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19 April '06 - 02:24

Is user generated media ready to take over?

Vowe reports about plans of TV producers Phillips to disable you to skip / fast forward on your TV and I agree on his comment

vowe says: Fcuking the customer is not good for your business. File under "stupid ideas". If your business model does not work any more, invent a better one.

In his comments, Andrew Pollack is reluctant to agree:

Oddly, I'm not sure I'm against it. When I watch NBC at no specific cost to me, I'm agreeing to an implicit contract that allows them to show me commercial advertisements. The ads pay for the shows, and for 50 years or so we've been happy with that. Time shifting via dvr's doesn't inherently break that -- but fast forwarding or skipping commercials does. I have no right to NBC's content for free. The ads are the price NBC asks. I can agree to that price or not.

Which let me post the following comment back:

@Andrew so you do also believe that nobody at current does switch the channel when ads start to run? Or go to the bathroom? Or do a quick check on email? Or just look away?

We do skip them today already. We fast forward them with switching to other channels. From that point of view, it should be make sure I did not go out of the room either.

There is a simple way to actually make it pay for the channel: Get interesting advertisement. Nearly nobody I have met so far is not interested in good advertisement, and downloading good commercials is a favorite sport.

It is how I watch advertisement, as I don't watch television at all. I go and download those clips, enjoy them and from time to time, i even watch them again.

Building a TV which does prevent me from doing what I always wanted to do or did? Well. The buyers will speak on that. And if the channels try to start a signal which makes sure only "play with advertisement" TV can receive their program? Then we will find new media on the net.

For me it is another signal that the times have changed and even the idea of doing so shows how desperate traditional media seems to be getting. Becoming competition in the old time was complicated and very expensive. It is not anymore.

At the same time it leaves me wondering if we are already at the point where user generated media (however you may want to (not) call it) is ready to take over the space which has been occupied for so long by experienced media.

One problem with podcasting at the moment is - at least from my point of view - that we are getting mediocre again instead of rising more. The evolution seems to have stopped and there are more and more patterns of how it morphes into something very traditional.

Examples? Podshow starts annoying us big time with advertisements. Rocketboom sells advertisement. Video / Audio podcast form themselves to networks. Social Media tools bring everyday people near to court appointments because they did not know about the fact that their are likely to fall under press criteria.

Think I am kidding? Think about it again. What I do here, and you probably too is likely to fall under the laws of what press is allowed or not. With all benefits (which we still have to fight for) but also with all downfalls. I do see the discussion coming about whether or not normal people will be able to understand the impact of what it does to their lives if they start podcasting about their inner feelings or how they feel about their coworkers.

I do have the feeling that one of the next needed steps is to look back where press and traditional media comes from and learn from it for the future, our future. Otherwise we will not be able to make the step from pure traditional sending media with us as passive users to me, the personal publishing empire connected with the world.

We, in general, are not ready for this step now. We, the mainstream do need a bit more time to not be crushed by the possibilities and risks.

I have no solution, neither do I have an idea where to start. But I know I don't want this fun, love and wonderful experience I am having over the last years to go away, but I want it to evolve into something bigger and greater. Not seeing that we are going that way at the moment, I think we are heading back a bit. We should change that. :)

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