La Silla Vacía is an independent Colombian media organization that tells how power is exercised in the country. It has 320,000 unique users and 100,000 Twitter followers, filling a need not met by traditional media which is dominated by a few wealthy families and conglomerates. La Silla Vacía disrupts the "manufactured consent" of traditional media by reporting on stories they ignore and speaking for ordinary citizens. Through creativity and a diverse business model, La Silla Vacía has survived for three years as an alternative to the media monopolies in Colombia.

1.
La Silla Vacía: an example of
Online Creativity vs. Offline
Monopolies

2. La Silla Vacía (The empty chair) , an
independent media that tells how power is
exercised in Colombia
320.000 unique users, 100.000 twitter
followers

3. The starting point
2 national newspapers
1 national magazine
2 TV channels
3 Radio News Networks
0 native digital media
7 million Facebook users

4. Who owns the media?
The largest newspaper is owned by billionaire # 1, who owns the
majority of banks
The other newspaper is owned by billionaire # 2, who owns the largest
TV channel and the third radio network
One TV channel is owned by billionaire #3 who owns the largest
beverage company, and the second largest radio network and TV
channel
The third radio network is owned by Prisa, the Spanish conglomerate.
The national magazine is owned by the son and grandson of former
Presidents and its director is the nephew of current President Santos.
The largest newspaper used to be owned by Santos family.

5. What do we do? We disrupt the ¨manufactured
consent¨ of traditional media

6. Examples of disruption: Santos’s phantom users

7. This land will be negotiated with Farc?

8. The corruption crusader?

9. The independence of traditional media?

10. h#p://prezi.com/rqc2amsio9yc/proyecto-­‐rosa/

11. The impact: the third most influential media for
opinion leaders

12. Ciberac9vism
and
La
Silla
– Talking
from
power
vs.
conversa9on
with
equals
– Lack
of
plural
representa9on
in
tradi9onal
media
vs.
working
with
disenfranchised
groups
– Represen9ng
economic
interests
vs.
expressing
the
view
of
the
ordinary
ci9zen
– Violence
in
off-­‐line
space
vs.
security
online
– Centricity
vs.
connec9ng
to
global
issues
– Final
product
vs.
an
experiment

13.
We make a small difference
• Rosa gets protection and volunteers
• The Minister of Agriculture recognizes it has
not yet restored any land to victims
• The director of a media that published sold
articles resigns
• Government prohibits oil exploration near
Islands
• The Supreme Court opens an investigation
for pork barrel corruption of 8 congressmen

14. How
do
we
survive?
– We
conceive
ourselves
as
a
laboratory
of
experimenta9on.
We
try
everything:
• 50
%:
Grants
• 20
%:
Adver9sing
• 20
%:
Consul9ng
• 5%:
Training
• 5
%:
Super
Friends

15. Can
crea9vity
beat
monopolies?
We
have
done
it
for
three
years