Losing our brains with disruptive technologies (XXXIII): the media industry.
Have a wonderful week. Here in El Salvador, we are still in seclusion mode. Our solitude confinement strategy to halt the spread of Coronavirus continues. On the 14th of March, we entered a partial State of Emergency and Exception in the country, which was then amplified on the 21st of March, day in which our Salvadoran society was commanded to be under an absolute lockdown (with the exception of the essential industries). We are accomplishing today 17 days of absolute seclusion “stay at home strategy”.
“Le foulard français”. An aquarelle portrait exercise by Eleonora Escalante. Made on Moulin du Roy watercolor paper, 300GSM. Size: 15 cm x 24 cm. Photo reference from essence-of-a-woman.tumblr.com
Let´s begin. I would like to clarify again the term NAIQI. The disruptive technologies that have emerged hand by hand with the outgrowth of the Internet are the NAIQI. My hypothesis is that the combo of the most relevant technologies that we utilize or employ right now has never stopped to evolve to work all together conjointly. In addition, communications mobility (Mobile telephony) triggered the further development of NAIQI to serve communications with different Internet platforms. In addition, I will write this article as a corporate strategist, in consequence, don´t perceive me as a journalist because I have not been trained to be one.
What is NAIQI? NAIQI is the acronym of Nanotechnologies, Artificial Intelligence, Quantum, and the Internet. Robotics and automation are included in Artificial Intelligence. Quantum Supremacy matured because we wanted to calculate more, cheaper and faster, at the light speed if possible, in order to serve the big data analysis emerging industry. In consequence, the usage of the acronym NAIQI has nothing to do with the beautiful sports shoes Nike, please. I am not advertising Nike company either. But when I started to write “Losing our brains with disruptive technologies” I had to figure out one acronym or descriptor that grouped them all in one combo of initial letters to be pronounced as a word. That is how I coined NAIQI to appear in this epic: Nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence (here I include algorithms, robotics, and automation), Quantum Supremacy and the Internet.
Communications Industries. Today I won´t speak about socialization and interactions between people affected by the NAIQI (this is the subject for my next publication). Today it is the turn of the communications industries. According to Vault.com, “the practice and study of communication involve a wide variety of communication industries, from education and research, to public relations, advertising, publishing, and digital media. Communication is a discipline. Regardless of their specialties, communicators are involved in fundamentally similar activities. They gather and process information, and create and disseminate messages. Advertisers, journalists, public relations practitioners, public speakers, television, radio, film, or multimedia producers, and all who communicate with others engage in these essential operations.”
What have we done with NAIQI technologies when it comes to the disruption of our communications with human beings? Well, my answer is simple: just visit any of the social media platforms that you wish, either Twitter, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat, Linkedin, or any of the newest social platform ones in the market as Tik Tok… and then you will find the response. Particularly during these Coronatimes, it is diverting to see where we are when it comes to communications between human beings.
- The internet has triggered dozens of platforms and applications which main objective is to attract a massive number of users. The more the merrier.
- The internet social platforms and applications have positioned as a new venture or entrepreneur aspirational “channel” for making profits. The success of the first Zuckerberg social interaction connection has attracted not just the “wish come true” possibilities in the new generations, but the avid private equity investors and bankers who are dying to back-up the next unicorns for future IPO success.
- The social “star” economy doesn´t have limits. Each platform is fighting to attract users to let them share whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want to do it. Just until recently, the internet social platforms had the whole freedom of the world, allowing not just the good communications but also the worst obscure communications (pornography, fake news, sex trafficking, illegal transactions, terrorism, etc).
- The internet has destroyed the traditional communications model of “excellent journalism” and public relations, particularly in the newspaper sector. The media industry business model was disrupted at its roots when the Internet appeared. And it has been shaken lately more and more by social media platforms. Suddenly with Twitter, anyone can be a news reporter. All of a sudden, through a post at Facebook, anyone can show the information that journalists and reporters were used to prepare with full-time dedication for us. Brusquely, the traditional media´s influence has lost its economic, social and political power, because it has been substituted by each of us who with our mobiles have become “reporters of information”, all of us who without hesitation, share the information faster, freely and without checking its veracity first.
The traditional media influence has been substituted “without clemency” by all of us who utilize any of the social massive platforms. The vast usage of social media killed the classic and time-honored sources of income (through advertising) of the media.
Why is the media communications industry in crisis? The media communications industry excellence is based on a science discipline. It is tied to “the credibility building talents and experienced journalists-reporters quality”. With the appearance of the Internet first, and then with the massive usage of new social platforms, the whole traditional media industry was impacted (eroding revenues and profits) substantially during the last 20 years.
Which traditional media has been affected by the Internet appearance?
1. Daily newspapers which traditionally covered breaking news
2. Weekly newspapers that were operating with limited editorial staff
3. Regional-National magazines
4. Trade Magazines
5. Special-interest publications
6. Newsletters
7. Regional-National television stations
8. Cable television stations
9. Regional-national radio stations
10. Wires services, such as financial-investor research wires
11. Entertainment (series, movies, documentary, cinema, etc)
At its origins the Internet was thought to be used merely for personal and business communications, the secure intranets were used to convene communications between staff and employees of each entity. At its beginning, the Internet was offering a portal view of advertising, it was communicating interactively and simultaneously with customers, investors, curious strangers and employees on a global basis. The bloodline Internet business model was not designed to replace the traditional media, but to catapult it. Moreover, with the sophistication of mobile communications available at low costs for all, traditional media has been forced to be part of the social media platforms, leaving the rigorous formal organization expensive structure that made them treasured in the past.
Communications Professionals do not have a job anymore.
Common media approaches to reporting were substituted. If the media industry was the channel of exposure to the population, with the Internet, that intermediary media function was shut down. These orthodox media approaches, made by high-caliber communications professionals who prepared the breaking news, forward spin analyzes, point of view interviews, consumer interest information, opinions supported by serious rationale and studies, appealing entertainment programs by TV and tabloid media, profiles´ personalities depth looks, training, introspective analysis, historical and specialized columns, or strain stress conversations; were not needed anymore. Anyone can hang out for free and upload a youtube video to replace the job of the TV broadcasters. Anyone can post an article on any Internet platform, without the need to look for the newspaper. Anyone can share the last fashion or cooking or art trends on Instagram, without the need to find the TV channel to be advertised. Anyone can make a movie with a basic cheap budget at Netflix, without knocking the door to the film industry or the TV prime time access old rule.
Millennials and now the emerging Generation Z have shut down the newspapers and written printed news media during the last 10 years. In the case of the TV and the cinema industries, streaming has started to replace them in less than 10 years too. Please see some information regarding the communications industry.
Find the last PDF presentation here: Eliescalante Losing Our brains with disruptive tech communicate2
Ethical Strategic Implications as a result of the disruption of the media industry.
Why do we have to destroy treasured industries to evolve? Why are we all the time using technologies to disrupt the “good things that we have created”?
Fundamentally, I ask myself where are we going? Why does the same traditional media industry promote a way to be substituted by new emerging giants social platforms?. Why did they boost their own competition? How could it be possible that they did not know it 20 years ago? Who is the owner of the communications profession now? The social platforms owners? Can you see the pattern of using disruptive technologies to destroy the essence of the industries? That method of thinking is insane.
To be continued tomorrow…
Sources of reference utilized to prepare the slides:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/272443/growth-of-advertising-spending-worldwide/
https://www.emarketer.com/content/mobile-trends-2019
https://www.vault.com/industries-professions/industries/communications
Disclaimer: Illustrations in Watercolor are painted by Eleonora Escalante. Other types of illustrations or videos (which are not mine) are used for educational purposes ONLY. Nevertheless, the majority of the pictures, images or videos shown on this blog are not mine. I do not own any of the lovely photos or images posted unless otherwise stated.
Thank you for reading to me.
Eleonora Escalante Strategy 