101 Culture

This is a blog about the emergence of a digital culture. What might it look like? What can we see already?

And all my other details are kept at benmason.org.


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Post-digital marketing and Digital Culture

It's nice to see the pickup that the phrase 'post-digital' is getting in the marketing world. I think Russell started it. And Faris has just posted a brilliant deck from Helge about it:

The reason I started this blog was to look at how our behaviour had, is and will change as a result of 'digital technology'. I wanted to get away from worrying about tech and into behaviour. I called that new behavior 'digital culture'. Asi calls it 'social culture'. 'Post-digital' seems to encompass a lot of the same ideas.

It's a good thing to see. Spending to much time worrying about technology is a bit like riding a vacuum cleaner:

Ignoring digital should result in some cultural value from brands as they try and earn a foothold in culture rather than just buy awareness or jump on a tech trend, for instance.

How far into the change we are is impossible to tell. I don't think we're far at all. I'm interested in the generational changes. When you grow up with everything in your world networked, the network becomes invisible. That'll be properly new.

Have a nice weekend, all.

Could SoundCloud be the next MySpace?

SoundCloud, a music-sharing site our of Berlin, is growing fast.
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 And MySpace, once the default URL on gig flyers, seems to be in terminal decline.
Check the traffic story:
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So what of SoundCloud? It's designed to share tracks you made, mixes you created. And your fans can follow your stream of tracks. And comment etc. It's a social utility for music, if you like jargon. In the words of its founders, it was a replacement for sharing music by email. Nice.

And MySpace? It was a general-purpose social network that is suffering at the hands of Facebook, which described itself as a 'social utility' and has reached a mainstream audience the world over.

The key point here? Make a useful tool for your audience. Facebook makes it easy to keep up with a broader frienship group. SoundCloud makes it easier for musicians and fans to share music.

I wouldn't be surprised to see those traffic lines cross next year sometime. It's ambitious. But SoundCloud have something truly useful here.

And a business model? Bah. If you're starting a web business, you're not allowed a revenue model. Especially if you live in Berlin.

More SoundCloud stuff:
SoundCloud reckon it's the best way to share music in blogs.
Richie Hawtin uses it to accept promo tracks:
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