The world as the digital immigrant knew it growing up is changing. Rapidly. Recent news items that illustrate continuing trends:

Waning Power of Traditional Media

• Starting next year, U. S. News will cut back its publishing schedule, from once a week to once every two weeks. According to U. S. News Editor, Brian Kelly: "The advertising climate for weekly magazines is bleak. This is part of our growth strategy that involves a significant expansion online and narrowing our focus in print."
• Print-ad spending in the newspaper industry fell 9.4% last year, the worst drop since the Newspaper Association of America began collecting advertising data in 1950.
• This week, newspaper publisher, McClatchy Co, which owns the Miami Herald and 29 other dailies in the US, announced a 10% reduction of its workforce. McClatchy’s cost cutting follows other announcements to reduce staff at the Washington Post and New York Times. 

Increasing Use of Hybrid Approach

• Book authors are increasingly using online videos to promote their books. Recent examples are Scott Heim’s YouTube clip for  his novel, "We Disappear," and a Wall Street Journal online interview with David Benioff about his book, "City of Thieves." 
• Borders is now providing its own online store and in the process is appealing to the self-publishing crowd as another distribution channel. They will also allow for self-published books to be ordered from any of their retail stores.
• The  Wall Street Journal interviewed Daniel Anstandig, President of McVay New Media. Anstandig reports that radio stations are providing social networking sites and online chat rooms in an effort to build online communities. Pioneers include X96 in Salt Lake City where DJs are also blogging.

Giving Away More to Get More

• As a way to promote her new album, "Hard Candy," Madonna provided a free live streaming video of a concert given last April at the Roseland Ballroom, a New York club with capacity for 3,000 people.
• And finally, check out this gem, Baen Free Library, which was pointed out to me by one of the ABV consultants. It’s the part of a publisher’s site that provides free downloads of books. Eric Flint, "First Librarian," provides a folksy explanation of why they are providing free downloads and how it’s good for business.

As another of the ABV consultants likes to say, this is the way the world is going. What was true is no longer true. What seemed ludicrous then makes sense now.

The question for individuals: How do I take advantage of these trends to create A Bigger Voice?