In the Western media business, it seems, a quiet revolution is taking place - even most conservative editions are debating a recent phenomenon - social media, and not just a growth in its popularity, but a firm place it has taken in the media world. As they do this, they are also busy incorporating new social technologies into their operations.
Those in the know talk about anthropological shift, that social media boom has resulted in complete change of our social structure, how we communicate. Facebook, Youtube, Wikipedia, Twitter, blogs are all part of cultural revolution. It's speculated that evolution chain can be completed by placing "Homo socium" (is that the right word for "social"?) after "Homo sapiens". Visually it looks like a Gen Y or Z person bent above a keyboard, busy chatting with the virtual friends or writing a blog.
If radio required 38 years to reach the mark of 50 million users, TV - 13 years, Internet - 4 years, Facebook only needed 9 months to reach 100 million users. Also, if Facebook was a country, it would have been the fourth country in the world in terms of population - at the moment it has more than 300 million users.
Second largest search engine after Google is Youtube. It has everything - from repeats of recently aired TV programmes and music videos to make up and guitar tutorials. Users can watch videos when they feel like and timing is not fixed as on TV. Many stopped watching TV altogether - almost any programme can later be watched online. Youtube also allows to upload self created video, share it with friends and watch videos created by other users. News quite often appear first on Youtube, thanks to mobile cameras and Internet proliferation.
Free electronic encyclopaedia Wikipedia has more than 13 million entries created by users (for free). You can find practically anything here. Some consider Wikipedia is more precise than British Encyclopaedia.
Twitter is a hybrid of microblogging and social media - same Facebook but in a trimmed down mobile version. You can share thoughts or news, but each of your entries can't exceed 160 symbols. You can post updates to your profile from your mobile. Many celebrities use Twitter (Demi Moore and Stephen Fry among veterans). More creative businesses, like advertising agencies, are also big fans. Degree of interactivity - very high.
Another type of social media is blogs. At the moment there are more than 200 million of them in the world. I doubt I can correctly explain what blog is from technological point of view. But in my understanding, it's an electronic board where you can write whatever it is you have on your mind. Share your knowledge with the world, as they say. At the moment I am subscribed to blogs by a marketing guru, personal finance management expert, time management specialist, my employer, and as recently as yesterday I myself joined the community by writing and posting 2 blogs. As a matter of fact, what you are reading right now in essence is also a blog.
All of the above are just some types and subtypes of social media. They are all united by the same features - immediacy, interactivity, communal and viral character (word of mouth), user's control, ability to create own content, mobility (ability to access from different types of devices). Social media allow one to experience their own 5 minutes of fame. The concept of rational individual in theoretic economy requires revision. Social media users are not driven by monetary stimuli. Otherwise how can you explain millions of entries at Wikipedia? Attention, influence, recognition are the new currency of social media world.
If someone still has doubts about the social shift taking place, one should consider the recent statistics - social media are now more popular than porn. While you are reading this, something like one fifth of population of this planet are checking their profiles on a social site from their PCs, laptops or mobile phones, are writing or reading a blog, are chatting with their friends or are updating their status on social sites.
All of these are changing the character of mass media consumption. A number of print editions and TV channels have wholly switched to online - a model which now can work on its own, with no need in physical print or broadcasting equivalent. The rest are growing their online presence, boosting interactivity, for example allowing to view content after it was published or aired, leave comments, share content with the friends, vote for authors, contact and interact with the edition or broadcaster.
Practically every print edition is experiencing falling circulation, because the way we receive news is undergoing radical changes - if before we had to find news, now news find us. RSS, Twitter, Youtube - today's news are immediate, arrive electronically and more and more often they are from same users as us rather than professional reporters. Bloggers with no journalist education are writing for big editions. CNN's iReport generates news and stories from viewers. Other large TV networks use more of user generated content, e.g. from Youtube.
It looks like there is a tectonic shift under way in the world. The way we consume information, how we communicate is changing, as a result leading to changes in mass media. But this process is not affecting mass media only.
British Telecom is testing servicing through Twitter. Mercedes Benz have announced they will allocate as much as half of their global advertising budget to digital marketing this year. McDonalds is thinking of changing their I Am Loving It slogan because it is not relevant in the social media world. Ford is allowing bloggers test new model of their car. Procter & Gamble are re-evaluating advertising budgets in light of quickly growing social media popularity. Even super conservative financial services sector is not staying put - American Express have revamped their previously static Facebook page and now their fans can receive company's news first.
And it makes sense. Companies go where customers are. When choosing a product or service, customers trust advertising less and online reviews from users like them more. A quarter of search results for top 20 world brands on top world search engines will be user generated content, i.e. reviews, complaints, feedback, opinions. As a business, you may keep ignoring it, but only until a certain point.
In social media world customer research is not required as such, because of real time interaction with the customers. Customers will immediately let you know what's wrong with your product or service. They are no longer content with telephone or face to face meeting as the main communication channel, they want convenience, multiple channels to reach company, including social media. Customers watch TV less and spend more time online, not just checking email and news, but interacting via social media, gaming, shopping, reading. If your advertising strategy is still centred around TV and print advertising, you are most probably wasting your money.
In Kazakhstan, we don't observe such global changes yet, though a large chunk of population is spending some time on Odnoklassniki, Vkontakte, Moi Mir, Facebook, Centr Tyajesti and alike. You can argue about reasons. Most probably has to do with weak internet infrastructure when a telecom monopoly does not allow to get access to media rich resources (e.g. watching Youtube videos from Kazakhstan is a torture). Probably Kazakhstan people value personal contact more and so prefer face to face meeting to spending time online. Gen Y and Z yet have to outnumber baby boomers. Preference is given to Russian language web sites rather than English language ones. And so on.
Still, revolution is taking place. Will it affect Kazakhstan and in what shape and form is an interesting question. We'll see. I'll make an entry in my blog about it just now.
Lola ASKAROVA, Marketing and strategy consultant
