The Future of Media
November 29th, 2008 
New Media 
Mark Kizelshteyn
Om Malik, from Gigaom, wrote an interesting article today titled “With Twitter, a Desperate Need for Context,” discussing the phenomena of “immediate media” – where news comes directly to people, unfiltered, de-contextualized and in the case of twitter, in under 140 words.
Om writes about his experience with the recent Mumbai crisis, and being glued to a variety of media sources — from both social media accounts and established news outlets. He explains his frustrations with sources such as Twitter, where there is an unprecedented amount of information being fed from both first hand experiences as well as constant retweets; however, Om argued this content lacks the clarity needed to truly understand the situation (which I agree with, but nonetheless provides information quicker than any other source I am privy to).
Om makes an interesting point at the end of his article, writing, ” …the future of media is being split into two streams: one that consists of raw news that comes like a torrent from sources such as Twitter, mobile messages and photos, the other, from old media. The eyewitness dispatches (and photos) via social media are an adjunct to the more established media — which needs to focus on providing analysis, context, and crucially, intelligence — in real time. And yet it is old media — and their next-generation counterparts, the blogs and other Internet outlets — that will have to adapt to this. Of course, the biggest adaption will need to come from the public, those of us who aren’t there ourselves.”
This is a provocative point, and I happen to disagree. I believe that the future of media is in the hybridization and ultimate fusing of these sources. With the introduction of social media as a news source, with services like YouTube or Flickr, we saw this media split Om is discussing. Where users were posting their immediate accounts of events often quicker then established news outlets. Eventually these news outlets adopted a social media component, where anybody could connect with established media outlets to report on news driven by average citizens. This is now.
I believe the future of media is going to lose the distinction between established and user driven news. The reliance of established media on individuals outside of their news organization has been on a upwards trend. This will reach a tipping point, where the value of user driven news will outweigh the value, accuracy and ultimate immediacy of internal teams. This is not to say that there will no longer be these teams, in fact, I believe they will be stronger due to their seamless connection with users.
The divide, as we know today, will not exist. BUT, Wolf Blitzer will probably not be reading a Twitter feed on his show.
Tags: New Media, News, Twitter
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