subject: Media Discovery- Fast Forwarding Media Consumption [print this page] The world is fast becoming a global village, with a little help from the Internet. This is the only place where anyone can access information with a click of a button. It offers the content, on almost all fields of human knowledge. Since the beginning of time, there has never been a larger repository of information, compared to the Internet. It is therefore not a wonder that media discovery efforts are directed towards the Internet. Individuals seeking out content prefer to search it online rather than going to the local book store, the local music store or the library.
The fact that the Internet leverages on users to proliferate this information, makes it an even more reliable place to find what you are looking for. For instance, there are over a billion blogs online today. These blogs all cater for specific information niches. Half of this number gets regular updates with constant interaction from the rest of the Internet users. From these blogs, readers can get information on specific areas of life. But blogs are just one of the mediadiscovery tools and it is not the most prolific.
Social network sites and search engines form the major tools for media discovery. They are by far the best tools for discovering content, distributing content as well as creating content. Social sites in particular have brought about a revolution in the way content is delivered online. Specifically, they have allowed people to network online, a feat that was not possible a few years back.
Users now have the ability to make friends, follow people and share their lives with other people, through their browser. A lot of interaction takes place on social sites, within a very short time. Take the fact that there are over 700 million tweets every single day, with over 70 million hours of video uploaded to YouTube on any single day. This is only a tip of the iceberg with a lot more content being shared across websites and blogs alike.
For this reason alone, mediadiscovery tools are needed. A way for users to sort out through the myriad applications of media available on the net and get what they really want. There are two main tools of doing this. First we have the social sites. These form the bulk of media discovery options available to users. They let users select the content they want to view, through a simple yet complex mechanism of choosing who to follow or friend. Following someone effectively subscribes a user to content generated by that person. This allows for constant updates and reports on the user’s homepage. However, it is still not enough. There is a chance some of the posts will pass the user. Companies have noted the power of these tools and have gone ahead to give press releases through social sites.
For this reason, search engines form the next bulk of mediadiscovery tools available online. They allow users to comprehensively search for media available, but on a larger scale. Through search engines, users can narrow down their search to specific queries, which allows them to get only relevant information. It is possible to view product specific advertising or marketing on search engines. This allows shoppers for example to make the right choice while buying into goods.
