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Lessons from "The
Star Wars Kid": The Value of Social Networks in Publishing |
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John Blossom
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25 May
2003 |
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What was at first just a prank by some
mean-spirited classmates of a French Canadian teenager
turned into an international content sensation almost
overnight. The
video clip originally created by the kid known only as
Ghyslain has now been downloaded
by millions worldwide and has rumbled into the limelight of
the mainstream content community. While Ghyslain doesn't
stand to make much by his venture, it raises interesting
questions as to how content can be produced and monetized
in the future. Professional producers and consumers of
content are likely to benefit from social network
publishing as much as consumers - when the tools are there
to do so. |
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Poor Ghyslain:
how could an unassuming and awkward French Canadian teenager
have ever thought that his little private Star Wars
"shadow play" would have become an international Web hit? And
yet within a couple of weeks, that's just what happened -
thanks to the social networks that are beginning to create a
publishing environment far more powerful than anyone could have
ever imagined just a few years ago. In the process of doing so,
the outlines of ways in which content can be valued and
monetized through personal publishing networks come into sharp
relief.
It all started last November when
Ghyslain was playing around with some video equipment at his
local school to tape
his own
version of fancy "light sabre" moves from his favorite
film, not knowing that it would be discovered by some
less-than-kind schoolmates in mid-April who decided to post his
footage on the
Kazaa file sharing service. The video clip spread around
the world like a wildfire, popularized by both peers in the
service, mirror sites and influential
weblog entries. By mid-May, well over a million copies of
the clip had been downloaded,
interviews with Ghyslain had been published, and donations
received to compensate him for the trouble of his infamy. By 19
May mainstream media outlets such as
The New York Times and
Wired had started to pick up the scent, but by then the
story was already old by the standards of the audience most
involved in its unfolding.
In other words, a worldwide publishing
sensation had been created, distributed, publicized and
monetized in a matter of days with no help whatsoever from the
greater publishing establishment. A social network of people
who found it to be to their liking packaged it, recommended it
to their peers, amplified its value, placed it in contexts
where others would find it to be similarly valuable, others who
would in turn continue to amplify its value again and again.
There have been "sleeper" hits throughout the history of
content publishing, but nothing before has illustrated so
graphically just how powerful independent publishing can be
through Web-enabled channels. The ultimate content itself is
not terribly profound, but that fact in and of itself should
indicate the importance of this event: if millions of copies of
something as simple as Ghyslain's gyrations can make it around
the world in record time, what would be the impact of something
far more valuable that could be created, adopted, amplified and
monetized by these networks?
The potential answers to this question
hold out some strong implications for the world of professional
content and related technologies. Here are a few of our takes
on some of the echoes that we're likely to recognize over time
in the wake of this exceptional incident:
- Peer networks can define what's
valuable content far faster than most existing entities
understand how to monetize it. Much of the flap regarding
file sharing services has revolved around piracy of
copyrighted materials. But far more significant than the
piracy issue is that the people in these networks are able to
communicate their sense of value to one another far more
quickly and effectively than publishers have been able to do
using a traditional, command-and-control marketing structure.
In other words, extraordinary market demand came and went
before anyone even had a chance to think about serious
monetization capabilities. That doesn't mean that the
opportunity for monetization wasn't there; it just wasn't
made available. If the original clips had been posted with a
mechanism to monetize it directly, there is the real
possibility that someone could have made off with a very
handsome piece of change in no time flat. This lesson will
not go unpondered for too long, no doubt.
- The experience of sharing content
is oftentimes an inherent part of the value of that content.
The fact that the video clip in question could be shared
easily as a part of a relationship with valued peers was in
many instances at least as important as the clip itself to
its audiences. This has been true since content was invented:
being able to pass off a copy of a loved book to a valued
associate is oftentimes an inherent part of its value. In
trying to "lock down" content too tightly, publishers may
wind up creating a product that has greatly diminished value
in the eyes of its consumers by eliminating existing patterns
of value realization based on human experiences that have
nothing to do with the publisher.
- Individuals and traditionally
non-publishing institutions may turn out to be the most
potent force for content monetization and distribution.
The exact value of sharing this video clip multiplied
significantly as the worldwide event unfolded, amplified by
demand but unmonetized in part because of unlimited supply.
When people learn how to adjust the price and supply of
electronic content quickly and effectively to meet the demand
for it, that picture could change significantly. In an era in
which content redistribution agreements still are usually
negotiated in lengthy, stiff agreements, a great deal of
thinking needs to go into the possibility that electronic
content sharing could be a source of highly flexible license
monetization. If people in the content markets
themselves can determine, realize and retain the situational
value of licensed electronic content, much as people can
trade in financial securities and other conveyers of
financial value, then such a license is bound to have more
intrinsic value to its holder - a value that they are likely
to be willing to share with its licensors.
So thanks, Ghyslain. As much as this
strange incident may have pained you personally, you've
provided the world with a valuable lesson in the power of peer
publishing. It's a lesson that just might hold a key to
creating new ways to have the value of content realized in ways
far more efficient than ever before attempted in the publishing
world. Next time, perhaps you won't have to settle for an iPod
as a consolation prize.
-
John Blossom
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