Top 10 Observations from New Media Expo 2008

Looking back at the three day conference, here are the top ten fundamental principles I learned.

1.  The real media giants in the online world have not yet risen yet.  But they will.  Almost anyone can rise to the top in any niche at this point.

2.  To succeed online you need incredible patience and tenacity.  Don’t try to hit the homerun.  Just make steady progress.  Yet, do it as quick as you can.

3.  It is extremely important to listen to your audience.  Don’t just listen to them.  Care about them.  Show them you care.

4.  The larger your audience, the more important it becomes to give your audience what they want.  Do not make decisions based on what management wants.  Base changes and improvements off what your audience wants.  Ask them regularly.

5.  Be EVERYWHERE.  Use all forms of social media.  Put your videos on all video hosting sites.  Find ways to do so efficiently using aggregators.

6.  Do what you love.  Otherwise, you will not have the patience and energy to succeed over time.

7.  Finding the balance between selecting the right techology, creating good content, and marketing your content is extremely important, yet a huge challenge.  Many neglect one or two of the three.

8.  Most “successful” podcasters are basically geeks.  The true content and thought leaders may not have emerged yet.  So far, the geeks are winning.  They are far from rich, but they are winning.

9.  Everything on the web is basically commerce or media (e-commerce or new media).  At first, the two seem to be very different.  Yet the basic principles are actually very similar.

10.  Very few people “get it”.  It is amazing how few people attended this conference.  The field of New Media is very much on the cutting edge and is taking over traditional media, yet no one else seems to realize it, especially big corporations and traditional media.

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