find
your audience where it aggregates. You have to
find the audience on someone else’s platform, and
then figure out how to make money. This throws
everything we’ve known in traditional marketing
on its head.
Q: We’ve gone from SEO (SearchEngine
Optimization) to SMO(SocialMediaOptimization),
so how will search change as the Web becomes
more social?
We’ve learned so much about the value of
recommendations from friends and colleagues.
Now, with the continued advance of the Web as a
social environment, what’s going to happen is that,
instead of typing certain things into the search box,
there will be an increasing tendency to go to your
social circle for input. If you need an address, you’ll
go to the search engine; but if you need a great
back doctor, you’ll ask friends or colleagues. This is
“If you’re a brand marketer, you
can no longer interrupt the
discussion. You have to be part
of the discussion. This has a lot
of implications. And you have to
ask yourself whether people come
to you, or do you look at social
platforms as a way to build and
distribute content and your own
messaging.”
18. the personal recommendation engine, and it will be
part of our lives. Think of it as personal optimizations -
how do you get the best information from your social
circle?
Q: How do you build a brand in publishing when,
with greater frequency, media is distributed
through social channels?
Publishers are worried about the abundance of
user-generated content in the whole social media
experience right now. The plethora of choice for
consumers is almost overwhelming. Yet I believe that
consumers are still looking for a trustmark. Of course,
you’ll be able to read your friends’recommendations,
and you’ll share on whatever platform you’re using,
but when you’re looking for information, I still believe
that brands represent a level of trust or a Good
Housekeeping Seal of Approval. That said, when
you’re growing a brand today, you can no longer just
build it and expect that they will come. Building and
enhancing your brand as a .com online is only one
element in all this. You need to be where people are –
that’s the Facebook phenomenon.
Q: What are the critical success factors in
publishing as we look to 2020; and who will
be the winners?
New media, digital media and social media – it will all
be called media. And the winners will be those who
find a way not to define themselves by their tried-
and-true or historical practices, or by their distribution
channels. You can’t define yourself as a magazine
publisher; you’re a content provider. You need to
step out of the channel you live in and understand
how each of the pieces fits together. How does TV
fit with Facebook, for example? Or search engines or
print with anything in social media? The key is knowing
where commerce is – online and offline. What is the
relationship among all media channels? The winners
will grasp these interrelationships.
Wenda Harris Millard is President & COO of Media Link LLC, a
leading advisory firm that provides critical counsel to clients
in the marketing, media, entertainment, and technology
industries. Prior to this, Millard was Co-Chief Executive Officer
and President of Media, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia,
and Chief Sales Officer of Yahoo. She has also served as the
Chief Internet Officer at Ziff Davis Media, President at Ziff Davis
Internet, and Executive Vice President at DoubleClick.
18
continued from page 17
17 Turbo-Charging the Web’s New Personal Recommendation
19. 19 How ecommerce Is Blazing a Trail on the Social Web for Publishers
By Theresia Gouw Ranzetta
Partner, Accel Partners
19
Q: How does the rise of Facebook change the
relationship between media and its audience?
Facebook becomes the jumping off point for
many browsers who count on their friends to
curate interesting media for them. How news
gets“found”becomes less about searching Google
news, and more about checking your Facebook
newsfeed.
Q: What’s changed fundamentally about media
with the rise of the social Web, and what do
publishers need to do to adapt?
Publishers need to understand the“start”point
for their digital users. It used to be a portal, so you
cut a deal with one of them. Then, it was a search
box, so you SEO-optimized your content. Now, it is
a social media platform (Facebook or Twitter), and
publishers need to understand how to optimize
their content for maximum social sharing and social
media amplifications. Don’t get me wrong: in each
phase, it has always been about great content.
But that is just the necessary first building block.
Then you need to figure out the distribution to get
maximum audience engagement.
Q: We’ve gone from SEO (SearchEngine
Optimization) to SMO(SocialMediaOptimization),
so how will search change as the Web becomes
more social?
Reference or informational search will remain
relatively unchanged (for example,“What it he
capital of Iowa?”). But“search,”where you are looking
for guidance or information that has a subjective
or has a taste aspect to it, will be completely
transformed by social. Instead of typing in“Best
sushi restaurant in Palo Alto,”you will ask your
friends, or go to a site with a like- minded social
groups (foodies, vegans, etc.).
I think we are still in the early days of SMO. Many
large publishers have not yet even thought about
this, nor are they aware that they should be. As
with SEO, they will need to upgrade their content
management / publishing systems and processes.
Many will turn to start ups, like Wetpaint, to help
with this.
“Publishers need to understand
the “start” point for their digital
users. It used to be a portal, so
you cut a deal with one of them.
Then, it was a search box, so you
SEO-optimized your content.
Now, it is a social media platform
(Facebook or Twitter), and
publishers need to understand
how to optimize their content
for maximum social sharing and
social media amplifications. ”
20. But SMO can be even more. Unlike in the search
world, where a supposed Chinese wall existed
between SEO and SEM, leading platforms can now
encourage their advertisers to also invest in SMO
as well. So a very savvy company can leverage and get
synergies from their investments and learnings from
SMO + SMM (Social Media Marketing) in a collaborative
way.
As with the early days of the portal and search
platform eras, the ecommerce players were the first
to experiment, invest and learn about the power
of the new platforms to get broader distribution /
audience. This is understandable, given that their
business models more easily lend themselves to direct
data gathering and learning for marketing spend.
Once again, in social, I see the ecommerce players
blazing a trail for publishers: the GroupOns,
Zyngas, ModCloths, and Birchboxes of the world
are good places to start.
In parallel to social, I think we are also seeing a platform
shift – from PCs to mobile Internet devices. So, clearly
the rise of iOs and Android are important platforms for
publishers to understand and adapt to, both in terms of
the technology and the distribution nuances.
Q: How do you build a brand in publishing when,
with greater frequency, media is distributed
through social channels?
You need to learn how to build your brand following
on social media and realize that, no matter how strong
your brand is in other channels, this is a whole other
effort. It is not just an add-on and thinking of how to
get“Likes.”The“packaging”of your content needs
to be social media optimized for sharing and tie to
your social media presence on your Facebook page
and Twitter. It is an interconnected ecosystem that
cannot be thought of as separate pieces.
Q: What are the critical success factors in
publishing as we look to 2020; and who will
be the winners?
Understand that we are in a new era. Social media
distribution, branding and user-driven pull – not
your push distribution – will win. Also, understand
how your mobile approach is intertwined with
what you need to do. The winners today will be the
companies that have created these new social and
mobile platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Apple iOs and
20
continued from page 19
19 How ecommerce Is Blazing a Trail on the Social Web for Publishers
21. Google Android), as well as the market leaders who
have successfully built the first leading companies on
top of these platforms (Zynga, Groupon etc.). As for the
winners in 2020: I’m in the business of funding start up
innovation, so I would say it’s the companies that may
not even yet be formed – but they will be, in the next
year or two.
Theresia Gouw Ranzetta joined Accel Partners in 1999. She is an
investment Partner in Accel’s Palo Alto & New York offices and
focuses on companies in the social commerce, vertical media,
consumer mobile applications and privacy/security markets.
21
continued from page 20
19 How ecommerce Is Blazing a Trail on the Social Web for Publishers
22. 22 The People-Powered Web Is Revolutionizing Innovation
By Anthony Soohoo
Digital Media Entrepreneur
22
Q: How does the rise of Facebook change the
relationship between media and its audience?
What’s changed is how we reach users at a global
level. In essence, Facebook has created an
important layer of intelligent recommendations
adding more relevancy than previously possible
in a broadcast world. In the process, this will
change how the media companies deliver their
content. The downside, however, is that there’s less
discovery of content going on. But the media has a
real chance to build deeper relationships with users
now; consumers just aren’t anonymous anymore.
They – and we – know what they like, and don’t like.
So, the delicate balance is this: Facebook makes
discovery more challenging, but it affords us an
opportunity for infinitely more personalization. And
that means engagement is a lot more effective.
Q: What’s changed fundamentally about media
with the rise of the social Web, and what do
publishers need to do to adapt?
When they put content together, publishers have
to determine who their influencers are. Who do
they resonate most with? Then, they have to get to
that group first, and build a groundswell with that
audience. In the past, publishing was a broadcast
type of model. Think of a bullhorn. It’s completely
changed with the social Web. The key, as I’ve
said, is to reach the influencers first, and then
have them add to the story. That’s how you really
engage an audience.
Q: We’ve gone from SEO (SearchEngine
Optimization) to SMO(SocialMediaOptimization),
so how will search change as the Web becomes
more social?
That’s a great question. First of all, I’d say we’re going
to see more personalized search results. In other
words, search based upon what someone’s interests
are, and what a person’s friends like. It’s putting a
personalized interest graph on top of search results.
And the efficiency and effectiveness will improve;
instead of getting 43 million results, many of which
are irrelevant, you’ll get the top 20, and they’ll be of
considerable interest. So, in this way, the social Web
will add more meaning. The people-powered-Web
will be the big driver of innovation over the next
five to 10 years.
“Publishing will become more
Wiki-like. People can – and
will – contribute. And those
contributions will matter as much
as the stories themselves. The
role of the editor will be to get
the fire started by determining
which channels and influencers
are necessary to ignite the story.
The editor will bring up worthy
discussions across the Web and
highlight them, too. This is how
the stages of conversation
will unfold.”
23. Q: How do you build a brand in publishing when,
with greater frequency, media is distributed
through social channels?
It seems to me that you have to recruit and engage
your influencers. And you have to make certain
you’re hitting the right audience. Finally, you have to
layer content down in a very social and personalized
manner. Blasting content out like a billboard takes
the uniqueness out of the social Web. I believe
the stories of the future will actually integrate tidbits
from influencers, and they’ll also be more rhetorical
and open-ended. Publishing will become more Wiki-
like. People can – and will – contribute. And those
contributions will matter as much as the stories
themselves. The role of the editor will be to get the fire
started by determining which channels and influencers
are necessary to ignite the story. The editor will bring
up worthy discussions across the Web and highlight
them, too. This is how the stages of conversation will
unfold. At first, it will be unfiltered and like the Wild
West, however. Then it will get reined in, and most
stories will go through a filtered version via friends or
an editor. This filtering process will allow content to live
a longer and richer life on the Web.
Q: What are the critical success factors in
publishing as we look to 2020; and who will
be the winners?
Facebook could be a winner. And the two guys in the
garage that we don’t know about will be winners. There
are five to 10 big winners that we don’t know about
yet. But the critical success factors are clear: know your
audience; serve users and delight them; and then go
beyond this. Content will change over time; and
these changes will change because of the social
Web’s profound influence. What we’re really talking
about here is content plus one.
Anthony Soohoo is the former Senior Vice President and
General Manager of the Entertainment & Lifestyle Division
at CBS Interactive. He is now an entrepreneur working on an
unannounced startup. Soohoo joined CBS in 2007, when it
acquired Dotspotter, a fast-growing community-powered
entertainment property where he served as Co-founder & CEO.
Prior to Dotspotter, Soohoo was Vice President at Yahoo!, where
he was responsible for the strategy, management, development
and financial performance of various business units.
23
continued from page 22
22 The People-Powered Web Is Revolutionizing Innovation
24. 24 Conclusion
By Ben Elowitz
Co-Founder and CEO, Wetpaint
24
But today it is.
Between usage analytics, audience data, social
graphs, global Twitter feeds, and direct interactive
feedback, we can receive millions of signals each
minute that tell us how well we are serving and,
more prescriptively, what we can do to better serve
our audiences.
For the publishing industry, this provides an
unprecedented opportunity for content experiences
to earn deep relationships with audiences who are
now connected like never before. We can know our
audiences, create for them, and reach them – and,
in the process, make our own brands stronger and
more meaningful than ever.
And therein lies a path that will lead to the re-
establishment of our industry’s success.
The future prosperity of digital media will certainly
have some things in common with its past legacy;
but a host of other things will undergo massive
change.
What’s clear to me, though, is that the revolution
in our data and connectivity-rich environment will
help us create content and experiences that honor
Staying Connected – The Right Way to Re-Invent
Publishing for 21st
Century Audiences
I feel blessed and inspired to be connected to the
incredible thought leaders whose insights and
perspectives you’ve just read. And I’m hoping you
feel challenged, provoked, and, ultimately, inspired
to think about how to make the social Web a media
success.
Over the last year on my blog, Digital Quarters, and
in my newsletter, I have shared stories, analysis and
prescriptions – all in the name of driving this new
digital era forward.
To me, one essential principle lies deep at the heart
of the rewired Internet. It is a simple and basic
concept, but one that guides all the promise of the
social Web: We must truly understand and delight
our audiences.
The social Web fully enables this concept in a way
that did not exist over the last decade, much less
the century before it.
Indeed, never before has the data existed and been
accessible – in real time, with precision and detail,
and to every publisher – to know the audience and
serve it well.
25. the best that our industry has ever put forth, while
pushing even further.
I can’t wait to work side by side with the industry’s
greatest thought leaders and practitioners to make
it happen.
And, as we look forward, if you’d like to join the
discussion, I’d welcome your thoughts, opinions,
views, comments and criticisms.
Please send them to me at ben@wetpaint.com.
And, if you’re interested in participating in a future
edition of this thought leadership gallery, by
offering your take on things, I’d love to hear from
you as well.
Thanks for reading.
Ben Elowitz
Ben Elowitz is CEO of Wetpaint, a next-generation media
company that is reinventing the media model on the social
web. The company is creating a portfolio of best-in-class
media properties; the first, Wetpaint Entertainment,
delights 18-34 year-old women with in-depth coverage of
their favorite TV shows, stars and fashion. Wetpaint uses its
proprietary state-of-the-art technologies, and expertise in
the social optimization and distribution of content, to drive
and monetize audiences. The company, which has offices
in Seattle and New York, has more than 10 million unique
visitors monthly on its media properties.
Elowitz is also a thought leader and author of Digital
Quarters, a blog about the future of digital media and
the steps the publishing industry must take to become
profitable. He also writes Media Success, a bold and
forthright newsletter for digital media thought leaders.
His work has been featured on TechCrunch, All Things D,
The Huffington Post, Forbes, Fortune, paidContent, and
CNBC.com, among others. Prior to Wetpaint, Elowitz
co-founded Blue Nile (NASDAQ: NILE), the largest online
retailer of luxury goods.
25
continued from page 24
24 Conclusion