As I've said many times, I write about media through the lens of postmodernism (or postcolonialism), because the view makes some things perfectly clear from the get-go. One example is an AP story this week about social networking sites with the headline:
MySpace, Facebook: Big not always better:
Forget Facebook, MySpace or any other online hangout that boasts tens or hundreds of millions of people.
For Teresa Munoz, Athlinks, population 34,000, is the place to be.
She uses the community devoted to competitive running, swimming and biking events to find training partners and get advice, including information about her first Ironman triathlon.
Munoz, 45, of Hacienda Heights, California, said she tried finding like-minded people on MySpace, but found only those "looking for people to date, not really there for the sport. I didn't get as much out of that."
MySpace, Facebook and, to a smaller degree, Bebo may be getting most of the attention, but social-networking sites geared toward hobbies, sports and other specific interests -- alongside those targeting certain age groups, ethnicities or diseases -- are finding growing success as supplements to the larger online hangouts or even as replacements.
This is a textbook example of Media 2.0 in action, one that borrows a page from postmodernism, namely that people gravitate towards tribes as their source of belonging. However, one's tribe is identified only by that individual; there is no third-party designation. In other words, postmodern tribes aren't identifiable niches into which people fit; they are comprised of people that only the individual defines.
In the example from the AP story, Athlinks would appear to be a tribe for Ms. Munoz, but it is not, for only Ms. Munoz can determine who or what is permitted to influence her. Hence, her tribe goes beyond the walls of Athlinks. However, by narrowing the focus of its niche, Athlinks provides a place where she can find others predisposed to her interests that might some day be included in her tribe. So while the owners of the Athlinks site can serve targeted ads and make money, they must tread lightly, for just as she bolted from MySpace, she can bolt from Athlinks and still maintain contact with her influence sphere.
The lessons for media companies are many, beginning with accepting the reality that the people formerly known as the audience (TPFKATA) are completely in charge. There is a rush these days to build niche verticals and the growth of vertical ad networks is nothing short of extraordinary. However, niche content sites are rapidly becoming a dime a dozen, and soon they will be commoditized, just like those of the mainstream news business. If we're going to build these kinds of sites — and I certainly believe we should — they must be done with a model that actually serves the needs of users somehow, not just sites that provide "content" for specialized advertising.
Secondly, we can and should be building communities of interest, because anything that helps put people of like mind together serves the need they have to build their own tribes. If we do this, however, they must be extremely narrow in focus and driven by user interest, because they serve no purpose otherwise. Building a community just because we can sell it isn't a viable start-up strategy.
But the biggest lessons in this tribal economy relate to how tricky it is to create an environment in which to sell traditional advertising. Facebook thought it had figured it out when it created its Beacon program, whereby friends were notified when users made a purchase from a participating advertiser. Facebook is now
being sued by a Dallas woman who didn't like the fact that Facebook made public — to members of her tribe and without her approval — her rentals from Blockbuster.
I've always believed that the answer lies in non-traditional approaches and those that allow the users some degree of choice. This doesn't make the branding world happy, but it is a part of the reality of the new world we all face. Some big advertisers are actually exploiting this for themselves, and in so doing, taking money from the pockets of traditional media companies. Nike is a great example, building user groups based on its products.
Since a person's tribe will always have some form of local connection, there are opportunities here for local media companies. Take a day off to drive around your community and think only about how you can help bring together people of similar interests that are relative to the identity of the community itself.
- Terry Heaton, Sr. VP, Media 2.0, AR&D
