The New Micro Media Aggregation, Syndication & Social Search Model

Given the current state of our social technology landscape, it seems that a new model is emerging that sheds very serious light on consumer control and activation; it is comprised of:

- Premium long-tail content developers (influencers, super-users and 'prime' blog networks) 
- Content aggregation platforms (Facebook / FriendFeed ) 
- Conversation & social search engines (Twitter / Google Caffeine / Collecta et al) 

The idea is that content developers will keep developing more premium content to cut through the clutter and saturation of mediocre mid-tail content. Conversation and social search engines will continue to filter the good content from the not-so-good content, and aggregators will give users ease-of-use and relevancy, such as dynamic comment threads, in order to interact and spread this premium content. 

So why call it 'micro media' (which is not a new term, by the way...)? For three main reasons:

1. The lines between content and delivery are becoming more blurred, to the extent that these 'packets' can live in shorter bursts, or be digested in smaller, more relevant bits.

2. The portability of these packets allows them to be dynamically and semantically indexed into search, most often in real-time and also re-threaded through content or commentary streams (like FriendFeed).

3. Further, these content streams will be reshaped so that new semantic layers will build up (think of a new form of cookies) a value chain that is unique to each and every user, and will not only have topical relevance, but one that will represent a new relationship between local markets and niche categories.

Micro media give influencers more targeted reach, as well as the ability to tap into niche markets that represent degrees of conversation - people in their social graph and relevant communities. As such, we will see a dramatic rise of super-users and common interest communities (tribes), and in using social technologies such as monitoring platforms, for example, we will then be able to accurately map groups of people (social graphs) that we can then target with more meaningful and useful information and content, which of course they can then spread to their peers, and their peers, and so on.

Ultimately, as the players within the landscape narrow and more consolidation takes place, new channels will form that offer more utility for creation and use. Whether or not networks and agencies play a role in this - at least as we know them - is anyone's guess. But one thing is for sure... if you're a brand, you definitely don't want to be late to the party.

Thoughts? Reactions? Upheavals? 

The Activation Proclamation

Susan Kuchinskas' article this week in iMedia Connection on location-based advertising spurred a few thoughts on the possibilities of media activation. It seems, in a really odd yet dynamic way, that we are headed for a reality in which real estate effectively plays a central role in building conversation and commerce like never before. Tony the Tiger's "Follow your nose, it always knows" will become something like "Follow your phone, the brand is throwing a stone". Sound a bit out there? Here are a few scenarios to ponder.

We can start by looking at how online utilities are creating new, portable "micro media" in airports, doctors' offices, restrooms, elevators, pizza shops, cars, service uniforms, people's arses...you name it. This is certainly not to say that just about anything and everything should be used for media placement. If I start seeing ads on status bars and embeddable banners, I think I am going to hurl. However, in organic consumer environments - places we frequent every day but don't necessarily spend "quality time" in - we have opportunities to engage in 1-1 conversations that are collaborative and unique.

Picture this: you and a friend are hanging out at the park and see a non-toxic "brand cloud" float by (yes, an actual cloud composed of vapor) that represents the image, and has the product info for, a new bike accessory kit. Okay, so you swipe at the thing, finding it intrusive and ridiculous, but your friend's brow raises because it just so happens that that he has his nephew's birthday coming up and has no clue what to get him. You can pretty much guess what happens next. Your friend enters the "x branded" community on his phone, gets immediate ratings and reviews on the product, finds another "friend" just a skip away in the park to talk to about it, then follows a microblog update to the nearest retail location. He even suggests a mashup for the product's utility and uploads a version of it. And the best part? You, the annoyed one, get to watch the cloud evaporate harmlessly into the atmosphere.

The ubiquitous web - in which reading, writing, publishing and now manufacturing are becoming the core drivers - is leading us into a state of transformational consumer experiences. In fact, we can look at ubiquity through the lens of retail distribution. Wal-Mart and Apple's partnership in selling discounted iPhones is a clear indication that inventory and price-point no longer decrease the equity value of a brand, but on the contrary, make it more accessible. Then there's the new iPhone app that Amazon is offering in which people can take photos of items they want to buy, store them in a shopping cart, and then reference Amazon's entire catalog of items to complete purchases with a single click, usually at a discount. What this tells us is that the same brand advocate can co-exist in different consumer environments without cannibalizing a product's scale or reach, and more importantly, there are a multitude of options with which to activate that advocate's purchase intent.

If we can rightfully assume that this advocate's information and experience sharing is seamlessly transferred and made contextually relevant to other experiences in the real world, what's to stop "offline" media from making a serious resurgence, and playing a vital new role, in activation? Think of things like digital billboards, magazine layouts, kiosks, OOH displays, mobile stations and interactive keypads feeding into a single focal point: you. Perhaps your "carrier" source is your phone or your PDA, but the point is that you provide sensory input that transforms a simple experience like walking through a retail store, or better yet an airport bathroom, into an incredible data exchange. And all this, without having to be bothered or intruded upon.

Brands can look at this as a means to constantly reinvent their positioning in a world that craves individualistic ideals within environments that, by default, look for the approval of crowds. Not only can they tap directly into relatable elements that can spawn real-time community involvement from a single person, but they can be influential at all times and in all places (well, just about). These spheres of influence are what build real advocacy and loyalty in a society that seems to be changing by the second.

Keep your eyes peeled for what's careening around the corner... 

Suggestioneering

An incredible phenomenon has emerged and is evolving thanks in large part to folks like HP, Dell, Starbucks, Oracle, Apple & Network Solutions. It's called "Suggestioneering" (registered trademark).

Suggestioneering is product development in which communities of people, or key influencers, gather to share ideas around a product and make recommendations relating to its scalability, promotion and/or utility. In a nutshell, you make suggestions to your peers, or people you don't necessarily know but have something in common with, about the products you use, would like to use, or know about. These could be mash-up concepts, or quite simply basic product ideas. You become the point of primary influence based on your behavioral traits and your content preferences. 

This is already happening within social media. These communities are rapidly taking shape, and suggestioneering merely formalizes and aggregates this community activation to the extent that the information you seek, and the products you endorse, are tied directly to quantifiable experiences you've had, or indirectly been a part of. Essentially, you ascribe an experience around or tied to a product that gives it the ultimate contextual relevance and utility. That experiential data is then indexed and organized in such a way that enables the search process to deliver suggestions to you and your peer group instantaneously.

Here's where things get really interesting. Technographic analysis is bringing us to a new level of targeting. Peer to peer relationships are forming between people who have profiles that were previously considered to be unlikely or unmatchable, and are now driven by common interest variables that not only activate the intent to act (such as making a purchase), but demonstrate actions that supercede age or economics. This means we have opportunities to mine powerful data without having to violate individual privacy. All we have to do is ask for information, and do so in an intelligent and aspirational way. Social media, in combination with other forms of innovative media, communications methods and technologies, allow us to have this access.

One such combination of social media and digital communication sharing is, and will continue to take shape in the form of, the semantic web (artificial intelligence). This is where language or rhetoric, and its choices in use, will create and determine new variables for suggestioneering. The remarkable thing is that these variables will constantly change...because they have to. And want to. This means that your words and subsequent actions are indexed and reconfigured to that you not only build your own sphere of influence, but that this sphere will mash up and cross over into other spheres of influence, providing the most qualitative, as well as quantifiable, information sharing experience imaginable. Just imagine if ex-New York Times columnist and linguistics philosopher William Safire had this kind of information to analyze, tell stories and create dialogues with.

Stay tuned as I expand on this topic with friend and colleague Jon Samsel, SVP of Online Marketing at Bank of America...