The Fall of Digital

15 years ago
something changed

It was going
to change
business

It was going to change society

It was going to
change the
world

It wasn't like anything
that came before it

PR people didn't know what to do with it

Advertising people didn't
know what to do with it
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/ﬁnnurmalmquist/3207097477/

IT people &
scientists almost
knew what to do
with it

So we had to
have invent new
professionals

It would
democratize
everything

Small shops and
big shops could
compete equally

Location didn't matter anymore

It was going to change
everything

...trying to cut into where
business was currently
spending its money

Ad Firm
PR Firm
IT Firm
+ W W W
+ W W W
+ W W W

they hired and
acquired to offer the
services to clients

With these new capabilities
they pushed it on every
client
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/deadhorse/79236362/

The Media started talking about how digital
ﬁrms are the wave of the future

Talk of "Digital"
was everywhere

Investors bought
anything with
a .com in it

Everyone realized that the internet
was not magic

Everyone knew it
was a big deal
they just weren't
sure how
anymore.

Depends on who you ask
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/pitadel/4951801589/

Anyone can learn how
to publish online

Then the industry
started to mature
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/juhansonin/4137915935/

the snake oil salesmen moved in

and then it became a profession

"its all about what your website does"

In 1950 if you
needed a lawyer
you got a lawyer

patents
hrlitigation
trademark protection

PPC
DeveloperUX / UI designer
Email
SEO
Social Media

Its not you
neighbors 12
year old

If you don't have
a multi-million
dollar budget

what do you get and what do you leave?

and how do you even know the difference

For technical people it
was all about mashups,
feeds and ajax

For nontechnical people it was community,
sharing and publishing

the operating system that runs Farmville
© ® TM

the central place for storing your photos of the
party where you got too drunk to stand up
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/15938251@N08/2174292717/

Its easy to see
how obvious
things we're in
hind site

the rise of digital was the same
shiny object syndrome as
everything media channel before it

Radio was supposed to destroy print

TV was supposed to
render Radio obsolete

The internet was
supposed to kill TV

You had to be a technician
to make radio work

then the amateurs showed
up with HAM radios

Then the industry matured and professions split
Production Director
Broadcast Engineers
Content Producers
Recording Engineers
Etc... Etc... Etc...

Now you can get your TV
commercials produced for
free by the cable
company

...and anyone
can buy a
camera
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JVC_Camcorder.jpg

People watch 20% more TV now
than they did 20 years ago
(before the internet got popular)
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/media_entertainment/average-tv-viewing-for-2008-09-tv-season-at-all-time-high/

Its the same old story
The internet is one more channel

it isn't single purpose
Except...

watch, listen, read, publish, build
and socialize online

More complexity
means more areas
of specialization

We are on the same track
it will just take longer to
settle down

How do companies
pick a service
provider?

Interview many sources
Research their options
Compare their options
√
√
√

Most businesses in
this country are
small businesses

- Don't know who to ask
- Don't know who to believe
- Can't tell the difference
Interview many sources
Research their options
Compare their options
√
√
√

They “activate” their social network

the social web
didn't invent this

any entrepreneur
that operated
before the
internet can tell
you that

Its not what you know its who you know

"Fred did my website
and its CRUD based,
totally ReSTful and
degrades gracefully"

"Oh yea, I need a cruddy
degrading website"

What if Fred is
a neighbors 12
year old?

Doesn't have good network - asocial

Doesn't get a response from their network

Bad experiences

Bad experiences
Just don't know

Bad experiences
Just don't know
The guy that did their website
is a veterinary assistant now

Doesn't get a good vibe from their
recommended service provider

They see a banner ad
Display
Punch the Monkey
Win an MP3 Player

They follow an afﬁliate link

They rely on the branding
they have been exposed to

They do what they have always done
Rely on Traditional Channels

Digital is a traditional channel

So did the social web destroy
the traditional web?

Did web 2.0 make
web 1.0 obsolete?

You will lose half your audience.

The social web
is just another
channel

the snake oil salesmen have moved in

A new profession is being born

Another cog in the marketing wheel

Increased sales and
won awards

Most people have no idea the
social part ever happened -
they just saw the TV
commercial

The latest "Super Social Media Success"
came from a traditional agency

So where are companies
looking for Digital and
Social Media help?

PR Firms
Direct Marketing
Firms
PR Firms

You don’t need to "Know" web development

We don’t need to “Know” web code to sell online

You don’t need to “Know” technology to promote a business

So what about all
the digital folks
that got us here?

Have we made a world
where the world doesn't need us?

For most organizations
technical expertise takes a
back seat to strategy
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/fredspoonphotos/2659621760/

and a strong strategy can come from anywhere

Our disciplines are even cannibalizing
themselves

5 years ago PPC and
SEO was the hot topic

We send out tweets
to our friends to
ﬁnd what we want
instead of using a
search engine

We trust the
recommendations
of friends 75
25Yes
No

2 years ago
75
25Yes
No
Now
55
45Yes
No

Friend doesn't mean what it used to.

Of course, our trust isn't
just down from our
friends - its down on
everything

Where do we go for information?

How do organizations spread their message
and engage with audiences?

If its TV, then they will use TV

If its Print, the'll use print

If its PPC, SEO, Social, Consumer Generated or
direct - they will do that

And if they do
enough of it, they
will just hire the
people with the
expertise to do it

But they won't be called "digital"

Digital will be absorbed
into other disciplines

Social Media expert will cease to be
a phrase and a job title will take its
place

Our innovations will become
a list of best practices

Execution &
creativityTechnical
knowhow

The promise of the
internet was to share
and democratize
knowledge

Our trade knowledge
is no exception
<!DOCTYPE html >
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<meta name="keywords" content="Web Design, Graphic Design, Marketing, Digital Marketing, Web Developer, Creative" />
<meta name="description" content="Reid Givens - Digital Marketing specialist in Albuquerque New Mexico focusing on Web Development, Design," />
<title>Reid Givens - Digital Marketing, Advertising and Web Development</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="thickbox.css" />
<script type="text/javascript" src="javascripts/jquery-1.3.2.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="javascripts/jquery-ui-1.7.1.all.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="javascripts/jquery.livequery.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="javascripts/jquery.easing.1.3.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="javascripts/jquery.easing.compatibility.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="javascripts/jquery.cycle.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="javascripts/thickbox.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">

// lets get this party started ---------------------------------------------- //
$(document).ready(function(){

// connect
$('#connect dl.icons').hover(function(){
$(this).css('background','#444');
},function(){
$(this).css('background','none');
$('#connect dl.icons dd').hide();
});

$('#connect dl.icons dt').hover(function(){
// turn off all showing dd
$('#connect dl.icons dd').hide();
// get the current class
var channel = $(this).attr('class');
// change the background of this class
$(this).css('background', '#aaa');
// show the right dd for this dt
$('#connect dl.icons dd.' + channel).show();
// call ga
pageTracker._trackEvent("Connect", channel);

}, function(){
// turn off the background color
$('#connect dl.icons dt').css('background','none');
});

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/juhansonin/4137915935/
Our industry is
maturing and we are
ﬁguring it all out

will be the
traditional,
boring “plain
jane” job title
of tomorrow

The hierarchy of
web folks will
become
established and
the pecking
order will be set

But that doesn't
mean that we will
all be devalued

This setup give us the
ability to have stars

The internet didn't get rid of the media
gatekeepers like it was supposed to

and created niches
for stars to rise

we have more gatekeepers, each with a little less
power over the masses, but a great deal over
their niches

Engage with organizations that are furthering
our industry

Engage with other organizations that are not in
our industry, to see how we can help them

Study the cycles that have come before
to ﬁnd ways to integrate, understand
and innovate in our turf

Realize that we are all part of a bigger picture
and work to ﬁnd the best places for our strengths

Create specialties &
work to increase our
strengths instead of
waisting time trying to
be a jack of all trades

Become leaders for the ﬁeld that is now ours

We are the ambassadors and creators of the
most complex and exciting channel in the history
of man kind.

We realize it is just one channel out of many,
but we’ll take the lead of it and own it

Create the future we
want before someone
else does it for us

The Fall of Digital

More Related Content

What's hot

Viewers also liked

Similar to The Fall of Digital

Recently uploaded

The Fall of Digital