Donald Lim, president of Yehey!, delivered an insightful talk on “new media” during one of the breakout sessions of the 6th Mindanao ICT Congress last 24 October 2007. While the presentation revolved around Yehey.com offerings, what Lim said about emerging new media rings true across the world.

What is new media?

Blogs are a part of it. In fact, they are a good example why it’s called “new media”. Up until several years ago, having your own website was costly and often required technical skills. Today, powerful and user-friendly blogging platforms (such as WordPress.com and Blogger) are freely available to anyone who cares to publish himself online. Not only has this resulted in an explosion of content (Technorati estimates that there are currently more than 75 million blogs), but aso in the perceptible weakening of the reach of traditional media.

Blogs and the other manifestations of new media (e.g., Internet TV, virtual communities, gamevertising) are starting to establish themselves as the preferred sources of information, especially by the younger generations. This can be seen in the decisive direction that traditional media — TV, print, radio — are already taking. All three now republish their content via the Internet, presumbly in order not to lose connection with Generation X.

In the heyday of the so-called tri-media, who were the predominant personalities? You could say Ted Turner, or Walter Cronkite, or Larry King. In the Philippines, you could probably say the Lopezes, or maybe Che-Che Lazaro, or even Jessica Soho. Only a handful became influential — either because they had the resources to put in place the expensive infrastructure needed to broadcast or to print; or, they had the wit and the charm to attract loyal viewers / readers.

But today, as Lim put it, we are the media. For instance, if you blog, you yourself become a medium of information exchange. And, much like newspapers, you could also carry advertisements. Making serious money off of your blog(s) is a tangible reality these days.

For years now in the U.S. and recently in the Philippines, advertisers have been spending more and more in new media advertising. So much so that an enterprising group of Filipino bloggers have opened shop this year as an ad agency that targets the Internet as their preferred ad space for their clients. They call themselves Mad Crowd Media, and they’re based in Ortigas.

Here in the Philippines, it’s still an uphill climb trying to convince businesses to advertise online. But, just like trying to sell websites to companies only a few years ago, the day will come when everybody will accept the fact that new media is the media of the very near and foreseeable future.