Abstract
The mass media model has been based upon integrated value chains in which the function of aggregation has been the lynchpin, drawing audiences to content and providing the point of engagement between content consumption, the generation of income and the realisation of value accrued (Porter. Competitive advantage. New York, NY: Free Press; 1985).
Following the pioneering work of Ramirez and Normann (1993) value in enterprises has come increasingly to be seen as being co-produced by a multiple actors, collaborating in a network of relationships in which value is created and rewards are secured in a variety of ways.
Such network models are particularly suited for the study of social media models and media organisations in which content is crowdsourced or generated by users and where production is decentralised and devolved rather the centralised and controlled.
Arguably, on demand modes of consumption compound the tendencies to disaggregation inherent in such networked and distributed models. This chapter argues, however, that aggregation, in its various forms, remains and will continue to remain central to the success of media business models. In doing so it explores the nature of aggregation, explores in various dimensions and attributes, and examines examples of how this function is changing within current media services.
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Notes
- 1.
Of course, there is considerable variation in the character of these functions and way in which they are deployed. Publishers have played a filtering function and through their lists, assert a status of arbiters of quality. For some publishers (for example, the feminist publisher, Virago Press) they indicate a certain type of book. Others may be associated with specific genre, but for most, the brand is the individual book or author.
- 2.
The importance of trust, particularly in the news media, is highlighted and discussed at length in Baumüller (2012).
- 3.
Applications like Zeebox have also been described as ‘co-viewing’ apps. Networks have also developed their own co-viewing apps. ABC was an early entrant with its co-viewing app for the mockumentary series, My Generation.
- 4.
Relatively crude methods such as ‘screen scraping’ are possible.
- 5.
In superdistribution models, content is typically encoded and made publicly available. Individuals can pass content between themselves as the content is only usable on payment or compliance with a specified condition (e.g. registration or, within closed systems, entering a password.
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Brown, C. (2013). Social Media, Aggregation and the Refashioning of Media Business Models. In: Friedrichsen, M., Mühl-Benninghaus, W. (eds) Handbook of Social Media Management. Media Business and Innovation. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28897-5_13
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