Media ReDEFined
Sign up here:
Every day I get an e-mail from Jason Hirschhorn entitled "Media ReDEFined". It’s a compendium of news stories that would be interesting to someone like Jason:
"Jason Hirschhorn is an entrepreneur most comfortable at the intersection between entertainment and technology. He was formerly CEO of his first venture, Mischief New Media, Chief Digital Officer of MTV Networks, President of Sling Media, most recently Co-President of MySpace and serves on the Board of Directors of MGM. Jason is also an investor in Svpply, ThisMoment, Howcast, Buzz Media, and other startups."
And you’re probably more like Jason than a rock star. But today’s savvy stars track the kind of information Jason disseminates.
The stories are not music-centric or cable-centric, but they all revolve around the media sphere that enthralls us.
And there’s always a nugget or two that eluded my surfing, that fixates me. Like today’s link to a story on the Amazon Silk browser:
Skim the article, but watch the video.
The video has techies, Amazon employees who look like you and me, today’s rock stars as opposed to those stage-running, costume-changing money whores sold out to corporations hyped in all media known to man, explaining how Silk works.
Now I haven’t had my hands on the Kindle Fire. Seemingly no one other than Amazon employees has. I’ve got no idea how well it truly works. But I’m enthralled by this video. Because it’s not about flash, but substance. It’s logical, it explains something.
This is the future.
If you’re launching a new project, you’re better off with YouTube videos explaining the gestation than slick overpriced image-based ads posted everywhere known to man. Those who really care will seek them out. And will tell others, like I’m telling you now.
We want to know more. Play to those who do and they’ll spread the word.
Meanwhile, despite the above video, I think the best comment on the Kindle Fire was on last night’s SNL, which I bothered neither watching nor recording, knowing the best nuggets would make it to the Web, where I could cherry-pick them and not waste too much time:
What Seth Myers says in the above video is this:
"It’s expected to sell well among parents who always buy the wrong thing."
That’s great comedy. Saying in very few words what those too close to a project cannot see. Kids want the best, it’s parents who sacrifice. Kids lead. Which is why so much advertising is targeted at them.
And finally, I’m not sure if Jason Hirschhorn covered this story in Media ReDEFined, but you should read it:
To be very concise, Spotify saw monthly usage increase by more than 50% after announcing its new integration with Facebook.
This is fascinating to me because I’m O.D.’ed on the Facebook hype. At some point can you get off the merry-go-round, saying you’re sick from being bombarded with new services and endless information?
I guess not.
Turns out Facebook is powerful.
How long it lasts and how profitable it will ultimately be are different questions.
In other words, if you’re breaking something new, you go where the customers are. They’ll spread the word for you, if your product is good. And right now that’s Facebook.Â
