Big Media’s Brave New World

This from a Forbes article titled “Big Media’s Brave New World“:

Andy Moss, senior director of technical policy for Microsoft‘s entertainment and devices, said that one day the term might actually refer to things that users have actually made themselves. Online social-networking sites, coupled with falling prices for sophisticated video cameras and editing equipment, mean that even amateurs will be able to produce polished product that will eventually draw sponsorship dollars. Moss said fundamental changes in this arena will be led by today’s teens and 20-somethings.

“We’ve grown up on PCs,’’ he said. “They’re growing up with interconnected communities and producing their own quality content, and it’s just going to be a whole other shift.’’

But trying to integrate commercial messages into user-generated content must be done with care, or else advertisers risk triggering a consumer backlash on par with negative reactions to cold-calling, junk mail and spam, warned John Montgomery, chief executive of MindShare Interaction, a New York advertising and consulting firm.

“We just can’t afford to do it again, because this time the consumers are really in control,’’ Montgomery said. “And they’ll simply shut us out. It doesn’t just mean they’ll shut out bad advertising. They’ll shut out content together with the advertising.’’