More Views on What’s Next
Posted on October 2, 2006
Filed Under People's Web 2.0 |
Last week American and European content experts gathered in Amsterdam for Cross Media Week. From the very first presentation I got the feeling there is one big division in how the immediate future is perceived and, at first, it looked like the difference revolved around where you live (America or Europe).
The week began with two Hollywood film-makers Michael Johnson (Pixar) and John Underkoffler (Minority Report adviser) stressing the importance of winning devotion from users. Their presentations looked at the mechanics of film-making very much from the point of view of audiences and that word that jarred so with many of us - devotion.
It seemed odd because we’re (it was a largely European audience) inclined to be story tellers who place an abstract value on the integrity of the story, regardless of the audience.
When you think about it twice you come back to a problem many bloggers, vloggers and content producers face. Do you blog to win a devoted audience, to build a community of like-minded people or for your own satisfaction?
Do you make those videos to go viral on YouTube or because you are passionate about narrative and character or comedy?
There’s room for people to do all of these things, of course. For the European mind the idea of winning devotion was, I suspect, too packed with religious connotation, and worse the ultimate goal of such devotion is profit.
Attending BarCamp Ireland on Saturday the issues were echoed in a discussion about why Irish multimedia content is slow to get to the web. Why is Irish creativity not dominating the upload sites - or why are we here not reconceptualising content in the way that YouTube’s founders did?
The fact these questions are being asked is continuing confirmation that content is vitally important.
The Hollywood presentations at Crossmedia week suggest that to win long term traction at any level of the content business you have to compete against those people and companies who are highly focused not on building community but on winning audience devotion.
It’s not the only game in town but these players are historically content’s great winners. But perhaps it leaves a question hanging out waiting still to be answered. The idea of community has proved attractive to American and European web audiences alike, community and participation.
How this democratising element sits with the Hollywood ethos of devotion will be one of the more fascinating duels as we go forward into the broadband future.
It’s easy to say, look rationally the web thrives on a non-devote, sceptical, or even cynical viewpoint that ultimately finds a resting place in various shades of community or common interest group.
Having said that TechCrunch apparently attracts a following of some 44 million page views every month…. so maybe devotion is already winning out?
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