If you want to be an editor... you're not alone
If you've ever turned in a term paper, written for the school or community newsletter, or submitted a "letter to the editor" of a major publication, you've probably run into a basic fact: "Everyone's an editor" - or at least likes to inject her's or his opinion of the best way to express something.
Today, just about anyone with a laptop and phone line or other Internet connection can be an editor. Or a "movie" producer. Or a Web-based guru on just about any subject you care to name (and maybe a few you'd rather not name). Blogs, videos, and custom publishing can be seen everywhere. Viral marketing efforts abound.
And the Internet's disruptive force has a huge real and even bigger potential impact on the way we create - or receive - the information and viewpoints that shape our opinions and often drive our actions.
To better understand the shifts taking place and the opportunities being created, IBM brought together dozens of business leaders, policy makers, and academics from around the globe to study "The New New Media" as part of the Global Innovation Outlook. "Deep dive" sessions were held in Helsinki, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, New York, Seoul, and Shanghai.
Among the observations that came out of those sessions:
- Context is the critical added dimension that's needed to give content greater impact
- Achieving a brand image is both more important - and more difficult - than ever
- Regional differences impact local priorities
- Opportunities will abound - and picking the right ones will decide the biggest winners
- Companies must learn to engage their customers, critics, and allies
- People are "messaged" out
- Consumers want control of their personal information
- Innovation rules
As the report concludes, "the worlds of media, content, branding and messaging are changing so rapidly that it's not unrealistic to think a startup could appear tomorrow and rewrite all the rules again by the end of this decade. That kind of change requires adaptability, a willingness to collaborate, and new constant innovation."
Today, that "Everyone's an editor" is truer than ever. An editor — and a whole lot more.
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