Consumidores querem mais protagonismo

«Encouraged by available bandwidth and interactive multimedia possibilities, consumers are now clamoring for new roles. Those Gadgetiers and Kool Kids* that we just mentioned are not only interested in consuming content in new ways – they also want to create, manipulate and mash it. Between July 2005 and July 2006, five of the ten fastest growing Web sites were portals for user-generated content: imageShack.com, Heavy, Flickr, MySpace.com and Wikipedia [“Social Networking Sites Grow 47 Percent, Year Over Year, Reaching 45 Percent of Web Users, According Nielsen//Netratings.” PR Newswire. May 11, 2006]. Consumers are clearly passionate about being editors, producers and directors. The falling prices of sophisticated media editing and recording equipment and software have put the tools of the trade within reach of almost any aspiring talent or wannabee. The result is a blurring and merging of the roles of producer and consumer, or a “prosumer,” as coined by Alvin Toffler [Toffler, Alvin. The Third Wave. Bantam Books. March 1980]».

fonte: «Navigating the media divide», IBM Institute for Business Value, 2007

* Expressão usada inicialmente num estudo da IBM, «Berman, Dr. Saul J., Niall Duffy and Louisa A. Shipnuck. “The end of television as we know it: A future industry perspective.” IBM Institute for Business Value. January 2006» cujas características essenciais são:

«Kool Kids, who also prefer interactive and mobile media experiences and rely heavily on content sharing and social interaction. It is these last two groups of consumers – the Gadgetiers and Kool Kids – that will likely lead the way with multichannel entertainment consumption.» (...) «Kool Kids think and act much differently than the other two segments. To them, devices and services are all about fashion and making a statement. Form matters more than function. However, they’re young – and their wallets are much skinnier than those of Gadgetiers, making price an issue. Their social networks tend to be faddish, rising and falling out of favor quickly». Ou «Kool Kids. Marcus, age 13, and Semana, age 15, are brother and sister. Both were exposed to high bandwidth networks as very young children and they experiment unflinchingly with media and platforms. While they have little disposable income, they follow all the latest gadget crazes. The mobile device is the centerpiece of their lives and they text message while doing one, two or three other tasks. Though their parents refuse to allow it in their presence, Semana and Marcus even do instant messaging on the TV set while watching favorite shows. Marcus uses his tech-savvy to try to bypass network blocks and content encryption in order to rip and share content. Likewise, Semana doesn’t worry about piracy warnings as she trades copies of CDs with her friends. Without thinking about it, both are heavily invested in media experiences and spend much time seeking TV episodes, current films and hard-to-find, cool niche content. Like practically all their friends, these teenagers have posted detailed profiles to several social networking sites, relying on those connections for media recommendations and most other aspects of their lives»