Media is the great engine of the You-Centered Economy.
Why? We are all producers, writers, broadcasters, and personalities. Access to all forms of media has never been so open. You are at the center of media creation & media consumption.
Media is also a source of connection (to each other, to our communities, to the world) and a source of experience (trust me — watching True Blood is an experience). Meaning? Well, we’ll get to that.
Media is a unique entity in which we actually understand how we are both – constantly – creator & consumer. In the You-Centered Economy, this is true for all forms of commerce but it is less obvious. Media is a give & take of production, attention, and manipulation.
Chris Brogan has been considering what it means to be a “media channel” in 2012:
The ‘gee whiz’ has worn off, and now, if you’re looking to build professional value from this whole jumble of the social web, it’s important to start thinking like a TV station and a magazine and start building out content that takes advantage of that.
Right. So it used to be quite the marvel that you could create your own TV station all from your MacBook Pro. It’s not anymore. Now it’s your job. Your responsibility. Your livelihood.
Or maybe just a super fun pass time.
Either way, as Brogan said – the ‘gee whiz’ is gone.
In social media & online entrepreneurship, the ‘gee whiz’ has turned into formulas and proven techniques. It’s boring. It’s noise. I don’t want to read it.
What should be playing on your particular station? I write about what is currently inspiring me, nagging at me, or pissing me off. I’d like to read more of that from you. I want your analysis. I crave your insight.
For me, what adds “professional value” to this content is understanding my purpose & vision. It means I can take a story or inspiration and turn it into meaningful content at the drop of a hat. You get relevant posts that feel professional but immediate.
Use your own media channel to present professional passion. Click to tweet it!
Then you won’t be saying “Me! Me! Look at me!” to get my attention. Your content is already part of my attention because it’s what you’re paying attention to. I trust you.
Creating professional content doesn’t mean following a formula but it does mean understanding your purpose & vision.
Creating professional content allows you to connect with your audience in a personal way. They see into your psyche. They get how you think. They know how to relate to you. You’re not an Every(wo)man but you are in touch & in tune.
Creating professional content enables you to create an experience for your audience. Whether it’s an experience of that very moment right on the page or an experience that is formed over time outside your media channel, your work has the capacity to affect your reader & the way they experience the world. Affect them.
Creating professional content empowers you to imbue meaning into every aspect of your business. Just as traditional media has provided channels for better understanding the way conventional news, trends, and entertainment create meaning in our lives, “new media” powers the meaning that drives our consumption. You suggest that a product, service, or application has a certain meaning and suddenly, it does.
Media, more than ever before, is helping us consume better.
True, you can listen to the hype. You can watch the ads. You can endure product placement after product placement. Or you can stop. And listen. Pay attention. Share what matters.
Media is now giving consumers more choice than they ever had before. We have the choice to put up with paid promotion. Or we can pay attention to media that educates us, entertains us, and connects us.
Media that educates, entertains, and connects is still media that we’re consuming. The media, in turn, is teaching us what to consume outside of the experience of the media. It is begging us to make lifestyle changes, associate with a community, and better understand our own role on the planet.
And, again I agree with Brogan, we have a greater responsibility to the media we consume:
1. Don’t just consume, absorb. Take it allllll in.
2. Share. And don’t just push the stumble, the retweet, etc, but give some value to the share by giving your points, adding your two cents, blogging a piece around it, etc. If you had time to read it, take the time to share it well.
If what we’re consuming – media or otherwise – contributes to a great relationship with the world we want to live in, it’s our responsibility to share that consumption with others. The more people we can bring into our communities of affinity, the better for us.
Share. And comment. Tell me why. Bring me into the fold. Connect me.
As you share, you are bumping up against those touchpoints: connection, experience, meaning. I need you to share with me. Connection, experience, meaning: that’s what we’re all looking for in this New Economy.
The context of our media consumption – and our general consumption – suddenly has a greater meaning. It’s part of our identity. It’s part of our network. It’s part of our movement.
Media: the great engine of the You-Center Economy.
We are in & of the media. We are creators. We are consumers.
The media drives our connection and our experience. It influences the meaning of what we pay attention to.
Don’t fear the media. Embrace it. But do so with purpose & vision. Do so in service. Do so with passion.
