The document discusses the challenges of marketing and distributing content in an on-demand culture where individuals have more control over their media consumption. It describes the speaker's career transitioning from music to marketing, where they helped brands connect with audiences and spread content virally. Everything changed with the rise of digital platforms that decentralized content discovery and empowered users to access media on their own terms.

1. Chaucer
Thanks for having me.
I spend most of my time thinking about the near future for my agency and her clients.
tech. behavior. culture. commerce.
i rarely get to talk to people outside of my craft about such issues, and i think they’re important to all of us, so
thanks for having me.
we’re here today to talk about an on demand culture: one in which individuals are empowered to curate the
media around them more granularly than ever before.
It’s an exciting time to be alive.

2. An ocean of content
The tick tock. A robust toolkit to marshal it
New civic/commercial challenges
Some hedging strategies
A deep need for more
These elements are casually linked, but they aren’t stairstepped.
Some overlap between them is assumed.

3. “Although our capabilities have been expanding geometrically, our ability to
model their long term behavior has been increasing only arithmetically.”
-Edward Tenner
We’ve all seen this in one form or another.
Negotiating, and ultimately reducing this delta is my job.
but it’s one i share with others: judges, urban planners, VCs, concerned citizens.
Two things i want you to do today:
1. better understand the risks associated with our newfound freedom
2. think about your role in all this
One thing i don’t want: note taking. every reference i’ll make here will be cited at the end, and you’ll be able to
get your hands on everything.

4. 7 years ago.
I
was
a
musician
and
storyteller.
I
started
this
band,
that
was
always
intended
to
be
a
niche
product.
we
were
to
be
subsistence
ar7sts,
emboldened
by
the
collapse
of
the
recording
industry:
all
of
a
sudden,
$10K
and
a
good
myspace
following
offered
a
fairly
flat
advantage
to
being
signed
by
a
major.
and
if
you
did
it
right,
by
the
7me
the
labels
came
knocking,
you’d
have
leverage.
I
met
a
bunch
of
my
heros,
and
they
all
said
the
same
thing:
“diversify.
You’re
lucky
if
the
music
breaks
itself
even.
Your
money
won’t
come
from
sales:
it’ll
come
from
everything
else:
the
merch.
the
tours.
the
synchs.”
LiIle
did
we
know
streaming
music
was
about
to
blow
up,
and
change
the
game
again:
from
ownership
to
mere
access.
it
began
a
fascina7on
on
my
part
with
the
discrepancy
between
being
valuable
and
being
able
to
command
a
price.
but
also
a
fascina7on
with
how
we
find
the
things
we
love.
how
we
build
communi7es
around
them,
and
how
that
exercise
governs
our
rela7onship
with
people
both
inside
and
without.

5. Then I met
this guy.
This
guy
is
dan
wieden;
you
may
know
him
as
the
guy
who,
as
the
story
goes,
scribbled
three
liIle
words
on
a
napkin
that
changed
the
world.
They
were?
“Just
do
it.”
He’d
made
a
career
of
making
content
that
moved
people.
content
that
expanded
their
minds
and
opened
their
wallets.
I
admired
him
terribly.
i
asked
how
i
could
be
down,
and
he
let
me
in
aQer
listening
to
my
record.
I
took
a
posi7on
on
the
newly-­‐won
converse
account.

6. The years that
followed...
i
was
at
the
nexus
of
art
and
commerce.
and
i
was
responsible
for
connec7ng
the
people
with
the
content:
a
craQ
we
called
channel
planning
or
media
planning.
but
even
in
the
few
years
it
took
to
get
good,i
started
sensing
the
signals
that
the
center
wouldn’t
hold.
In
these
two
years
alone
(my
7me
on
converse),
we
started
seeing
signs
of
our
increasing
inability
to
raise
a
big
audience,
especially
concurrently.
and
when
we
did,
we
found
that
we
never
had
a
crea7ve
solu7on
that
sa7sfied
all
of
them.
...and
if
we
relied
just
on
media
muscle
to
push
an
idea,
a)
we
were
missing
a
big
opportunity
to
distribute
more
efficitently
and
b)
we
weren’t
guaranteed
the
penetra7on
you
once
were.
we
were
seeing
a
big
shiQ
toward
user-­‐curated
media.
in
other
words,
if
it
doesn’t
spread,
it’s
dead.
i
got
preIy
good
at
developing
work
and
systems
that
made
ideas
spread.
I
did
so
for
music,
videos,
digital
assets,
video
games,
and
a
feature
film.

7. Then
everything
changed.
5
years
later,
I
looked
up
and
i
had
made
a
career
of
launching
and
sustaining
entertainment
franchises.
then
my
boss
lays
a
challenge
at
my
feet:
“get
these
guys
ready
for
the
inevitable
future
of
digital
fulfillment.”
EA
was
on
to
something.
one:
their
retailer
rela7onships
were
a
point
of
weakness:
costly,
and
out
of
step
with
burgeoning
consumer
behavior.
they
knew
that
they
could
develop
for
the
long
tail.
but
it’d
change
their
business.
the
big
change
for
us
though?
we
went
from
merely
promo7ng
to
ac7vely
merchandising.
every
node
in
the
system
becomes
a
possible
transac7on
point.
so
very
quickly,
my
prac7ce
became
about
iden7fying
the
behavioral
aIributes
of
buyers.
and
finding
ways
to
stay
in
their
face.
a
tall
order
considering
the
landscape.
here’s
why:

8. New day.
Meanwhile,
as
I
was
polishing
channel
planning
chops:
an
explosion
in
soQware
development.
Blogging,
then
micro
blogging
changed
publishing
to
a
click,
decima7ng
the
value
prop
of
what
had
for
hundreds
of
years
been
a
specialized
skill
set.
napster,
then
Itunes
brought
the
record
industry
to
its
knees.
ne]lix
bought
an
island
called
manhaIan
from
starz,
for
the
equivalent
of
a
few
beads,
then
took
over
with
installs
on
gaming
consoles.
craigslist
killed
the
classifieds.
and
almost
every7me,
the
public
won.
wikipedia
brought
crowdsourcing
into
the
public
view.
amazon
flaIened
costs
across
the
board,
ushering
in
radical
transparency.
ebay
created
a
grey
marketplace.
myspace
got
my
band
bookings.
but
brands
are
freaking
out.
because
concurrent
reach
disappears.
because
measurement
gets
more
textured.
because
data
gets
more
expensive.
on
one
side
of
this
equa7on:
ad
blockers.
audience
fragmenta7on.
audience
empowerment.
Crisis
management
at
grassroots.
the
ques7on
wan’t
how
can
you
best
push
to
people:
it
was:
how
can
you
get
them
to
pull,
and
push
to
others?

9. On top of all
that.
and
this.
But
let’s
be
clear:
cord
cu_ng
isn’t
about
killing
the
content.
It’s
about
taking
a
more
ac7ve
role
in
it’s
deployment.
when,
where,
how,
on
what
device.
Picture
it
as
cu_ng
an
umbilical
chord.
you’re
not
failing
to
be
nourished;
you’re
just
no
longer
passively
accep7ng
it.
Here’s
an
example
of
chord
cu_ng
that
lives
en7rely
in
the
digital
world,
so
you
can
get
a
sense
of
the
metaphor’s
boundaries:
A
very
popular
gaming
site
saw
fairly
stunning
traffic
decline
to
it’s
front
page,
which
historically
had
been
able
to
be
marketed
to
media
buyers
at
a
premium.
it
got
the
most
eyeballs,
and
it
offered
a
broad
palleIe
for
crea7ve.
when
the
traffic
dipped,
it
wasn’t
because
the
content
wasn’t
in
demand
anymore,
it
was
because
people
wanted
it
so
bad,
they’d
port
it.

10. Porting the
reporting.
the
number
of
users
of
a
popular
gaming
site
who
signed
up
to
“follow”
their
favorite
games,
genres,
and
conversa7ons
via
RSS
tripled
in
one
quarter.
While
they
would
click
into
side
doors
of
the
site,
these
users
were
done
with
the
content
the
site
chose
to
curate
on
it’s
front
page,
and
thus
didn’t
visit.
Soon,
the
site
was
chasing
us
down,
saying
we
could
“roadblock”
users
who
didnt’
come
to
the
site,
but
consumed
it’s
content.
it
was
a
fix...like
a
bandaid
is.

11. Suddenly:
Gamechanger(s).
The hardware catches up with the software: tivo. iphone. itouch. ipad. kindle. 7th gen consoles, and then blueray.
Designed from the ground up to consume, sort, filter, and cache content.
adopt standards that allow you to enjoy selfsame experiences across screens, enriching the value prop of the software.
Many were mobile, could assume control of other devices, but all assumed their own connectivity: in that, comes the ability
to call content from the cloud, interact in real time, store or bookmark whatʼs useful.
collectively, all these devices changed the user expectation of these screens: that instead of boxes that receive specific
content someone else programs, they should all be windows to all the content you could think to request.

12. A microcosm.
Page One: a year inside the NYT. A great doc.
in the foreground: the impact of progress on established practice.
their inability to monetize. the decline of their model. the scramble to replace it. Big media bedlam.
irresponsible power, distributed like pollen.
They’re forced often to compete with their own work, aggregated by Huffpo, newser, and gawker.
Businesses that couldn’t be alive without them, but are, by merely existing, depleting their ability to provide
their service.
In the background: deep philosophical questions about the nature of value.
..about the role of big media.
..about the economics of credibility.
..and the future of truth.

13. Another take.
Here’s
the
other
side
of
the
equa7on.
a
shaIering
of
the
80/20
rule.
The
collapse
of
the
one
size
fits
all
model,
and
the
market
of
mul7tudes
that
rises
from
its
ashes.
the
economics
of
the
broadcast
era-­‐-­‐requiring
hits
to
get
big
buckets
of
audiences-­‐-­‐being
reversed
in
the
broadband
era.
so
consider:
you’re
in
a
coffee
shop
in
seaIle.
it’s
playing
a
local
ar7st
you’ve
never
heard.
you
whip
out
your
phone,
which
listens
to
id
it,
then
enables
you
to
buy
it
on
the
spot.
that
was
the
promise
then.
it’s
realized
now.
The
rise
of
massclusivity.
the
flooding
of
the
mainstream.
an
evolu7onary
leap
for
commerce.

14. Not what
we’re talking
about.
brilliant, and worth a read. but focused on the sunny side of things: Clay argues that people will contribute on a
global scale to the better good.
a trillion hours of time a year to contribute he says: we’re gonna get some good stuff.
“we were couch potatoes because we had to be.” we’re exiting that phase.
we got erotic novels 150 years before we got scientific journals. If the first few years of the internet emphasized
the former, the latter’s on the way.
social constraints create a culture that was more generous than the contractual restraints.
meaningfully, he creates a distinction between communal value and civic value.

15. Let’s look
under the
hood.
Okay, so lots of professional thinkers are excited for or afraid of what’s next.
And you know why my industry is so up in arms about where everything will land, which is why jobs like mine
exist.
Let’s get a sense for what we’re talking about before we move on to why it’s important to all of us.

16. The content
trendline.
• 60 days > 60 years: More video is uploaded in two months than the three major U.S. networks (ABC, CBS, NBC)
combined created in six decades.
• 4 million: Number of people connected to YT and auto-sharing to at least one social network.
• 250 million – Number of tweets per day
• 110 million: Number of blogs between WP and tumblr
• 100 billion – Estimated number of photos on Facebook by mid-2011.
Your takeaway: there’s waaaaay too much to see/hear/experience/play/consume everything.

17. The
consumption
trendline.
• 3.3: petabytes of monthly bandwidth used by imgur.com
• 3 billion: hours spent gaming
• 56: % US households who own current consoles (nielsen)
• 140: The number of YouTube video playbacks per person on Earth
• 30: % of internet bandwidth consumed by netflix playback
Your takeaway: we’re trying our damnedest to drink it all.

18. The
demographic
trendline.
Your takeaway: the coming generation will have an expectation of bespoke content.
Theyʼll choose. theyʼll accept recommendations. theyʼll search. but they wonʼt let the wave just crash over them.
it also says that they make no distinction between channels or the content running in them the way we do.
a media planner will look at this and say: you canʼt see modern family or anything else on tv on youtube. but these kids
donʼt (and wonʼt when theyʼre not kids) care.

19. It’s a lot to get
through.
When anyone can say anything, almost everyone says something.
The sparsest commodity in this equation? attention span.
The most plentiful? choice.
at stake? the ties that bind us: shared experiences, that produce shared realities. Common standards and
references, that produce common ground.
Cultural cohesion.

20. The angst of
the modern
condition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7VgNQbZdaw
A funny take on the angst of the modern condition: so much to consume, so little time.
Part of the humor here is about the reputation of portland as being a place of utter leisure. Nobody has time to read that much.
but in pdx...
The citizens have tons of free time, or “cognitive surplus,” as clay shirky would have it. It’s “where young people go to retire.”
but what’s the missing insight vis a vis our discussion?
that this won’t scale.
we’re not this uniform. that’d be both boring and scary.
it’s..tribal.
they’re constructing and reinforcing a worldview; dictating a cultural narrative. and you get the sense that they’d scoff at anyone
who doesn’t share it.
you also get the sense that most people don’t.
the question this begs is:
what happens when you put these people in a room with those who haven’t read these things? or, who read other unrelated
things?
the answer is: divergence.

21. What’s the
story here?
This is where everything bottoms out.
The onus of choice moves from an elite few to the whole.
but not the collective whole: the individuals within it.
The old media paradigm was autocratic, true: but the movement we’re seeing isn’t democratization: it’s better
described as atomization.
This is not a class voting on what they want to learn.
It’s each student deciding what they want to learn.

22. {
The 10%.
those who live up to the requirement of the paradigm: to continuously audit and refine their media input.
Those who become beacons for others.
Those who publish and edit longform.
those who most actively select content, experiences, and communities, with little “thrown in nuetral.”

23. The best of it.
When they choose wisely, you’re about to see an era where people can become their best, most textured selves.

24. The toolkit.
and here’s what they’ll use.

25. The worst of it.
You’ll also see hyper-specialization. This is how you get a candidate who knows everything there is to know
about domestic energy policy, but doesn’t know why south and north korea are separate nations.
The wrong mix, and you’ll have an echo chamber of opinions and facts.
what does this mean: new sets of references. less surface share between niche values.

26. The toolkit.
And here’s how that happens.

27. Problems.
“By
giving
the
illusion
of
perfect
control,
these
technologies
risk
making
us
incapable
of
ever
being
surprised.
They
encourage
not
the
cul7va7on
of
taste,
but
the
numbing
repe77on
of
fe7sh.
In
thrall
to
our
liIle
technologically
constructed
worlds,
we
are,
ironically,
finding
it
increasingly
difficult
to
appreciate
genuine
individuality.”
chris7ne
rosen

28. The 90%.
{
Most of us.

29. The machines
will deliver
relevance.
This
is
facebook’s
edge
rank
algorithm.
an
Object
is
more
likely
to
show
up
in
your
News
Feed
if
people
you
know
have
been
interac7ng
with
it
recently.
The
more
populous
the
pla]orm,
the
more
it
will
automate
as
much
as
possible.
BIG
data
sets.
invasive
data
sets.
and,
most
importantly
to
today,
prescrip7ve
data.
meandering
will
require
considerable
effort
given
the
algorithm’s
op7miza7on
objec7ve:
“relevance.”
Inputs:
Clickstream
(your
history)
Clickstream
(our
history)
Social
weigh7ng
(your
friends’
history)

30. But that makes
discovery
tougher.
The
curator
(in
this
case,
the
algor7hm)
has
a
built
in
incen7ve
to
show
you
what
you
already
believe.
varia7ons
on
what
you’ve
already
seen.
posts
from
users
you
tend
to
interact
with.
no
way
to
discover
new
things
as
you
mature
and
move
through
life
stages.
Incredibly
tough
to
break
a
persona,
especially
for
na7ves,
who
have
more
data
to
overcome.

31. Your fellow
(hu)man will
help.
We’ve
seen
the
rise
of
recommenda7on
engines
powered
by
others,
some
whom
you
know,
and
others
not
so
much.
angies
list
is
just
the
7p
of
the
iceberg.
this
will
become
more
dominant
as
the
years
pass.

32. But that’s not
always good.
Emerson
wrote:
“The
foregoing
genera7ons
beheld
God
and
nature
face
to
face;
we,
through
their
eyes.
Why
should
not
we
also
enjoy
an
original
rela7on
to
the
universe?
Why
should
not
we
have
a
poetry
and
philosophy
of
insight
and
not
of
tradi7on,
and
a
religion
by
revela7on
to
us,
and
not
the
history
of
theirs?”
what’s
the
ge_ng
at?
1st
hand
experience
as
a
teacher.
And
that’s
great
on
many
levels.
But
we’re
forge_ng
the
pleasures
of
not
knowing-­‐-­‐and
of
discovering.
“I’m
no
Luddite,
but
we’ve
started
replacing
actual
experience
with
someone
else’s
already
digested
knowledge.”

33. Also, consider
this.
everything
the
net
has
to
offer,
right
behind
this
door.
Anything
your
heart
desires.
go.

34. Right?
the
results
today?
aside
from
phrase
match,
it’s
largely
the
clickstream
ac7vity
of
anyone
who’s
ever
searched
that
term.
1st
result:
the
most
clicked
result
when
people
query.
the
net
using
popula7on
is
your
proxy
to
the
truth.
to
the
answer.
flawed
as
it
is,
it’s
at
least
balanced.

35. One day...
The
G+
project
gives
thinkers
like
me
pause.
Add
social
weigh7ng
to
this
equa7on.
the
results?
it’s
largely
the
clickstream
ac7vity
of
people
you’re
connected
to
who’ve
ever
searched
or
wriIen
about
that
term.
1st
result:
the
most
clicked
result
when
people
you
know
query.
your
network
is
your
proxy.
how
pure
is
your
network?

36. So what’s the
problem?
Remember
what
your
mom
said
about
knucklehead
friends?
s7ll
true.
now,
instead
of
just
pruning
your
own
footprint
to
control
for
ou]low,
you’re
pruning
your
network
to
control
for
inflow.
BIG
responsibility,
perhaps
too
big
for
a
teenager:
it’s
daun7ng
even
for
us,
who
have
a
beIer
grasp
on
long
term
effects.
also,
it’s
tough
to
achieve
diversity
of
thought
without
manually
adjus7ng
the
network.
how
many
digital
na7ves
have
enough
sense
to
do
this?
and
how
will
they
discover
new
networks
witht
he
algorithms
working
so
hard
to
deliver
them
“relevance,”
as
dictated
by
their
history?

37. Overinformed, unknowledgeable populace
Playback. The “Search 22”
Massively parallel, affinity-based culture
Shrinking margin of error for natives
these
are
legi7mate,
compounding
problems.
but
that’s
no
reason
to
slam
on
the
brakes.

38. Hedging
Strategies.
here
are
a
few
ways
we
can
steer
into
the
slide.

39. New
information
structures.
This
is
the
new
narra7ve
flow
prescribed
by
a
mul7media
editor
at
NYT.
it
rewards,
but
does
not
require,
dalliance.
beIer
represent
key
tensions
which
might
otherwise
be
represented
as
poles
on
a
con7nuum:
discovery/nostalgia,
ac7vity/passivity,
personal/communal/,
etc.
the
roundabouts
could
be
anything:
content
themes,
formats
(video,
pictures,
rich
data),
chapters,
contextual
zooms
(in
or
out),
recommenda7ons,
bookmarking/queueing
ac7vi7es,
whatever.
Solid
chassis
for
almost
any
comms
structure:
it
accepts
that
people
have
the
power
to
decide,
but
it
emphasizes
that
there’s
more,
and
offers
easy
naviga7on
in
and
out
of
the
main
“story.”
Moreover,
for
planners
of
this
kind
of
experience,
it
beIer
represents
key
tensions
which
might
otherwise
be
represented
as
poles
on
a
con7nuum:
discovery/nostalgia,
ac7vity/passivity,
personal/communal/,
etc.

40. New retrieval
paradigms.
tradi7onal
search
gives
us
access
to
knowledge,
but
"tells
us
only
what
the
world
already
knows."
“This
search
engine
is
designed
‘for
anyone
on
the
edges
of
their
knowledge
field,
crea7ng
fresh
perspec7ves
that
can
lead
to
new
kinds
of
understanding
and
innova7on.’”

41. Actionable
metadata.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISxgVmRnFq8
broad
applica7on
of
digital
metadata.
floa7ng
reminders
of
counterpoints.
updated
in
real
7me.
sensi7ve
to
user
inputs,
but
op7mized
to
present
the
full
story
(in
all
it’s
shades).

42. Temporary
connections.
pla]orms
that
encourage
single-­‐stop
connec7ons
and
interac7ons.
experiences
that
pre-­‐wire
anonymity.
building
rela7onships
that
aren’t
intended
to
persist.
the
rise
of
loca7on-­‐based
narra7ve.
finding
other
reasons
to
connect
than
shared
interests.
other
reasons
to
cooperate
than
social
proximity.

43. New
submission
paradigms.
In the wake of Steve Jobs passing, we've found ourselves at a
loss. Steve valued simplicity, clarity and elegance in everything he
did.
Hereʼs one attempt to keep that legacy alive. How would Steve
simplify the complicated? What would he do? View Submissions
It
blends
the
u7lity
of
a
link
shortener
with
the
the
ability
to
anonymously
curate
specific
types
of
content
for
others.
The
public
footprint
it
leaves
can
be
surfed
for
thema7cally
relevant
content.
....and
the
content
theme
is
iden7fied
by
the
shortened
links,
recognizable
even
before
you
click.

44. Your
Contributions. #atomizationcures
What
will
you
do?
what
will
you
tell
the
people
close
to
you?
Will
you
adopt
and
support
new
pla]orms?
build
them?
how
will
your
hiring
criteria
be
affected?
how
will
you
encourage
your
kids
and
other
youngsters
you
influence
to
use
the
net?
How
will
you
change
your
habits?

45. Chaucer
Thanks. Q’s?