Digital first

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Digital first is a communication theory that publishers should release content into new media channels in preference to old media. The premise behind the theory is that after the advent of Internet, most established media organizations continued to give priority to traditional media. [1] Over time, those organizations faced a choice to either publish first in digital media or traditional media. [1] A "digital first" decision occurs when a publisher chooses to distribute information online in preference to or at the expense of traditional media like print publishing. [1]

Contents

Many employers and employees find it challenging to imagine using digital first practices. [2]

Distributing content digital first introduces new practices, including a need to manage the data which tracks readership. [3]

Many paper print publishers feel intimidated by the idea of publishing content online before publishing it in paper media. [4]

Comedian John Oliver in the show Last Week Tonight criticized digital first practices as a cause of lower standards in journalism. [5]

Digital-First Transformation in Business and Education

The classical perspective of an information system is that it represents and reflects physical reality. [6] However, it is increasingly evident that digital technologies not only represent reality but also actively shape it, as, in many instances, the digital version is created first, and the physical version follows. [6] Gradually, digital infrastructures are integrated in people's work and life, shaping a digital environment through technologies such as 5G, sensors, and blockchain. [6]

The Digital First Framework, developed by Professor Youngjin Yoo, is a conceptual approach that helps the physical companies in the integration of digital technologies into the core of product and service design. [7] The shift from traditional cars, where the physical vehicle precedes its digital representation on Google maps, to autonomous vehicles, where the digital representation (the blue dot) is created first, emphasizes the digital-first mindset in the design and operation of systems. [6]

In today's business environment, it's critical for organizations to embrace a digital-first strategy. Companies built on digital platforms will significantly diverge from traditional, hierarchical business structures that typically focus on a single product or market. [7] These digitally-centered enterprises will offer products and services that are tailored to individual requirements, utilizing algorithms to assess needs based on specific situations, and relying on external partners to provide these solutions. [7] This highlights the need to transform traditional R&D practices. [7] It's essential for R&D teams to move beyond their laboratories and immerse themselves in the environments of their users. Understanding the context of use is fundamental to creating a relevant platform. [7]

As an illustration, the concept of Digital-first, as defined by Rohm et al. (2019), involves the integration of digital projects within educational courses, exemplified by institutions like M-School. [8] The program adopts a programmatic approach, where successive courses progressively build upon one another, adopting an all-encompassing perspective that regards all aspects of marketing as inherently digital. Students actively participate in real-world projects, including campaigns for community improvement, and are tasked with generating content for diverse platforms. Through hands-on collaboration with live clients and the utilization of tools such as Google AdWords and Facebook Advertising, students acquire practical experience in the realms of digital marketing and analytics. [8]

vBook

A vBook is an eBook that is digital first media with embedded video, images, graphs, tables, text, and other media. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital media</span> Any media that are encoded in machine-readable formats

In mass communication, digital media is any communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronic device, including digital data storage media and digital broadcasting. Digital is defined as any data represented by a series of digits, and media refers to methods of broadcasting or communicating this information. Together, digital media refers to mediums of digitized information broadcast through a screen and/or a speaker. This also includes text, audio, video, and graphics that are transmitted over the internet for viewing or listening to on the internet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Publishing</span> Process of production and dissemination of literature, music, or information

Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software, and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, comic books, newspapers, and magazines. With the advent of digital information systems, the scope has expanded to include digital publishing such as ebooks, digital magazines, websites, social media, music, and video game publishing.

Technological convergence is the tendency for technologies that were originally unrelated to become more closely integrated and even unified as they develop and advance. For example, watches, telephones, television, computers, and social media platforms began as separate and mostly unrelated technologies, but have converged in many ways into an interrelated telecommunication, media, and technology industry.

Personalized marketing, also known as one-to-one marketing or individual marketing, is a marketing strategy by which companies leverage data analysis and digital technology to deliver individualized messages and product offerings to current or prospective customers. Advancements in data collection methods, analytics, digital electronics, and digital economics, have enabled marketers to deploy more effective real-time and prolonged customer experience personalization tactics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copy editing</span> Improving the formatting, style, and accuracy of text

Copy editing is the process of revising written material ("copy") to improve quality and readability, as well as ensuring that a text is free of errors in grammar, style and accuracy. The Chicago Manual of Style states that manuscript editing encompasses "simple mechanical corrections through sentence-level interventions to substantial remedial work on literary style and clarity, disorganized passages, baggy prose, muddled tables and figures, and the like ". In the context of print publication, copy editing is done before typesetting and again before proofreading. Outside traditional book and journal publishing, the term "copy editing" is used more broadly, and is sometimes referred to as proofreading; the term sometimes encompasses additional tasks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citizen journalism</span> Journalism genre

Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism or street journalism, is based upon members of the community playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information. Courtney C. Radsch defines citizen journalism "as an alternative and activist form of news gathering and reporting that functions outside mainstream media institutions, often as a response to shortcomings in the professional journalistic field, that uses similar journalistic practices but is driven by different objectives and ideals and relies on alternative sources of legitimacy than traditional or mainstream journalism". Jay Rosen offers a simpler definition: "When the people formerly known as the audience employ the press tools they have in their possession to inform one another." The underlying principle of citizen journalism is that ordinary people, not professional journalists, can be the main creators and distributors of news. Citizen journalism should not be confused with community journalism or civic journalism, both of which are practiced by professional journalists; collaborative journalism, which is the practice of professional and non-professional journalists working together; and social journalism, which denotes a digital publication with a hybrid of professional and non-professional journalism.

Marketing communications refers to the use of different marketing channels and tools in combination. Marketing communication channels focus on how businesses communicate a message to its desired market, or the market in general. It is also in charge of the internal communications of the organization. Marketing communication tools include advertising, personal selling, direct marketing, sponsorship, communication, public relations, social media, customer journey and promotion.

In marketing, promotion refers to any type of marketing communication used to inform target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or issue, persuasively. It helps marketers to create a distinctive place in customers' mind, it can be either a cognitive or emotional route. The aim of promotion is to increase brand awareness, create interest, generate sales or create brand loyalty. It is one of the basic elements of the market mix, which includes the four Ps, i.e., product, price, place, and promotion.

Earned media is content relating to a person or organization, which is published by a third party without any form of payment to the publisher. It includes articles by media outlets, interviews with the person or representatives of the organization, or bylined editorials in trade press and other publications. It may also include social media sharing, unpaid mentions by podcast hosts and guests, or word-of-mouth marketing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">User-generated content</span> Online content created by users

User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), is generally any form of content, such as images, videos, audio, text, testimonials, and software, that has been posted by users on online content aggregation platforms such as social media, discussion forums and wikis. It is a product consumers create to disseminate information about online products or the firms that market them.

Social media optimization (SMO) is the use of a number of outlets and communities to generate publicity to increase the awareness of a product, service brand or event. Types of social media involved include RSS feeds, social news, bookmarking sites, and social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, video sharing websites, and blogging sites. SMO is similar to search engine optimization (SEO) in that the goal is to generate web traffic and increase awareness for a website. SMO's focal point is on gaining organic links to social media content. In contrast, SEO's core is about reaching the top of the search engine hierarchy. In general, social media optimization refers to optimizing a website and its content to encourage more users to use and share links to the website across social media and networking sites.

Custom media is a marketing term referring broadly to the development, production and delivery of media designed to strengthen the relationship between the sponsor of the medium and the medium's audience. It is also called branded media, customer media, member media, content marketing, and custom publishing in the US; contract publishing and customer publishing in the UK. In-flight magazines, sponsored by airlines, were one of the first custom media and remain typical of the genre. While other channels have had significant success, the customer magazine is the most successful example of the genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital marketing</span> Marketing of products or services using digital technologies or digital tools

Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online-based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones, and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services. Its development during the 1990s and 2000s changed the way brands and businesses use technology for marketing. As digital platforms became increasingly incorporated into marketing plans and everyday life, and as people increasingly used digital devices instead of visiting physical shops, digital marketing campaigns have become prevalent, employing combinations of search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), content marketing, influencer marketing, content automation, campaign marketing, data-driven marketing, e-commerce marketing, social media marketing, social media optimization, e-mail direct marketing, display advertising, e-books, and optical disks and games have become commonplace. Digital marketing extends to non-Internet channels that provide digital media, such as television, mobile phones, callbacks, and on-hold mobile ringtones. The extension to non-Internet channels differentiates digital marketing from online marketing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital journalism</span> Editorial content published via the Internet

Digital journalism, also known as netizen journalism or online journalism, is a contemporary form of journalism where editorial content is distributed via the Internet, as opposed to publishing via print or broadcast. What constitutes digital journalism is debated by scholars; however, the primary product of journalism, which is news and features on current affairs, is presented solely or in combination as text, audio, video, or some interactive forms like storytelling stories or newsgames, and disseminated through digital media technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Content marketing</span> Form of marketing focused on creating content for a targeted audience online

Content marketing is a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing, and distributing content for a targeted audience online. It is often used by businesses in order to achieve the following goals: attract attention and generate leads, expand their customer base, generate or increase online sales, increase brand awareness or credibility, and engage an online community of users. Content marketing attracts new customers by creating and sharing valuable free content as well as by helping companies create sustainable brand loyalty, providing valuable information to consumers, and creating a willingness to purchase products from the company in the future.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet celebrity</span> Person who has become famous through their use of the Internet

An internet celebrity is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large, global audience. Internet celebrities are often found on large online platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, which primarily rely on user-generated content.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social media marketing</span> Promotion of products or services on social media

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for both practitioners and researchers.

Omnichannel is a neologism describing a business strategy. According to Frost & Sullivan, omnichannel is defined as "seamless and effortless, high-quality customer experiences that occur within and between contact channels".

Native advertising, also called sponsored content, partner content, and branded journalism, is a type of paid advertising that appears in the style and format of the content near the advertisement's placement. It manifests as a post, image, video, article or editorial piece of content. In some cases it functions like an advertorial. The word native refers to this coherence of the content with the other media that appear on the platform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multimedia journalism</span> Practice of contemporary journalism

Multimedia journalism is the practice of contemporary journalism that distributes news content either using two or more media formats via the Internet, or disseminating news report via multiple media platforms. First time published as a combination of the mediums by Canadian media mogul, journalist and artist, Good Fridae Mattas in 2003. It is inseparably related to the media convergence of communication technologies, business integration of news industries, and editorial strategies of newsroom management.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hendricks, Alice; McLaughlin, Misty (19 May 2016). "Becoming a Digital-First Organization". nten.org. NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network . Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  2. ↑ Boag, Paul (27 October 2015). "How to respond when executives talk about digital first". boagworld.com. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  3. ↑ Kalehoff, Max (30 March 2016). "How a digital-first approach makes the difference for marketers". imediaconnection.com. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  4. ↑ Renaud, Beth (22 May 2015). "Digital First: A Radical Idea for Print Publishers". lanepress.com. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  5. ↑ Huddleston, Jr., Tom (8 August 2016). "John Oliver Mocks Newspapers Claiming to be 'Digital First'". Fortune . Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Baskerville, Richard L.; Myers, Michael D.; Yoo, Youngjin (2020-06-01). "Digital First: The Ontological Reversal and New Challenges for Information Systems Research". MIS Quarterly. 44 (2): 509–523. doi:10.25300/misq/2020/14418. ISSN   0276-7783.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Yoo, Youngjin; Euchner, Jim (2020-04-21). "Digital First Thinking for Industrial Companies". Research-Technology Management. 63 (3): 12–18. doi:10.1080/08956308.2020.1733885. ISSN   0895-6308.
  8. 1 2 Rohm, Andrew J.; Stefl, Matthew; Saint Clair, Julian (2018-09-07). "Time for a Marketing Curriculum Overhaul: Developing a Digital-First Approach". Journal of Marketing Education. 41 (1): 47–59. doi:10.1177/0273475318798086. ISSN   0273-4753.
  9. ↑ "Video Books (vBooks) Are An Upgrade From Traditional eBooks". vidyard.com. 2022-01-03.
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