Don't Fear Change

The tumultuous 2016 election and the improbable result has left many political elites and mainstream media outlets firing out many scapegoats for the wackiness.  One of the more hotly debated topics is that of so-called “fake-news”.  Many small outlets do thrive on a strategic plan of disseminating content with inflammatory titles to get attention, but eventually proven totally baseless and false.  These sites are limited in scope and even more limited in the audience which regards them as gospel.  The far bigger piece of the pie consists of factual news reporting and opinion pieces or satire.  These opinion pieces are threatened the most by this new onslaught of the desire to censor.

From a single fact, there are countless ways to interpret or present it.  The crusade against “fake news” is in danger of tearing down a wall between the free speech which has been present on the internet since the beginning and governments desire to suppress it.  In the near future, communications professionals should do their best to resist the urge that they know how to choose truth from fiction for the rest of their fellow citizens.  Speech exists not in a vacuum, but a marketplace of ideas, where competing narratives battle for popularity among the masses.  There is not preferential treatment given to one idea by a small body of people, but instead it is scrutinized by society.  As the social media giants have taken a stance that this is a problem that they need to fix, they have telegraphed their intentions.  They are not always in the interest of the people and sometimes may give more respect to their investors and employees than serving the needs of the people.  Communications professionals should take this, not as a limitation of social media, but an opportunity.  Not every company is impervious to competition and when the value to the customer declines, new entrepreneurs and start-up companies can take the forgotten markets and become tomorrow’s social networks.

Return to Investigative Reporting

The phenomenon of live video or audio being available by way of “citizen journalism” has changed the way Americans look at the mass media and has changed what they expect from their news.  The repeated instances of police involved shootings has been an even more widespread issue precisely because of the accompaniment of live video which was captured by witnesses.  A recent article on The Hill examined the role of a live video of Hillary Clinton exiting a 9/11 ceremony amid what appeared to be health concerns.  The article goes on to describe this as a non-story had it not been for the video, which shows that there was clearly something wrong that could not be readily dismissed by her team and supporters (Concha, 2016).

However, as video editing and altering becomes easier and more prevalent, can we really trust what we see in the video.  While most of these videos do show a real glimpse of an event, there is a growth of pranksters and content creators who thrive on deceptive videos.  Whether to play into their narrative or to just gain clicks, these are videos which don’t paint an accurate picture.  Video content from individual citizens is not going away, but its value to the news audience may be diminished.  If certain videos can be shown to be hoaxes, that will put into question the validity of all the others.  Without being able to lean on this crutch, journalists may need to do more investigative reporting to uncover these things.  While a video may be a good place to start, I don’t think news outlets can be so cavalier when exploring the news through the content of someone they don’t know.  As technology moves the clock forward, we may need to dial journalism back to a time when stories needed to be uncovered rather than it going viral without explanation.

Concha, J. (2016). How a smartphone camera changed the discussion on Clinton's health. The Hill.  Retrieved from http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/media/295607-how-a-smartphone-camera-changed-the-discussion-on-clintons-health

A New Way to Market

Daniel Burrus explained his thoughts about the rise of the Internet of Things in an article for Wired.  He says, “when people talk about ‘the next big thing,’ they’re never thinking big enough.  It’s not a lack of imagination, it’s a lack of observation.  I’ve maintained that the future is always within sight, and you don’t need to imagine what’s already there” (Burrus, n.d.).  The internet of things has already arrived by way of smart devices which have greater functionality than the past models.  Watches, goggles, cars, thermostats, door greetings.  All these things have seen some change over the recent years with greater internet capabilities.

While the Internet of Things is upon us, it is still in its infancy and will continue to grow.  This is a dilemma for marketers who may see the time people spend consuming media may be divvied up and handled by multiple autonomous devices.  To deal with this coming shift, communications professionals need to have a diverse set of abilities which may lean less on visuals and copy and more on audio and other creative methods.  The technology is too valuable to the consumer to be held back and those in the communications industry would do well to think about how to harness this wave of technology in the future.

Burrus, D.  (n.d.).  The Internet of Things is Far Bigger than Anyone Realizes.  Wired.  Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/insights/2014/11/the-internet-of-things-bigger/

Content over SEO

While Search Engine Optimization is an important strand of the digital landscape for those seeking to market content or to advertise products, there is also a future where search engines are more sophisticated and accurate.  Search Engine Optimization exists based on the knowledge of how the algorithms for search engines find content and how to make sure your page takes advantage of the way the algorithm picks out items for a search.  The future for SEO is very murky considering the long strides social media and the internet has made in the past few years.

In the article titled, The Future of SEO, Ryan Lunka explores the future of SEO possibly being obsolete.  The advent of less text-centric content and the explosion of personal assistants has created an internet that is no longer going to be accessed predominantly through web-browsers (Lunka, 2015).  While search engines hold the key to getting noticed now, the idea of optimizing content for search may be quite different.  To deal with this possible seismic shift, communications professionals should make it a point to keep up to date on the ways to prioritize their content to new audiences.  At the same time, they should not devote too many resources in learning the “current paradigm” when it could change tomorrow.  A greater emphasis should be on the content, and making it valuable to the target market.  If content is valuable, it will gain an audience today the same way it will 10 years from now.

Lunka, R.  (2015, February 26).  The Future of SEO in not SEO.  CMS Wire.  Retrieved from  http://www.cmswire.com/cms/digital-marketing/the-future-of-seo-is-not-seo-028239.php

How Should We Approach Radio?

Radio is not exactly the same radio anymore.  In his paper titled, The Perfect Technology: Radio and Mobility, Jonathan Pluskota explains, “the introduction of alternative mobile listening options over the past 15 years has questioned and shifted the meaning of ‘radio’ and ‘radio broadcasting’” (Pluskota, 2015, p. 326).  Alternative options of listening to radio has provided a death to the radio we knew in the past, but has also provided tremendous opportunity for creative minds to find new ways to harness the medium.

While blogger Emera Riley explaims, “maybe video didn’t kill the radio star – but huge corporations did.  No longer does radio champion cultural revolutions or even sick tunes – for the most part, it consists of top 40, classic rock and country.  That’s it” (Riley, 2016).  In an article by Neal Rubin, he explores the idea that radio should look to the past to guide the future, something Fred Jacobs says could save the death of radio (Rubin, 2014).  It is clear that radio is changing and in 5 years it will not be what it was 10 years ago.  Music on-demand services have affected the utility of listening to radio for music.  I don’t believe the medium is dying off however, I think there is a market for audio content in the form of podcasts and imbedded media.  While it may be hard to envision radio continuing through terrestrial stations, the heart of the medium should continue to endure as smart, creative people harness it for purposes that will keep it alive.

Pluskota, J. P. (2015, November). The Perfect Technology: Radio and Mobility. Journal Of Radio & Audio Media, 22(2), 325-336. doi:10.1080/19376529.2015.1083378

Riley, E. (2016, October 4).  Radio is Dead and corporations killed it.  The Orange.  Retrieved from http://dailyorange.com/2016/10/radio-dead-corporations-killed/

Rubin, N.  (2014, December 4).  The Death of Radio: Is it Time to Plan the Wake?  The Detroit News.  Retrieved from http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/neal-rubin/2014/12/04/radio-dying/19867701/

Staying Humble

Today, the communications field is constantly changing.  As trends continue to move more people toward digital content and social media networks continue to rise and fall, the job of a professional in the communications industry is to always be knowledgeable about the current trends and be able to be versatile enough to do many different things on different platforms.  Social Networking use has risen from 7% in 2005 to 65% in 2015 (Perrin, 2015).  This means more and more of the greater population can be reached on digital devices, a figure that should continue to rise.  Reaching this new market is extremely important for a communications professional.

To deal with the changing environment, it is imperative for communications professional to be informed and humble.  They cannot assume to know everything they will need to know in the next few years.  It is easy to get comfortable with your current acumen, but an attitude which continues to take risks and explore new avenues will make the most successful people in this industry.

Perrin, A. (2015, October 8).  Social Media Usage: 2005-2015.  Pew Research Center.  Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/08/social-networking-usage-2005-2015/