That was a discussion question posted online by a smart, tech-savvy entrepreneur and media expert. And it got me thinking: are we surprised about any place a person or company advertises these days?

So many people used to question the value of advertising online, because it was either overvalued, overpriced or the ROI was non-existent. Now, the traditional forms of media, like radio, are having their value questioned. Interestingly, it is because radio is somewhat cost-effective, undervalued and the ROI is thought to be difficult to determine.

The truth of the matter is, while traditional media still outstrips digital in terms of reach, we cannot even think of advertising in terms of technology or form of media. We actually have to think of media in a more singular tone and realize that by NOT using all techniques together whenever possible we are really limiting the effectiveness of our own efforts.

Today’s technology enhances the effectiveness of all media. And in the years ahead, the expansion of mobile networks and satellite will take what we think of radio today and shatter it completely. Just imagine if you are a small, cable-casted and/or Internet streaming station? And we go from 4G to the next generation in wireless? People will be able to get Internet feeds in their cars. This potential alone connects to advertising in ways that are not realized, but soon will be.

In 5 years, voice recognition, Internet streaming via subscription and the like will enable even the smallest station or lone individual to reach an unlimited audience, deliver targeted marketing message via SMS and wireless (to a car or mobile device – though, cars themselves might be considered the ultimate mobile devices soon), and then track user activity to gauge the effectiveness of such a marketing campaign.

All this brings me back to the original questions.

1) Are we still amazed that there advertisers on the radio?

2) Are we surprised about any place a person or company advertises these days?

I think the answer is clear: We should not be amazed. Unless, of course, we are talking about newspaper!

Facing a 50% devaluation in their currency (announced by Chavez this past weekend), record crime rates, power outages, collapsing industrial infrastructure and food shortages, President Chavez is asking film producers to alter Venezuela’s beloved soap operas or telenovelas to make “socialist soap operas” as part of his plan to reduce the amount of capitalism on television.

This movement by Chavez is not a total surprise. Chavez has made it clear that he wants to eradicate free-markets and capitalism from the country. In the process, gaining control of the media – especially TV and radio programming – has been an important element of his government. Over the years, Chavez has established many limitations on television and radio – suspending licenses of stations that aired opposition programming, expanding government control over broadcasters and using political pressure to alter programs in ways that support the government’s socialist agenda.

However, Venezuela is one of the largest producers of telenovelas in the world. Programs are diverse and have romantic, criminal, comedic, working class and other angles. They are a popular draw for actors and actresses from different Spanish-speaking countries, and generate a sense of pride in Venezuelans (as well as provide a valuable source of regular entertainment).

Chavez has indicated that his model of replacement would be Cuban soap operas. But Cuban programming, subjects to its tough state controls, tends to not only be low-budget, but include bland socialist political philosophy that render programs dull. Gone are typical dynamics seen in most latin telenovelas today.

How exactly Venezuelans will react to one of their leading and most popular enterprises undergoing such drastic content changes is unclear. But with so many challenges facing the country, Chavez’s latest effort to control the masses to build his socialist state could have the reverse effect his desires and bring about a more steady erosion of this popularity over the next year.

A few weeks ago I had some thoughts about Twitter and its possible development of an emergency alerting tool (I’ll post sometime soon – though I may back-date it) – among other things. However, in reading some recent blog posts, I see Twitter’s ability as a Web 2.0 news and information aggregator as being the immediate advantage because unlike many news organizations – people consider Twitter “faster, unspun” with the negative of news organizations being that they are not participatory or focused on sharing.

WAIT A SECOND! HOLD THE PHONE!

No sooner had the statement about news organizations not being “focused on sharing” sprung forth and into this blog post, than I discovered a news organization mentioned in a blog post that IS using Twitter to reach out to its specific communities and engage people in conversations (I am sure there are many more, btw).

NBCi4 – MIDWEST

Using Twitter allows reporters, editors and columnists the ability to get real-time stories from people on the ground as well as drive content to people via Twitter, and get specific feeds mentioning their news organization in the different Twitter search engines. So, Twitter is a natural fit for every kind of mass media.

See page where I got the above screen shot at: http://www.nbc4i.com/midwest/cmh/news/nbc4now.html.

The value for radio, tv and newspaper is clear… engage your audience, expand your coverage, grow your audience, and help drive people back to your web properties (where monetization can in many instances occur).

From a marketing perspective, I think a key development strategy (for companies involved in the widget / desktop application space) is integrating Twitter with social communicators / desktop applications / widgets. Doing so would create a “must have” application for news organizations (as well as other markets). Direct Twitter conversations could fuel traffic to radio contests, news / network events, broaden community activism, and much, much more.

As far as emergency managers are concerned, using Twitter within a desktop application or somehow finding a way to convert the Twitter feed (this would take some technical experience with the Twitter API to determine if such an approach were possible) into a CAP (common alerting protocol) message, would create another inbound and outbound communication stream. Alert managers could receive real-time information that could be shared with first responders and others. Likewise, alert managers also could distribute messages via a CAP-based system to Twitter, and thereby reaching their constituents through another touch point. Such an option, for example, would prove enormously useful on a college campus.

In the end, I think the technical and business applications for a simple micro-blogging platform, like Twitter, are starting to come to the head. The question on my mind now is… is Twitter already working with a company on integrating its system with an emergency alert solution, and how many other widget / desktop application / social communicators out there will heed the call and integrate Twitter functionality into their products for the benefit of their customers.