Checking Out The Competition On Hangouts

I can see a time coming up at some point in the future where people will live on Google Hangouts On Air. Some people already are. Before the world's first Hangout celebrities are still in the wings looking through the list of available Hangouts can be a surreal, frightening and depressing experience.

The bad news is that trying to find some content to engage with in Hangouts On Air is a big challenge. The good news is that we are all living in a time pregnant with opportunity.

On the theory that forewarned is forearmed I took the opportunity to whizz down a typical list of available Hangouts and show you some broad categories of people who are online now.

Non-English People

It's not a surprise that people who do not participate in the Western culture of mass media and celebrity have quickly begun to grasp the potential of this thing. I think that if we weren't all spoon-fed movies and television in its current formats, neatly packaged and directed, we would be a lot further along with this thing.

If you are non-English you are used to make-dos in media, I suppose. In which case you are not easily going to be put off harnessing an incredibly powerful media tool by the necessity to include a few make-dos along the way.

Religious Types

I am neither endorsing nor deriding this content but it seems that evangelisers and proselitysers of all stripes are alive to the potential of this platform. New media is well known as a hotbed of zealotry and extremism so this kind of programming is to be expected.

Traditional Western media has to be seen to be straight down the middle, even its extremity is watered down until it fits within a broadcasting standard. This kind of niche market sermonising is finding it's home on Hangouts.

Minecrafters/Let's Players

Anywhere there is new media are video gamers streaming their gaming sessions these days. Hangouts and Twitch TV are slowly merging together. This is important because of the last point here:

Youthful Types

See this kid? In two decades time he will own and control all this media stuff that the current generation finds so difficult. A thirty six year old going into business today will be hopelessly outclassed in the market place in two decades. Why? Because these kids are playing around with this tech today and by the time these people step into business they will already feel at ease with this type of broadcasting.

That last point I can testify to. It happened to me. When I was six I got comfortable with a Sinclair ZX81 and now I am a computer master, not mastered by my computer. Staying up to date with technology isn't easy, but it is essential.

The Good News

All this means that if you have thoroughly prepared content, the will to deliver it effectively and the patience to grow your media marketing plan you have the opportunity to dominate with relative ease. One day Hangouts will be rammed to the rafters with content as engaging as what currently spills through our television sets. Everyone will be more competent. Businesses will do this as a matter of course.

That is a daunting world to contemplate. But we don't live in that world, we live in this one. The challenges are different but the potential rewards are much greater than the local broadcasters of the future will dare to dream of.

The Monkey Business

So, as is common with blogs, a new strand has come along. I'm running a new media business now and it's starting to take off. The key thing I've found is that people just don't understand why they should now be involved in small-scale cottage media production. I watch a lot of YouTube but until I started my business I didn't understand the challenges and pitfalls of trying to be a YouTuber.

If you have a business enterprise then you will have to get involved with new media tech, it's inevitable. People that don't embrace engagement through YouTube, Hangouts and podcasting are going to get left struggling. These technologies really are the best way to engage with new customers in a new way. Not least because passing trade is at home surfing the net, not walking down the high street. That's what this article, which I sent out as a mailshot to some potential new clients, is all about:

We live in a world that has been transformed by computers, the internet, and social networking. The problem for many of us is that the change is subtle and if you don't see it you can easily miss something important.

When I started Spinning Monkey I thought of myself as being in the business of small scale media production. I have all the kit to take a studio around with me, like a school photographer, and I have the expertise to cut together video productions.

That makes me a videographer, right?

Wrong.

What I quickly discovered is that the types of things you need to do with a small scale media set up are very different to the requirements of even the smallest video production house. What I do is to help people plug into a vast sea of potential customer engagements quickly and to maximum effect.

Businesses of the future will be expected to be social, have faces and names, like people on Facebook. The success stories of tomorrow will talk directly to more people and show the world, with an immediate touch, that they are experts in their field and can move with a rip tide of daunting technological advancement.

At Spinning Monkey we have a variety of projects happening that can help you take vital steps to consolidating your position in business in the exciting times to come. Take a look at the current newsletter. It tells you what is going on at the moment, it's not just a bunch of sales pitches, some projects ask for participation at no cost and give a great window into the possibilities of new media technology.

You can't afford to think of new technologies in media as things that are for someone else, or that what they offer isn't for you. If you don't get involved one of your competitors will sometime soon. It's an exciting time for pioneers and trailblazers. For the early adopters the rewards will be greatest.

You don't have to go it alone. We can explore this new world together. If anything the Spinning Monkey is doing is of interest please don't hesitate to get in touch.