You Are “The Message”
“The medium is the message” is a phrase coined by Marshall McLuhan meaning that the form of a medium imbeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived.
The phrase was first introduced in his most widely known book, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, published in 1964, which was also the year I was born :-)
McLuhan proposed that media itself, not the content carried, should be the focus of the communication.
Well, I don’t agree. I think the Messenger is the Message. You, as the content provider, are the Message. Check out what I mean here on this 5-minute video: www.HubAndSpokeVideo.com
You don’t have to agree with me, but I do want you to watch this video because I believe that your Repurposing options are the Mediums (or Media) that set up the ideal Messsage-to-Market match.
Give me your candid comments on whether you agree or disagree … the video is an excerpt from Module #1 of my Virtual Book Tour Systems tele-series training.
Again, here’s the link: www.HubAndSpokeVideo.com
Tags: information marketing, Marshall McLuhan, media, message, repurposing
“I think the Messenger is the Message.” I agree with you – if the message is not delivered well, the medium doesn’t matter.
As usual, a thought provoking post. Thank you.
Absolutely agree, the “messenger is the message.” And, the more spokes the messenger has coming from the hub to deliver content, the stronger their position is in the marketplace.
However, if the content is not delivered with the right context, it is worthless.
For example, a number of years ago, I was working with a spokesperson for a major theme park who was saying all the right things in all the wrong ways regarding a high profile issue – making the message completely unbelievable.
Took some time and training to get him to shift the context for his message.
Yes, Alex, – and just a couple of more points on this process:
The *messenger* brings several less obvious benefits to the student – more deeply constructive than simply a map with new information on great waterproof paper:
1. Affirmation that the problem has a context, is identifiable, and has a solution. The messenger by the very nature of personal observations brings hope, that the *medium* cannot hint at – I’ve been there, I’ve done that, you can do that. The messenger implicitly personalizes the solution.
[Quick point of clarification from my psychoanalytic experience years ago: *Empathy* - is a trial identification with the other, and a removal back to the self - the capacity of the knowing guide. *Sympathy* brings about a loss of objectivity, a stuckness with the pain of the other, and a loss of direction... the trial identification becomes real identification and the guide loses his/her own map - not a good thing.]
2. Passion: that within the suggested solution there resides a new, a different reality, some interesting new way to cut the reality pie. A good messenger relieves the feeling of stuckness, of developmental arrest, of being alone with no map in a very boring woods, with the night approaching. Beyond map reading, the messenger can point out the nuances of things beyond the map. Optimism and hope don’t come with even the best maps… not even with a GPS.
3. Implicit in the passion is a little recognized third dimension: I’m also now offering you a moment, perhaps longer, of partnership, on this dark path – we can do this together, I will guide, and am confident that this will work. Action becomes implicit in the mutual metaphoric packing up to travel on.
I appreciate your depth of understanding, your great sense of humor, and your respect for the students on so many different levels.
Thanks Alex, – we will be walking together more explicitly as time and travel bring our paths into greater proximity.
Chuck
Right now my message is “Persistance.”
As a beginning beginner in the information business, I don’t know what I don’t know. But as a holistic cook, my forthcoming book “The Holistic Cookie” bridges that gap for beginning beginner cooks.
Just in case you don’t already know it, you are truly a Holistic teacher who brings in all levels of information — body, mind and spirit — to move us in the direction towards our success.
Thanks for your deep thoughts and heart-felt instruction.
Martha
Hello Alex this post is off topic, but I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed hearing you speak today at the Chris Howard event here in LA!
I wasn’t feeling great when I arrived but that went right out the window when you took to the stage. You are nothing short of amazing!
I’ve obviously heard you speak in countless tele-seminars and here through your blog, but nothing, nothing, NOTHING! beats experiencing you live and personal..
I can only dream to be as motivating as you were today! Thank you Sir!
Hi Alex:
I really enjoyed hearing this during the Virtual Book Tour, and seeing all the hubs get filled further underscored how many opportunities there are for repurposing content. Seeing all of the repurposing ideas made me think of even more possibilities.
I think that the messenger plus the media (or medium) really makes the difference (for example, audio vs. live presentation vs. transcript). The common example of teaching someone to tie their shoes with just text vs. live (hand over hand instruction), or video instruction underscores the importance.
I doubled my mailing list to about 800 since I began the virtual book tour course, and did my first Virtual Book Tour about a week ago (thanks for the personal coaching on the Friday call!) I also got some great feedback, which, as you said, really made it worth the time and effort.
All the best,
Andrew
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Andrew Darlow
Editor, The Imaging Buffet
http://www.imagingbuffet.com
Author, 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques:
An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers – http://www.inkjettips.com
Thank you for the fun and wonderful knowledge you shared at Chris Howard’s Ultimate Business Seminar!!! You rock!
I have been listening to you for several years on teleseminars. You have a great gift of speaking! Listening to you in person has given me a feeling that I can really do teleseminars it is not so complicated.
Thank you and Bless you and all of your world!
Hi Alex,
Very interesting spin (no pun intended) on Marshall McLuhan’s ‘the medium is the message’ phrase. I’ve been interested in McLuhan’s ideas for a long time. I thought that when he coined that phrase he meant basically what you espoused in your video. I heard what he said this way; if you place a medium in a room, for example, the television, that medium causes people to relate differently. It changed relationship style. This change in the social fabric had an impact on the way people related to each other in that now they would gaze at the screen instead of sit around and tell stories. It is not so much the programs that the television emitted that had the major impact but the subtle influence of the machine (the medium) itself. And in that sense the medium is the message.
Having said that, your analogy with the bicycle wheel amounted to saying the same thing in that ‘the medium is the message’ means that the medium “influences” the environment. For sure the medium is the salesperson and all the ways that person uses to communicate are like the programs on tv. All of it has an influence on the environment in which the medium (the salesman) is placed.
Anyway I am new at this business of responding to blogs and am in the initial stages of setting up an online business starting with just a few posts presently. I’m very grateful for your post in that it was interesting enough to me, to prompt me to get into active mode in in the online community. I heard your message to “take responsibility”. I will ponder it for days to come. Thanks for the great creative zeal. Lots of energy and enthusiasm. Thanks again Alex.
Norm
[...] created a blog article out of it. Here is the link to read Alex Mandossian’s blog article on Your Are “The Message” and also the link to the Spectacular Presentation that we [...]
Loved the Hub and Spoke analogy. This blog is such a great example of giving content that is useful; it is the only blog I regularly read so far and I look forward to the posts! Thanks for more thought-provoking information.
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