TPC Web Plan 2013

D M A / T P C
F o r t M e a d e , M D
O c t o b e r , 2 0 1 3

A comprehensive plan for
TPCs online, mobile and Social
Web future.


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In order to effectively communicate our message, we must be
communicating across all platforms, new and old. By creating
richer, more interesting content, we can create a deeper
connection with the American public, and nourish the growing
news appetite, on our terms.
George Little, State of Public Affairs in the DoD, 7/25/2013

In 2012, a continued erosion of news reporting resources
converged with growing opportunities for those in politics,
government agencies, companies and others to take their
messages directly to the public.
Newsmakers and others with information they want to put into
the public arena have become more adept at using digital
technology and social media to do so on their own, without any
filter by the traditional media. They are also seeing more
success in getting their message into the traditional media
narrative.
Pew Research Centers Project for Excellence in Journalism,
State of the Media 2013

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Overview

We are witnessing sweeping changes throughout the media environment driven by what
has been called The Rise of the Visual Web. It is a revolution in digital communication
driven by mobile video and the Social Web. TPC is uniquely positioned to take
advantage of these changes. To begin this process, and start shaping this strategy,
TPC should merge pentagonchannel.mil into the DoD homepage (defense.gov).
In the current environment of undermanned news organizations and rising power of
social media and mobile video, TPC is in a unique position to deliver DOD information
into the public arena by tailoring its content to mobile video and social media. These
two elements of the online world should play a key role in TPCs future web-based plans
within DMAs overarching mission.
We are seeing what is being called The
Rise of the Visual Web. Weve seen
rapid growth in visual-based social media
such as Pinterest, Instagram and Vine as
well as rapid growth in other mobile video
and mobile news (see table at right). In
2012, online video accounted for more
than 50% of all consumer web traffic for
the first time ever.
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At the same time, we are seeing a
revolution in whats being called the
Social Web
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the ability of individual
users to access and share content
making them potential force multipliers
in our mission to deliver DoD information
to a wider audience.
Audiences appear more focused on the
subject of the content rather than what
organization produced it.
This report proposes a short-term plan to
update TPCs current Web role and a

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Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data traffic Forecast Update, 2012 - 2017
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For the purposes of this paper, Social Web uses the definition from About.com: The Social Web describes any
piece of technology, website, app or software that supports online communication between two or more people.
This could come in the form of a social game, a social music streaming site, a social network, a video sharing
platform or anything else that integrates social interaction into its services.
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long-term strategy to prepare TPC to meet the challenges of this changing environment
as a part of DMAs overall strategy.
TPC content, and the way TPC delivers that content, must change to meet the realities
of how our audience is accessing information. At the same time, TPC must maintain its
current, traditional website users as it transitions to meet the needs of mobile video and
social media platforms.

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Defining Our Audience
TPCs audience is being redefined somewhat by the change in the mass media
environment.
For this report, weve identified our audience as these target groups:

Because of the power of the Social Web, the audience members weve labeled
Influencers can be used as a force multiplier to deliver DoDs message to those
groups farther down the list service members and the general public often more
effectively than we can do directly. For example, some AFPS pages have higher
viewership rates than the landing page for defense.gov. This is indicative of readers
being sent to the individual article from outside sources such as hyperlinks in blogs or
commercial news websites.
We should take special note that the Influencers are likely to increasingly rely on
mobile data and mobile video for gathering information. It is likely that more and more
of their work is being done away from a desk.
OSD Staff
Other DoD Leaders
Civilian Defense Leaders
Joint Staff
Combatant Commanders
Other Commanders
Military Leaders
Reporters - General Interest
Reporters - Trade/Defense Specific Media
Bloggers
Individual social media followers on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
Influencers
Service Members & Military Families
General Public
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Likewise, the groups below them are part of the trend toward mobile data and mobile
video consumption. These are people who we ultimately want to share DoD PA
information across their personal social media feeds.
To take advantage of this force multiplier, we should focus on the ability of each group
listed above to utilize and re-use TPC videos.
In the long-term, this means delivering videos online and via mobile video in a way they
can be easily shared across social platforms. And it means TPC must focus on
producing videos that meet the best standards and practices of social media to
maximize sharing across the Social Web.
In reaching this goal, TPCs Web presence should begin a transition that takes on the
look and feel of the Social Web. In the long-term, as this paper will outline, the structure
exists to allow TPC videos to merge relatively seamlessly into the fabric of the emerging
Social Web.

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Interim Plan
The current pentagonchannel.mil was designed for a different mission and a much
larger production staff. It assumed the production schedule TPC maintained before
budget and manpower cuts in 2012.
It was also structured to deliver content downrange to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan
using what was the cutting edge technology of the last decade; for instance, TPC
utilized live streams of its broadcast signal delivered on a webpage and video podcasts
of its programming to reach troops who might not be able to pick up a television signal
at a forward operating base.
Iraq is long since behind us and Afghanistan in the process of a drawdown. Likewise
TPCs strategy, and the technology used to deliver content, has been overtaken by
changes in the way our audience chooses to receive information.
TPC must prepare now for the next time troops are sent downrange wherever and
whenever that may be. To do that, TPC must deliver content in a method consistent
with how its audience chooses to receive content.
Desktop and laptop computers have given way to mobile devices just as traditional
broadcast, cable and satellite television has given way to video on demand, mobile
videos and mobile apps. Content itself must reflect the influences of social media.
In the long-term, we propose doing away with pentagonchannel.mil and integrating
TPCs Web presence into defense.gov. Public Web is already at work on this plan
scheduled to take effect around the end of 2014.
But we propose an interim plan to help with the transition both in the way we present
content and in the way we move current TPC Web users to the new platform. This way,
TPC maintains its current Web audience while transitioning them over a year or more to
defense.gov.
The next page features a mockup of what this new, defense.gov/pentagonchannel
would look like.
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Highlights of the TPC page
on defense.gov:
1) Top Story of the day
prominently featured in
larger, centrally placed
player window.
2) Main body features
latest stories, links to
latest original program
uploads and links to
live coverage. Stories
can be moved around
for greater
prominence, keeping
top stories on top.
3) Live Streaming player. Users can click to watch TPCs streaming broadcast feed
and click to make it full screen.
4) Icons linking to archived show pages TPC News, Briefings and Speeches,
Recon, etc.
Heres how the interim or short-term plan would work:
TPC will continue uploading video to DVIDs, RSS feeds will show the uploads in
boxes on defense.gov/pentagonchannel. The long-term plan would be to shift
content storage to a cloud-based, DMA source to take ownership of our content
storage.

Users going to pentagonchannel.mil will be redirected to
defense.gov/pentagonchannel. This page will replace the current Pentagon
Channel tab on defense.gov.

The defense.gov/pentagonchannel page will feature a column of icons on the
right-hand side of the page linking to archived show pages maintained in the
current pentagonchannel.mil playlists at DVIDS,

The defense.gov/pentagonchannel page will allow for the upload of still images
and text-only content allowing content managers to provide links to breaking
stories or live events -- eliminating the need for creating labor intensive rotators
on the current pentagonchannel.mil site.

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Why Change?
The current pentagonchannel.mil page was as mentioned earlier designed for a
different mission and different audience expectations.
This interim plan provides a site that is more in line with the way our audience is likely to
use the Internet today with an emphasis on social media, ease of sharing our content
on their social media feeds. Each story box features one click sharing.
Moving it to defense.gov also improves the one-voice goals of DMA to place DoD-
related video on the DoDs main website.
In addition, it offers qualities of appearance, flexibility and mobility that work well with
the emerging Social Web structure and how users recognize content in that
environment:
APPEARANCE
The look is clean, uncluttered and full of big, bright images arranged in an organized, but non-rigid
format that allows users eyes to float over it naturally.
Emphasis on visuals features
large stills or video thumbnails.
Fully stocked effect the large
size of the boxes give the users the
idea that there is a lot of fresh
content here.
FLEXIBILITY
It allows for editorial control and mixed
media.
Easily curated gives TPC content
managers the ability to reposition
stories to keep top news at the
top (the current model puts the
most recently uploaded story on
top and can bury the big news
story of the day).
Allows for inclusion of still images,
text stories and other content in
addition to videos.
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Ability to add greater detail to text captions beneath video thumbnails to promote live events
or tie in with content from another DMA division such as links to AFPS articles.
MOBILITY
It translates content to work across almost all digital platforms.
Focuses on immediacy emphasis on delivering the most up to date message (the current
platform pentagonchannel.mil has a much greater emphasis on archiving).
Allows users to easily share TPC videos on major social media platforms Twitter, Facebook,
etc.
Stronger TPC Presence on defense.gov
To make defense.gov users more aware of TPC videos, and to drive users to the
defense.gov/pentagonchannel page, TPCs presence on the defense.gov home page
should be enhanced.
We should modify the
TPC box on the
defense.gov homepage to
feature two thumbnails;
one to linking to the top
story of the moment and a
second linked to the TPC
broadcast stream. (See
detail at right).
Clicking on either of these
icons would take the user
to the top story or the
broadcast stream,
respectively. Clicking on
the boxs top bar The
Pentagon Channel
More>-- would take users
to defense.gov/
pentagonchannel.
A direct link to the broadcast stream benefits our audience. The great majority of
people looking for TPCs stream come looking during major announcements TPC is
carrying live. With the exception of graduations at the various military academies, this
interest peaks for live coverage of major briefings by the Secretary of Defense or other
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Defense leaders. It should be prominently featured on the Defense Departments
website so that it can be easily found.
This change would also bring TPCs presence more in line with the look of the Special
Feature and Photos boxes on the defense.gov home page. (see image below).

The TPC box should also be moved up on the defense.gov homepage to take
advantage of the growth in audience interest in mobile video.
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Long Term Web Plan
Public Web has pretty much written the technical aspects of the long-term plan for
TPCs Web presence. These are in line with Director Ray Shepherds One Voice
vision outlined earlier this year. It also embraces concepts of the Social Web. First lets
take a look what a re-imagined defense.gov/news page may look like:

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Emphasis on the Social Web
In addition to traditional print, still photo, video and Web content, this layout addresses
the changes in the way our audience receives and consumes information. There is a
strong emphasis on mobile apps, social media and mobile video.
1) Social Web Bar -- offers links to defense.gov mobile apps for the most popular
devices.
2) News Bar On the first two-
thirds of the bar, a constantly
changing News Ticker,
powered by TPCs on-screen
ticker, AFPSs headline RSS
and other sources of headline
text feeds. The remaining third
of the bar is a traditional
Navigation Bar allowing one-
click access to AFPS, TPC,
Web Specials, Photos, and
Live coverage.
3) Lead Story of the Day
features a powerful still image
and headline, that hyperlinks to
the Story Page which
features all print, video, and
other media on a single story
(more on the Story Page later).
4) Social Media Dashboard
takes users to DoDs social
media pages, YouTube and to
TPCs live stream.
5) Features Dashboard links to Photo Essays, Special Web Reports from
defense.gov and the TPC Video page (which utilizes the short term page design
mentioned in the previous section of this report).
6) News Articles AFPS headlines hyperlink to the Story Page for that particular
story.
7) Social Media Stream powered by a social media aggregator, it brings in all DoD
social media feeds Facebook, Twitter, Vine, Instagram into a single box showing
the latest information coming from DoD.

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The message takes precedent over the messengers
The long-term plan would shift focus from the individual entities within DMA delivering
DoDs message to the message itself. And make audience wants and needs for DoD
information a top priority.
Thats the basis of the Story Page. Clicking on a headline takes users to a single page
where all DoD media coverage on the story is centered.
This image shows how a
Story Page may look
similar to major
commercial news
organizations online
pages. In this example,
the story Defense
Secretary Chuck Hagels
joint Pentagon news
briefing with New
Zealand Defense
Minister Jonathan
Coleman.
A TPC video news story
features a large
thumbnail, and brief
description.
Immediately below, a
truncated version of the
AFPS print story on the
same event. Users can
click a Read More link
to expand for the full
print article.
In the right hand column,
hyperlinked thumbnails
to a photo slideshow of stills snapped at the event and the full-length news briefing
video from TPC.
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Below that, the DoD social media stream of relevant posts related to the event. And
finally, a link to biographies of the principals involved in the event in this case,
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
Clicking on any of these options will bring up content that has one click sharing so the
content can be easily sent to the audience members social media feeds or embedded
in a blog or website.
Combining different media coverage of a single story into the same space allows the
audience members to choose the media they want. Overall, the plan makes it easier for
the Influencers and other individual audience members to share DMA content in a
variety of ways over the social media networks of their choosing.
This is a brief synopsis of how it would work as explained by Director of Public Web Les
Benito.
TPCs future Web presence
This design is in line with the way our audience uses content. They dont care so much
about what organization created the content they are interested in the content they
want and about the event they want to know about.
We must also assume that this plan will be shaped by the demands and opportunities
presented by the Rise of the Visual Web and the Social Web to make all the
individual pieces of content on these pages readily sharable.
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TPC & the Social Web
The long-term plan described above creates a Web portal. Beyond that, it lays the
framework in which TPC will serve as DoDs mobile video platform.
While TPC will remain a traditional television broadcast platform, it should be conscious
at all times of ways to make its content both live and VOD more Social Web-friendly.
In the past, TPC has simply re-purposed its television products for use on the Web.
With the rise of mobile video, TPC must start thinking differently in how it creates video
content so that content is multi-purpose suited for multiple screens from TV sets to
desktop computers to tablets and mobile phones and focus on ways to deliver that
content in ways our audience is choosing to receive it.
In recent years, the broadcast industry has been filled with talk of the second screen
the idea that broadcasters should try to engage TV viewers who are on their computer,
tablet or smartphone while watching television.
TPC and DMA should develop a content style in which the Second Screen approach
becomes the First Screen. The understanding that our audience chooses to use a
variety of screens mobile devices, computers, tablets, smartphones and mobile apps
will be a focus of how each TPC product is developed, created, branded and
executed.

While the broadcast program for television will stand on its own, it actually is part of the
overall support for the DoD mobile app.

DMA Mobile App
Beyond placing videos in social media, the most obvious way for DMA to utilize TPC on
the Social Web would be with the creation of a defense.gov mobile app. The goal of a
DMA/DoD mobile app must look beyond simply delivering content. It must also aim to
for engage our audience, further knowledge and interact with users so they can interact
with the platforms of their choice and present an appetite to be more in the know
through this approach. TPC video could play an important role with that.

The app should feature alerts about live events, so users can choose to watch live
coverage from TPC on their mobile device or follow live Tweets of the event from DMAs
Social Media Division.
Quick connection between mobile video and the social streams from Twitter and
Facebook will allow us to capitalize on the social interaction during a broadcast to
encourage engagement from both casual and dedicated viewers.
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Through the use of tags, the app could be designed to bring up related content a
viewer watching a news story on the Secretarys briefing could be offered a single click
option of watching the full briefing, seeing a photo gallery of the event or reading the
AFPS article on the event effectively mirroring the re-worked defense.gov During a
2001 proof of concept experiment for a second screen plan, TPC produced 13 media
products from two interviews and b-roll shoots for Command Performance (list
attached as an appendix to this paper).
Any such app should also feature TPCs full video feed and the ability for users to easily
and quickly share those TPC videos on prime social media sites or embed them in a
blog from the users mobile device.
TPC & Mobile Video
Both industry and independent surveys show people are watching more video online
and watching those videos for a longer time. Mobile devices both phones and tablets
appear to be driving this trend. These are important facts to consider when planning
DMAs future efforts to reach its audience and the role TPC can play in that outreach.
Here are some figures to consider:
More than half of all Americans with a mobile device have used it sometime in the last
24 hours to
get news.
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And as
mentioned
earlier in
this paper,
In 2012,
online
video
accounted
for over 50
percent of
all
consumer
web traffic for the very first time ever, making it the most significant year yet for online
video consumption.
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3
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, September 27, 2012
4
Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Traffic Forecast Update, 2012 -2017
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Predicted Rise of Mobile Video Volume
The average smartphone generated about 342 MB of monthly traffic in 2012, and that
number is
expected to
skyrocket up to
2.7 GB in
2017.
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This indicates a
789% increase
in traffic to
smartphones,
suggesting
mobile videos
which have a
greater gross
tonnage
among data
to play a major
part in this
expected
growth over the
next four years.
In 2010, early into the so-called Rise of the Visual Web, the Poynter Institute analyzed
mobile video users and found: Mobile users are socializing, multitasking, and passing
time.
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This behavior is indicative of a large swath of our perceived audience particularly the
Influencers and individual social media users within the general public we should enlist
as force multipliers in sharing DMA/TPC content.
At the time, the Poynter analysis also said: And theyre [mobile users] conscious of
data rates and battery life, so they want it fast.
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That has changed.
More recent numbers suggest the proliferation of Wi-Fi-enabled mobile devices and free
Wi-Fi___33 and longer battery life have eaten away at many of these concerns.

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Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Traffic Forecast Update, 2012 -2017
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10 Questions to Help You Craft a Mobile Strategy (Before Its Too Late), Poynter, May 24, 2010
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Ibid
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Watching Live Events on Mobile Devices
Users are
spending
more time
watching live
video on their
mobile
devices. For
instance,
tablet users
watch video
in patterns
similar to
those of
traditional TV
audiences
as shown in
the image at
right.
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And a study by Motorola found tablet owners watch 6.7 hours of online content every
week. Non-tablet owners watched only 5.5 hours per week.
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This suggests live content carried on TPC could find a welcome audience on mobile
devices.
And -- considering the numbers
in the graphic at right
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-- if
given a choice, users appear to
favor live content over video on
demand on their mobile
devices.
While this ratio may skew to
trends in Asia, those usage
habits tend to migrate across
the Pacific along with the
hardware available in the
region.

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Ooyala Q1 2013 Video Index, Metrics from 200-million unique viewers in 130 countries
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Fourth Annual Motorola Media Engagement Barometer
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Ooyala
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Tailoring TPC News Videos for the Social Web
Changes in technology from color cameras to videotape have altered the look of
traditional broadcast television throughout its history. Commercial news programs are
increasingly taking on a look to mimic the look of online, mobile and social video.
While retaining its traditional television mission, TPC must look at adapting its videos to
fit in with the Social Web.
TPC producers should create content with an eye on how the finished product will fit
into realm of the Social Web particularly as mobile video or as a post to Facebook,
YouTube, blogs or other social media sites.
That means TPC News videos must balance TV appearance with the needs of smaller
screens of mobile devices.
Use of larger, simpler graphics.
Blending still photos with video.
More reliance on b-roll over talking heads.
Faster pacing when possible.
Guidelines should follow standards and practices similar to these, outlined by
Digimarc: [Mobile videos should] create payoffs which are mobile-optimized. A
payoff that is difficult to view and interact with on the [mobile devices] screen
creates a poor user experience. Pay-offs should be engaging, but they dont
need to be complicated.
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TPC should consider targeting high-profile reports for this treatment particularly those
news reports on the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and other
senior leaders, events or stories of particular interest to DoD.
It should also consider aesthetic, staffing and technical changes to make TPC videos
more suited to a broad spectrum of media platforms beyond television. These should
include:

Creating a producer position dedicated to leadership or other top story packages
specifically assigned to this style of cross-platform packages.
Creating these packages in addition to quick-turn VO/SOTs covering the same
story.

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Digimarc Discover Implementation Guide
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Deploying a new graphics package, relying on larger, simpler and animated
graphics more readily visible on smaller mobile screens.
Promoting the longer, mobile/Social Web-ready stories to DMAs Social Media
division.
In the end, TPC can build a flexible, multi-platform future for TPCs video and live
coverage capabilities.
The end goal should be to create video and live event coverage that works effectively
across traditional television, Web, mobile and Social Web platforms.

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Appendix A
Command Performance Second Screen
Content list from 2011 Proof of Concept

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Command Performance Second Screen
Outline of products and their descriptions

A. Command Performance: Eric Church
(0) Standard Command Performance episode: Country performer Eric Church talks about his
Grammy nomination and the possibility of doing a USO tour in 2012.

a) SECOND SCREEN ITEMS:
1. Eric Church iPhone Message: Eric Church sends a personal video message to MC2
Michael Wilkens wife via iPhone video
2. Behind the Scenes: See what goes on behind the scenes during our raw interview with
Eric Church
3. Around the Services story: Watch the Around the Services story about our interview
with Eric Church
4. Photos: Screen grabs and photos of Eric Church during the interview and with the crew
afterwards
B. Command Performance: Josh Gracin
(0) Standard Command Performance episode: Josh Gracin talks about the challenges in being
an active duty Marine while he competed on American Idol.

b) SECOND SCREEN ITEMS:
1. Acoustic performance: Josh performs an acoustic version of his new single Cant Say Good-
bye
2. Behind the Scenes: See what goes on behind the scenes as the Command Performance crew
tapes Josh Gracins acoustic performance of Cant Say Good-bye.
3. Around the Services Story: Watch the story from Around the Services about our interview
with Josh Gracin.
4. Photos: See photos and screen shots of Josh during the interview, during his acoustic
performance and with the crew afterwards
5. Social Media: Screen capture of photo and write up posted to Pentagon Channels
Facebook page after the interview
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C. Additional Second Screen Items
(Can be added to either Gracin or Church content or dropped into a
separate, standard BTW page)
1. Bleu Knows Boots: Cowboy Bleu has sold boots to Nashville and Hollywood celebrities. He
shows us his autographs and tells stories about his old friend, the late Jerry Reed.
2. Banjo Man: Music Row lures people who want to be stars, and people who need to pay the bills.
We talk with one of the people who play for tips on the street and he shows us his banjo skills.



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