As I posted last week, I am here at the Syndicate Conference in New York City.
The opening speaker Bob Carrigan, CEO of Computerworld, identified two major trends that are emerging in online media: “More Choice” and “Online Voice.” Coincidentally, J.B. Holston, CEO of Newsgator just posted a thoughtful blog entry on the same subject, merely giving the ideas two different labels, “My Media” and “I am My Media.”
What do these labels mean?
“More Choice” and “My Media.” Because of technologies like RSS, consumers are increasingly more able to dictate how, where, and when they consume content. To compete in this sea of content, it becomes more important that publishers offer content not as a one-size-fits-all, but in the format and venue that users truly want it.
“Online Voice” and “I am My Media.” Bloggers, podcasters, and all other forms of user-generated content are giving individual consumers a voice to express their opinions, thoughts, and ideas. And the ability to syndicate this content has empowered these individuals to find an audience. Very powerful.
Both themes are driving new innovation. NewsGator, for example, gives users the ability to read RSS feeds on multiple devices – desktop, mobile, media center, etc. But RSS aggregation and reading is just one way that start-ups can and will capitalize on this trend.