PICNIC Special on Thursday September 25th 2008
Citizen Media - user generated content services that intend to produce public value - are on the rise. However, business models have not matured yet. TNO Information and Communication Technology organised a session to identify viable business models for these kinds of services. 70 people attended the session chaired by Prof.dr. Valerie Frissen.
In the first part of the session, two speakers shared their views on business models for Citizen media services. The first speaker was Sander Limonard, researcher and consultant at TNO Information and Communication Technology. In his presentation he discussed the business models behind so-called Citizen media services and considerations for initiators of such communities. Sander perceives user generated content to be long tail content, and makes a distinction between different long tail strategies in making the business models for these services viable. Remarkably, most of these web 2.0 services providing social or public value are supported by fully commercial business models, and lack involvement of public bodies. Sander's presentation can be found here.
Presentation Edgar Franzmann, Koeln.de
The second speaker was Edgar Franzmann, chief editor of Koeln.de [www.koeln.de], the city portal for Cologne (Germany). With his team from NetCologne - the local telecom operator - Edgar was able to set up a viable business model for Koeln.de during the last few years. Recently Rheinvideo.de, [www.rheinvideo.de] an online user generated content video portal with a regional focus was added to the activities of NetCologne. Edgar discovered by trial and error learning that the regional focus of a video platform especially provides surplus value for local partners such as the local football club, regional television, local catering industry and employment agencies. The challenge for service providers setting up these services is to mobilise and organise this local community on your platform. Edgar's presentation can be found here.
Business models yes or no?
In the second part, three 'social entrepreneurs' presented their initiatives. By equipping the audience with laser pointers, the 'crowd' was enabled to voice their opinion on the viability of the business models of these initiatives. By pointing their lasers to the screen, the audience was able to respond to the questions of the social entrepreneurs and provide an instant aggregation of their individual views.
The first initiaitive presented by Gijs van den Heuvel is NederlandP [www.nederlandp.nl], the 'most public video platform of the Netherlands'. NederlandP was set up by the Dutch national broadcaster NCRV in cooperation with the Dutch organisation of local broadcasters OLON. NederlandP enables everybody to be a broadcaster and is implementing a system that enables these broadcasters to grow in status (c, b, and a broadcasters). By growing in status, the broadcaster is able to get more support in terms coaching, but also funding.
Presentation Gijs van den Heuvel, NederlandP
Vote NederlandP
Fully publicly funded (the exception to the rule?), this platform will soon start as a pilot project. The audience casted the following judgement on the viability of this platform.
The second initiative presented by Naomi Schiphorst and Mieke Vullings was MIMOA.eu [www.mimoa.eu]. MIMOA is site for lay users and professionals dedicated to modern architecture. The community is able to post pictures, link them to Google Maps or TomTom navigation (as a point of interest), create architecture guides or (for professional architects) present their portfolio. MIMOA is still in doubt which business models to implement, with options ranging from advertising and premium membership to retail of architecture guides and b2b services in the field of city trips. The presentation of MIMOA can be found here.
The audience casted the following judgement on the viability of this platform.
Vote MIMOA
The third initiative presented by Marc Miletich was Buntes Fernsehen [www.goldener-delfin.at], an IPTV initiative set up in the Austrian rural village of Engerwirtzdorf. Marc explains that Engerwirtzdorf is a pilot of Telekom Austria, which is considering scaling up this format to more rural villages in order to create customer loyalty and decrease the churn rate. Marc's presentation can be found here.
The audience casted the following judgement on the viability of this platform.
Vote Buntes Fernsehen
Overall, MIMOA seems to be most favoured by the audience in terms of business potential. Engerwirtzdorf finishes second with a 50/50 vote, closely followed by NederlandP. We hope however that this crowd sourcing experiment was more than just a contest and enabled a well informed discussion on platforms creating social or public value.
Presentations
