Meanwhile, in a really intriguing post with deep implications for both producers and consumers of media, eMedia Vitals says that publishers are quickly adopting strategies and tools to personalize their content.
New tools that are being used include social media, current and past viewing to build a consumer's profile and use that to offer suggestions. It's similar to the music site Pandora, which suggests music based on your preferences.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Imagine all the readers . . .
Paywalls aren't a panacea for newspapers, according to PaidContent.com. An analysis indicated that even if every single subscriber switched to online paid content, newspapers would still lose their shirt. Each online viewer would be worth only a quarter of the value of a paid print subscriber.
Although basically a UK analysis, it holds deep implications for newspapers. As the story indicates positing big losses with readers shifting online behind a pay wall: "If that sounds bad, imagine the situation for publishers whose websites are not starting charging." Well worth thinking about.
Although basically a UK analysis, it holds deep implications for newspapers. As the story indicates positing big losses with readers shifting online behind a pay wall: "If that sounds bad, imagine the situation for publishers whose websites are not starting charging." Well worth thinking about.
Fall fashion magazine rebound on this scale
Measured by weight (its traditional measure), fall fashion magazines are way up. This year's key magazines weighed a total of 16.58 pounds, according to TheWrap's scale. Last year the magazines weighed only 15.34 pounds last year, far from 2008's 21 pounds. Vogue was the winner with its 726 pages weighing a hefty 2.89 pounds.
Time blasts apart its campaign secrecy wall
The old days when media kept its secrets, especially gameplans, close to its vest are totally gone. Time announced its plans for the upcoming campaign season, telling not only its readers/viewers but its competitors exactly what it plans to cover, how and when.
Just one of the plans announced: Joe Klein will launch a four-week, 12-state swing across America, highlighting key races. Wisconsin will be one of the states profiled.
Just one of the plans announced: Joe Klein will launch a four-week, 12-state swing across America, highlighting key races. Wisconsin will be one of the states profiled.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Newspapers aren't going away, innovator says
Another day, another story on newspapers. But this essay in AdWeek, by
Rishad Tobaccowala is chief strategy and innovation officer at VivaKi, is both interesting and offers some good thoughts.
The money quote: "There is a high likelihood that the legacy packaging of the news industry, the newspaper, will become less relevant to most folks; I also predict that the industry's product and services will become more relevant."
Tobaccowala suggests the newspaper industry will grow by continuing changes in newspaper culture, technology, partnering and focus.
Rishad Tobaccowala is chief strategy and innovation officer at VivaKi, is both interesting and offers some good thoughts.
The money quote: "There is a high likelihood that the legacy packaging of the news industry, the newspaper, will become less relevant to most folks; I also predict that the industry's product and services will become more relevant."
Tobaccowala suggests the newspaper industry will grow by continuing changes in newspaper culture, technology, partnering and focus.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
New e-reader on the horizon?
Keep your eyes open, yet another new electronic option for reading newspapers, magazines and books is coming fast. LG, which manufactures screens for the Kindle and iPad, says it's ready to launch two flexible, very thin screens that can be used for books, magazines and even a newspaper broadsheet (on a 19-inch monochrome flexible screen).
Are all the bugs out so these e-readers can dominate the media market? Not yet, but they are yet another step toward the day when e-readers will rule. They have come an amazingly long way in the past couple of years, and I think their flexibility and light weight will prove a long-time winner.
Pictured is a press release photo showing the new flexible e-readers in action.
Radio: The original social medium
What's new is old, and what's old is new. When I really began to study history, I realized that the adage that looking at the past gives a glimpse into the future is really true. It's especially true in media.
Neil Glassman writes about how radio was the original social medium, and perhaps still is the best. For example, he writes:
"AM had Top 40 formats (mashups), DJ shout outs (tweets), contests to win logo T-shirts (badges) and exclusive clubs to which everyone belonged (Facebook groups). I got into late night talk shows (blogs), which had an intimacy and affinity with listeners that radio has lost and web social networks have yet to fully discover. Later, FM jocks changed my music buying habits and political views (influencers)."
All of today's new media buzzwords apply to radio. It also instructive, I think, to realize that "everyone" said radio would die when television came around (as well as movies). And newspapers would die when radio came around. And newsletters and opinion pamphlets would die when newspapers came around. They're all still here, and some are in better shape than they've ever been.
So is radio dead? Not by a long shot. Television? Newspapers? Magazines? Books? None of it is backed up by real data. Are they changing? Sure. But, as with movies and radio, change leads to growth.
Neil Glassman writes about how radio was the original social medium, and perhaps still is the best. For example, he writes:
"AM had Top 40 formats (mashups), DJ shout outs (tweets), contests to win logo T-shirts (badges) and exclusive clubs to which everyone belonged (Facebook groups). I got into late night talk shows (blogs), which had an intimacy and affinity with listeners that radio has lost and web social networks have yet to fully discover. Later, FM jocks changed my music buying habits and political views (influencers)."
All of today's new media buzzwords apply to radio. It also instructive, I think, to realize that "everyone" said radio would die when television came around (as well as movies). And newspapers would die when radio came around. And newsletters and opinion pamphlets would die when newspapers came around. They're all still here, and some are in better shape than they've ever been.
So is radio dead? Not by a long shot. Television? Newspapers? Magazines? Books? None of it is backed up by real data. Are they changing? Sure. But, as with movies and radio, change leads to growth.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
USA Today to shift focus to digital
USA Today plans to shift its focus to its digital side. OK, what does that mean? The announcement wasn't all that clear. Yes, it's going to eliminate 130 jobs (where? what jobs? It doesn't say), it's going to create a stand-along sports section, it's going to push the digital side to be newsier (one goal: post news stories within a half-hour of an event) and it's going to try to win a larger share of the digital and mobile phone markets.
Still, details are pretty unclear. One staffer who listened to the management announcement said it appeared to be a work in progress. Frankly, that's the way I'd approach this sort of change. You don't know until you get doing something how it's really going to turn out. One criticism of newspapers is that they weren't flexible. Sounds like USA Today, under pressure from the Wall Street Journal, is doing that.
Still, details are pretty unclear. One staffer who listened to the management announcement said it appeared to be a work in progress. Frankly, that's the way I'd approach this sort of change. You don't know until you get doing something how it's really going to turn out. One criticism of newspapers is that they weren't flexible. Sounds like USA Today, under pressure from the Wall Street Journal, is doing that.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Some thoughts about Facebook and privacy
It hit me this morning as I was reading about Facebook's newest option, the "Places" feature that allows you to let your friends know where you are using your smart phone's GPS signal that my reaction was different than what I, or Facebook, must have expected. It was a basic distrust of my data.
Sure, as Rob Pegoraro wrote, you have to activate the feature (Facebook seems to have belatedly realized that we want opt-in), and it's reasonably difficult to do so it probably won't happen by accident. But I have two big concerns immediately.
The first is that it won't take long for someone to be assaulted by a stalker or someone else who wormed their way onto a "Friends" list (do you personally know all your "Friends"; I allow former students to "friend" me and don't keep up with many of them). We've already read of homes being burglarized by "Friends" who learned on Facebook that someone was on vacation.
The second is my long-time paranoia creeping through. Sure, we have to turn the feature on -- supposedly. But how do we know it isn't being misused by Facebook itself (or some of its employees). We know IRS workers have accessed politicans' files, and that's a felony. We know of the school in Pennsylvania that used the laptops it handed out to spy on students.
It's the same as providers (or Google) tracking my keystrokes. Sure most people won't misuse these powers. But if something's possible, it will be used.
We're well past the point where we need legislative action to protect our privacy. I'm contacting the offices of Senator Kohl and Senator Feingold, and urging them to push for privacy protection before any of my concerns become real.
Sure, as Rob Pegoraro wrote, you have to activate the feature (Facebook seems to have belatedly realized that we want opt-in), and it's reasonably difficult to do so it probably won't happen by accident. But I have two big concerns immediately.
The first is that it won't take long for someone to be assaulted by a stalker or someone else who wormed their way onto a "Friends" list (do you personally know all your "Friends"; I allow former students to "friend" me and don't keep up with many of them). We've already read of homes being burglarized by "Friends" who learned on Facebook that someone was on vacation.
The second is my long-time paranoia creeping through. Sure, we have to turn the feature on -- supposedly. But how do we know it isn't being misused by Facebook itself (or some of its employees). We know IRS workers have accessed politicans' files, and that's a felony. We know of the school in Pennsylvania that used the laptops it handed out to spy on students.
It's the same as providers (or Google) tracking my keystrokes. Sure most people won't misuse these powers. But if something's possible, it will be used.
We're well past the point where we need legislative action to protect our privacy. I'm contacting the offices of Senator Kohl and Senator Feingold, and urging them to push for privacy protection before any of my concerns become real.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Welcome to the fact-free zone
Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post writes perceptively about the new realities of media: facts don't matter, attacks bring viewers and everybody loses. Not a lot of new stuff, but he brings together a number of the stories that have depressed many of us lately. I can't wait for school to start so I can bring reality to some new journalism students -- and tell them how to keep their standards among the rush by others toward the lowest common denominator.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Interesting thoughts on a 'post-print' world
Meanwhile, BBC offers an essay on what it calls news in a "post-print" world. The gist of the essay by Andrew Marr is that new media offers two different revolutionary changes. The first is that he observes that he is spending a lot purchasing media online (ebook, etc.) so maybe, he writes, Murdock isn't all wrong with his pay wall. The second is that Internet journalism will fall into Internet aggregators but under them "we will have large numbers of specialist news sites," which will offer details on areas of interest.
As if to prove his point about the vigor of the Internet, BBC offers "a selection of your comments" afterward, including ones that both agree and dispute his thesis, but does offer lively takes on Marr's musings. One, from a man in Texas, is worth repeating in whole, it implies we might be more discriminating in news than many think:
"Used to believe the better news will be on the web, but not anymore. I will take known journalists, with good reputations, over the spread of trash opinionators any day. Here in the US, consolidation of news agencies has been a disaster for the public. I get my best news from the BBC, then look beyond for supporting articles. OK, I use the web, but if they don't have printed copy, or television shows, I don't read, nor waste my time." -- Wallace Parnel, Texas.
As if to prove his point about the vigor of the Internet, BBC offers "a selection of your comments" afterward, including ones that both agree and dispute his thesis, but does offer lively takes on Marr's musings. One, from a man in Texas, is worth repeating in whole, it implies we might be more discriminating in news than many think:
"Used to believe the better news will be on the web, but not anymore. I will take known journalists, with good reputations, over the spread of trash opinionators any day. Here in the US, consolidation of news agencies has been a disaster for the public. I get my best news from the BBC, then look beyond for supporting articles. OK, I use the web, but if they don't have printed copy, or television shows, I don't read, nor waste my time." -- Wallace Parnel, Texas.
From O.J. to Sherrod, Halperin traces the spiral
Mark Halperin in Time traces the "spiral" in new media from O.J. Simpson to Shirley Sherrod. Speaking of its inception with the Simpson coverage, he writes: "By dominating the nation's attention through 1995 and beyond, the tale established a template in which the media is triggered and overwhelmed by any storyline that has basic elements of culture, controversy and polemic."
He marks the "three pillars of new media" as cable TV news, the Internet and talk radio. Of them, Halperin writes: "What all three of these mediums crave is content that is driven by contretemps, gripping video, factual disputes, logistics, and compelling dramatic personae." It's the kind of essay that makes reading any form of media worthwhile.
He marks the "three pillars of new media" as cable TV news, the Internet and talk radio. Of them, Halperin writes: "What all three of these mediums crave is content that is driven by contretemps, gripping video, factual disputes, logistics, and compelling dramatic personae." It's the kind of essay that makes reading any form of media worthwhile.
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