Broken TIVOs, unlinked boxes

The future of the BBC is mobile, according to 'the kids' - January 22, 2004 - currybetdotnet

Martin Belam - one of the admirable pointyheads that _thinks_ about stuff in this place - has put up an interesting post about the way children aren't differentiating about how they consume their media.

I've been in a lot of conversations recently where people think about linking stuff together.

Whereas, the people that use our content link it together in their own way. They edit shows (and edit out adverts) by channel flicking. They use EPGs and the Radio Times to make choices about their activities.

And kids, it seems, see no difference in which shiny box they use to consume their content.

It's not even a brand affiliation as far as I can tell - it's like they have an ambient media stream around them, and they just dip in and out as they feel the need. Although it sounds like push, via SMS, as a reminder to check up on something, is useful to kids.

I'm guessing it's the same way I use RSS.

Bouncing off the back of the posts I've been reading about social networks and recomendations....

The most useful service you could provide to people is a way of alerting them to things that may be of interest to them - and then tracking whether they follow your 'leads' or not, to refine your reccomendations.

So, a way of helping them manage media overload - email, SMS, Telly programmes, whatever - and filter through the really important stuff.


And I think having a personality behind those reccomendations provides trust. People trust their friends, and certain sources of information.

Is it possible to collect such a big sample of usage data, that your engine becomes trusted because it is so accurate? Well, yes - Amazon and (really obvious, this one) Google.

Or do you get the beatles and bach effect, where the things that everyone likes float to the top?