Cx3: Transmedia storytelling

I'm always impressed by the collaborative infographics created by Brian Solis and JESS3...and the 'Social Media Brandsphere' is no exception. It illustrates a transmedia approach to storytelling connecting brands with audience groups spanning five media landscapes:

"Social networks and channels present brands with a broad array of media opportunities to engage customers and those who influence them. Each channel offers a unique formula for engagement where brands become stories and people become storytellers. Using a transmedia approach, the brand story can connect with customers differently accross each medium, creating a deeper, more enriching experience. Transmedia story telling doesn't follow the traditional rules of publishing: it caters to customers where they connect and folds them into the narrative. In any given network, brands can invest in digital assets that span five media landscapes.

1. Paid: Digital advertising, banners, adwords, overlays
2. Owned: Created assets, custom content
3. Earned: Brand-related conversations and user-generated content
4. Promoted: In-stream or social paid promotion vehicles
5. Shared: Open platforms or communities where customers co-create and collaborate with brands

Any combination of the five media strategies defines a new Brandsphere where organisations can capture attention, steer online experiences, spark conversations and word-of-mouth, and help customers address challenges or create new opportunities. Each media channel connects differently with people and thus requires a dedicated approach integrating tangible or intangible value. Doing so ensures a critical path for social media content: relevance, reach and resonance."

Visit www.theconversationprism.com for more on this and other infographics in this series.

RELATED LINKS:
Cx3 blog entry: Social Media Content Grid
Cx3 blog entry: Conversation prism 2.0

Cx3: Steve Jobs

A while since my last post, but the demonstrable influence of Steve Job's death has reignited my Cx3 blog posts - and in tribute, written and posted in totality using my iPad.

In the past few days, since Steve Jobs died, there has been an unprecedented global outpouring of grief, tributes and reflection. He is labelled a genius in parallel with Einstein and labelled the creator of the 21st century.

Steve Job's Apple empire touches the world, quite literally, as it shapes the way we behave and communicate today - providing platforms to connect, share, inform, inspire, influence, educate, perform and entertain.

I myself (as did many others) found out about Steve Jobs death via my iPhone and actively shared the news appropriately - via my iPhone, which can only be a fitting tribute to a man who revolutionised communication. Twitter recorded 10,000 tweets per second on news of his death - the highest ever.

Clips of Steve Jobs were shared including his Commencement speech at Stanford University 'How to live before you die' and multiple i-product launch performances, which have a presentation style of their own. The 'opportunity in death' that Steve Jobs actively talks about, provides the world with the opportunity to 'save to memory' recognition of a man's leadership genius, and a not-to-be-forgotten creative visionary.

Cx3: The Daily iPad

News Corporation's Rupert Murdoch is extending his media empire once again - this time with a digital newspaper for the iPad called the Daily.

Mr Murdoch told an audience at the Guggenheim Museum in New York that he hoped it would be an "indispensable source of news" in the tablet era.

The Daily will cost 99 cents (60p) a week and will be sold exclusively via Apple's iTunes store.

The paper will initially only be available in the US.

News Corp has hired about 100 journalists to work on it.

The Daily will feature news articles, interactive graphics, HD videos and 360 degree photos designed to work with the iPad's touchscreen.

It will add Twitter feeds into some articles and offer personalised content.

"Our target audience is the 15 million Americans expected to own iPads in the next year," said Mr Murdoch.

"In the tablet-era there is room for a fresh and robust new voice. New times demand new journalism," he said.

He promised that the Daily would combine the best of contemporary technology with "shoe leather reporting, good editing and a sceptical eye".

According to Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of internet services, 200m news apps have been downloaded and there are 9,000 different news apps to choose from.

Revenue share

It is believed that Apple will use the tie-up with News Corp to change the way it charges for subscriptions.

It means that any publisher offering content via the iPad will have to use Apple's payment method, known as in-app purchase, which in turn means Apple will get a share of the revenue made from any subscriptions.

"That is quite a big deal," said Adrian Drury, principal media analyst at research firm Ovum.

"The specific terms News Corp have negotiated are unknown, but every other publisher now faces paying 30% of their hard won application subscription revenue to Apple," he said.

It follows a tightening of the rules around e-book readers, which will also now be required to offer customers the ability to purchase books from within the app as well as from other sources.

News Corp's move onto the iPad reflects a wider industry appetite for selling device-specific exclusive content, Mr Drury said.

What sets the Daily apart is the fact that it has its own editorial staff.

"Others re-use content but the Daily has hired expensive US journalists and has its own editorial staff," he said.

"Its parent has deep pockets, and this is going to buy it time to build an audience and refine its model," he added.

Others who have already gone down the iPad route find it a difficult road, he said.

"Anecdotal evidence [suggests] that such publications have strong download sales when they first come to market, but when it comes to subscriptions, getting people to repeat buy, it gets really tough."

It also faces stiff competition from free apps such as Flipboard, which allows users to pick the websites they want to create a personalised magazine.

Paywalls

Mr Murdoch has made no secret of his desire to get consumers paying for news on the web.

The Wall Street Journal, The Times and The Sunday Times, all owned by Mr Murdoch, have introduced paywalls for their websites.

The Times has since revealed that it has seen a 87% drop in online readership.

In November, Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson launched his own iPad publication, called Project.

Unlike the Daily, it is a monthly magazine dedicated to style and culture. It costs £1.79.

Other paid-for newspaper apps for the iPad include Esquire, Glamour, GQ, the New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Wired.

RELATED LINKS
BBC news article: News Corp launches daily newspaper for iPad
Cx3 blog entry: Connected devices from Nielsen
Cx3 blog entry: Interact with your iPad
Cx3 blog entry: One million Apple iPads sold
Cx3 blog entry: Apple iPad overview

Cx3: Connected devices from Nielsen

Nielsen's study on 'The Increasingly Connected Consumer: Connected Devices' provides interesting insight on smartphone, tablet, e-book user behaviour.

'The Increasingly Connected Consumer' is a study intended to get a better understanding of the consumers purchasing Apple iPads, Amazon Kindles and other similar gadgets and how they are using them. The study takes a look at demographics, changes in behaviour, the content that people engage with and thier responsiveness to advertising.

Key statistics:

- Tablets is still a nascent market favoured by early adopters. In the US, 25% own a smartphone, 8% have netbooks, 6% have e-readers and 4% have tablets. Early adopters of technology favour tablets, and tablet owners own more connected devices

- Tablets are passed around more than smartphones or e-readers. 46% of people allow others to use their tablet, compared to 34% of smartphone owners and 33% of e-reader users

- 63% of iPad owners are under 35 years old, and nearly two-thirds of iPad owners are male. 47% of owners of Amazon's Kindle e-book reader are under 35, and 52% are male



- 91% of iPad owners have downloaded an app. The study revealed the most popular categories of paid apps downloaded include: Games (62%); Books (54%); Music (50%); Shopping (45%); News & Headlines (45%). For a full list, click on the chart to the left.


- iPad owners spend a longer amount of time engaged with content. The study compared iPad and iPhone devices and it was identified that a greater percent of weekday length of time per session across content categories was spent by iPad owners.

- Connected devices owners as a group are comfortable with mobile advertising, however, iPad users are much more receptive and are more likely to make a purchase



RELATED LINKS:
Connected Devices: iPads, Kindles, Smartphones and the Connected Consumer
Connected Devices: Does the iPad Change Everything?
Cx3 blog entry: Interact with your iPad
Cx3 blog entry: One million Apple iPads sold
Cx3 blog entry: Apple iPad overview

Cx3: Interact with your iPad

So, I purchased an iPad yesterday...yey! I had clear thoughts on how and what I intended to use it for. Less than 24 hours later, and the iPad's intuitive interaction design and the interest from a circle of friends has generated unexpected user behaviour.

I intended to use the iPad to access the Internet and email, listen to music, watch videos, share photos, write blog articles remotely - all of which I have done already.

However, in addition to this, my creative side has been unexpectedly explored and I've doodled a few pictures (see left), relaxed with a few games of backgammon, shared a game of Scrabble with friends in the local park and badly played 'flight of the bumble bee' on Magic Piano's app (which is my left hand, again?).

Genuinely, in a short space of time, the iPad effortlessly challenged my own preconceived user behaviour, connected me with the iPad in a way I wasn't expecting and the iPad became a focal point for enabling social interaction with others.

The iPad truly is a revolutionary cornerstone driving interactive communications.

RELATED LINKS:

Cx3 blog entry: One million Apple iPads sold
Cx3 blog entry: Apple iPad overview
Mashable blog entry: Apple Has Sold 1 Million iPads

Cx3: Apple iPad overview

Not that I try to be swayed by sales pitches, but the Apple iPad does appear to be extraordinarily simple and a beautifully executed user experience that takes interactive communications to another level. Very excited about this.