The "new" new media & (somewhat premature) reports on the death of "traditional" media
Monday, 29 October 2007
The term 'new media' is a moving target. At one time, radio was considered 'new media'. Then television. Each brought new challenges and opportunities. Not that long ago, online-only publications like C|Net were considered 'new media', as were forums, message boards and other places on the Internet where people congregated around topics, interests, or affinity. Now blogs, myriad social networking sites, social bookmarking, video sites and others are considered the 'new' new media. Tomorrow, it will be something else that we can't yet fully anticipate.
And though new media is a super hot topic in the PR industry today; and offer a wealth of new opportunities to clients and agencies alike, reports about the death of "old media" are a bit premature in practice. According to eMarketer, March 2007, a BIGresearch survey sponsored by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association (RAMA), offline media are still a large influence in driving online search behavior.
And though we're highly active in employing and harnessing new media techniques and channels, in actual practice, many of our clients - from the deepest tech to the most progressive social media and Web 2.0 companies - see their largest web site traffic spikes when coverage breaks in large reach, print or broadcast media outlets. We love new media, but plenty of people still read and view "old" media too - it's a matter of getting the right things to the right place at the right time.
