Digital Media is Overtaking Traditional Media

DIGITAL MEDIA IS OVERTAKING TRADITIONAL MEDIA

“The medium is the message” – Marshall McLuhan

Absolutely! Digital Media is overtaking traditional media!! To “overtake” simply means to overwhelm, catch up with and possibly overtake, travel past, overcome, sweep over and overpower.

What today is termed “traditional media” is what as media practitioners, we had over the years referred to as the mass media of communication – namely, radio, TV, newspaper, magazine, outdoor, etc. Referring to the mainstream media of communication as “traditional” simply means there is a new order of media communication.

Nature of Message/Content

The units of analysis for mass communication are the messages, the mediums and the audience. First, we consider the messages. Traditional mass media messages are usually homogenous, directed at heterogeneous audience. It includes pages, columns, features, articles, time and/or programme slots, texts, advertisements, audios, videos, etc.

For digital media, however, the reverse is usually the case; with heterogeneous messages directed at one user. Digital media “content” is dynamic, multifaceted, much more engaging, with feedback almost instantaneous, fast and engaging; and permeates both space and time, visual and auditory, interactive and participatory, and again exists in a continuum, usually with no determinable end. And, contains much more than the traditional media, namely: textual content, dynamic texts, animations, posts, audios, videos, entries, hyperlinks, comments, queries, tweets, likes, tags, pages, feeds, links, shares, codes, etc.

Nature of Channels of Delivery

Secondly, let’s consider the medium of communication in the traditional and digital media. Traditional media platforms incorporates the Television being a medium for powerful dramatization, the Radio, with the highest possible reach in mass media appealing largely to the rural populace, the Print Media (of newspaper and magazine amongst others) appealing to the elites, the literate and the political and socio-economic upper class, and the ubiquitous Outdoor, always in your face.

Digital media messages come in various forms on multi-various platforms: websites (and microsites), portals, blogs, emails, social media networking platforms (popularly amongst which are facebook, twitter, youtube, linkedin, google+, flickr, picasa, scribd, skillpages, visible.me etc.)

The Nature of Audience, Reach and Measurement

The traditional mass media audiences are large, scattered and heterogeneous, and sometimes anonymous i.e. the media cannot accurately decipher the characteristics of the audience. Conversely, digital media platforms audiences can be accurately tracked, measured, predicted, and presumably satisfied with unique, user-tailored contents. Matter of fact, many digital media platforms will keep track of users’ history, likes, interests and the like; in order to provide unique features.

And, in considering Reach (a prime element for media metrics; something of utmost use in advertising), one wonders how fast-paced and mind-boggling it took the digital media to reach the same number of audiences. What print media could not achieve since the days of Johann Gutenberg (who invented the movable type i.e. press, in about 1850), and radio of the 20th century combined with Television (with its dramatic powers to intertwine sound, vision and other elements) taking 38 years and 13 years respectively to reach an audience of 50 million; digital media platforms achieved the feat in a fraction of that time. Of note is the fact that Internet reaches more people in less than four (4) years of its mass appeal, compared to any other media platform combined.

Imagine: It took Twitter five (5) years to reach 90 million people; Facebook, only four (4) years, and Google+ achieved the feat of over 90 million registered users in less than one year. [Mark Milan of CNN] Today, on facebook alone (a social media platform which started in 2004) there are over 550 million people (of which over 43 million are Nigerians). [Inside Facebook]

Measuring audiences on traditional media is as traditional as it is slow, grossly inaccurate; while measuring same on digital media is up-to-the-minute, real time, precise and absolute.

Customer/User Experience/Control

There is largely a great control in the hands of the user on digital media platforms, determining what to be delivered, how content is to be delivered, when it is to be delivered, and on what channels and/or platforms it is to be delivered. The platform is as dynamic as the user can make it to be. The user can receive content on desktop and/or mobile devices (phones, smart phones, tablets, blackberries, and other connected devices); with or without animations, advertisements, images, flash, etc. Even when the user does not know how to do it, Google of course will do it for them. Content is on demand and delivery could be customized.

On traditional media platforms, on the other hand, consumers control is limited, constrained and restricted. Gate keeping mechanism is rifle and many user control and/or feedback can be controlled.

Summary

It is clear from the foregoing that digital media has overtaken traditional media in many respects: content, channels, delivery, user experience, reach, characteristics, feedback mechanism and the like.

Bottom Line

Media convergence will be the future of mass media of communication; where all channels, be it “traditional” or “digital” are all interconnected. Digital media will then be the nexus, and all other media mass communication (of the present and the future) will be the appendages.

Embracing Digital Life in Nigeria

Embracing Digital Life in Nigeria

An Insider’s Perspective of E-commerce in the African Sub-region

O. Oluwasina Gbenga

The Nigeria digital space is a gold-mine!

Considering Nigeria’s population of over 160 million, 47 million online and growing at geometric proportions; the Internet has definitely come to revolutionize the way we live, the way we work, the way we socialize and meet, and the way we do business. And given the Government’s Cashless Policy backed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the 25 capitalized banks, the mobile data operators, the over 125 million phones (of which 75 million are active), a myriad of mobile money operators, hundreds of retail outlets, e-commerce platforms and shops, and the like; it is crystal clear that e-commerce has come to stay in Nigeria. It is even reported that the mobile money market alone, has a capacity of N1.17 trillion worth transaction in six months given certain infrastructural arrangements.

Array of E-commerce Platforms

There are numerous e-commerce platforms springing up on the digital space with diverse business offerings; some fledgling, some moribund and many others promising. Regardless of the circumstances, there have been attempts at building digital platforms comparable to Amazon and e-bay in Nigeria. These e-commerce websites offer a delightful and engaging virtual shopping experience to its growing enthusiasts.

        

Amongst these platforms is Jumia, which is one of the most visited e-commerce sites in Nigeria, with an Alexa Traffic Rank of 19. Jumia is the online retailer of electronics, computers, books (with over 40,000 titles in its archive), fashion and beauty products. Also of prominence is Konga, which concentrates on fashion products, apart from gadgets and electronics. DealDey also shot to significance after receiving a substantial investment portfolio from J. P. Morgan Asset Management, which has helped it become a premier group-buying site offering Nigerians the best discounted deals. There are also specialist e-commerce sites like Wakanow concentrating on flights, Cheki which deals in cars, buyright, buy now now, sunglasses, kasuwa, gafunk specializing in computers, bead emporium featuring jewelry and beaded works, egole shopping and the moribund Kalahari and taafoo. In fact, I came across a thread discussing Circuit Atlantic with promising services in freighting large concerns from across the globe. The list is endless and in fact, more platforms are being launched.

In fact, there are products and/or services information platforms providing data, product description and even price comparisons. Two of such are Price Hunter and the newly launched PriceCheck. Price Check is a price comparison engine, set to replicate its success in South Africa here in Nigeria; and now boasts of 30 million products, in 6,000 categories with 400 retail shops on the line and counting.

A critical look at many of the prominent e-commerce platforms shows that they generate revenues from mixed sources. These include digital content sales, advertising revenues, fees for services, fees for transactions, web catalogs amongst other revenue models.

Easy Does It.

According to a MasterCard Survey conducted in Nigeria, there is a growing propensity to shop online, as more citizens now opt for the comfort zones of their homes and offices, and have goods and service delivered to their doorsteps. It is becoming increasingly easier to make payments via many of the e-commerce sites with integrated payment getaways like MasterCard, VISA Card, Verve Cards from Interswitch, and other electronic banking or funds transfer platforms.

Despite the booming of e-commerce in Nigeria, there are still some drawbacks which can be nipped in the bud through greater Platform Security, continuous Process Innovation, higher Platform Visibility, better Digital Asset Management, better alignment with global Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and best practices, improved technology infrastructure, firmer Government Policies on Identity Management, Internet Penetration and Cyber Ethics. There are also the needs for content localization, user acceptance testing, and platform scalability which enables greater accessibility via different connected devices like personal computers, mobile phones and/or tablets.

Above all, the e-commerce platforms should leverage the social media networking sites with phenomenal traffics even Nigeria as with other parts of the globe. Thus, driving visits to their platforms and turning leads into customers. Notably, facebook is still the most visited social networking site with over one billion users. A cross-media marketing strategy for the e-commerce platforms should take this into cognizance.

The future is digital…embrace it!