'Twitterrific' Time Magazine Shows Up The Australian Newspaper

A feature article by Time magazine this week entitled 'How Twitter Will Change the Way we Live' highlights the gulf between savvy, 'with it' journalism and head-in-the-sand 'old school' media thinking when it comes to social media, and Twitter in particular.

For the latter (read: old school), look no further than The Australian newspaper. Here are some recent examples:

Time is Up for Twitter

Twitter the Font of the Future

-- (Hat-tip to Mumbrella for keeping us up-to-date with The Australian's anti-Twitter campaign, especially for spotting the newspaper's editorial piece because, let's be honest, who really reads tub-thumping editorials anyway?) --

Time's article, in comparison, is a thought-provoking piece containing several excellent links e.g. Twitter Craze is Rapidly Changing the Face of Sports and The Ten Ways Twitter Will Permanently Change American Business.

While The Australian mocks: "Like swine influenza, technologies such as Twitter race around the world before spluttering out", Time explains "...the key development with Twitter is how we've jury-rigged the system to do things that its creators never dreamed of"...and...

..."the most fascinating thing about Twitter is not what it's doing to us. It's what we're doing to it".

MASSIVE CHALLENGES

Traditional media is undergoing a series of massive challenges the likes of which it has never faced before. Newspapers, especially, are under the pump as the internet generally, and social media in particular, play havoc with their business model.

Major newspapers around the world are axing staff in massive numbers. Many are closing.

Instead of learning from the arrogance of the music industry, which all but ceded control of the digital distribution of its recorded product to Apple's iTunes, many of the major media players continue to belittle the new technologies that are changing the game. Whether it's fear or bullheadedness or some weird sense of self-preservation, I can't be sure, but it certainly seems to be an impediment to the industry moving forward with confidence and vigour.  

Editors and journalists who are turning blue in the face from trying to blow back the winds of change have focused their attention on Twitter because it's the 'new, new thing'.

However, they're failing to realise it's not about the platforms per se but the bigger seismic shift that's occurring i.e. the collective empowerment of the people and their desire to create for - and consume content by - their peers, as well as the added intensity of connection they now have with each other.

Why do people consume peer-created content? Because they trust it. It's genuine, the real deal. 

Will the public give away consuming the big stories as covered by professional journalists? Of course not. 

But they will continue to trust their peers who enthusiastically champion Twitter (or any other technology platform) long before they will take any notice of the Stephen Patchetts of this world.

The Australian boasts:

"Melbourne's Herald Sun engages every day with close to 1.5 million people who are passionate about football and care for their city. And because the product is convenient and the content is appealing, the paper is a community that people pay to belong to."

I agree, the Herald Sun is a major media player and has a huge daily influence on the lives of many of its 1.5 million readers; while I'm an avid Herald Sun reader, however, I'd probably draw the line that it's a 'community'.

But again, The Oz is missing the point. Why are they even bothering to compare the Herald Sun with Twitter is beyond me. (And on the subject of community, the strategic integration of social media would well and truly enhance the Herald Sun offering and further strengthen its relationship with readers).

Time magazine, on the other hand, points out: "And yet as millions of devotees have discovered, Twitter turns out to have unsuspected depth." 

Will Twitter continue to power along to become a mainstay in our daily lives? Will it morph due to commercial pressures (i.e. pay per tweet)? Will it be bought by Google? Will advertisers kill it off through over-commercialisation? Who knows. 

All I can say is the media landscape has changed irrevocably and senior media executives would be better served accepting this fact and trying to better understand emerging technologies and the societal trends they're creating - indeed, perhaps incorporating them more effectively into their own offering - rather than pooh-poohing social media platforms and waving them off with a dismissive flick of the hand.

Twitter is a new channel and in turn will evolve and stimulate other offshoots. Scary times? Nah, exciting - gets the blood pumping!!

To be fair, while I've had a 'go' at The Australian, I should acknowledge the newspaper is published by News Limited, which recently launched its major new blog offering, The Punch ("Australia's best conversation"), a major departure from traditional newspapers.