Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Social media continues to stir us up

Boy, are we conflicted about social media. A new study reported on Online Media today says we "hate" it when we are targeted on social media, but we "like" it when companies offer social media sites.

A good bit of this comes from various privacy issues Facebook has had over the years. People clearly don't trust the site, but they use it.

Advertising teasing their Super Bowl TV commercials

If you believe as I do that content is king, there's an intriguing new trend among advertisers to tease their Super Bowl TV commercials online in advance of the big game.

A New York Times story on the commercials focuses on moves by Volkswagen to tease its commercial on YouTube. It quotes Mike Sheldon, chief executive at Deutsch L.A., the agency it says created VW commercials last year and this year as well as this year's YouTube teaser, a takeoff on "Star Wars" called the "Bark Side" as saying the tease produces a "halo effect." Viewers "like to be let in on the joke, let in on the story early," Sheldon says.

It's also a wonderful example of how interconnected we are all becoming. I read a print story, am posting it on the Internet about a company's using the Internet to promote television commercials.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Tablets continue cutting into print sales

I've had this sneaking feeling ever since seeing the first tablet that it was the future of news media delivery. Nothing has dissuaded me from that belief.

Latest evidence is research reported on paidContent.org that showed professionals owning tablets are using much less printed product. In fact, 72 percent are buying fewer newspapers, 70 percent are buying fewer books, and 49 percent fewer DVDs.

And, by the way, Robert Andrews of paidContent.org gets special props for using "fewer than" rather than the incorrect "less than" you generally see.

A related story in the New York Times showed that ownership of tablets and e-readers almost doubled over the holidays. 'Tis true even in the Byers/McBride/Caspari household, which now boasts an iPad being used mostly as an e-reader. A Kindle Fire is on the horizon.

Newspaper industry should look at cable TV's past

So what is the future for newspapers? An interesting essay by Nathan Myhrvold on Bloomberg View says newspapers should look at how cable television built a market even with free competition.

The answer: Quality and quantity of content.

He asks: "Could newspaper journalism likewise entice readers to pay for online news? People like quality journalism, so I believe that, ultimately, they can be persuaded to pay for it. But as with cable, the price will have to start low; it can then inch upward as the public gradually accepts the new business model."

Of course, the newspaper industry is headed the other way by cutting staff, which means less quality and quantity.