Our Choice Between Broadcast & Social Media

A common theme pops up in our research into Social Media. I often find myself asking “why are we always drawn to social media?” One might ask why we see a phone in our home or a mobile phone so important – as humans, we like to talk to each other. We’re inherently social. Prove me otherwise?

A key factor from our ongoing research that keeps popping up in surveys and passive collection of data is “control” vs. “uncontrolled” or “Linear” vs. “Non-Linear.” Social Media engagement is Non-Linear.

In large part it’s why television remains of interest as are books, magazines and newspapers. Which is also why they likely won’t die. The medium may change somewhat in how we use it. It’s also why a movie like Avatar can become the highest grossing movie of all time. Sometimes we like to be “guided” or “controlled” in our consumption of media. Broadcast media, books, movies are all “linear” with a beginning, middle and end. Some movies today twist that a bit, like Memento which starts at the end and slowly loops around.

Social Media engagement has a beginning (I start a blog here, you the reader add a comment, email it or share it somewhere else) but I do not necessarily know the next step. If it will become a hot topic (I doubt this blog post is anywhere near that juicy.) Or if a huge ongoing conversation will ensue here or in another medium (i.e. Twitter or emails.) But it’s always Non-Linear because it is an ongoing feedback loop, interlocked and interconnected.

That’s the nature of our social engagement with friends, family, co-workers etc., always ongoing with stops and starts, always progressing. Broadcast mediums and contained mediums (i.e. books) are closed-loops and sometimes we like it that way. We want to be told a defined story and go away 2 or 3 hours later…and perhaps that about it elsewhere.

Agree? Do we like to be told stories with a defined beginning and end? Do we like Social Media and engage in it because we tell each other stories that aren’t defined by someone else or controlled?

(Author: G. Crouch)