In my own personal social media business, one of our principles is centered around the idea that every social media platform has its own positives and negatives. Part of my job is to understand what each platform can and cannot do, and plan accordingly.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“The explosion of smartphones and tablets demonstrates the increasing consumer demand for accessing entertainment and communicating on the move,” commented Stephen van Rooyen, Deputy MD of Sky’s Customer Group. “We have already responded to this by offering a range of services, including live TV, across many new innovative platforms and devices, like laptops and iPhones.”
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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Last night I got into a conversation over dinner with one of my friends about the consolidation of platforms, the ubiquity of data, and cross-platform applications. It’s something which I’ve been thinking about increasingly as I want to be able to purchase various digital devices and easily access my own information and applications on those devices without any time consuming configuration process. While we aren’t there yet, we are rapidly watching the technology industry solve many of these problems. Below are some of my observations about the state of the current shift toward a multi-screen, single platform, app economy.
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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

While I’d love to talk about the impact of social media on government and politics, what really struck a chord with me was the demo of FIOS following the panel. It was simply a relatively basic overview of how FIOS compares to existing services. The bottom line is that FIOS is fast. The implications of having access to such high speed internet on a residential basis is transformative in itself.

Imagine running a video-based media company out of your basement. While there are currently ways to do that, it’s not on the level that extremely high speed internet can provide. There are some significant hurdles facing FIOS adoption though and Verizon is taking a serious risk by investing so heavily in FIOS. We also discussed rough capital expenditure numbers and it sounded as though they are spending somewhere in the ballpark of 20 percent of their annual capital expenditure on FIOS deployment.

Regardless of the financials and the implications of very high speed internet access, what stuck most with me was the implications of FIOS as a platform.

The First Platforms

Early on there were only a few platforms for distributing and running software. You would go out to the store and buy software which ran on your operating system. Windows and Macintosh were the largest players and while there were plenty of alternative platforms (OS2, etc), these two became the dominant forces when it came to the world of operating systems (the primary platforms at the time).

As Steve Ballmer stated, “Developers, Developers, Developers” were the most critical variable for success. The more developers you had, the better. Much of this still rings true but slowly we are witnessing the disintegration of platforms from the software and a distribution of software across multiple platforms. As far as I’m concerned, personal computers were the first digital platforms.

Television As a Platform

When Facebook released their platform over a year ago, developers flocked to the site as they had the opportunity to attract the millions of users on the site. At the time, the number of users was somewhere around 25 to 30 million users. Since then the site has grown to over 110 million users (more than impressive considering this was less than a year and a half ago).

What if Comcast suddenly brought together all the tech bloggers to announce that all Comcast digital cable would soon become an open platform for developers to build on? That would be a pretty big deal considering they had 16.3 million digital subscribers as of June this year. While it’s not as fast growing as Facebook it is clearly a substantial number of users and when considering the reach of the iPhone, cable television is clearly another distribution channel for developers.

Well for those looking to distribute their digital products via the television, you will soon be able to on FIOS as they are also opening up their system.

The Digital World is All Platforms

When it comes to the digital economy, it is still about digital goods and services. These goods and services (or “digital products” as I’ll call them from now on) can be paid for or can be advertising supported. Digital products need a platform for delivery. Those platforms range from the internet browser, to a computer operating system, to a mobile device, video game console, DVRs, advanced remote controls, etc.

The Rise of Platform-Independent Applications
What is significant about the past few years is the shift from platform dependent developers to platform independent developers. For many years you couldn’t run Microsoft software on Macintosh and vice-versa. Ultimately, you still can’t but Microsoft and Apple have adapted and have built software custom to each operating system.

There will always be rules from one platform to another just as there are rules from one shopping mall to another. The main difference is that we are starting to see the rise in platform independent developers. LivingSocial is the prime example for a platform independent company. The company started with social recommendations on Facebook and has now ported those applications to MySpace, Bebo, hi5, and other OpenSocial compatible sites.

Then last night the company released the LivingSocial iPhone application. This is a new type of development company. They build digital products which are accessible across any platform as long as users are there. If Comcast decides to launch a platform I can just about guarantee that LivingSocial and companies like them will rush toward the opportunity to build applications for Comcast.

It’s simply another channel for distributing their digital products. One other thing that I should have included as a platform for LivingSocial: the internet. Yes they are on social networks which reside on the internet, but they also have a destination site which is part of the broader internet. Google by the way is rapidly becoming the single point of navigation for the general internet.

Back to the point though! If I’m a shoemaker, I’m going to take the opportunity to sell my shoes in as many places as possible, as long as it’s feasible for my business to do so. As the barriers to develop across platforms diminish, we are witnessing the growth of platform independent development.

Still Extremely Early

While we are currently embedded in what I consider a platform revolution, there are so many variables present that it is practically impossible to comprehend what the future holds. What I do know though is that there is a movement toward platform independence and movements like “Data Portability” are a significant part of this movement.

The new standards being developed like OpenSocial each provide applications with their own containers for distributing their digital products anywhere on the web. Soon enough though, these standards could move across platforms and devices. Google Android is an example of a platform which will be device independent and anybody developing for the iPhone platform or the Android platform will have to develop separate code.

Unfortunately, a future in which there is complete platform independence (write once, run anywhere) is like like the existence of a utopian society: I can’t see it happening. There are great movements though that are in the right direction and while we may never get there, the removal of barriers is helping to create a new environment.

What Does This Mean for Businesses?

So after that long technical rambling about the dynamic between platforms and digital products that are distributed on them, I’d like to take a shot at explaining what this means for companies looking to find their way in this complex environment. As I’ve posted in my series on the social web economy, there are only a few types of companies all of which are focused for one single purpose: the distribution & sale of products.

Whether it’s advertising companies, analytics services, agencies (which assist with branding, marketing, and promoting promoting the products), media companies, product companies, or the platforms themselves the goal has always been the same. The goal is to build products and distribute them to as many people as possible.

There are two types of product companies: physical/in-person product companies (which provide physical goods and services) or digital product companies (which provide digital goods or services). Physical product companies use the platforms and products on the web to reach their consumers. In other words, it’s for advertising. Nothing else.

For digital product companies, as I said previously, you are either selling your product or advertising on it (there of course is the hybrid model but I’ll ignore that for simplicity). These companies must focus on distributing the product to all places no matter what their business model is.

While I could go in depth as to what model works best for each type of company, the most important thing is building your reach through the available distribution channels. The key is not just reach though, for brands the key is relevance. You may have you advertisement displayed to millions of people but are those the right people for your product or service? Relevance is what matters.

Conclusion

After my long rambling on platforms and the implications for businesses, I hope that there was at least a few valuable takeaway points. I believe that we are in the midst of a huge shift toward open platforms which cater to platform-independent developers. As this shift continues we will see the emergence of ubiquitous digital products which provide cross-platform accessibility (enough buzz words for you?).

In essence, the digital world is a group of platforms and it is our job to figure out what platforms make the most sense for our products and focus on obtaining maximum reach through leveraging those platforms.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Platforms Are for Distribution

In my series on the social web economy, I’ve highlighted platforms as the center for distribution. While I’ve yet to cover all of the types of companies and how they interact, platforms are increasingly about being the center location for software to be distributed. When the Facebook platform launched last year, it was one of the first to bring this idea of instant installation on the platform to the mainstream.

Initially when you developed software, it was the job of the software developer to handle 99 percent of the promotion. One of the key selling points for many of these software packages was the platform that they ran on. There were categories in actual stores which classified software as “IBM Compatible”. Eventually that transformed to mean that your software worked on Windows but ultimately it still required visiting a store to purchase the software.

Even today, there still is no central directory owned by Microsoft that is the primary location which consumers visit for finding and downloading Windows compatible software. Same thing goes for Apple. While there is the Windows Marketplace and the Apple store, neither stores are comprehensive and fully supportive of third-party developers.

A New Model of Distribution Emerges

The Facebook platform was a complete paradigm shift for most people in the industry. The concept that you could install an application with the click of a button was game shifting. No matter how that installation took place (the application wasn’t actually being “installed” on your computer), it made people realize that a centralized application directory owned by the platform owner was a great model.

It was so great that every other social network adopted the model within months and now we have Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, hi5, imeem, Bebo, Friendster, Meebo and many others all with their own platforms. The majority all have their own application directories. While this new model of distribution was made popular by Facebook (as far as I can tell), all other operating systems and platforms have adopted this model.

Not only has there been a paradigm shift for platform owners but consumers as well. Users of Facebook should soon be asking, why can’t I access software for my computer the same way that I can on Facebook and MySpace?

Distribution is Going Mobile

Fortunately for Apple, you can! When Apple released their iPhone this summer, users flocked in droves to downloaded the latest applications that they could install on their phone. Millions of applications have been downloaded and it appears that the trend isn’t stopping. Google has announced their Android market which will launch later this year, Microsoft has announced their intent to launch a mobile distribution product and all the other platforms are racing to do the same.

Earlier this week I learned that Nokia has their own application directory. According to one person I’ve spoken to at Nokia, they’ve had this for years it’s just that most consumers in the U.S. haven’t been aware of it. The bottom line is that every single mobile operating system will soon have a centralized software distribution service.

All Operating Systems Will Have Central Distribution Channels

The race began with social platforms and transferred to mobile but I would argue that the battle will transfer to all operating systems. For example, why can I only download applications for my iPhone or iPod touch within iTunes? Shouldn’t I be able to download software for my computer? Apple hit a grand slam when they launched iTunes in that it runs on both P.C. and Mac!

The only competitor that Microsoft has is the Zune and so far there are no signs that it has been extremely successful (although I have friends who rave about it). Apple started by cornering the market on legal music distribution and they may end up cornering the market on legal software distribution if Microsoft doesn’t do something about it quickly.

While you can get into a theoretical discussion about the future of cloud computing versus personal computing, the reality is that most consumers still use personal consumers and install software on them. There is still a giant market for this and as far as I know there isn’t a central location for downloading all the applications you need for your computer.

Do you know of any alternative software distribution channels? What are your thoughts on this new paradigm?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

I will not suggest that an advertising supported business model doesn’t work, I just know that the majority of people chasing an advertising supported business model are doomed from the get go. The biggest problem? They expect that an investor is going to give them money early on in the life of their business. The funny thing is that recently I’ve actually met a number of people who have been given a small investment to try to make their ad supported business work.

Many of these investments just don’t seem rational to me though. Since when were investors throwing out money to let people with an idea throw shit against a wall? As far as I know, smart investors base much of their investment decision on the team running the company, not the idea. This post isn’t about making bad investment decisions though, the real question I have is how much longer can the new wave of internet startups be supported by advertisers?

We’re All Building Media Distribution Companies

On the web I’ve realized that there are really two primary types of companies: distribution platforms and media companies. This is an oversimplification of internet companies but most internet startups can be placed somewhere along the distribution/media spectrum. A blog for instance (that attempts to generate revenue) constantly needs to balance between distribution expansion and media creation.

All the micro-blogging platforms are pretty much distribution platforms where the users build the media. Facebook is the same way. The largest startups are ultimately distribution platforms. Google for instance doesn’t create media for the most part, they simply provide the media producers that they index a massive distribution channel.

The path to billions is through building a distribution platform. The only problem is that a distribution company (platform) is only as valuable as the media that they host. Widget platforms, social platforms, micro-blogging platforms, you name it; they all need quality content.

Market Saturation Has Arrived

At this point in the market there are way too many distribution channels. The widget platforms, social platforms, video platforms and the internet in general have become saturated with distribution platforms. I would compare the race to build platforms similar to the race to develop worldwide broadband access at the end of the last century.

Suddenly the price of broadband internet access dropped exponentially as well as the cost of storage and those two things together led to the commoditization of data storage and data transfer. I would argue that the race to build social networks and other data platforms on the web for the purpose of distribution have done something completely different: they’ve commoditized advertising (or at least have built a massive ocean of cheap advertising).

If I ran a billion dollar company (or even a multi-million dollar company), I could find a limitless pool of cheap advertising. Right now the only thing that can successfully generate meaningful advertising revenue on the web is search. Search is still the only thing that can measure intention and nobody has figured out a better way to reach people.

Honestly, do we need a better way to advertise to people or do we just need better businesses to advertise? The one place where I am betting something will arrive is via social advertising, but even that has yet to be perfected. Facebook and others are betting heavily that social advertising will transform the industry yet again.

Novelty is Gone, People Want Quality

If you think about it, there has been a novelty factory for the internet. Less than 15 years ago I began navigating the web via bulletin board services. The concept of live chat was mind blowing. Even e-mail was mind blowing at that point. Bulletin board services were frequently limited in their reach though and soon enough AOL blew down the walls and made a global platform where I could easily connect with people on a global scale.

Chat rooms proliferated and users kept on “connecting”. We are still obsessed (myself included) with trying to make sense of the “social web”. Just this afternoon, in a post on FriendFeed, Steve Rubel pointed me to a post on Twitterholics which highlights a new service called Twitter StreamGraphs. This tool will make a beautiful chart of words typically associated with an arbitrary word found on Twitter. A sample chart is below.

While the geek in all of us loves to observe beautiful charts that we hope provides some sort of meaning, I think that much of the discussion on these new platforms resembles the chatter found on the newsgroups and chatrooms of the past. While it isn’t pointless, it adds little value to the average Joe. In other words, it is a lot of inside jokes. As such, I would suggest that many of the people racing to create the next distribution channel (“platform”) may want to reconsider their business model.

While there is money available for innovation, there is little space for new players innovating media distribution on the web. So why aren’t advertisers spending heavily on social media platforms? In my opinion I think much of the content doesn’t have a high perceived value to advertisers. It’s much better to go advertise on the “database of intentions” than next to next to a site where I go into much detail about what I ate for dinner last night.

On Google, relevant content (and frequently quality content) is rewarded with traffic. At this point I would suggest that it may be much better for startups to start focusing on quality content rather than the next distribution channel. While somebody is bound to start the next Google, quality content always has some sort of intrinsic value.

Will Ad Supported Platforms Last?

The question still remains: is there still room for ad supported platforms? I think I’ve made my position pretty clear but I’d love to hear what the readers think. Is there more value in investing in quality content production over distribution? Can quality content actually be rewarded in a world with limitless distribution?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.