BBC – Going Our Way?

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January 12, 2007 |

Phil Butler

Reuters: London, January 11, 2007 12:01 pm ET – The British Broadcasting Corporation announced plans to develop its online social networking presence with sites built around the company’s brands. The BBC aims to capitalize on the recent popularity of communities like MySpace, and other social networking platforms.

No time frame or particulars were announced by the BBC spokeswoman, but the release did say the company would be working over the next year to enter this venue. The BBC brands Good Food and Top Gear were mentioned as possible candidates for inclusion in the new project.

The spokeswoman for the BBC seemed to think that the teenage aspect of social networking might be saturated, but other community prospects might be feasible. The BBC will look seriously at any prospective entry points into the growing market, as the company is not currently vested in this web trend. Rumors and statistics abound that traditional media is losing ground to user contributed content.

The release made a point of mentioning a report by the consultancy Deloitte, that said companies like the BBC and print media are ideally suited to benefit because of consumer loyalties. The British Broadcasting Corporation Web site has approximately 14.5 million unique users every month.

This shift towards less traditional media outlets is evidently being supported to some degree by the British government, as there are reportedly 350 million pounds earmarked for commercial businesses like the BBC to borrow for investment and development in these new arenas.

Accross the pond, the Ford Foundation recently created a $50 million dollar grant for strengthening public media and promoting innovation, according to a recent press release. The foundation is a nonprofit grant making organization established in the 1950′s. It looks as if all the more players from conventional media to technology companies and nonprofit organizations are vesting themselves in significant web community development or convergent technologies.

We should make a graphic that depicts all the major corporations in the world lining up like baby birds waiting for the mommy bird to bring the web worm back to the nest!