Third Eye Media Group

My next door neighbor’s front yard is dominated by two towering pine trees that create a canopy touching the roof line. The other day, I was getting out of my car and I heard some commotion coming from those trees. Looking up i saw a huge white and brown hawk burst through and ascended.

In direct pursuit were four laughing crows, they were heckling and taunting the hawk as it attempted to get back the prey they had stolen. The four rumbled around the hawk like a gang of dirt bike kids. And like a bunch of delinquent kids they are good at sharing information but not goods. Crows, like good thieves, steal more then they need and stash the rest. A carcass could sit there and be picked clean by 500 crows in a matter of hours. They won’t eat it all but the news of food spreads out and gathering, they all steal more than they need. To me this sounds like the most popular internet destinations:

YouTube, Napster and BitTorrents like The Pirate Bay.

The most successful web communication has involved copyright infringement, patent infringement and content stealing. But these are by-products of like minded scavengers connecting and sharing information.

The hawk stole the life of his prey which was stolen by a brazen group of crows. Likewise, the kid who downloads some digital copy of some CD from some other kid in some other part of the world is a thief as much as a murder of crows are. To label them and turn your back on them means you miss out on their disposable income. The way we communicate is being shaped regardless of legislation and patents. Any business that depends on getting leads from the web needs to understand this. Any local business depending on advertising and promotion should be looking for a murder of crows.

How do you do that? Jump on traffic generated from other businesses. No one is an expert yet, it is like looking for a motion film professor in 1913.

“On Monster everyone was over resumed and under qualified. I could not find the web production talent I needed there. And it was too expensive use Monster. So, when I went to shows that I thought were promoted well I would talk to the promoter. See if he wants side work, or a whole new job. I find videos I like on YouTube and email the creator. i find great writers on their own blogs. I go to where they are.”

- Dan Plym, Producer for Third Eye Media Group, a web focused video production company from Denver.

As local businesses realize that Online promotion is essential, it will create a creative class that is used to the cross platform mist that our media environment has become. There is no set game plan yet. For now, small business owners should all look to the sky and find the clatter of black crows circling the next big thing.