Media Rules!: Mastering Today's Technology to Connect with and Keep Your Audience
[UPDATE: Tell us why you think Media Rules! in a comment, below. We'll give away a free copy of the book to a randomly selected commenter after Tuesday, July 1st!]
Media Rules! Okay, I have to say that I was skeptical about reading this book: I didn't think the media rules, especially not with an exclamation point.
My mind was changed quickly -- by the end of the first page. In the foreword, Andrew Nachison, iFOCOS, introduces We Media as a simple expression with a complex meaning, depending on your definition of we. We Media, he believes, is everybody.
I agree with him that it is hard to come to terms with the idea, but when you take a minute, the realization hits you. We Media, he goes on to explain, is here, everywhere, and it's everyone. That means you and me. We all consume, create, and distribute information.
I never thought of myself as part of the media, but as I sit here and blog, I am. At one time, we had to go through the media to deliver information, but now we are the media. The implication he describes is huge: how businesses function and ultimately, how the world functions for better or worse in the future. Media Rules! will provide a road map through which you can navigate the path your organization will take.
Brian Reich and Dan Soloman, authors of Media Rules!: Mastering Today's Technology to Connect with and Keep Your Audience, open the book by explaining that it is a framework and guide for leaders on creating more meaningful impact through managing and marketing the technology that surrounds us. It is a continuing discussion about the future, filtered by three broad concepts:
- Everything is fragmented and blurred.
- Small can be big.
- We are all connected.
Join the NTEN Book Club to read more about these ideas. Brian and Dan suggest you read Media Rules! if you are interested in any of the following:
- Learning how to compete.
- Understanding how to position yourself.
- Leading a successful transition.
- Tapping into new markets.
The book is a starting point for conversation they hope to have with you. We hope to facilitate that conversation here on our blog and in a Meet the Author online session on July 22 with Brian Reich. We encourage you to ask yourself the questions they pose in the introduction to make this reading as meaningful as possible to your work.
> Join the NTEN Book Club and Online Chat!
The idea that the media, all of us, are everywhere makes me think of media as conversation. Conversations about your organization, your cause, or your field are taking place all over the place, right now: online, offline, in blogs, newspapers, research, jokes, brainstorms, etc. The conversations people are having and those that they are overhearing are helping shape the message you are trying to convey by changing the way the audience thinks before your message even gets to them. What more reason do we need to jump in and be part of that conversation than to shape the media effecting our own organizations?!
I think it is such an exciting and interesting idea; can't wait to read the book!
Hooray for book clubs! I'm excited to have a way to share ideas and information through book clubbing with other NTENers.
Cheers,
nicole
The media will determine what your donors think of your actions, what your clients think of your actions and what your parents think of your actions. You will determine what the media thinks of your actions, if you are smart!
As someone always looking for ways to effectively build online communities and connect with new audiences in a meaningful way, I am looking forward to reading Media Rules and gaining some new insight on the matter.
With the growth of social networking, blogging,etc.-- this kind of knowledge if incredibly valuable.
The Media Rules were made to be broken. That is why we do it.
I completely agree with the We Media concept. With all the technology we have at our fingertips, anyone can be a journalist. I look forward to reading the book.
The intellectual world is a collection of smallish "villages" that are mostly open to interested participants; someone with ideas joins a community (one or more villages), and gets heard, by establishing a presence and saying things deemed worthy of attention.
"Media" is the plural of "medium." Newspapers are one medium, radio is another medium, television, film, website, blog.... all of them collectively are "the media" of communication. The speaker is not the medium of speech; the speaker uses one or more media to convey a message. The "media" are tools external to the speaker that the speaker uses to address a community. Is there some advantage to re-defining the word?
Thanks for recommending this book. It's important for those of us in the communications/PR world to remember that we must be alert to more than just the "traditional media."
I am definitely interested in learning why Brian Reich and Dan Solomon believe why media rules(!).
To me, the power of media is particularly evident in the numbers:
- We're all exposed to about 5,000 ads per day (as compared to about 500 in the 1970's).
- In "marketing 101," MBAs and advertisers learn that it takes at least 6 or 7 impressions to influence someone to action. So, with that in mind, the media is not only banging us over the head with thousands of messages, they're doing it multiple times!
- I'll echo Anna's blog entry above: Not only are we the audience to media messaging, we've become the media itself. Organizations are flipping the funnel and listening rather than preaching (well, they're learning that we're all talking regardless of their response!), and social networks are booming.
I'm not sure I consider "Media Rules!" 'beach reading,' but I'd give it a go! Thanks for sharing-
Media Rules because you rarely run into people who do not own or wear or eat a brand name item, or who don't know a lot of the latest news and celebrity facts. It's so pervasive that it's challenging to stick out and be different, and especially in a way that will hold someone's attention for even a short amount of time. Sounds like a good book to read to help guide that effort.
Thank you for suggesting this book - I'm definitely going to read it.
Cathi Eifert
Media Rules because it's changing! One of the most exciting things about media today is that we engage with information in new ways all the time. New means of learning and contributing to the way we and others understand things around us are constantly emerging. It rules because we can't be sure what Media will look like tomorrow and yet we're part of shaping that reality.