Anonymish Post by Me
Social media has officially replaced websites in the online world - and television or radio programming without adjunct social media lacks both appeal and "reach."
Yes, companies, even individuals, still need a web presence, but it better be simple and informative only, or you're wasting your time and money. (Unless, of course, you can come up with something stupendously engaging, or game-like, and then you're going to spend a mint keeping it lively and fun.)
But the real story is in social media, sharing, and content.
But content in and of itself is a tricky business.
A recent article noted this: "Making its television debut, social sharing app Whisper is partnering with youth-focused news-and-lifestyle cable network Fusion.
Per the content deal, Fusion’s editorial team plans to develop stories that are trending among Whisper users, then distribute them more broadly online and on TV."
So, in other words, especially among the younger "cohort," social (sharing, or trending) content is wagging the dog. The online/TV content will be driven not by those delivering the message, but by those consuming the message. The ultimate revenge of the consumer.
According to one of the leaders of this new project, the idea is to be one with the audience. "We call it 'promiscuous content' -- we want to be where our audience is, unconstrained by our Web site,” he explained.
More ominous, however, is that Whisper is a so-called "anonymous" app (or "anonymish"). (Hence, I suppose, the notion of "promiscuous" content.) The idea here is that the social sharing be "secret." Which is odd in and of itself - I will post on a quasi-public forum a secret. Says one such app (Secret) developer, "The result is a social network that offers an unusually candid stream of updates. "We have all these thoughts and feelings that we want to share, but they just haven’t had a place," Bader says. "They don’t belong anywhere. You start to fall in love, you want to leave your new job — these all start as secrets. It takes a lot to go and share with that. So I think that’s the thing that’s really been resonating with Secret."
Whisper combines the best (or worst?) of the rumor (yes, there is an app called RumR) apps: a public tab and a friends tab. You can explore the broader world of public gossip (what sleazy project has Kim Kardashian kooked up this week?) or sneak a listen (or is that listN?) on your friends' confessions of heartbreak, breakfast, and job misery.
In a no-doubt unintendedly ironic twist, the developer of Secret acknowledges that such an app could easily (will easily) result in one of the great no-nos of modern society: the dreaded bullying.
"The app has also generated an unusually high volume of commentary, largely centered around the capacity of anonymous messages to promote bullying. The company has built several tools to discourage harassment on the network, employing moderators to remove offensive posts and warning users not to bully when their secrets contain proper names. "Ultimately, we want Secret to be a safe place," Bader says."
So, you go onto an app, which by its very nature is public. You confess that you ate an entire quart of ice cream last night because the guy you went out with was only interested in a "hookup," while you wanted a boyfriend, and now you're concerned because your already "ginormous" "trunk" has "junkified" overnight as a result of your indulgence, and you include a #rearend selfie to prove it. And you get upset because someone agrees with you that you have a "ginormous" backside - and feel that you have been bullied.
My mind boggles, so I have to stop now (and end the tape of me laughing while I write and post it immediately to Facebook) and get back to reading gossip. It's been ten minutes, and I'm feeling deprived.
Yes, companies, even individuals, still need a web presence, but it better be simple and informative only, or you're wasting your time and money. (Unless, of course, you can come up with something stupendously engaging, or game-like, and then you're going to spend a mint keeping it lively and fun.)
But the real story is in social media, sharing, and content.
But content in and of itself is a tricky business.
A recent article noted this: "Making its television debut, social sharing app Whisper is partnering with youth-focused news-and-lifestyle cable network Fusion.
Per the content deal, Fusion’s editorial team plans to develop stories that are trending among Whisper users, then distribute them more broadly online and on TV."
So, in other words, especially among the younger "cohort," social (sharing, or trending) content is wagging the dog. The online/TV content will be driven not by those delivering the message, but by those consuming the message. The ultimate revenge of the consumer.
According to one of the leaders of this new project, the idea is to be one with the audience. "We call it 'promiscuous content' -- we want to be where our audience is, unconstrained by our Web site,” he explained.
More ominous, however, is that Whisper is a so-called "anonymous" app (or "anonymish"). (Hence, I suppose, the notion of "promiscuous" content.) The idea here is that the social sharing be "secret." Which is odd in and of itself - I will post on a quasi-public forum a secret. Says one such app (Secret) developer, "The result is a social network that offers an unusually candid stream of updates. "We have all these thoughts and feelings that we want to share, but they just haven’t had a place," Bader says. "They don’t belong anywhere. You start to fall in love, you want to leave your new job — these all start as secrets. It takes a lot to go and share with that. So I think that’s the thing that’s really been resonating with Secret."
Whisper combines the best (or worst?) of the rumor (yes, there is an app called RumR) apps: a public tab and a friends tab. You can explore the broader world of public gossip (what sleazy project has Kim Kardashian kooked up this week?) or sneak a listen (or is that listN?) on your friends' confessions of heartbreak, breakfast, and job misery.
In a no-doubt unintendedly ironic twist, the developer of Secret acknowledges that such an app could easily (will easily) result in one of the great no-nos of modern society: the dreaded bullying.
"The app has also generated an unusually high volume of commentary, largely centered around the capacity of anonymous messages to promote bullying. The company has built several tools to discourage harassment on the network, employing moderators to remove offensive posts and warning users not to bully when their secrets contain proper names. "Ultimately, we want Secret to be a safe place," Bader says."
So, you go onto an app, which by its very nature is public. You confess that you ate an entire quart of ice cream last night because the guy you went out with was only interested in a "hookup," while you wanted a boyfriend, and now you're concerned because your already "ginormous" "trunk" has "junkified" overnight as a result of your indulgence, and you include a #rearend selfie to prove it. And you get upset because someone agrees with you that you have a "ginormous" backside - and feel that you have been bullied.
My mind boggles, so I have to stop now (and end the tape of me laughing while I write and post it immediately to Facebook) and get back to reading gossip. It's been ten minutes, and I'm feeling deprived.
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