Post written by Justin Judd (CEO & Founder of i-Rights)

At a recent C21 Social Media conference I was one of the speakers alongside Joost’s CCO Henrik Werdelin, Daily Motion’s Creative Director Digby Lewis, Bebo’s Head of Original Productions Kelly Sweeney, and MyVideoRights CEO Ashley Mackenzie. In my session I coined the phrase ‘Accelerated Obsolescence’ to describe how rapidly the digital content sector was evolving and how easy it was for a established and dominant player to be overtaken by a start up, when the former fails to maintain the rate of innovation.  Think MySpace and Facebook.  (It was galling then to see the phrase used as a headline in a subsequent newsletter that made no reference to the conference but hey, that’s the internet.)

Subsequent to the conference, the axe has fallen brutally at MySpace and former short form content champion Bebo has undergone further management upheaval with Bebo Europe boss Kate Burns moving to parent AOL.  Facebook and Twitter are on top for now, but how long might it be before they too are displaced with something cooler, newer, now-er?  And all before they too have cracked the most pressing problem of all – in the post scarcity digital world where content can be easily reproduced and effortlessly distributed, how does anyone, especially producers, actually make money?

Posted by indietrainingfund
Tags: Add new tag, Bebo, C21, Facebook, i-rights, justin judd, myspace, social media, twitter
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blog by Tim Ball (timtweeting)

Whatever you may think about Twitter its growth is astounding. The social networking and mini-blogging service was launched in 2006 and the latest figures from Neilsen Online show that it grew 1,382% from February 2008 to February 2009, registering a total of just over 7 million unique visitors in the US for that month. Another recent estimate from Comscore put the worldwide number at 1.3 million unique users for March 2009. And these figures don’t take into account those who Tweet via mobiles or instant messaging rather than through the Twitter website itself.

Despite (or perhaps because of) the staggering number of users it often gets a bad press, currently over the way it can spread (mis)information about the swine flu pandemic. Others say it just adds lots more dull, trivial and uninformed chatter into the blogosphere.

However as the indie sector struggles to come to terms with the huge challenges presented by the internet and in particular the rise of social media platforms there’s no better time to dive into this networked world. And as a convert to Twitter I think it’s got much to offer.

It can be a valuable source of information on subjects that interest you – either professionally or personally. For example I use Twitter to receive updates from people such as media futurist Gerd Leonhard (gleonhard), media commentator Jeff Jarvis (jeffjarvis) and social media experts Euan Semple (euan) and Pete Cashmore (mashable). These feeds get you in to the zeitgeist and provide really helpful links to material you might not otherwise find.

It’s a good way of keeping up to date with the latest news (I particularly like BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones who tweets as ruskin147) and following alternative sources to the mainstream media outlets.

It’s also a potential route to new commissions! At a recent ITF Open Forum Louise Brown (who heads up cross-platform commissioning at Channel Four) said that one of the the best ways of getting to know what she was interested in and what to pitch to her was to follow her tweets (louby). She also suggested that using Twitter and other social media generates an understanding of how communities interact online. The BBC too is getting on the Twitter bandwagon; it has just announced that it will be sending out tweet alerts when new commissioning briefs are posted on its website.

Production units like the Coast team (coasttv) are using it as a simple and direct way of keeping in touch with updates whilst on location. And of course these are open to fans of the programme as well as the professional film-makers themselves. The aim is to make the production process more transparent.

Otherwise you can use Twitter to discover like-minded people either within your own or a related industry. There’s much talk of collaboration between traditional indies and digital media producers – could Twitter help bridge the gap?

Similarly finding good talent is always hard. You can use Twitter to send out a message asking for recommendations. In this way you can find talented individuals beyond your own network who may otherwise have been invisible to you.

Looking for a new job yourself? Then consider this tweeting challenge. The Murphy-Goode winery in Sonoma County, California is offering a six-month, rent-free opportunity where you get to learn about the production of high-end wine. All you have to do is share your experiences and newly-gained knowledge through Twitter and other social platforms. And you get paid $10,000 a month! Of course this is all part of a clever PR campaign but it also demonstrates the power of Twitter as a marketing platform.

Finally there’s no doubt that the amount of information can become overwhelming so it’s best to use an app which will help collate and organise this. My own favourite is Tweetdeck (www.tweetdeck.com) which is like a personal browser for keeping tabs on all those you follow. It has an attractive and practical interface, allows you to send and receive tweets and is compatible with MS Windows and Mac OS.

Information overload at work? Some wag has proposed that email should be scrapped and all organisations should only use Twitter to communicate – if you can’t say it in 140 characters then it isn’t worth saying at all?! Now there’s an idea!

Posted by indietrainingfund
Tags: Add new tag, coasttv, louise brown, tim ball, timtweeting, tweet, tweetdeck, twitter
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Indie Training Fund thanks delegates and trainers Kirsty Hunter (Lion TV) and Tim Morgan (Mint Digital) for their input once again on the new Multiplatform workshop, Joined-Up Production, that took place on 25 June 2009.

The day-long workshop gave those attending the chance to find out from case studies, discussion and sharing their own experience, what makes effective multiplatform projects, what’s hot and what isn’t, and how to devise, plan and manage projects successfully.

What you thought:

‘excellent speakers, great discussions and useful brainstorms surrounding multiplatform development’

‘the opportunity to ask questions was most useful. I haven’t had a chance to have one-to-one sessions with multiplatform experts and felt I could ask questions freely’

‘it was good to have an informal approach so we could interact at any point to fulfill our needs’

View the presentation

Joined Up Production will next take place on 28 October 2009

Email bookings@indietrainingfund.com for further details

Posted by indietrainingfund
Tags: joined up production, kirsty hunter, multimedia, multiplatform, tim morgan, training
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It was a valuable chance for ITF to meet industry freelancers, who may not know about ITF and what we’re doing as a beneficial tool to the television industry. It also provided the perfect opportunity to find out what professionals were looking for from the training sector , for many the buzz word seem to be “Production” and many had a distinct interest in our new “Multiplatform” workshops.

The summer fairs’s vibrant atmosphere was the perfect accompaniment to all the ITF and MITA stall had to offer amongst the many training opportunities presented on the day, and definitely proved to be a popular choice, as many commended our stall on being the “brightest” of the day.

As well as offering training choices that were affordable in the present economic climate, visitors were encouraged to sign-up for the ITF mailing list so that they were kept up to date with ITF’s ever-fresh training investments and special deals.

The day proved to be a constructive and positive day for all visitors, who attended the seminars as well as the stalls, and if they were lucky enough to come by the MITA stall they were sure to be offered a sweet that made the successful day a little sweeter!

Don’t miss us next time round….see you next at the fair

Posted by indietrainingfund
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