putting community at the core of innovation in new media
TRANSCRIPT
Putting Community at the Core of Innovation in New Media
by Evgeny MorozovDirector of New Media, Transitions Online
July 25, 2007
Outline
Wisdom of crowds Social ways of being Emergence of social media How can communities help innovate? Challenges for media organizations
1841
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one!"
Charles Mackay, 1841
Nowadays...
“Why the Many Are Smarter than the Few” (2004)
“Wise crowds" need
(1) diversity of opinion
(2) independence of members from one another
(3) decentralization
(4) a good method for aggregating opinions
Paradox?
As technology is getting smarter, human interaction is playing an increasingly important
role
Group think or individuality?
Arguably, we have never been more autonomous and independent than now
BUT
The realm of the social Web also makes us more aware of others
=better filtering/production of ideas ?
Ambient intimacy is about being able to keep in touch with people with a level of regularity and intimacy that you wouldn’t usually have access to, because time and space conspire to make it impossible. Flickr lets me see what friends are eating for lunch, how they’ve redecorated their bedroom, their latest haircut. Twitter tells me when they’re hungry, what technology is currently frustrating them, who they’re having drinks with tonight
Lisa Reichelt/ http://www.disambiguity.com/ambient-intimacy/
Ambient Intimacy
All those new social dimensions change the group dynamics completely
Reflection is social
=> Emergence of peer-to-peer economy
Individual still the primary figure
But individual outputs are still more effective than community outputs
Community just adds value at different stages (pre and post-production)
But connections matter!
Digital Natives won't see any distinction between old and new media
Old vs New
Old+New=Social Media
Nature of the community dynamics—nobody understands
Works in practice, but in theory?!
“Sharing” or “peer-to-peer” economy requires new metrics
Yet all media organizations would need to devise those metrics sooner or later; new
media is a good place to look at
How communities can help innovate
I. Community can help build new productsII. Community can help change old products
III. Community can help adjust strategy
Building New Products
1. Community designs, community decides
2. Community creates, you package
3. Give away code, communities emerge
1. Community designs, community decides
Threadless
Open Source Footwear
Cambrian House
2. Community creates, you package
News To Me
uReport
CNN/YouTube
ohmynews/other citjourn sites
3. Give away code, communities emerge
Google API
Chicago Crime
Mappy Hour
WeFi
Tunisian Prison Map
Google Earth/Deforestation
Google Earth Outreach
After discovering WeFi...?
Communities Change the Product
Who are the lead users?
“Lead users are users of a product that currently experience needs still unknown to the public and
who also benefit greatly if they obtain a solution to these needs”
“.... products are developed to meet the widest possible need; when individual users face
problems that the majority of consumers do not, they have no choice but to develop their own
modifications to existing products, or entirely new products, to solve their issues”
FeVote
Snakes on a Plane: didn't work
Radio Open Source
Rough Cuts
Rough Cuts
Rough Cuts cont
How communities can change strategies?
Prediction Markets
Digg: the number
Subvert and Profit
Bug Blog Comments
Some challenges for news organizations
1. How to make community innovation granular?
Making every comma count Innovate by a click/idle capacity Fact-checking/UGC—something to think about
2. How to build a perfect community with lively interaction?
Periphery vs core % of Wikipedia editors editing most of the
articles/same with Digg Forming a proactive core is crucial
2. How to identify/empower lead users?
Karma systems Virtual currencies How to break users into demographic groups?
The Right Demographics?
3. How to mobilize a formed community/for what cause?
Finding an anchor activity TechDirt Insight Economist Red Stripe AZ/Offthebus.net
TechDirt Insight Community
offthebus.net
But remember: it doesn't work for everything!
Email: [email protected]