News Media + Analytics: Measuring the Media [360 VR Video]
In January, with the great support of Austin’s Antone’s Nightclub and the startup sales advisors at Sellerant, we took MediaTech down the path of News Media and Data technology during a wonderful panel discussion.
The idea for the talk of the convergence of media and technology was sparked over a year ago by work being done by Trendkite, an analytics platform that quantifies PR’s impact in a way both PR professionals and executives understand, so they can optimize their PR strategy. The web site developers, social media marketers, and Google Analytics professionals involved in what we’re doing, frequently ponder(ed), “can we not measure the effectiveness and impact of traditional News?” It certainly can be done. We set out to pull together some thought leaders to explore how and why more aren’t turning to technology in measuring, reporting on, and even holding accountable News Media.
Joined by one of Texas’ great PR (public relations) and marketing resources, Dave Manzer, founder of PR Over Coffee, Journalist Chad Swiatecki, and Reporter (and our musician for the evening) Johnny Holden, TrendKite’s Russ Somers rounded out our panel which as you might imagine found it’s way in to today’s hot topic: fake news.
Experience Our News + Analytics Talk in VR
The reasons for the delayed wrap up of the evening is that we’re working in the convergence of Media and Technology so our events endeavor to not just talk about but show how varied aspects of the media are bringing about a future in which our experience with content is really multi-dimensional. 
Herein we were exploring how the News and PR can be improved, thanks to tracking and reporting technologies, but the event showcased in music Johnny Holden, and kicked off our excitement for 360 VR.
Thanks to Michael Hodson, founder of OnlyInVR, our events are being produced in 360 to give everyone a chance to be there. OnlyInVR simply produces some of the best 360-degree, virtual reality (VR) content in the world today. Media. Video media. A means of experiencing News events at the scene? An opportunity to experience meetups and conferences from the floor. A way for musicians to give their fans access to live concerts.
How to Experience 360 VR Videos
- Get Google Cardboard and assemble it or pick up a more elaborate set along the lines of the Oculus you might have heard about or Samsung’s Gear VR. Pop-Tech makes a great $25 pair.
- Open the YouTube app and find the video or open the site (or this page) on your mobile device.
- Start playback.
- Tap the cardboard icon. You’ll notice that the screen splits into two smaller screens.
- Insert your phone into your goggles.
- Look around to view the video in 360 degrees.
- Don’t bother raising your hand to ask a question, you’re not actually there. And if you don’t have googles, you can pan the video to look around.
News + MediaTech in 360
- Kicked back with your goggles on, check out Antone’s cool event space (just in time for SXSW!) and in the first couple minutes alone, get some insight from Paul O’Brien to what we’re doing in MediaTech Ventures.
- 5:00 – Dave shares some thoughts about the industry and his work
- 12:00 – Panel discussion starts with some great discussion of measurement, alternative facts, monetization, news, validating media professionals, and even simply: HOW TO START PR
- 41:00 – At the tail, get to know Andrew Escher and how to engage with us
Pan around to catch a ton of familiar faces to watch and hear what entrepreneurs are challenged by in News Media.
This event was just one in the series of MediaTech events we’re producing! We’ll be exploring Written Media and Jobs in Tech, featuring one of our Entrepreneur Spotlights, Michael Svatek, in the immediate future and with all this talk of video, coming up we’ll delve into Video Media. Be sure to RSVP or join us on Social Media to connect, experience, and learn MediaTech.
