Regular JacoBLOG reader – and commenter – Mike Anthony gave us a provocative link earlier this week that struck me as a catalyst for some weekend thinking.
It comes from GigaOM’s Matthew Ingram, and it started the wheels turning. As Mike noted, “The simple things matter – such as giving users something that serves their needs, even if it doesn’t fit your traditional business model…”
The piece is titled “Serve Your Users, Not Your Platform,” and it’s right out of the pages of Clay Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma:
If you observe the way that consumers use various products and services, you can tailor them to suit their needs, rather than continuing to support your platform and paradigms.
As Ingram points out, print media are obsessed with monetizing digital but the bigger idea is to actually create a journalistic product that serves consumers needs and solves important problems.
He points to a new web service called “Evening Edition.”
If you think about it, we are inundated with very cluttered, content-filled digital news services. If you own a tablet, chances are good you have apps for any number of strong news outlets – from the New York Times to USA Today to AP to Huffington Post – and I’ve just scratched the service.
So what’s missing?
Studies of iPad users indicated that many people were looking for news in the evening hours after a long day – kind of like the afternoon newspaper model that worked for decades.
So a small group of web designers came up with the idea of an “Evening Edition,” a simple, single web page of news – just the most important stories from several topics – that is posted each day at 5 pm.
No video, features, podcasts, or other bells and whistles – just the essential, need-to-know stories that simplifies lives, informs, and serves. Or better put, curation and filtering – what many of us need in order to put our day and our lives in perspective.
As Ingram concludes, most news sites take this approach:
“Here’s all the things we came up with today, which you may or may not be interested in.”
So, in essence, here’s a lot of stuff that we’ve aggregated today. You can navigate all you like; find the things that interest you amidst our tons of content.
But here’s how they think about it at “Evening Edition:”
“We know that you are busy, and overwhelmed with information, and we want to help you —
here’s what you need to know.”
So how does this translate to radio and other media?
This idea of rethinking the givens, of studying new ways that people are enjoying radio’s content (streams, on mobile devices, on demand) are departures from the platform paradigms that have dictated “the way we’ve always done it.”
The beauty of our connected world is that consumers can have it any way they want it.
We just have to ask them, study them, and yes, connect those dots.
Have a great weekend.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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It’s a little like Triage – we’re in the middle of a snow storm in NE Sask. Canada today and multiple community promotions going on. We start with a priority list distributed to all staff
1. Road conditions
2. Traveling out of town – how long it will take
3. Closures – we make notes – invite people to call the front office – we post all closures and changes on social media and websites and direct listeners to those sites
4. To all staff: we continue in this mode till the storm decreases.
The PD’s make the priority lists for elections / disasters / weather events / and serious accidents. Broadcasters MUST give listeners something they cannot get anywhere else. It’s challenging but not unattainable.
Bill, people will go where they will go. Making sure your brand has presence in these places, giving them the information they crave in the harsh reality of today in your market is at the heart of this conversation. Congrats for providing this public service, stay safe, and hope you dig out soon. Thanks for reading our blog.