by Rob Paterson
June 16, 2011 at 10:32 am · Filed under
Economics, Innovation, Innovator's Dilemma, New Realities, Personal Branding
How much would a nice hotel room cost you in a really cool part of Manhattan? At least $350 a night. A grotty room maybe for $250. Can you get any hotel room in the Plateau (the most Bohemian part of Montreal)? The quick answer is no.
But if you use AirBNB – you can get a really nice place for maybe $100 in Manhattan and $70 in Montreal. As with eBay you also get the advantage of a trust mediator.
Here is the core idea – AirBNB and other sites like it – there are 3 that have just got major funding – are run along the lines of eBay. You have a flat or house or even a room in your place. You use the aggregating power of the mediator to position your place and to control the trust issues. You are a traveller. You are exposed to the content which is highly personal – with a number of trust issues dealt with by rating and how the money works. In essence good behaviour on both sides is good business. Both sides are rated.
The barrier for travellers is to get over the idea that Hotels are it. Once you do, you may never go back and the hotels – as with newspapers and Craigslist cannot compete. For they have fixed costs like a newspaper that they cannot reduce.
Who wins? Well you do. My wife intends to stay in Montreal with my daughter in the fall to help my daughter in law who will have new baby. We have found a 3 bedroom flat 100 yards away for $75 a night. More than ideal. The renter can now get a return on her place that was impossible before.
Once again the Personal Brand will trump the corporate brand – for we can truly trust a person.
Of course, as with newspapers, the best brands will be ok – But what about all those budget hotels or those mid level hotels? Armageddon I think. Others agree and have valued Airbnb at 1 billion dollars
The process of the Innovator’s Dilemma will now take place.
This is truly a game changer for all involved. Who would ever have thought?
by Rob Paterson
November 28, 2010 at 12:20 pm · Filed under
Adoption, Andy Carvin, Apple, Barriers, Columbus, Content, NPR, New Realities, Public Media, Relationships, Social Media, iTunes
Most organizations know that the web is important today – even the most dinosauric. But for most, the web is an up and coming “channel” and most still don’t have a clue about social media – they do it because they have to and they do it without much understanding about how it works and how different it is from their old “Normal”.
The final arrival of the Beatles on the web – mainly as we see boosted by social media – shows the new reality. That the web amplified by good use of social media is now the primary way of connecting what you have to the public.
Billboard magazine reports that The Beatles sold more than two million individual songs worldwide and in excess of 450,000 albums in its first week on Apple’s iTunes Music Store. (The Beatles’ catalog was added to iTunes on November 16th.)
According to Experian Hitwise, it was social media — not search — that drove a lot of the online interest and, more importantly, the online traffic surrounding The Beatles addition to iTunes. Consider this stat: On November 16, the first day Beatles songs were available on iTunes, 26% of UK traffic to Apple.com came from social media, about double the amount that came from search.
This nail in the coffin of old marketing is what NPR discovered. When I worked for NPR back in 2005 – attracting a younger audience was thought to be vital. But at the time this meant that somehow the content should be changed. But what they found was that if you changed the medium for connection to Social Media – the young came – they loved the content – they just will not access it in the old way.
In a survey of more than 10,000 respondents, NPR found that its Twitter followers are younger, more connected to the social web, and more likely to access content through digital platforms such as NPR’s website, podcasts, mobile apps and more.
NPR has more than one Twitter account; its survey found that most respondents followed between two and five NPR accounts, including topical account, show-specific accounts and on-air staff accounts.
The data on age is hardly surprising. The median age of an NPR Twitter follower is 35 — around 15 years younger than the average NPR radio listener. This lines up with data we recently found about other traditional news media; the average Facebook user reading and “liking” content on a news website is two decades younger than the average print newspaper subscriber.
Isn’t this what has happened to the Beatles? Good content is good. If you have a product or a service or cintent that is good and is not available on the web via social media – you are punishing your business.
So what does this mean? The jury is no longer out. If you are not using the web and social media well – you are no longer cautious but stupid. You are refusing to see the world as it is. Now I know why you won’t move. Because this is all new and you are not any good at it. It’s like me taking up skiing in my forties. What had held me back was how awkward and stupid I would look and feel. But you know – no one cared about how awkward I was and learning to ski then allowed me to spend 10 winters with my kids having a hell of a time. I am 60. I started blogging back in 2002. I was utterly pathetic at it. But over time, I got ok. You can be too.
The real question is do you want your TV station, store, business to survive? It’s still not too late but it is getting close.
Who can help you? Well there are a lot of shysters out there. “Self proclaimed” Social Media Experts who have been involved for a year or so. So here are a few questions to ask to ensure that you are getting someone who can help for real:
- Tell us about who you have worked for in the past that you have helped make the shift in mindset? They must have been able to help another make this shift in POV
- Tell us who your friends and network are? The shysters know shysters, the real folks know others who know their stuff and their network is as valuable as anything that they know.
- Show us what you have written that moves the cheese! Shysters pound on about Facebook etc, the real deal is part of a larger deeper conversation about what all of this means.
- Show us how knowing what you do has helped you in your own life? Most Shysters still live in the 1.0 world themselves. The real deal don’t – living this life has changed them radically – they have been made different by this and you will know this when you compare the 2 types. PS relentless self promotion is a give away!
Some advice about process:
- There is no formula/cookie cutter – it is not about using Facebook next week – it is about changing your own mindset. So start with lots of conversation about what is going on and where you can start – you cannot know where you will end up right now – don’t try and go there.
- Our mindset is changed not by will but by new habits – try a few smallish experiments and label them as such – look at at others who have done well and see how this may give you a start – Have a look here at how Boingo have used listening or look here about how Kotex have used a deep question. These are powerful places to start to help you be different for in the 1.0 world we don’t listen, we shout. In the 1.0 world we don’t ask tough questions, we live instead in a clean, fun, smooth fantasy world where periods are the best part of the month.
- Hire one or two great young folks. Andy Carvin - just one person has done more for NPR than an army of consultants. Same with Baochi at Boingo who enjoys the confidence of the CEO.
- Persevere!!! This is really really hard to execute – the tools are simple – it is the shift in mindset that is so painful. I have found that as much as I and others know the direction the day to day part of the journey is stressful. Think of Christopher Columbus on his first voyage. He “knew” that there would be land if he sailed long enough west. But his crew did not. They also had to deal with storms etc, When they arrived, it was land but not the Indies – the destination was different. People got upset. When you do this – all of the trials of Columbus will come your way – Doubt, fear mutiny, disappointment – the lot. But there is no going back – you just have to push through.
- Last point – anyone who tells you that this is easy and they can show you a step by step formula is a Shyster
So stand up for our species. Be a Sapiens and not a Sap and good luck to you.
by Rob Paterson
September 30, 2010 at 2:56 pm · Filed under
Adoption, Andy Carvin, KETC, Measurement, Media, NPR, New Realities, Public Radio, Public TV
One of the Holy Grails of the Public Radio system when I worked there back in 2005/6 was to attract a younger audience. At the time – even though the context of my involvement was the web – the CW on the solution was to add more younger programming – Hence Bryant Park. Of course this failed as what station manager was going to give up the BlockBuster Morning Edition to have an alternative that the mainstream would not like. The CBC has gone full on to find a younger audience by changing the POV of its programs. I wonder how they are doing? They have largely driven me away.
But the guys at NPR are smart and they learn. They went full on into the use of Social Media. New data out shows that their drive into social media – Twitter in particular – has given them what they wanted a new and younger and larger “audience” that have been attracted to NPR’s programming – not because of a content shift but because they made it easier for a younger audience to connect to content on their terms! The secret was in the flexibility of the new connection NOT the content.
In a survey of more than 10,000 respondents, NPR found that its Twitter followers are younger, more connected to the social web, and more likely to access content through digital platforms such as NPR’s website, podcasts, mobile apps and more.
NPR has more than one Twitter account; its survey found that most respondents followed between two and five NPR accounts, including topical account, show-specific accounts and on-air staff accounts.
The data on age is hardly surprising. The median age of an NPR Twitter follower is 35 — around 15 years younger than the average NPR radio listener. This lines up with data we recently found about other traditional news media; the average Facebook user reading and “liking” content on a news website is two decades younger than the average print newspaper subscriber.
Not to put too fine a point on it, the future of news media lies in successful integration of social media to get the attention (and click-throughs) of a younger generation — a generation whose news needs are vastly different than those of the generations that preceded it. (My emphasis)
Of NPR’s Twitter followers, the majority (67%) still do listen to NPR on the radio. But the other ways they access NPR’s content are indicative of a growing trend:
Of survey respondents, 59% said they use NPR.org, 39% listen to NPR’s podcasts, around half use an NPR mobile app and 28% say they access NPR via Facebook. All told, 77% of NPR’s Twitter followers said they get all or most of their news online.
And Twitter followers are more likely to expect breaking news, too, likely because of the real-time nature of the medium.
At KETC we found the same thing when we ran out project to help people find a safer more trustworthy route to help in the Mortgage Crisis. KETC helped many people who never watch our programming and who never will. They got connected to KETC because they found what they needed on the web. It was how we connected that was the key.
When NPR hosted the New Realities Project back in 2006/6 – the intent was to imagine our value in 2009 and beyond. We did this. Most saw that one of the things we had to do was to do a Burger King and offer our content up “Your Way”
The guys even wrote a song – but while some – mainly at NPR really got this – of course as we know today about adoption – most did not and have not and still hope that all of this will go away.
Want a larger and more committed “audience” – let them find you “Their Way” – Integrate the web into what you do fully.
by Rob Paterson
August 18, 2009 at 1:50 pm · Filed under
New Realities, Public Media, Public Radio, Public TV
With the launch this weekend of the new NPR Mobile App, I can look back over the last 4 years and see a pattern emerge that tells me that NPR is poised to be the first major new organization to break through into the new Media Reality.
That’s a bold statement so let me try and back it up.
First of all, NPR and the public radio system have got something that no other media has in America – Growth in audience.
Why? I suspect that a large part of the answer is to be found in one word – “Trust”. As our world becomes more uncertain, it is also clear that much of the media was either complicit in hiding the truth about what was going on or that they just missed it. The non profit aspect of NPR and its system, I suspect helps keep it more trusted. The second point is just good journalism. As all other sources of media have retrenched on their staff, NPR and its stations have continued to invest in great staff.
But there is more going on here than the core journalism – NPR – like no other organizations except the BBC – is there a pattern here too? – Has made a decisive push to make the web work for it, for the stations and for the audience.
Here is the “Story” as revealed in a “Power Curve”.
This suggests that NPR is at the Tipping Point. Why? Because we can see both the acceleration and also the growth of the supporting system that will facilitate the growth.
We see a long gestation period from 2005 – 2007. Podcasting began then – greatly facilitated by iTunes.
It is in 2008 that we see progress begin to accelerate. In 2009, NPR is positively rocking.
How did this happen when so many other media organizations are merely hiding behind the castle walls?
I think the answer is in the New Realities Process that NPR undertook at the end of 2005 – May 2006. Over 800 people were involved in “Exploring” what the web might mean to NPR and the system of stations.
This was the basic problem presented to all.
Please let me explain. Remember this was done in early 2006. The core assumption was that by 2009, the web would be ubiquitous. NPR’s relative position versus the web at the time was that tiny black line.
The question was this – How did we get to scale on the web in time AND still not piss off the audience AND the Stations?
Looking back, the time line we posed was correct and it seems that we have solved the key question.
So how did this process of mutual exploration help NPR and the stations do this? My answer is this – It gave everyone a real voice. ALL the issues were on the table. A real common view emerged.
In every meeting, groups came up with the same big idea. That we had to be able to offer the audience what we did “Their Way”. This appears to have been an underlying idea that has been realized by the Mobile App – many groups even envisaged a device like the iPhone that would enable this.
Surely this is no small thing? Most media organizations still insist controlling everything.
The underlying constraint was what would be the role of NPR and of each station? At the time, many believed that NPR had a “secret plan” to go it alone. In truth many at NPR also did not know what to do. They talked about working with the stations but were uncertain.
A major result of the process is that the senior NPR folks realized that they HAD to work with the stations. It has taken years for much of the fear that NPR would go it alone to dissipate but it is. NPR have proved by their actions that they are in this together.
For another common theme that kept coming up again and again was this. That the end game would look like this – a REAL NETWORK based on Natural Systems. This was the systems’ great hidden strength.
This idea of a large natural system is now even bigger than anyone envisaged in 2006. For the CPB has been making major investments in creating a Public Radio AND TV system. The Facing the Mortgage Crisis project is one of these investments where radio and Tv stations in 32 markets are working together. NPR and the NewsHour are working together to offer the best news service in the nation. Key local stations are creating local news hubs.
All this is going to come together in late 2009 early 2010.
2010 will be I think THE year. The product will be unparalleled. The Web approach will be ideal. The resources will be all that such a network can supply.
With the audience, with the engagement and with the web fully supporting the air all that is left is this..
I think that with the underlying audience, engagement and a network – it should be possible to make the money and the system work – don’t you?
So in closing I return to the question of our time. How do large organizations make the changes that they have to? How do they do this when the New is often the opposite of what they are and what they do today?
I think that the answer for NPR and Public radio is that they overcame the huge natural resistance by investing in a shared and deep exploration of what confronted them. What they have done since has come from the genuine emergence of ideas and of a language that they created for themselves.
It has not been easy. I admit to being in despair in 2007 when I could see no visible progress. But in retrospect I was naive. The laws of nature demand a period of gestation. 2007 was that time.
What is remarkable now is that NPR and the system has fully met the challenge set out in the starting question of the process. They have kept their audience, kept the system together AND become a leader in the web.
Now they have to turn this into revenue. I think that they are up to this.
by Rob Paterson
August 17, 2009 at 8:27 am · Filed under
NPR, New Realities, News, Social Media
NPR have no doubt about the future of media – It’s Mobile! On Saturday they launched an Apple App that I suspect will be the equivalent of the Model T Ford – the harbinger of how things will be done. For Real – “Anytime – Anywhere” – Text and Audio – National/Local. Above all EASY!!!!
It also works on Blackberry – Here is the NPR Download page.
Staci Kramer’s article is very comprehensive and will show you the direction of the strategy in detail.
National Public Radio is already a leader in podcasting. But a free NPR News iPhone app that launched Saturday night opens up a new dimension for the network and its member stations with live and on-demand mobile streaming. It’s also the first app to make reading the news and listening to it equally important, providing full-text coverage along with audio. In addition to NPR’s own programs and those it distributes, the app includes direct access to local shows from more than 600 member stations live and on demand.
Here is Scott Simon with a tour
Here is more on this by Ben Parr for Atlanta Internet Marketing
NPR News [iTunes link], which just became available for download, offers the same core features of other news apps like AP Mobile [iTunes link], primarily that you can browse the day’s big stories and read news articles in multiple categories. However, no other news app is linked to 1000+ NPR radio stations, news programs, and live streams, meaning you can listen to your news anywhere, anytime.
The App adds a strong audio layer to the news reading experience. While it’s simple enough to read the day’s top stories, you can also listen to most of the day’s top stories as well. A speaker icon next to most articles allows you to listen in on stories, and the playlist feature lets you queue up the stories you want to listen to if you’re busy, on-the-go, or just need to keep occupied.
The other key aspect of NPR News is that you can listen to any NPR program and any NPR station, including both live radio and past shows and podcasts. There has to be thousands upon thousands of hours of archived content available, not including the live radio. You can even pick out your station with GPS.
While many news organizations are floundering in the era of social media and even struggling to survive, NPR has thrived. Its innovative social strategies have served it well, and the NPR News iPhone app is just the latest solid innovation from the non-profit news organization.
