As we said in our most recent Gilbane Advisor, “There are tectonic shifts underway among competing web, mobile, and social platforms, that will have profound effects on digital strategies.” While these shifts will impact everyone who distributes content, the major publishers have the most at stake, are paying the most attention, and are already experimenting. By now these experiments have provided some initial data, in particular with Facebook Instant Articles, though likely not enough to base major decisions on. Since we wrote the session description below a few months ago, Google announced Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project and Facebook announced Notify. Events are moving quickly.
Whether you are a publisher, brand marketer, or independent blogger, this panel discussion is bound to be enlightening.
P1. New Frontiers in Digital Content Distribution
Publishers have been using social media as a means to extend their brands, drive traffic to web properties, and cultivate direct relationships with consumers. But the arrival of “off-site” digital media outlets—Facebook’s Instant Articles, Apple News, Snapchat, Twitter Lightning, and whatever Google might dream up next—has publishers asking: will social media platforms usurp publisher’s own brand sites or be a lucrative extension? What are the results from those who are early participants? What are the business and technology issues to consider when deciding whether to take part? How can you prepare your organization, infrastructure and content to be ready if your CEO/CMO decides to take the plunge?
A panel of media technologists will report on their experiences and share their insights as we explore the latest trend in the evolution of digital media.
Wednesday, December, 2: 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Moderator: Mark Walter, Director, Strategic Solutions, Managing Editor Inc. (MEI)
Panelists:
Brad Kagawa, VP Technology, Content Management Systems, The New York Times
Jay Brodsky, Principal, Align Digital
Eric Hellweg, Managing Director, Digital Strategy, Harvard Business Review
