Media Convergence: Have we achieved it?

Ever since the Internet revolution began, industry pundits have waxed over the possibilities of using it to channel multimedia content. It was even predicted that this new media would eventually converge with old media on the Internet. With the Time Warner and News Corp. acquisitions of AOL and Myspace respectively, it finally seemed this “media union” was here for good. Other hardware and device-level innovations and developments have bucked this trend.

So, has the potential of the Internet been realized in the delivery of unified media? The answer is a big NO. The progress of this “new-old” wedlock has been anything but satisfactory. I believe the power of the Internet has been grossly under-utilized in the delivery of a convergent media. And, here’s why.

The Internet advantage lost
One of the great advantages of the Internet is the delivery of rich content over the same physical medium. Audio, video, text, image and other content can all be transmitted to the consumer over the same (communication) channel.

Yet, unfortunately what we see is the replication of old media techniques and approaches in the Internet realm. This is most evident in the “divvying” up of content-sharing and publishing sites along old-media-type lines. Blogging is the new-media equivalent of print publishing; video blogging for television broadcasting; podcasting for radio broadcasting and so on.

True power of the Internet
The true power of the Internet lies in the fact that it provides a common delivery backbone for a media mashup. In other words, the Internet can serve as a medium for dynamic delivery of video, audio and print content – all in the same channel.

How will such media convergence be useful? Imagine a single communication channel of democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, being used for publishing editorials on her views; broadcasting videos of her public addresses during the day; podcasting her radio interviews; publishing photos of her public engagements and so on.

This unique “mixed-media” publishing will prove to be the hallmark of Internet-based public communication. This media mashup would be the key differentiator between old media and “truly” new media (Internet) publishing.

Mixed-media for the masses
Sure enough, Hillary Clinton’s campaign can afford to invest substantially in infrastructure to set up a website to deliver (streamed or otherwise) such mixed media content. But, what about the average John or Jane Doe, or the average family in the American heartland wanting a channel to keep its extended family or community informed? That is indeed a challenge that the new-media technology companies need to address.

Disclosure: I am a co-founder of Cylive - a social application that empowers users to network in highly personalized ways.