New Media Will Take Over Old Media…Or Not?

The fall of old media is upon us very soon. The fall of it will be very great and for some, too soon. Or will it?

For the past few years, I have been convinced that the rise of podcasts, social networks, live streaming video, and other web technologies will ultimately seal the death of “old media” such as radio and television due to the fact that these old media folks don’t understand how to interact with their viewers/listeners. I have been told and read several articles by new media icons that the producers and management of television just “don’t get” new media and the faithful followers/viewers it accumulates. But is this all true?

Through the observation of television’s attempt to integrate interaction through the internet and their television audience, I have to say, they might have something here.

This example has me the most excited. A rather new show that I have been keeping my eye on is “quarterlife” . A show that follows a handful of 20-something year olds that through-out the show, communicate through a website called quarterlife. Even though the site on the show seems to have much more functionality than the real site, they are still making great strides to be interactive with the viewers of the show. The exciting part for me is that this introduces the idea of messaging and communicating through a social site like some of us do through sites like youtube,viddler, or seesmic, to those new to the idea. But if you go to quarterlife.com, you will see that there are ways to express your enjoyment of the show, but also ways to interact. And there are some promises that original, fan created content, will be used in future seasons.

Another example is “Bingo America“ . A game show that people can play at home along with the televised broadcast. This is not a new idea, but the way that the game show producers seem to be taking on a different approach to this concept. I personally have more fun over at palycafe.com because they make it feel like the viewers are the contestants. As opposed to Bingo America which makes you feel like your just playing along with the contestants that are the show.

Just with these observations that I have been doing, seem that the “old media” types are making better efforts at interaction and integration of the online communities than I thought they would. And no one can ignore the fact that television has the viewers already. If they do it right, they will have the potential to have a strong audience online. So I ask you, Can old media merge into this new media that the internet generation is exploring right now? Or is it a lost cause and they don’t understand how to captivate an internet audience? I for one will wait and see what happens with anticipation.

If you have any opinions on this topic or any ideas that you might have on this topic, leave a comment on this post.

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