Where Do We Go From Here

The series of thoughts heading into the New Media panel at CoSIDA continues . . .

There are two main scenarios by which we move forward in our relationship with emerging media formats.

Wild West: All blogs, all the time. One gigantic ball of opinion and fact and lies and data that tumble like a 21st century rebirth of the Penny Press. Chaos ensues as the information multiplies to the point of absurdity, and we split the markets smaller and smaller into ever-shrinking niches.

Evolution: Skill sets not envisioned when even the current generation of journalists were in training begin to re-establish a new type of elite media that gains dominance over the masses. The traditional media companies figure out how to monitize the eyeballs and recapture their position at the top of the pecking order. Things return to the old days as far as the power relationships go, but with Jetson toys.

As usual, I'm looking for the third way -- one that recognizes the multiplicity of the coming dispersal of media power and provides a means of managing it.

WOMMA: The Word of Mouth Marketing Association. On its face, it seems a bit absurd. Peel back some of the info within this group, and you'll see they have a pretty important key to the management of the future. They see the way forward is to embrace some of the concepts of Web 2.0 and utilize them in open accountability means.

Let me contrast the WOMMA methods and code with the dark side -- astroturfing. WOMMA is about building grass roots marketing; quite frankly a populist buzz is the best marketing of all. If you fake that with hired posters and bloggers -- get it, astroturfing? -- you risk having it all blow back on your organization.

Why are building relationships with bloggers and boarders important? The B&B are your fans, your most passionate fans. When our women's basketball team is getting shelled for poor performance by the B&B, I don't worry. If someone is tearing up a coach, it's annoying. When they are saying nothing, I am scared to death. Why? Because they don't care any more, and that's the last step before finding something else to do on Saturday evenings.

The key to success with the B&B is the creation of very clear, very specific Rules of Engagement.