5 characteristics of new media

We’ve been throwing around the term “new media” a lot, but what exactly makes it different from legacy media and the blogger era?

It’s something I’ve been getting questions about when I talk to people and in the comments on my TikTok, so I’m breaking it down for you in today’s newsletter.

Here’s what changed:

SEO was the main power driver of “old” media. It was the thing to optimize for both media brands and companies. If you could apply SEO best practices according to Google’s guidelines, you’d see organic reach. 

Brands like HubSpot wrote the playbook that everyone followed. It’s why we saw a rise in content formats like listicles and tools like hashtags to give creators and brands a leg up on discoverability. 

But as AI has grown more prevalent, discovery has become more keyword-focused and now accounts for all content formats, not just articles. It’s less about what’s getting clicked and more about what information is being pulled. 

Additionally, the focus is on “search and discovery” rather than just “search.” Each platform has become a search engine, not just Google. Pinterest, TikTok, and YouTube have become platforms where consumers search for content. And let's not forget AI tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini, which call for their own set of optimization techniques. 

This also changes the structure of the content, by making it less keyword and phrase-stuffed and more conversational and question-focused. In other words, the quality and value of the information (in addition to some mechanics) determine whether the content is discovered. 

The old media landscape was long-form first, with social media primarily used as a distribution channel. The intention was to drive traffic back to a website or a longer-form piece of content. There was little diversity in content formats, typically links or static images. 

As a whole, social media was an afterthought, a place you “should” be on because everyone else is. It’d be posted when remembered and run by an intern or junior-level marketer.

Now, social is a media channel in its own right, with entire teams creating native content for it. It’s no longer just a channel to drive traffic somewhere else; it’s the place traffic gets driven to. 

In the new media landscape, social media is a tool for brand building and storytelling because of the platforms and formats available to creators. Accounts run by Duolingo and Dr. Seuss are a masterclass in how brands use content to drive culture. 

Brands use it for everything from sharing news to entertainment. And because of the nuances of the platforms and their features, it’s no longer enough to cross-post content; it's now about strategically thinking about how best to connect with audiences based on the successful content formats for each channel. 

Anyone can be a creator now. In fact, it’s expected. We have a whole economy around it. Companies are investing in it. It’s a skill to cultivate, whether you’re a founder, marketing lead, or entrepreneur.

In other words, it’s more respected and legitimate, not just something that an intern would do (this was reiterated with a whole “social media” category on this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30). 

While this was true to some extent with old media, you can now make a full-time living by being a creator much more easily than you did before. You don’t have to rely on a publisher or an outlet to get your content out—there is no middleman anymore, allowing you to have a more direct relationship with your audience.

Moreover, you don’t have a large audience to do so either; just a paying one. This opens up many monetization opportunities, from sponsorships to subscriptions, events, and more.

The old era of media was shown in chronological order: what our friends were posting or what we subscribed to via an RSS feed. We used to see the content from the people we follow; now it’s the content we’re interested in.

We’re recommended content based on what we engage with, so as a consumer, we can get more targeted content. But as creators, this also means anyone can see our content, making it easier to build an audience with like-minded people. 

Depending on the platform, this makes it easier to increase your reach so your content can hit a new group of people outside your normal network, which is a huge plus if you’re looking to grow. 

The people create the algorithm, so it’s less about creating it and more about the people who are likely going to be the ones recommending your content to others. 

New media doesn’t just function as a single platform anymore. It’s a complete ecosystem that’s across channels and formats. 

It is no longer just a model with one end goal; it’s not just a news model or just a conversion model; it blends both, with value as the common denominator.

If you’re a creator, you create media around an area of expertise and turn it into a full-fledged business, with content at the center. Creators building media brands and businesses are expanding into suites of content-first services to monetize their expertise, from courses to digital products, communities, and more. 

On the other hand, businesses are investing in different types of content to build an ecosystem, from demand-gen conversion-focused content to close sales to more editorial, story-driven content for brand building and thought leadership. This helps brands create a content world for their audiences to explore, with content providing value at every touchpoint. This allows them to push boundaries and think outside the box in how they connect with their audience.