This document discusses how the relationship between people and information is fundamentally changing in an age of information abundance. Key points include: - Information is no longer scarce and is increasing exponentially, with 5 exabytes in 2003 but that amount now created every two days. - Digital tools have made media creators of us all and information is now a social currency actively traded by many, not just consumed by the masses. - This represents both opportunities and challenges for traditional media companies and culture. While some see only threats, others see opportunities to engage intelligent audiences with high-quality content. - Influence is now less about who you know and more about the ideas one has to share in this new ideas-driven economy where intelligence is

1. Engaging
the
influen,al
in
an
ideas
community
Nick
Blunden
|
Global
Digital
Publisher
E:
nickblunden@economist.com
|
M:
+44
7968
838933
|
T:
@nickblunden

2. Un,l
recently
we
lived
in
a
world
of
rela,ve
informa,on
scarcity
“Eight
years
ago,
in
its
heyday,
the
New
York
Times
Company
was
worth
$7
billion
and
paid
a
dividend
of
more
than
$100
million
a
year.”
Henry
Blodget,
Business
Insider
Picture
credit:
h,p://www.flickr.com/photos/archivalproject/3296822880/

3. We
are
now
entering
into
an
new
age
of
informa,on
abundance
“There
was
5
Exabytes
of
informaEon
created
between
the
dawn
of
civilisaEon
through
2003,
but
that
much
informaEon
is
now
created
every
2
days
and
the
pace
is
increasing”
Eric
Schmidt,
Exec,ve
Chairman,
Google

4. The
explosion
in
new
digital
tools
is
making
media
owners
of
us
all
“All
one
needs
is
a
computer,
a
network
connecEon,
and
a
bright
spark
of
iniEaEve
and
creaEvity
to
join
the
economy”
Don
TapscoU,
Author,
Wikinomics
Picture
credit:
h,p://www.flickr.com/photos/karola/4669292392/

5. This
is
fundamentally
changing
the
rela,onship
we
have
with
informa,on
Informa,on
is
no
longer
an
asset
to
be
exploited
by
the
few
and
passively
consumed
by
the
many.
It
is
increasingly
a
universal
social
currency
that
is
ac,vely
traded
by
us
all.
Picture
credit:
h,p://www.flickr.com/photos/drewm/468436732/

6. The
consequences
of
this
change
in
our
rela,onship
with
informa,on
can
appear
to
be
trivial
“The
gap
is
between
doing
anything
and
doing
nothing.
And
someone
who
makes
a
LOLcat
has
already
crossed
over
that
gap.”
Clay
Shirky,
Author,
Cogni,ve
Surplus
Picture
credit:
h,p://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/01/24/trashcat-­‐is-­‐not-­‐amused/

7. But
the
consequences
of
this
new
mass
par,cipa,on
in
media
can
also
be
very
profound
“A
revoluEon
doesn’t
happen
when
society
adopts
new
tools,
it
happens
when
society
adopts
new
behaviours”
Clay
Shirky,
Author,
Here
Comes
Everybody
Picture
credit:
h,p://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/dec/13/guardian-­‐weekly-­‐news-­‐review-­‐2011

8. The
implica,ons
for
tradi,onal
media
have
generally
been
seen
as
profoundly
nega,ve
“Clearly,
the
sky
is
falling.
The
quesEon
now
is
how
many
people
will
be
leP
to
cover
it.”
David
Carr,
Mourning
Old
Media’s
Decline,
The
New
York
Times
Picture
credit
h,p://www.flickr.com/photos/wvs/7860530/

9. However
despite
warnings
of
informa,on
overload
demand
for
it
seems
to
just
keep
growing
“It
is
clear
that
consuming
more
media
and
more
entertainment,
in
a
sense,
makes
Affluents
hungry
for
sEll
more
rather
than
saEaEng
their
need.
What
beTer
news
could
anyone
in
the
media
industry
hope
for?”
The
Ipsos
Mendelsohn
Affluent
Survey

10. That’s
because
intelligence,
like
affluence,
is
increasingly
becoming
a
mass
phenomenon
“In
most
rich
countries,
the
old
disEncEon
between
high
and
popular
culture
is
breaking
down.”
John
Parker,
‘The
Age
of
Mass
Intelligence’,
Intelligent
Life
Picture
credit
h,p://moreintelligentlife.com/story/age-­‐mass-­‐intelligence

11. This
is
crea,ng
unprecedented
opportuni,es
for
the
creators
of
‘intelligent’
media
"IncepEon,
the
$160m
auteur
vechicle
that
proves
really
expensive
movies
don't
have
to
be
stupid
to
be
successful.
It's
a
film
that
imagines
that
the
mulEplex
masses
aren't
so
dumb
aPer
all.”
Mark
Kermode,
Film
Cri,c

12. In
the
emerging
networked
knowledge
economy
ideas
are
more
important
than
ever
“It
is
really
exciEng
when
you
think
about
the
different
way
stories
are
told
and
products
are
sold
you
are
thinking
about
a
whole
shiP
in
many
ways
of
how
we
engage
with
content.”
Aleks
Krotoski,
Boradcaster
Video
available
on
request
from
The
Economist
Group

13. And
influence
is
no
longer
just
about
who
you
know
but
more
about
what
ideas
you
have
“Obama
for
America
mobilized
3
million
individual
donors,
who
made
6.5
million
donaEons
totaling
$500
million
over
the
course
of
the
campaign.”
Blue
State
Digital

14. In
this
new
ideas
driven
networked
economy
tradi,onal
media
and
social
media
coexist
“There
is
no
point
in
geng
connected
unless
you’ve
got
something
to
say”
Sir
John
Hegarty

15. These
changes
create
huge
opportuni,es
for
companies
who
can
think
beyond
the
status
quo
“The
internet
is
a
connecEon
engine
and
companies
that
build
on
top
of
the
underlying
knowledge
of
that
connecEon
engine
are
going
to
be
the
ones
that
Succeed.”
Rishad
Tobaccowala,
Chief
Strategy
Officer,
Vivaki
Picture
credit
h,p://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=469716398919

16. But
we
need
to
stop
thinking
about
individual
products
and
start
thinking
about
experiences
“I
think
we’ve
known
for
a
long
Eme
now
that
Starbucks
is
more
than
just
a
wonderful
cup
of
coffee.
It’s
the
experience”
Howard
Schultz,
Founder
and
CEO,
Starbucks

17. Apple’s
success
with
iTunes
shows
that
crea,ng
experiences
around
content
creates
value
“Apple
has
sold
over
15
billion
songs
through
it's
iTunes
Store
since
its
launch
in
2003,
making
it
the
number
one
music
retailer
in
the
world”
Techcrunch

18. This
is
why
The
Economist
is
focused
on
crea,ng
a
community
experience
not
just
a
website
“The
world’s
most
valuable
community
for
intelligent
analysis,
discussion
and
debate
where
our
readers
benefit
as
much
from
the
experEse
of
each
other
as
they
do
from
the
experEse
of
our
journalists”
Tom
Standage,
Digital
Editor,
The
Economist

19. A
community
centred
around
the
needs
of
the
global
‘ideas
people’
psychographic
“People
who
have
new
ideas
are
going
to
show
up
in
The
Economist.
You
can
think
of
it
as
a
community
of
ideas
people
who
are
out
there
looking
for
the
next
big
thing
to
show
up
on
the
horizon
and
trying
to
figure
out
how
the
world
works.”
Richard
Ogle,
Author,
Smart
World

20. A
community
centred
around
the
needs
of
the
global
‘ideas
people’
psychographic
“People
who
have
new
ideas
are
going
to
show
up
in
The
Economist.
You
can
think
of
it
as
a
community
of
ideas
people
who
are
out
there
looking
for
the
next
big
thing
to
show
up
on
the
horizon
and
trying
to
figure
out
how
the
world
works.”
Richard
Ogle,
Author,
Smart
World
Video
available
on
request
from
The
Economist
Group

21. The
sharing
inherent
in
this
community
creates
valuable
social
currency
for
our
readers
“If
searching
for
news
was
the
most
important
development
of
the
past
decade,
sharing
news
may
be
among
the
most
important
of
the
next”
The
Pew
Research
Center’s
Project
for
Excellence
in
Journalism

22. And
their
par,cipa,on,
which
lies
at
the
heart
of
the
community,
adds
value
to
our
content
“I
enjoy
your
comments
secEon
because
of
how
well
moderated
it
is.
It
is
a
much
more
civil
place
than
most
news
sites,
it
comes
as
close
to
true
discussion
than
any
other
news
site”
Katheryne
Kieser,
Economist.com
user

23. Community
fulfills
a
fundamental
human
need
for
belonging
and
recogni,on
“Human
beings
can't
help
it:
we
need
to
belong.
One
of
the
most
powerful
of
our
survival
mechanisms
is
to
be
part
of
a
tribe,
to
contribute
to
(and
take
from)
a
group
of
like-­‐minded
people.”
Seth
Godin,
Author,
Tribes

24. Community
also
allows
us
to
explore
the
changing
nature
of
journalism
in
a
digital
world
“The
role
of
journalists
in
this
new
world
is
to
add
value
to
the
conversaEon
by
providing
reporEng,
context,
analysis,
verificaEon
and
debunking,
and
by
making
available
tools
and
plaeorms
that
allow
people
to
parEcipate”
Jeff
Jarvis,
Author,
What
Would
Google
Do?

25. And
to
harness
the
huge
poten,al
of
word
of
mouth
to
grow
our
reach
and
influence
“Social
Media
have
taken
the
solid,
dependable
old
tortoise
-­‐
word
of
mouth
-­‐
and
transformed
it
into
countless
hares,
mulEplying
like,
well
hares”
Bob
Garfield
and
Doug
Levy,
Ad
Age

26. Commercially
community
provides
the
engagement
adver,sers
increasingly
demand
“Consumer
engagement
with
our
brands
is
ulEmately
what
we're
striving
to
achieve.
Awareness
is
fine,
but
advocacy
will
take
your
business
to
the
next
level”
Joe
Tripodi,
CMO,
Coca-­‐Cola

27. And
new
marke,ng
opportunites
that
go
beyond
basic
display
adver,sing
“ConversaEons
among
the
members
of
your
marketplace
happen
whether
you
like
it
or
not.
Good
markeEng
encourages
the
right
sort
of
conversaEons.”
Seth
Godin,
Author,
Permission
Marke,ng”

28. Community
also
creates
new
habits
to
replace
the
old
ones
tradi,onal
media
once
relied
on
“Habit
is
one
of
the
only
true
sources
of
sustainable
compeEEve
advantages
in
the
media
industry”
Jonathan
Knee,
Co-­‐Author,
The
Curse
of
the
Mogul

29. We
believe
that
this
community
experience
will
also
unlock
new
sources
of
value
“The
value
of
content
is
not
in
what
we
produce
but
in
what
it
produces:
signals
about
people's
interests,
about
authority,
about
topics
and
trends"
Jeff
Jarvis,
Author,
What
Would
Google
Do?

30. And
that
communi,es
built
around
psychographics
are
capable
of
crea,ng
sustainable
value
“In
towns
and
ciEes
where
there
is
a
strong
sense
of
community,
there
is
no
more
important
insEtuEon
than
the
local
paper”
Warren
Buffet,
CEO,
Berkshire
Hathaway

31. Ensuring
that
The
Economist
will
remain
as
relevant
in
the
future
as
it
has
been
for
169
years
“To
take
part
in
a
severe
contest
between
intelligence,
which
presses
forward,
and
an
unworthy,
Emid
ignorance
obstrucEng
our
progress.”
The
Economist
Group,
1843

32. Engaging
the
influen,al
in
an
ideas
community
Nick
Blunden
|
Global
Digital
Publisher
E:
nickblunden@economist.com
|
M:
+44
7968
838933
|
T:
@nickblunden