Unconventional Sources of Info Are Nothing New
The television production opening of the Republican debate in Las Vegas blared like a boxing promo, which was no doubt by design. I half expected a voiceover to intone, "Monster, monster, monster truck political showdown tonight." The debate was all about showmanship: who would show up the poll leader; who could beat their chest the loudest; and, who, perhaps would showcase the most substance?
People immediately arrived at their answers to those questions, as evidenced in real-time in the Twittersphere and on Facebook. Social media is how we discover and experience news nowadays.
"Of late, politicians running for office have been tapping into the unconventional and unorthodox sources of 'news' that Americans have become acclimated to." I cringe at this line because in a 1992 college paper, I ended a sentence with a preposition. Argghh! Anyhow, I went on to cite MTV News as emblematic of the new kinds of news sources at that time, contrasted with the main broadcast news channels, and how sound bites were getting shorter and shorter.
Today, we operate with tweets (myself included) to quickly glean a headline or drop a note. I pondered in that 1992 college paper whether society would reach a saturation point at which we could no longer tolerate "this potpourri of images and ideas thrown" at us. I added that this is especially concerning when it comes to politics, given we hope voters are making truly informed choices. I expressed doubt that the American people had developed an "astute talent… to form opinions with little or no information." This concern remains true, but the potpourri of information and word bites has not turned out to be all that bad.
As predicted by others in the early 1990s, consumers are now able to package the streams of information coming their way and ignore other information. In another paper for this journalism school class, I also bemoaned the threat to traditional reporting posed by information disseminated by specialists. My concern was that consumers would self-select what information they wanted and would tune out everything else. Well, it seems that nowadays people are indeed selecting to check out what interests them most and still absorb what else may be happening. Honestly, I see a lot of things on Twitter and Facebook that are news to me and then I check them out further. That's not a bad thing at all.
This 1992 paper also contemplated how "voiced information" and "image icons" could lower barriers to the information highway for those with literacy or other language challenges. I'm frankly surprised we were expecting that back in 1992. Turns out these icons and videos are not replacing written content, but supporting it. Emoticons can be fun and informative, especially to support text, just like cartoons did in 19th century newspapers.
The college student me also warned in that j-school paper about digital manipulation of photographic images. Well, now I love the filters on Instagram and we all can tell what is unedited and what is filtered. "I admit some of my opinions are conservative and apprehensive," college student me wrote. I also pondered what effects "computer news services, such as electronic bulletin boards and fax sheets" would have on traditional journalism. Good thing I was paying attention because most of my many years in business news were employed in specialized, subscriber-supported news services, and that model bridged the shift from print to all digital delivery.
The means for consumers to collect information has changed. Their appetite for information may have increased. It is still up to the individual how they want to participate in the free marketplace of ideas.
The advantage with digital information dissemination is that the speaker can directly reach their target audience by tapping into the right electronic veins. This is how the hashtag function has proved so useful. We can easily discover sources we would not have necessarily ever found before.
The key is to fully take advantage of the easily accessible delivery mechanisms of our current media array by deploying great content. Are you distinguishable from others? Do you have unique services, product or position that you need to better emphasize in your content? Keep your messaging on point, up to date and in your brand's voice. Be clear on what the voice is before speaking and reenergizing with a carefully calibrated campaign. And, if anything can be learned so far in the run-up toward the 2016 U.S. presidential election, don't let anyone else define who you are.