Digital Media Buzz > Mindcasting: the New Blue Ocean

Mindcasting: the New Blue Ocean

By Jason W. Bunyan

Where business is concerned, we often use social networks to communicate about things that are and have been — perhaps it’s time we use them to set the stage for things that will be. The evolving practice of mindcasting is an effective way to broadcast messages within Twitter and could prove useful to businesses that are still in the development phase, but seek innovative ways to cultivate relationships with third-tier customers and differentiate themselves from the competition while keeping costs low.

Mindcasting, a term and evolving set of practices developed by New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen, is the act of building an editorial presence in Twitter by filtering, processing and structuring the flow of information that moves through the medium using one’s follow list, journalistic sensibilities and individual right to publish updates.

“Mindcasting came about when I was trying to achieve a very high signal-to noise-ratio,” Rosen explained to the Los Angeles Times on March 11. Rosen sent out tweets pointing to the best media news and analysis he could find, 15 or 20 times a day. “I could work on the concept of a Twitter feed as an editorial product of my own.”

The product is complex and effective. Its structure, which he likens to television broadcasting in some respects, gives readership a multi-layered experience and offers a generous amount of hyperlinks to source material. “A day in my Twitter feed always has one or two themes,” Rosen says. “And it has themes because I will follow up on items, or I will [provide] another example of something that I just said … return to a subject, or I’ll find a number of different stories that will do the same thing.”

Mindcasting’s practices continue to emerge and develop. Its current form has the following attributes:

• Account title to the discretion of the owner
• Follow list used as an editorial filter
• Three content layers: established, daily and one-off themes that interact dialectically
• Posts, done 15-20 times per day at different intervals
• Professionally written tone
• Direct interaction with audience/readership
• Liberal, sensible use of hyperlinks
• Fully articulated thoughts
• No retweets

Businesses seeking to apply tenets of  the Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) could benefit from using Mindcasting practices. In BOS, red and blue oceans are a metaphor for the market as a whole. Red oceans represent markets that are known to exist, have defined and accepted boundaries and are host to competitive tactics.

Blue oceans, in contrast, denote all the industries not in existence today – the unknown market space, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. In blue oceans, competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be set. Mindcasting could be a powerful practice to use while applying BOS, specifically in two respects:

Value innovation: differentiation at low-cost

Defined as the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost, value innovation focuses on making the competition irrelevant by creating a leap of value for buyers and for the company, thereby opening up new and uncontested market space.

Here, mindcasting could bring value to companies who seek to create an active environment for industry discussion but have low resources or want to cut cost. While some may feel that mindcasting is difficult to distinguish from other Twitter accounts, the practice is different not only superficially, but also with respect to the perception it creates. Mindcasting maintains a degree of formality that can be useful for businesses that need to appear credible.

Well-known brands such as iPhone, Tesla and Pitchfork can afford to send messages that traverse the continuum that exists between mindcasting and lifecasting, but as established organizations with well-known products and images, their level of brand recognition and industry-specific celebrity allows them to do so.

For less well-known businesses that have joined Twitter as a part of a larger plan to gain notoriety but want to avoid tweeting their blog or Web address, or overloading followers with unrelated industry information, Mindcasting could be a strong solution that at present only costs time and thought.

Exploration and expansion of third-tier customer base

BOS identifies three tiers of customers. First-tier customers are “soon-to-be non customers who are on the edge of your market waiting to jump ship. Second-tier customers are ‘refusing’ non customers who consciously choose against your market. Third-tier customers are the unexplored non customers who are in markets distant from your business who were not aware of your services, and could become interested in learning more about your business.

Combined with its search capabilities, Twitter’s transparency gives businesses the opportunity to reach out and connect with whomever they choose, whether it’s followers of other competitors, prominent news outlets or other companies with whom a business hopes to align itself in the near future.

Mindcasting is valuable in this context because it has the potential to transform an everyday account into an immersive experience that begins formulating brand conception in a user’s mind before the first pitch is given, or the first product is available on the market.

Though mindcasting’s practices are continuing to evolve, its success suggests that members of the media who seek to encourage dialogue could benefit from studying its method. For businesses that are in development and seeking to establish themselves before they make it to market, mindcasting could be an effective transitional step that could land potential future customers, encourage partnerships with other organizations and assist in the formulation of a powerful brand at reduced cost.

Jason W. Bunyan is a consultant, new media writer for the New York Examiner, and founder of IFN Film and IFN Music — online groups created to serve as resources for festival professionals. He can be reached on LinkedIn or via Twitter at @jbunyan75.