The Future of Media: Content Optimization, Social Networks, Interactivity---And Who Will Pay?
The nature of information discovery has been transformed over the past few years, and the nature of
content publication---including journalism and authoring of all kinds---has been evolving in tandem. I
will discuss some of the underlying trends that have re-shaped how users keep up with news (about the
world, about their communities, about their friends and colleagues), discover and explore topics of
interest, and search for specific information they require. First, as people consume information
increasingly from websites and digital devices, algorithmic techniques for selecting content have
revolutionized the traditional notion of a static publication in which every user saw the same content and
presentation: personalized, context-sensitive targeting is becoming the norm, and the role of an editor
who shapes this user experience is changing so as to leverage the algorithmic tools to achieve a desired
editorial voice. Second, social networks are emerging as an ubiquitous, near-instantaneous distribution
channel that publishers must take into account in order to maximize their reach. Third, the distinction
between searching for information and discovering information serendipitously is blurring: increasingly,
contextual information is triggering relevant searchable companion experiences. For example, while
watching a TV program, users can see a stream of relevant entities and topics such as celebrities in a
movie or teams and players in a game of soccer, and by clicking retrieve more detailed information on
these entities and topics. Finally, the economics of the entire content ecosystem (content creation,
aggregation, distribution, consumption) is in flux as publishers struggle with the shift from conventional
offline subscriptions to the new online world, with its diverse monetization models ranging from
ad-supported to subscriptions to micropayments. I will present an overview of these trends, highlighting
the computational opportunities and challenges.