Media in the New Millennium

posted by Doyle

The blogosphere, and many on Twitter, are still busy chatting about last weekend’s Motrin ad which lit up (and not in a good way) a large number of mommy bloggers and online parents who took exception to the ad. Whether you agree or disagree with the reaction to the ad, one this is for sure: there’s power in the online conversation.

That got me thinking: is this a vocal minority that’s mastered a new feedback loop, or an accurate representation of the sentiments of most parents? I think, as with any topic, there’s probably more than one answer.

I also think there’s probably more than one future path.

While social media is truly flexing it’s muscle, a relatively small minority of the overall population is driving much of the online conversation. Most regular and successful content generators are very passionate about something, and that’s whey they are blogging, or Twittering, etc. As a result, communities of like-minded people (mommy bloggers, new media junkies, etc.) tend to watch each other and become acquainted through these online communities.

Five years from now, I believe a far greater percentage of the population will be participating in the conversation. As the simple result of greater numbers, it seems to me that it’s likely many people will be more passive participants than the current crop of passionate early adopters.

So here’s the discussion I’d like to start: Five years from now, will a reaction like the one generated by Motrin be even louder, with more voices led by a passionate core, or will many of today’s passionate leaders become minorities and be less important because they will then represent a much smaller percentage of a much larger population?

Said another way — could companies (or candidates, or publishers) begin to quantify unflattering Twitter comments (for example) as “just a few hundred voices out of tens of millions of users” and discount the conversation? Or, will social media discussion leaders draw out those that would not have otherwise commented or participated — whether they agree or disagree with a topic, an ad, or a news story — and give even more power to the growing groundswell?

Weigh in!