Thursday, December 3, 2009

Thoughtful Questions: Do You Have Answers?

Next week I'm being honored by Media Industry News as one of its Top 21 Social Media Superstars. I'm flattered to receive this award, especially after having been inducted into MIN's Digital Hall of Fame a year ago. But want to make clear it was my BusinessWeek team that really made the difference in using social media to deeply engage our audience on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Ning, and other social media tools. I'm disappointed that I won't be able to pick up this award in person at the Grand Hyatt in New York on Dec. 9th, but BW's online news editor, Dan Beucke, will stand in for me.

In any case, MIN just asked each of the 21 honorees to address one of three questions when they go up to accept the award. These are fabulous questions so I want to repeat them here and engage in a dialogue with you about them:

What is the one piece of technology you would bring to a desert island and why?

What is the biggest mistake media companies make online?

What is the biggest game-changing technology or service for media companies in the past several years and why?

The fast answers to these questions might well be the iPhone, the failure to make meaningful changes in culture which almost always trumps strategy, and mobile. But let's be more creative than that. What do you think?
Posted by John A. Byrne at 9:01 AM

3 comments:

  1. On the third question, I think you're right, mobile is a game-changer...but not because of how users can access content. I think it changes the game for how media companies obtain content. Mobile creates a dialogue and eliminates the media company as monologist.
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  2. 1) my Iphone with a generator for power
    2)Media companies continue to have bias, speak to instead of with the audience and do not realize media is no longer controlled by them
    3) The internet and its progressive developments which have and will continue to enable people more than institutions. What until Doc Searls accomplishes VRM, game over
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  3. I'm with you on the iPhone and on the cultural interia in media companies -- most of the poor decisions made in adapting to environment change stem from intertia.

    On the technological game-changer, while I (obviously) have an agenda, I'd argue XML and MarkLogic Server.

    It's what separates the content from the container and enables media companies to custom publish, multi-channel deliver, and integrate, slice, and dice content as they see fit.

    Dave
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