Social networks: New perspectives for radio

“The future of radio lies in the world wide web” is the core message of Arne Klempert’s guest comment in the March edition of the Deutschlandradio programme magazine, which regular listeners will be receiving any day now. With the development of the Internet, the rules for classic mass media have changed in recent years, and with them, the distribution of roles between transmitter and receiver: “The net and its users are increasingly taking on the role of programme-maker themselves,” according to Klempert.

In social networks like Facebook and Twitter, users have held countless “digital discussions” and also looked at the content of classic media. “This is exactly where the web and traditional media can connect: Radio must open up to these networked discussions.” It’s something that Bertolt Brecht also dreamed of, incidentally: In around 1930, he talked of a “great communication apparatus of public life” in his radio theory. An apparatus that would know “how to receive as well as to transmit, how to let the listener speak as well as hear, how to bring him into a relationship instead of isolating him.”

The Deutschlandradio programme magazine regularly features guest comments from figures in public life. The magazine has a print run of 70,000 and is read primarily by the regular listeners of the Deutschlandfunk, Deutschlandradio Kultur, and DRadio Wissen radio stations. Read the full article here nachzulesen.

Since 2008, Arne Klempert has been head of the Digital Communication business field at IFOK, and focuses in particular on social media. He is also a board member of the international Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organisation behind online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.

Twitter with ISS – supported by IFOK

Greetings from space recently reached DRadio Wissen – via Twitter. The editors at the new radio station are currently experimenting with social networking. One online editor was inspired by a report about the international space station ISS: She twittered a greeting to Colonel Timothy J. Creamer, who is travelling with the ISS as a NASA representative. And – surprise, surprise – three and a half hours later Colonel Creamer twittered back! Unfortunately he wasn’t able to receive the radio programme via the Internet, ISS doesn’t have sufficient bandwidth.

Overall, the move into social networks was a success for DRadio Wissen: After just one week, they had more than 100 comments in the editorial blog, and more than 1,000 followers on Twitter. IFOK provided initial assistance – from the concept design through to coaching. After the start of transmission in January, IFOK also provided support for the DRadio Wissen editors. The editorial team received feedback on blog entries and tips on how to handle comments.