Disintermediation and Democratization

New media encourage direct engagement and provide few barriers to entry. The combination has been somewhat explosive.

Because they can make direct contact with the source, users now feel encouraged to so, bypassing middlemen and distributors whenever possible. This disintermediation puts more of the burden on companies in many respects, because consumers not only expect to get valuable information from manufacturer websites, but they also expect to have conversations directly with manufacturers.

Honoring expectations and engaging in conversation can strengthen your relationships with customers. Moreover, this connection with users can enhance your product development. When you encourage that kind of interaction, you’re hearing the voice of the customer loud and clear. They’re not just telling you what they want, they’re often telling you exactly what you need to do to improve your product offerings.

The fact that ubiquitous infrastructure is equally available to all without major capital investment is also leading to greater democratization. Individual producers running sole proprietorships can compete with large companies to service small, niche markets in search of unique products. Citizen journalists with smartphones or netbooks can scoop professional journalists backed by major publications and service bureaus. In fact, media professionals are increasingly cast as middlemen, and bypassed.

There is also something inherently democratic about phenomena like peer production and crowd-sourcing. That leveling effect is particularly evident now that we’ve seen sites replete with user-generated content usurping the place of traditional media.

In this new age of the individual, the playing field is level. Any person or entity can produce an amazing product, service or piece of unique content. If it fills a real need, it can spread like wildfire overnight. In some cases, without spending even a penny of marketing budget.

Democracy equals opportunity because everyone has a completely independent vote. Anyone or anything that is viable in the eyes of enough people becomes viable. In a true democracy, no one can cry about foul play or barriers to entry since everyone has a chance. Certainly there are factors that play into the likelihood of success, such as intelligence, talent, skills and relevance. However, this is about as level as the playing field can get.

Democratization of content also reflects those independent votes. The content that is the most preferred gets the most exposure. The method of determining what is viewed varies, but it’s usually based on user rankings, number of views and links to the content.

What makes this even more interesting is that content has the ability to transcend planes. For example, it’s easy to see that the most viewed videos on YouTube and especially the ones most often identified as favorites (“favorited”), move to the forefront and therefore get more exposure. However, those same videos are likely spreading along through other channels (including email) that aren’t as readily tracked. It’s also important to note that although there is some advantage to being a first mover, reset rankings, fair algorithms and user-controlled timeframes allow for content to enter the marketplace. If users find the content valuable, whether for entertainment, education, or any reason whatsoever, it has the ability to go viral through widespread exposure.

Today, anyone can become a hit – an individual, a small company or a large company. For those that provide a compelling core value, the world can open up faster than ever. But for those who have counted on traditional barriers to entry – such as large capital investments – to maintain their monopolistic mojo, a new game is afoot.

This new, democratic environment has resulted in two striking developments:

• Customers have always had more credibility with their peers than you when talking about your brand, and now their voices are just as loud as yours.
• Customers expect more from your brand now. Forget your monologue. They want dialog. They have grown to expect it because they get that level of interaction everywhere else. They require a relationship with your brand.