These are the Networks of Our Lives
When I was growing up in Maine, we had four networks: ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS. When I was a young adult, Fox joined the list. Then cable came along and the number of networks exploded. Sure, cable networks were small, compared to the big 5, but with the reach of cable, even small networks like WGN out of Chicago turned people all over the world into Cubs fans.
These days, we have a new crop of networks. But unlike the last explosion, these networks are not on television. They are on the internet. Yes, the internet; that collection of websites and other platforms that deliver us all sorts of information. We are talking about Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, and YouTube. We are talking Yahoo, Google, lions, tiger, and bears, oh my… oops… that was an old habit slipping in.
I was struck this past Sunday morning as George Stephanopoulis signed off another episode of This Week by telling his audience that they could also find This Week on Facebook and Twitter. At that moment, it dawned on me that we have some new BIG networks to join ABC, NBC, etc.
I realize that in some ways, this is not much of a revelation. But at some level, there is something new here. The big online networks are now as mainstream as the ancient television networks. And why not? The internet has become our dominant source for news and information (at least dominant for the majority of us who have access… television is still far more ubiquitous).
But the big online networks are certainly webiqutous. And now, we can safely say they are mainstream.
So when we think about communication strategy, about getting our message out to the masses, our strategy must now think far more broadly than the old get it on TV (in in the press) mentality. And more than that, we must now expand our strategy to incorporate the interactivity and social networking elements, as well.
Note: The ideas in this blog post are still more like a lump of clay than a treatise, but it is a start. More to come.