Mopsos

Following Seb's recommendation, I read "We Media" over the week-end (download report there)
Though this report is by and large about the media industry and written for journalists, there are a few things that all business people should be looking at.

What I found particularly interesting is how journalists use weblogs to

"invite their audience into the process by which they produce the news (...) Many journalists who are weblogging are doing just that -exposing the raw material of their story-in-progress, posting complete text of interviews after the story is published, and inviting comments, fact checking and feedback that contribute to follow-up stories"

Interactive journalism uses audiences as an extension of the editorial staff to develop a broader base of voices and opinions. It pushes media companies into relinquishing control of the story, that they no longer own. I like this idea about relinquishing control, which I think is always key to understanding the knowledge economy. Rusty Foster, founder of Kuro5hin.org:

"The story itself is not the final product, it's just the starting point, because ultimately the goal of every story is to start a discussion, to start a lot of other people saying what they think about it"

I experienced something like this when I wrote an article for "Les Echos", a French business newspaper, and was asked to make it shorter. So I did. The short article was published last september, and whenever readers contacted me about it (I had two or three), I had them read the full article on my weblog, where people could comment on it.

"We Media" makes the case that "audiences are shaping the future of news and information". I see many implications of this for Marketing and Communication staff of big companies like mine, where this would translate into "customers are shaping the future of corporate communication". This quote from Malcolm Gladwell is worth meditating:

"The future belongs to marketers who establish a foundation and process where interested people can market to each other. Ignite consumer networks and then get out of the way and let them talk"

Yes, indeed. Aggregation of social capital will become more and more the key to business success. It's back to the Cluetrain Manifesto again !!!!

great post! just a minor correction - the last quote is not gladwell but seth godin (from ideavirus).

Posted by: george dafermos at January 27, 2004 01:04 AM

great post! just a minor correction: the last quote is not gladwell but seth godin (from ideavirus).

Posted by: george dafermos at January 27, 2004 01:06 AM

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