Vairis Strazds, “The relationship between consumer and brand in the Web 2.0 era” “Lietišķā Diena”, 13 August 2007

I am very surprised that the interactive possibilities of the Web are perceived as an alternative to traditional media, because these services satisfy very different human needs. People have always had a need for emotional and intellectual contact with like-minded individuals; they have always been interested in what is happening in the world. The fact that their opportunities to communicate with anyone anywhere on the globe have rapidly expanded in no way means that the services of professional journalists will not be needed. I fall into the category of people mentioned by Vairis Strazds, but I feel not the slightest need to play strategy games or discuss global warming. The only Web community that plays a significant role in my life is the Latvian ornithologist newsgroup, and that in no way diminishes my interest in the content of the pages of "Diena" or Financial Times, or The Economist, or Le Monde. To obtain what these media provide, I would have to contact a large number of experts from various fields myself, pay for the services of news agencies, and process all this information. Why on earth would I take on such a burden? Furthermore, politicians and entrepreneurs often reveal things to journalists they trust that they would never publish under their own names, and journalists then circulate these as stories told by anonymous insiders. It is not important to me whether journalists are like-minded people, because I do not seek emotional comfort in newspaper pages. Rather, I am pleased if what they write forces me to change my opinion on an issue. Reading a newspaper on a computer or in a paper version – that is not a life-or-death matter, although reading the "hard" version is, of course, much more comfortable. However, the most important thing is not the technical channel of information distribution, but its content itself. It is important whether you are reading what is written by professionals in information gathering and processing, or are in contact with those who distribute information and emotions on the Internet to satisfy their own urges for socialization. Of course, you might happen to stumble upon an analysis of global warming in a BBC internet forum that is higher quality than that provided by the BBC or The Economist journalists themselves, but you might also not. You can only distinguish quality from low-quality material in a field you know well yourself, but looking for useful information in chatter forums about a field where you are the specialist yourself – that is not a productive use of time. If any material appears on the pages of a quality media outlet, whether on paper or on the Web, there is a high probability that this information is of high quality. Sometimes you can find interesting things in Web discussions as well, but the average quality of the content is almost always lower. Like all new things, the interactive possibilities provided by the Web have created a great deal of interest. Once the wave of initial enthusiasm passes, these communication channels will be used only as much as they satisfy the intellectual and emotional needs of the world's population. Although I am registered at www.draugiem.lv, I do not feel that I am missing anything in my life that could be found on this portal, so I practically do not use it. Before the internet age, there were many radio enthusiasts in the world who communicated with private shortwave transmitters. Some of them probably still do so, but I will venture to guess that such people are becoming fewer; this hobby is perhaps practiced by those for whom it is important to tinker with gadgets even at a time when the gadgets themselves have lost their practical purpose. Of course, the Web is very useful not only for its interactive possibilities, but also for its huge resources of specific information that appear in traditional media insufficiently, episodically, and not when needed. A typical example is the reviews of the latest cameras by experts (www.dpreview.com, www.imaging-resource.com), which are used by very many people. However, these too are not an alternative to traditional media, but an addition, because such people gain information that would otherwise not be available to them. The above does not mean that the internet does not threaten traditional media in any way. The Web will hardly be able to significantly reduce the time people spend reading "Diena" or watching TV3, but it can at least reduce the income of "Diena" – people may stop buying or subscribing to this newspaper if a large part of its articles are freely available on the Web. However, as Shakespeare wrote, the fault lies not in our stars, but in ourselves. I think it is almost irrelevant to the TV3 or Radio SWH mentioned by Vairis Strazds how they distribute their programs – via antenna, traditional TV cable, or the Web, provided the latter does not make it easier to avoid watching and listening to advertisements. People will always want to read good stories, find out, and understand what is happening in the world. One just has to know how to collect money from them for it.
Article first published in the September 2006 issue of "Rīgas Laiks" magazine