To mark the start of Internet Week in New York, Bill Sobel’s New York: Media Information Exchange Group had a breakfast session today on “Shifting the Paradigm: Young Women with Cool Jobs Making a Difference in Digital Media. The panelists included:
Natali Del Conti: Senior Editor, CNET TV and the host of the daily news show “Loaded”;
Allison Mooney: Senior Director/Mobile Insights, Fleishman-Hillard’s Youth and Mobile Marketing Group/Next Great Thing;
Kelly Hefner: Executive Producer, WEtv;
Romina Rosado: Global Head of Marketing, The NewsMarket;
Mindy Spire: Director, Sales Development, World Wrestling Entertainment;
And the moderator, Limor Schafman: President, Keystone Tech Group.
Also on hand, as honorary presenter (and to kick off Internet Week) was Katherine Oliver: Commissioner, New York City Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting, who made introductory remarks about Internet Week being an event meant to focus attention on new media in New York.
What follows is some notes taken during the panel discussion.
Limor Schafman: In welcoming remarks, talks about the future of media – not new media, not digital media, but media – being in the hands of people like the young people on the panel. [Note: these successful women are all about the age (or very slightly older) than my daughter. Clearly, I am getting old. Sorry. Back to the notes.] She points out that the gender divide, in terms of usage and mastery of the technologies involved, have vanished – women use (and produce) new media and social media formats in equal degrees with their male counterparts.
Kelly Hefner: What I find is most exciting is just the number of people who are watching and getting engaged in new media.
Allison Mooney: I came to this from a magazine, because I saw this as the future of media. There are exciting opportunities in mobile marketing I see it as being where the Internet was 10 years ago.
Mindy Spire: The precedents being set in the digital domain right now are tremendously exciting.
Natali Del Conti: Also came over from print journalism. One day somebody said, you should try this on camera. I did. We see the convergence of new media – CNET was just acquired by CBS. Old media IS new media.
Romina Rosado: We’ve seen tremendous change in the past 8 years. When we started, people would say, who’s going to watch web video? That has changed dramatically. Interactivity and the tools being offered for communications are extraordinary.
Limor Schafman: How do you differentiate yourselves from old media, how do you create value?
Natali Del Conti: Talks about user-generated video and YouTube – how do you make money at that. I think bringing professionalism into the new media is important – you can’t just post baby pictures and make a lot of money. What we see is professional networks thinking of new ways to bring value to the media.
Allison Mooney: Value for the consumer is key – you can’t just interrupt them with commercials. Points to iTunes and how it helps people organize their music. Even brand use of Twitter channels provides information to fans of a brand.
Kelly Hefner: WEtv is now in a position where they can’t develop series and branded entertainment for TV without approval of the digital media side. Our site goes beyond just promoting “on air” programs – we now are producing original niche programming for the web. Considerable interactivity – blogs, games, etc. – help in developing interactivity.
Mindy Spire: We produce and own all our content. As we evolve the brand, we’re looking to transform our digital platform to provide interaction for our fans online that they can experience at live events. That means less text-based contact, a fan social networking site, etc. Nearly 40% of our audience is women.
Limor Schafman: But what is it about the different kinds of content that is really grabbing the audience?
Mindy Spire: WWE provides venue for both men and women to experience and get something out of the content.
Natali Del Conti: Most of our viewers are men, we’re still mostly about technology, but I’m trying to reach the general audience – people like my parents. We try to be the new portal for what people need to know about technology.
Allison Mooney: You need to break it down by demographics. A 10-year old can be the IT director of a house. The digital divide does exist within ages. Younger users are looking for experience as well as content. You’re also seeing the emergence of “news masters,” people who can boil down all the information to what they think really matters to them.
Kelly Hefner: Some of the trends we notice most: women love weddings, like to see happy, engaging things. Women are story-driven – they’re a little harsher critics than men, who are willing to be “entertained.”
Mindy Spire: What we’re also finding is the sense of empowerment for women. When there’s a situation where there is some conflict between a man and a woman, our female audience really takes to that sense of empowerment. We have extended the story lines. When we’re looking to produce original web series onlines, a lot of the time we are looking at women to provide the material.
Romina Rosado: In general, the web has been terrific in providing opportunities for women.
Limor Schafman: What are some of the differences between the way men and women use the web?
Romina Rosado: Web 1.0 was transactional, and most of the users were male. A lot of the new tools that we’re seeing in Web 2.0 are relationship-building tools. Women like communities, like forums, like comments, like sharing experiences. 63% of Facebook users are female – and I never would have thought that. LinkedIn is the reverse.
Allison Mooney: I think one reason why women are so active on social networks would be the applications – which are really just a form of small games, and women love that. They like the personalization and socialization as well.
Limor Schafman: Let’s talk about mobile. What are the trends?
Allison Mooney: Mobile social networking is projected to be huge. People use social networks as address books, and people are going to want that when they’re on the go. Women are spending more time on their mobile phones. Personalization is amazing – look at all the use of ringtones. Note that mobile is not (at this point) for all companies – depends on their user base. Brands should avoid the mobile spam problem. Go with an opt-in model. Mobile needs to be integrated into a campaign from the very beginning, and material needs to be developed for mobile as distinct from just repurposing material from other media. People will be seeing and using short codes on billboards, replacing URLs, etc.
Natali Del Conti: I think every company DOES need a mobile strategy (disagreeing with part of what Allison Mooney said). In five years, we’re not going to be talking about mobile vs. the Internet – it’s all going to be part of one thing, just as five years ago we differentiated between a desktop and a laptop, a distinction we don’t make any more.
Romina Rosado: People need to stop differentiating between digital and traditional media. Companies still say “We want you to create a viral video for us,” which is total nonsense. You need to create content that fits your audience.
Mindy Spire: From a brand point of view, mobile is very important. A lot of brands are now coming to us with mobile in their marketing mix.
Allison Mooney: I think it’s critical for companies and brands to be developing a mobile strategy.
Natali Del Conti: You can’t keep reacting to he latest trend, because you’ll always be one step behind. As Clay Shirky says, what you have to do is take the existing technology for granted, treat it as if it always existed, and look instead for what’s coming down the pike, so that you can react to new developments, rather than playing catch-up.
The discussion was followed by audience q&a and by two final questions from the moderator.
Limor Schafman: What do you want to see from the producers?
Natali Del Conti: I don’t ever want to see another new social network. I think in the future we’re never going to see the “next” Facebook – I think we’re going to see continuing development of ideas that will build out what exists.
Romina Rosado: I’d like to see more programming created for women. Content for women right now is mainly babies, shoes and men – there’s room for a great deal more on a lot of different levels.
Mindy Spire: At the end of the day, it’s up to the individual to think about how they are going to use social networking for their personal lives and how they are going to maintain it.
Kelly Hefner: I also want to see more interesting content for women on the web, period. Women want to learn, they want to communicate. Women have a smart nose for intelligent content. I think user generated content will change the world.
Allison Mooney: I want more seamlessness between my phone and my PC. I want all the platforms to integrate and be one.
Limor Schafman: In five years, what are we going to see in this media industry?
Kelly Hefner: Certainly people will be watching television on their computers. It will be interesting to see what ad models emerge. I think we’ll see a lot more interaction between communities, and viewers will have a lot more say about what they want to see.
Allison Mooney: We’ll see more integrated marketing campaigns – mobile, digital, traditional forms, it will all be a lot more cohesive. People will be watching video on their cell phones (as they do now in Asia).
Mindy Spire: I think there’s going to be more tranditional media giving up the reins to other forms of media. I’ll be interested to see how user generated content blurs the line of professional journalism.
Natali Del Conti: The most successful technologies are the ones that are transparent. We don’t think about them. They’re part of our lives. I don’t think there will be a distinction between TV on your computer and TV at home.
Romina Rosado: Right now, there’s just one female CEO of a major media company. I hope that in five years that will be very different.
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