Coping with the changing media landscape

Graphic by Anne Helmond

The media landscape is changing, in fast and unpredictable ways. The mainstream news media are no longer people’s only source of ‘news’; former audiences are no longer just passive consumers of content (if they ever were); we are all (at least capable of being) journalists and publishers. We all know this, but what does it mean for us as professional communicators?

First, since these changes are unpredictable and are only just taking hold, like Clay Shirky and Henry Jenkins (whose books were my required reading for this week) I don’t think we can yet know what these changes mean for professional communicators. Not in the long-term, grand scheme of things.

And since we can’t yet know what the changing media landscape ultimately means for us as professional communicators, rather than think about all the things that we might need to do differently to adapt (which could be an almost infinite list) maybe it’s more helpful (and less scary) to think about the things we should continue to do, no matter who we’re communicating with or through which medium:

1. Listen. If we don’t listen before we communicate with someone (or some group), we’re doomed to fail. Thankfully, the new media landscape makes listening to and understanding the people we want to reach much easier, because the things that they’re saying and thinking are out there waiting for us to find. So to survive and succeed in the evolving media landscape, we should listen even more closely to our communities, understand their needs and wishes, and adapt our actions and communication to suit them.
2. Be strategic. We should always remember that we’re not just communicators, we’re strategists. We shouldn’t jump on to the nearest social media bandwagon just because it’s what everyone else is doing. We should consider the relevance of every medium we use, new or old, to the goals we’re trying to achieve. Think about whether the medium we’re using is one that the people we’re trying to reach are using (and whether it’s a medium through which they want to hear from us). Think about whether what we’re saying (and doing) is what our audience is interested in. Think about what we’re trying to achieve. Think about whether we should be communicating at all. And communicate only once we’ve got all of that straight.

Hopefully, if we can continue to listen to the people our company or client is trying to reach, and if we can be strategic about our communication and the advice we give to clients, we’ll have a solid foundation from which to understand and adapt to the changes that we do need to make, once they become clear.