Arrgh. It's a Parley About Context.

Last week's conference was the Economics of Social Media, or EconSM, a conclave that's only in its second year, but which has already managed to gather some big-name pull, thanks to the stature of its producer and host, ContentNext.

This year's topics included things like "Social Video Explosion," and "Layering on Community" -- all very Web  2.0-ish and very salient to the conversations bubbling around the digerati.  But the thing that caught my interest was the keynote Q&A by Steve Wadsworth, President of WDIG (an acronymic way of saying "Walt Disney Internet Group").  The announced topic was something about "making social media work for Disney."  However, the interviewer for the Q&A was none other than Kara Swisher, whose take-no-prisoners style has made her blog/wiki/platform "All Things D" the definitive resource for technology news on the web.  Kara quickly moves past the platitudes, right to the good stuff.

Basically, she asked Steve what companies coming out of Silicon Valley would Disney choose to buy.  His answer was surprising.

"None," he said.  "Silicon Valley builds platforms, and while these platforms are great tools, in order for them to reach the mass market, they need context.  And Disney provides context." 

A very interesting point of view.  And one that's right -- but only half right. 

Disney is indeed a very powerful context machine.  Take Pirates of the Caribbean, for example, which Steve cited in his talk.   Applying the PoC storyline to a social gaming and networking tool multiplies its reach and power exponentially, bringing in users who wouldn't give a fully-customizable platform a second look.  PoC provides a framework to build from, a simple architecture for entertainment, communications, and creativity.

Club Penguin is another great example.  In this case, Disney acquired the property because it came with built-in context -- a universe with limited interactivity, but one that also boasted simple rules, and a surprising ability to fish dollars out of beleaguered parents' pockets -- me being one of them.

But it's not the sum total of the story. My daughter, a Club Penguin aficionado until the age of 10 or so, has moved on to the world of more personalizable social networks.  While she might periodically return to Club Penguin to see if her befeathered avatar is still living in an igloo with a television set, she spends the rest of her time exchanging mostly-meaningless banter with her posse on MySpace (the same posse with whom she spends her entire day at school).  Her life provides the context, MySpace the platform.  And while she often weaves in other universes -- music and Gossip Girl being the most important features there -- her very existence is enough to inspire her to bend her chosen platform to her will, with only the occasional involvement of a pirate or penguin.  And no sign of a mouse, whatsoever.

So, I'm wondering if "mass market," in this, er, context, actually means "newbies."  And that makes me wonder if, once someone has become familiar with the basic rules of a platform, they no longer need a third party to provide "context" in the form of a self-contained universe.  Whether they become confident enough to branch out, to achieve context as a sort of remix, a mash-up of their own lives and little bits of relevant entertainment and information, organized at their whim. 

So, Steve, I think, maybe you guys should invest in widgets.  (The web kind from Silicon Valley, not the business school kind.)  Because methinks, matey, that those tiny snippets of entertainment may actually be the ship of the future.  Word to the mouse.