The following is also my column in next week's Adage.
Media consumption is changing. You don't need me to tell you that. However, you maybe unaware just how much it's shifting as we embrace "the stream." What's the stream? It's a way of consuming content as a continuous feed of brief bits, singles, ten-minute videos, tweets and status updates. It's reflective of the societal shift from analog to digital. And it's a natural fit for the web, where attention spans are minuscule.
Streams are everywhere. The Facebook news feed and Twitter are two prime examples. However, streams aren't just on social networks. You can spot them on sites like MuckRack.com or Timeswire from The New York Times. It's where, when the news is important, it finds you.
As it becomes the primary way we interact with content, streams threaten longer formats like TV shows, articles, albums or books. Over time, we will find we're no longer a nation that eats media meals. Rather, we're all-day content snackers - which means we become more source agnostic too.
This dawned on me recently as I considered how my own habits have changed.
For years I would engage long-form content like books or audio books in continuous blocks of time. I enjoyed each sitting like a fine meal. But that was back in the day when I would be disconnected for hours at a time - or the mobile experience was poor.
Nowadays, however, thanks to the iPhone, the web is always on. I find it all too tempting to dip into Facebook or Friendfeed for a quick fix of the stream. Yes, the Net ate my books.
Now, granted, I am an "edge case" - an early adopter. Still, if you think about your own patterns, I believe you will agree that streams maybe taking over. Sound scary? I can understand it might and I promise a future column devoted to tips to "keeping up" and managing your stream (versus your stream managing you).
Nowadays, however, thanks to the iPhone, the web is always on. I find it all too tempting to dip into Facebook or Friendfeed for a quick fix of the stream. Yes, the Net ate my books.
Now, granted, I am an "edge case" - an early adopter. Still, if you think about your own patterns, I believe you will agree that streams maybe taking over. Sound scary? I can understand it might and I promise a future column devoted to tips to "keeping up" and managing your stream (versus your stream managing you).
As the age of the stream takes hold, it will force marketers to get more creative about how we break through. It's unclear if ads will be welcome. If they are, they will need to be brief, useful and funny. Otherwise, they will just get in the way and be ignored.
