Converging with Other Emerging Media

There is more to “convergence” media than just websites. There are other, emerging kinds of communication technologies that can be used in conjunction with traditional media for multifaceted, integrated storytelling.

There, for instance, the following: RSS feeds, email notifications, text messaging, electronic billboards and digital radio transmissions (RBDS).

RSS feeds are a way for media consumers to stay abreast of the latest content updated to their favorite websites. Currently, RSS is generally used by a small, tech savvy subsection of the media consuming audience, but it is gaining in popularity.

Many popular web browsers like Google Chrome offer RSS apps that make it easier to manage and consume content via RSS.

One legal concern that has arisen with Google’s RSS managing apps is the ability that Google users have to share web content from their RSS feeds with friends. I enjoy sharing items with friends on my Google reader account. The originators of this content accuse Google of cutting into their ad revenue by allowing people to share their content in this way.

Email notification is a good way to notify an audience of breaking news. In my own experience using Constant Contact on Windy Citizen, email notifications can also be used to publish and distribute short digests of the week’s best or most popular content.

HTML rich emails have the advantage of being able to carry a variety of content inside them. The ability to embed pictures and video are, in my opinion, two of the best ways to take advantage of this medium.

However, everybody hates spam. Some kinds of spam are illegal. My thinking is that media outlets should use a very light touch with their email notifications, lest their notifications be perceived as annoying or abusive.

Text messaging is similar to email in its advantages and drawbacks. In terms of immediacy, there is nothing more intimate and immediate that people’s mobile devices, which are usually with them during their waking and sleeping hours. But, spammy, overly aggressive text messaging is very annoying.

Billboards are definitely old school media. But high-def electronic billboards can be used to “broadcast” up-to-the-minute information to one of the few mass audiences left in media.

Finally, RDBS describes the additional, visual information that is transmitted with a radio signal and displayed on the radio’s faceplate. Not all radios are equipped with this technology, which is definitely something to consider. But the images and text can be used to supplement the audio broadcast.

Images have always been what radio is missing. RBDS makes it possible to add pictures radio.