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Nokia and the Future Laboratory, have just completed a research study that explored attitudes and developments in the use of technology and media.

They talked to 9,000 consumers in 17 countries. The breakthough finding and brave prediction is the emergence of what Nokia is calling "Circular Media"

"From our research we predict that up to a quarter of the entertainment being consumed in five years will be what we call 'Circular'. The trends we are seeing show us that people will have a genuine desire not only to create and share their own content, but also to remix it, mash it up and pass it on within their peer groups - a form of collaborative social media.

We think it will work something like this; someone shares video footage they shot on their mobile device from a night out with a friend, that friend takes that footage and adds an MP3 file - the soundtrack of the evening - then passes it to another friend. That friend edits the footage by adding some photographs and passes it on to another friend and so on. The content keeps circulating between friends, who may or may not be geographically close, and becomes part of the group's entertainment."

Mark Selby, Vice President, Multimedia, Nokia

It's an interesting theory, the idea that consumers will add and to, interact and participate with media makes complete sense, but the constant addition and participation by members of a friendship group is hard to believe, as is the shelf-life of each piece of content.

This could get easily become boring in a short period of time.

Nokia's report also appears to miss the blending and blurring of user-generated and conventional media; users taking established media content and adding their own spin to that content.

Posted by Ed Cotton Cool story about the Movable Type art piece in the new New York Times building in New York.

The concept is all about breaking the original content down into small elements and finding connections between the pieces.




Posted by Ed Cotton Brands spend billions building their awareness and crafting a unique DNA, after all, isn’t differentiation everything?

Then in the scramble to get online, to do something different and to capture attention with branded content, something goes hopelessly wrong. Brands end up creating lifeless, meaningless and undifferentiated experiences.

The sophisticated young consumers that Chivas Regal and American Express both covet, have no need for access to more lifestyle tips, information of guides to the cities they live in or intend to visit.

This information is so readily available, in fact, it’s practically flowing like water. Sure, they value good insider tips and scoops, but most of the time this comes from their network or well-established niche publications and lists.

So why does MSN create “This is the Life” for Chivas Regal?

What’s American Express doing with Entertainment Access Spotlight?

The later is a beta test being run by American Express Labs. A radical new proving ground for new ideas from American Express, one can only hope the ideas get better and more radical.

In the battle for attention it’s easy to think that content is the answer and it may well be, but just like advertising, it has to be real good to break through.

Media companies and young web entrepreneurs might be able to persuade brands into this, through a category sell and for brand managers jaded by advertising, it could be just the ticket, but in reality, creating great content takes time, talent and serious investment.

Doing something half-baked or borrowed from left over content, just isn’t going to work.

Brands need to think more imaginatively and should need to challenge their media partners to do the same, even if the content is part of a so-called added-value package.
 

Posted by Ed Cotton YouTube is a billion channel universe, but explore it by brand and you quickly notice that this ecosystem has different component parts.

Influx went through a hypothetical exercise; we tried imagining a “channel” for Sony’s PS3.

Exploring some of the 44k videos on the site and trying to organize them into themes, it breaks down into something like this:

1.    Instructional Information

Set-up videos have become alternative instructional manuals. Here’s how to set up and use your PSP with your PS3.



View count: 20k

Here’s a video on how to use the console’s web browser.



View count: 122k

2.    Hacking the System

How to run more on your PS3.



View count: 118k


3.    Brand destruction as entertainment and edutainment

Some people destroy the unit just for the hell of it.



View count: 3.5 million, this film with the most views of any PS3 film

Others, open it up, so you can learn what’s inside



4.    Community Conversation

Here’s a group of YouTubers debating why and why not PS3 is better than other consoles.

5.    Brand meets culture-news

Dozens of video showing launch chaos from around the world.



6.    Game and feature trailers

Here’s one for Sony’s new Second Life type environment for PS3 users.



7.    Advertising

Somewhere in all this, lies the advertising.



Obviously, all this might not be ideal content for an officially sanctioned PS3 channel from Sony, but there are clearly more areas they can play in.

-    Creating video-based instruction manuals

-    Highlighting new features

-    Game trailers and previews

-    Videos that explain the technology behind the system

In essence, brands could be doing more with YouTube by producing and distributing content, other than just advertising; material that could have broader reach and usage in this new ecosystem.