360DigitalInfluence

I’ve let a few days pass in order to observe and digest the after-effects of last week’s Open Room session, “Journalism’s from Mars, Social Media’s from Venus“. Needless to say, the conversations got colorful pretty quickly and have continued into the early part of this week, both online as well as in the print media. Searching the #openroom Twitter hashtag alone provides a good overview of what went down but if you want to read more, check out MyPaper’s piece on not writing off traditional media, as well as the posts by Claudia, IanOnTheRedDot, dk and one of our panelists, uniquefrequency.

Our aim of this session was to get 2 groups of people who don’t normally talk in person…talking. Both have their opinions and it’s not a case of either-or. While it’s always fun to sensationalize a gathering of seeming opposites such as this, we’re not debating whether journalism is better than a blog post or vice versa, but we did talk about the importance of solid business models in traditional media and the merits of social media in today’s new world of rapidfire communication, where anybody and everybody can be an influencer. And that’s what The Open Room is about - communicating in a human voice that is open, honest and respectful. In a world that is inundated with messaging, it’s our version of the “real coffeeshop talk” where one can listen and be heard. More importantly, it’s a place where stories get told. It’s our way of getting folks fired up and bringing real communication back to life.

We communicate with traditional media and bloggers everyday and believe that the system has room for both planets. Neither is better than the other but adjustments can be made on both sides so that news is reported better and faster. The bloggers who write great opinion pieces or commentary backed by fact are going to have the most readers. Similarly, journalists who have their finger on the pulse of wider conversations on the ground and online are going to be a step ahead. I like this post that talks about the relationship between blogs and mainstream media being a fact of life. What I think lies ahead is the next Open Room session, where we take the conversation up a notch and talk about some specifics. Brian has an interesting thought starter about Building the Future Media Organisation, which is definitely worth talking about, but I’d also like to hear from those who attended our Open Room. What burning conversations would you like to have next?

With Felix Soh, Head of Digital Media at SPH, and Thomas Crampton, Ogilvy’s Asia-Pacific Director of Digital Influence