Opinion: "Lost" is the first truly pan-media experience, and that holds lessons for content producers everywhere.ABC's "Lost" has done more than any other media before it to enable interaction around a brand on multiple platforms. It is the first truly pan-media experience, and that holds lessons for content producers everywhere.
"Lost" is everywhere. It's a television show that was born in a traditional analog world but came of age in a digital world where the very idea of "television" is giving way to the idea of ubiquitous, platform-agnostic video.
But the show's presence extends beyond just video. Viewers interact with the brand on multiple platforms. There are Web sites devoted to translating the whispers heard on the show. People track the literary works mentioned. ABC has even created fake Web sites for elements of the show, like for the band Driveshaft.
This is mind-boggling for someone who, like me, has yet to get over the surprise of seeing Tootie co-star on "Different Strokes."
Today, your involvement with a show never stops.
That's Why 'Lost' Is All About You
"Lost" gives people what they want on multiple levels. At a very basic, nontechnology level, "Lost" confirms what most people suspect about the real world, or at least wish were true: Everything is about you. Like the characters in Pynchon's "The Crying of Lot 49," the characters of "Lost" are navigating a world where every minute detail—from their friends to their enemies to nature—is connected in a matrix of meaning for them. Everything is a clue. Everything has a place in context. There are no accidental encounters.
Not only that, but the creators of "Lost" are actively engaged with their viewers through online forums. If you have friends involved with these forums, you've probably heard them (lord knows I have) talk about how the creators of "Lost" really care about what they, the viewers, have to say.
This very basic emotional connection is even more important in an online world, where the power of personalization makes "Planet Me" all the more possible. Media companies are trying hard to create online experiences that go beyond "related articles" and, instead, tantalize you with a truly contextual experience.
Given enough time, publishing giants like Time Warner will be able to link their entire catalog of content through a structured taxonomy. You may read a story about Wal-Mart, and at your fingertips will be every mention of Wal-Mart back to 1947. In every media format. Ever.
'Lost' Is Platform-agnostic
That brings me to platform agnosticism. ABC is doing everything it can to make "Lost" a ubiquitous experience. Not ubiquitous television. Not ubiquitous video. A ubiquitous experience. They want you to live inside "Lost," a world where, name notwithstanding, you are constantly aware of and connected to new media experiences. Call it media proprioception. It's all very meta. All very postmodern. But whatever.
On May 3, ABC launched the "Lost Experience," a multiplatform game that involves e-mail, text messages, phone calls, billboards, TV commercials and Web sites. Sure, multiplatform media isn't new. The BBC launched a game/show (game show? game experience?) last year called "Jamie Kaine" that made use of multiple formats. The online experience "Stranger Adventures," produced by Riddle Productions, is in the same vein and was nominated for the first Emmy for nontraditional platforms.
But this is ABC we're talking about. A broadcast network. Taking over every form of media. Allowing the experience, the brand, to go beyond the mediums they control.
ABC also has plans for "Lost" mobisodes for your cell phone that aren't far off either. Let's not forget that ABC just launched a new online theatre, where ad-supported episodes of "Lost" are available for free.
Being platform-agnostic allows "Lost" to compete for your time no matter where you are or what you're doing. ABC knows you can't maintain a business with just television. Or just video. You need to be everywhere. In being everywhere, you let your product, whatever it may be, have a social life.
'Lost' Is Free
Finally, not only do you need your media to be everywhere, you need your media to be free. No stumbling blocks to acceptance. No downloads. No tiered pricing models. Just there, ready for you.
So What's This Mean?
Like I said, "Lost" is an extreme example. It has the benefit of being a hit TV show, and thus access to a wide swath of the population. But content producers can learn and use lessons from "Lost."
But don't take my word for it. Go check out the "Lost" post on City of Sound, where Dan drops some knowledge: "What Lost should indicate for media creators working on the web is that the amount of useful interaction off-site should be far greater than that on your own website. The amount of content produced about your content should be of far greater weight than the originating content itself. This in turn creates a new kind of content, forged from a social process of collaboration with users, viewers, listeners."
We're reaching a point where you won't be able to identify where a piece of media originates. There are now so many starting points for learning about "Lost," it's quite conceivable that your initial interaction with "Lost" will be through a medium that isn't your television. And it's possible to have a relationship with the experience without ever seeing the show at all.
Web sites, podcasts, text messages, videos, billboards. You've got to be everywhere.
It's enough to make me feel silly just writing a column.
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