new media

When the smartest guy (or gal) in an industry decides to throw in the towel on a business model, it's time to stand up and take notice. This week, the ever-controversial Nick Denton of Gawker Media - the most successful and well-known of all the blog networks that exploded in popularity over the past decade, declared to the Wall Street Journal, "I don't want to be the No. 1 blog network anymore. That's like being king of the playground."

I am very happy to announce that my new book, Personal Connections in the Digital Age, can now be previewed on Google Books. It will be out in the next few weeks. You can pre-order it here.

Motorola has just discovered the concept of age neutral behaviour. Better late than never.

The research study (Media Engagement Barometer) found that high percentages of Americans - across multiple generations - are using media and mobile technology. Age no longer dictates new media use. And surprisingly, influencers who drive usage are now found in every group. Well that is not totally true but Motorola has definitely confirmed something that a few of us have been banging on about.

(NOTE: This essay draws on a chapter in my new book, Bright Lights & Dim Bulbs, which identifies nine radical branding and marketing insights for innovative business leaders to watch in 2010).

I am delighted to announce that "Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media" is now in the wild and available! This book was written as a collaborative effort by members of the Digital Youth Project, a three-year research effort funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Southern California.

Two things this week have shown the weakness of the traditional media outlets in the face of online communities of people. On Monday a judge issued an embargo on the Guardian newspaper to stop it reporting a question that was asked in the House of Commons. Within 18 hours not only had this embargo been lifted, but the question itself had possibly become the most reprinted and widest spread question ever raised in the British Parliament.

by: Iqbal Mohammed

Recently, much discussion online (and offline) has centred around the impending doom of journalism and the news industry. As an enthusiastic cheerleader of all the disruptive effects of the Internet, my opinion until of late has been that the changes couldn't have come about sooner.

Now that the refrains of "Twitter Revolution" and "the first uprising powered by social media" are fading into the distant memory that is 24 hours ago, we can start debating what impact, if any, it had (or is still having) on events in Iran.

by: Ilya Vedrashko