UK - BBC on blogs: "Mitigate the threat"

The BBC is starting to recognize the new reality - somewhat.

While the main focus of this BBC article on the impact of blogs relates to business, they do acknowledge blogs impact on news.

Even the BBC is being forced to address this emerging trend for consumer online self-expression.

It recently announced that it is to restructure its content provision and update its online offerings to enable greater consumer content-contribution and participation - led by a competition to redesign and re-imagine the bbc.co.uk homepage.

Don't worry, BBC websites like "Have Your Say" are still heavily censored. But the BBC have finally woken up to the new media.

Not only do they now have the ability to post their self-expression in a public forum but also they have the ability to access and sift through an abundance of easily accessible information, customise their consumption and gain satisfaction on-demand. [i.e. we don't rely on the BBC for our information]

This is making them more informed, more savvy and more in control. As a result, media and marketing businesses, and governments for that matter, have to forge new and more equitable relationships with their audiences.

The BBC even admit they've lost the megaphone.

With the adoption of content-creation tools democratising the publishing of information and the parallel growth in search engine usage democratising access to this information, consumers are increasingly being exposed to informal, peer-produced content, alongside formal, professionally created content.

In other words, the publishing of information and the access to information used to be controlled by MSM - no longer. Now, there's an alternative to the BBC's left wing agenda.

The BBC return to the business and marketing impact of bloggers but substitute "news" for "marketing" in this next piece and it's the same.

When a company's marketing story differs from the one being told by online consumers, a credibility gap will emerge that could have dire consequences on brand perception and favourability.

Which happens regularly with MSM like the BBC.

Remember the BBC said media "...have to forge new and more equitable relationships with their audiences...". Does this sound like that to you?

This is why there is a growing buzz about consumer-created content in the industry at present and why businesses need to start considering how they might find opportunities for their business and mitigate the threats of this shifting balance of power.

You see? This isn't about "more equitable relationships". This is about how to blunt the impact bloggers are having on MSM.
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