There are many references in the media universe this month to Chris Anderson's new book, Free. <Wired mag link for overview> Chris has interesting ideas and is usually a good read. I've not read the book quite yet but the Wired magazine article discusses the broad ideas. Yesterday, I read a thoughtful reprise from Malcolm Gladwell in this month's New Yorker.
I am not sure how either would respond to this perspective but, the developing social mood offers us valuable insight on "free" indirectly that I have addressed in a series of posts on the (iroM) media site lately. I'd like to broaden this thought significantly here, while keeping this short.
The word "free" inspires a specific idea in my mind related to the digit 0 (zero). Free implies it costs no money but, the use by marketers often evades the reality that while requiring no money, there are meaningful other requirements. Does this seem like too fine a point in how they discuss the topic? The authors might think so. So might the producers of various content in the world of old media but, in the months and years ahead I figure that anyone using the term "free" is more likely to be using outmoded scales for a world that has gone well beyond this old way of seeing. "Free" requires we use a new ruler to measure its subtleties, otherwise it is increasingly likely to be considered a partial (one-sided)truth:
In years worth of notes related to social trending dynamics, social mood's basic message to me is that as social mood changes, how we (collectively) value things changes. This means things of all kinds and especially those not related to money. I see our shared values of all kinds changing very rapidly these days as the social correction progresses. That is the point of social corrections. We must go through an experiential group process of sharing and deciding what we (Americans), collectively, value most <what really matters> and continue on with our smaller group endeavors in a manner that reflects those agreed upon shared core values. Whether the bulk of the process is conscious or unconscious is less relevant than what actually happens. And while not all social corrections are as pervasive as this one, that distinction is a topic for another post. Instead, let's consider the example media enterprises are offering us right now and compare it to the broader social universe as implied by the notion that businesses are being forced to offer so much for free digitally these days.
Media posts on better metrics Here, Here, and Here
During May through July, I posted three parts (links above) about why one of the immediate top priorities at old media enterprises, is to design and employ more detailed and sophisticated metrics that describe consumer engagement with content. It's not just a good idea that it be done. It is essential. New media companies have metrics that characterize what is best described as a revolution in marketing information related to consumer engagement. The old Don Imus-ism of "I Talk, You Listen" is a worn out pair of shoes seeing its last wearings on older demographics more resistant to change.
There is a deeper implication to this particular period of "free" unfolding in the digital universe that is worth seeing from a broader perspective. The best analogy is to compare it to when the electron microscope came into existence and our shared consciousness of the world changed. When this happened an entire new world of structures was revealed, as if they were brand new, and immediately inspired new ways of seeing and creating with regard to the new structural reality.(though it had always existed)
So my conclusion is simple. I believe "free", as it is being discussed, is today almost always an oversimplification and that marketers need to make much finer distinctions during this new technology driven Era of Choice as to what Free really means. In the same way that metrics describing engagement with content must now become more sophisticated with a finer focus, so too must our appreciation of what "cost" means to consumers. For more than a generation the formula for marketers talking to consumers has been to roughly ignore any costs beyond those measured in dollars and cents unless it was an obvious inconvenience being removed and sold as added value. Channels were more limited compared to today and by definition, so was the level of Choice available to consumers.
Think about two examples: Products that limit or add features and because of this they require consumer adjustments and exact incremental costs from consumers whether purchased or not (think cars). Then there's media content consumers waiting through long sets of commercials for what they hope will be worth it. These are very specific "costs" <read as a form of "uncertainty">that can be avoided today by incurring additional costs using technology. These kinds of costs are more often time oriented after initial purchases of simple technology. Feel free to see the new level of organization required on the personal level as a microcosm of the social reordering that is happening in the world of content monetization.
It is no surprise that all this is happening in a period of broad deflation in the American economy. The social correction dynamic is the highest order consideration in seeing trending. From there we may go on to see how during this period of deep social correction we are experiencing <collectively> deflation in many forms. Deflation is a psychological group state; one that implies specific needs than cannot be met by a bank adjusting interest rates. Deflation is a mandate from us, to us, to prioritize core values and re-allocate social capital <and other kinds of capital> accordingly. This particular social correction is requiring a completely changed focus that will allow us to see small things much more clearly so that together we can become more efficient at a higher level. Down the road, these efforts will take us another step in our collective union as a people...to engage in another period of social expansion once everything is in order.It is one giant process with many little components that parallel the larger process.
This is obviously worthy of a much longer post but free to me is something requiring exactness these days, and I do not think the discussion has been attempted yet, nor do I think the "free" many see today is thought of as the same "free" as those offering it. Free, as it relates to content in the digital universe is an incredibly narrow perspective on what has been the most dramatic development in our nation's history. The white noise surrounding the discussion focuses mostly on negatives even when attempting to state them as positives. Social resources are being freed up because we can now be three of four times as efficient. I am certain blacksmith's felt the same way once upon a time as people stepped off of train cars in their town without the need for a sew set of horseshoes. Blacksmiths did not die off. Their creative skills were employed differently in a changed world and the mechanic was born.
Free is a very different kind of conversation for marketers in the presence of a digital universe. It requires precision and focus associated with broadly seeing a new permanent world of two way marketing communication conversations. Ignoring non-monetary costs is no longer sensible if marketing is to be applied as an evolving quantitative discipline. With this changed perspective must come changes in how we value other things closely associated to both media and marketing best practices. All of this is the work of a social correction <in just one or two corridors of our complex society> and marketers must seize this perspective or risk missing a lot.
Lastly, it is essential to remember this conversation is not a negotiation. No one needs to win or lose a point about "free". The Era of Choice is showing us how consumers of everything are in control like never before and that has to be respected....especially their perspective on what is free and what is not. Accepting this does not mean giving up valuable ground. Accepting this notion promises a wealth of insight and future prosperity. Dave
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