On the weekend I attended Bridging Media, a conference dealing with the problem of integrating broadcast media institutions and content creators with the online world. Held at the Great Northern Way campus, it was an interesting conference, as much for the questions it posed as the answers it provided.

Despite the emergence of social media into the mainstream, broadcast media are still mostly unable or unwilling to leverage social media because it forces them to do things differently. Although projections show that online delivery of content is a massive opportunity, the long-term investment in marketing that some independent content producers have profited from isn't being made by institutional players. Rather than incubating niche content for several years using a small budget, institutions will not fund content that doesn't succeed after being marketed for a single season with a large budget.

Independent content creators are also finding the transition to online distribution a challenge. Many broadcasters are now asking for exclusive online rights but providing no additional compensation. There seem to be three popular funding models: the independent agent model (create something maintstream enough that it will be easy to market and productize), the "starving artist" model (create something unique and try to find an audience you can productize to) and the "sell your soul" model (try to find an institution that will fund you). What has not yet emerged is something that leverages social media to empower the potential audience to fund the content creation, using a technique like microlending.