December 2009

[Commentary] Social media and interactive consumers will take the lead in transforming the multi-screen media landscape in 2010. Consumers of all ages who have made it a national pastime to text, Tweet and share their lives on Facebook have become the most powerful force in digital media today. Collectively, they are the new mass media -- one interactive consumer at a time. Led by Facebook and MySpace, online video has become central to the Web experience -- particularly on mobile devices -- in ways that will have far-reaching implications for television and film. It all comes down to one fundamental value: individual consumer relevance. It will become the mantra for anyone who wants to thrive in the digital media world and the driving force behind many media deals (from mega mergers and cherry-picking start-ups, to launching new business ventures, such as TV Everywhere and e-reading services) over the next 18 months.

It used to be that computer viruses attacked only your hard drive. Now they attack your dignity. Malicious programs are rampaging through Web sites like Facebook and Twitter, spreading themselves by taking over people's accounts and sending out messages to all of their friends and followers. The result is that people are inadvertently telling their co-workers and loved ones how to raise their I.Q.'s or make money instantly, or urging them to watch an awesome new video in which they star. The humiliation sown by these attacks is just collateral damage. In most cases, the perpetrators are hoping to profit from the referral fees they get for directing people to sketchy e-commerce sites. In other words, even the crooks are on social networks now — because millions of tightly connected potential victims are just waiting for them there.

What's the greatest source of dissatisfaction in the mobile wireless industry? Ironically, according to industry experts and government representatives attending a conference on customer complaints, it is competition itself. The size and pervasiveness of the mobile device market has exploded. In the space of just 17 years, the number of active mobile subscribers in the United States has exploded from 11 million to 276 million. An increased number of complaints have accompanied this market growth. Why does market growth and competition lead to complaints? Several factors may be at work, panelists said. As mobile hardware becomes more and more varied and creation of applications continues, consumers' expectations increase, leading to complaints. Speaking about the success of Apple's iPhone, Lois C. Greisman of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission commented that, "if [the iPhone] hadn't become so successful we wouldn't have this many complaints. We sort of get a leapfrogging effect with the competition of companies like Verizon."

Web accessibility has come a long way, but it is still a challenge, however, for the Web community to remember that as it pushes forward with exciting new technologies like HTML5 that could reinvent the Internet experience, it must keep in mind the needs of those who can't type 60 words per minute, operate a mouse like a scalpel, or see the unobtrusive pop-up windows that point to the next destination on the page. There are no explicit laws that companies design Web sites to be accessible to the disabled, but many disability experts and Web companies believe that portions of the U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 do apply to the Internet, despite having been written several years before the Web emerged as a mainstream phenomenon. And in order to do business with the U.S. government, companies must comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which insists that electronic and information technology products sold to government agencies be designed with disabled employees in mind, and that government services produced by contractors consider disabled citizens in equal measure. But these are businesses, after all: Yahoo estimates that there's about $220 billion in discretionary spending available to disabled people. Making a Web site accessible to as many people as possible isn't just the right thing to do, it also makes business sense. Also, with a rapidly aging population in many parts of the world--notably the U.S.--accessibility requirements will become useful for today's crop of baby boomers as they grow older. People over 65 are increasing their use of the Internet, according to Nielsen, and features designed for accessibility could aid those who aren't technically disabled but wouldn't mind a little extra help.