In the past content meant TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines. I thought this area needed a kind of stocktaking exercise, so three weeks ago I set out to categorise where content is now.
It's taken me all of those three weeks to complete the list of new types of content sites we now have available to us, and to advertisers.
Right now it's just a list - it's worth a read but I hope you'll find it more useful as a reference. Comments are most welcome.
Later today or tomorrow I'll post the whole list, and then over the next few days go on to ask questions about it. These content types are, by and large, unique to the web, so as an example, newspaper online sites don't make it into here but citizen media online newspapers do, podcasts make it but TV programmes on the web don't. To be here a site has to be offering content made possible by the web and where possible be unique to the web.
1. Accidental Content Sites
I was struggling for a label for this one but I had in mind eSnips and cruxy. These are content upload sites that have an e-commerce element.
In the case of eSnips you could see it as storage, at first, but that chance to sell a little bit of your digital life is difficult to resist. Cruxy is more to the point. It's a website built out of your content but it is a marketplace where you can buy and sell that content. Given the corner shop nature of the web nowadays, I expected such sites would proliferate, but they're slow coming.
2. IPTV
IPTV needs a little explanation. Television over IP networks usually refers to telecoms companies who are adapting their networks, then using an Internet protocol to distribute audio-visual content. That means a relatively closed network (within the boundaries of the telecom companies' immediate control) as distinct from the vast Internet.
Companies that distribute audio-visual programming over the Internet though also claim to be in the IPTV business. The distinction for many of us is irrelevant until you consider that the telecoms companies will be offering more interactivity around content, for example offering buddy networks, instant messaging, and recording and replay of any content feed.
In Europe, KPN of Holland is experimenting with OPTV, an IPTV system in Limburg, Telekom Austria, France Telecom, Italian and British Telecom, Magnet (Iceland, Ireland, Poland), SMART all have IPTV systems up and running, and ready to roll out beyond their trial base.
Article comments
1 - Paula Neal Mooney
An Interview with Associated Content's CEO Luke Beatty
2 - Lori Palmer
Very nicely done and in-depth report on the state of media on the internet. There's also FreeTube via Digg, which I guess would fall under aggregator of TV channels.