Archive for March, 2007
March 29th, 2007
Is a hotly contested debate, and whether you come down on the negative or positive side, here are two arguments you’ll want to consider.
First off, in the red corner, Arianna Huffington in The Huffington post. Arianna comes down on the positive side, believing hybrids combining the best aspects of traditional print newspapers with the best of the web will prolong newspaper lifecycles:”Until those of us who came of age before the internet all die off, there will be a market for print versions of newspapers”.
As you would expect, this spawned a few comments and separate posts, my favourite of which offers the opposition. In the blue corner, Roy Greenslade cuts straight to the chase with a great quote in response:
“No, Arianna, there will be a romantic attachment to papers by our generation, but we will not provide a market sufficiently profitable to ensure their continued publication. There is going to be a lengthy period of dual use, though “lengthy” is a relative term and no-one can be sure when papers will die, but die they will. And the funeral will occur well before us romantics enter the newsroom in the sky.”
Arianna’s post raises some good points, and is certainly worth a read, as are the comments, however, it is interesting to note that the argument has moved from ‘if’ newspapers will die, to ‘when’.
The latest IAB online ad figures don’t make positive reading for the newspaper industry either.
Online advertising expenditure jumped 41.2% to £2.01bn during the 2006. In contrast, spending on national newspaper ads grew just 0.2% to £1.9bn, taking a 10.7% share of the market. Still growing though!
YouTube awards best 2006 videos
March 28th, 2007
2006 was certainly the year of user-generated video.
In recognition, video-sharing website YouTube has announced the results of its first annual awards. Winners were selected by the YouTube community.
A full list of results is available here on the YouTube site.
Highlights are the US rock band OK Go who scooped the ‘Most Creative’ category for their video featuring the performers on treadmills.
The ‘Free Hugs Campaign’, which was top of the combined Viral Video Chart for a number of weeks, has been awarded ‘Most Inspirational’.
YouTube comments: “2006 was a pioneering year for online video, user-created content and the YouTube community. You let us into your bedrooms, created new forms of entertainment, and radicalized popular culture. Now it’s time to reflect on what a tremendous year it was and recognize the best of the best during the first YouTube Video Awards.”
Bloggers unite against abuse online
March 27th, 2007
There has been uproar in the blogosphere this week following a series of death threats aimed at Kathy Sierra, author of Creating Passionate Users.
As a result, Kathy has decided to cancel a public appearance and suspend her blog, after revealing she has been the subject of a four week campaign of abuse, which the police are investigating. Kathy has overviewed her ordeal in a post.
There has been a great deal of support from bloggers, including the likes of Steve Rubel and Robert Scoble who has also suspended his own blog to highlight the issue. The story also went up on the BBC earlier today.
Unfortunately there has been an undercurrent of abuse in the blogosphere for sometime, but this horrible experience has forced action. It’s refreshing to see bloggers unite against those that are misusing the freedoms of social media to hurl abuse behind a wall of anonymity.
More control is the obvious solution, but that removes the very essence of what bloggers like Kathy Sierra are trying to do.
Sam Sethi at Vecosys has said he will be working on a bloggers code of conduct, and it appears the resolution of this issue will be the subject of much debate.
Microsoft spikes Sony PS3 launch
March 26th, 2007
The long-awaited European launch of the PlayStation 3 was a prime target for guerrilla PR activity, and Microsoft couldn’t resist the temptation.
The BBC reports that at the Virgin Megastore in London’s Oxford Street, Microsoft handed out chairs to those queuing that had a website address printed on them.
The address led to an Xbox 360 branded site that “welcomes” Sony to the next generation and chides the electronics giant for being “late”. A final dig against Sony for being the last of the big three to release its next-generation console.
The impact is likely to be far more long-term than Sony might anticipate. A branded chair is an ingenius PR stunt, as if done well, it might live in the home of the recipient for a number of years.
There has been a great deal of user-generated criticism around the PS3 in recent weeks. One only has to type ‘PS3′ into YouTube today, and a number of negative videos appear at the top of the search results. ‘Smash my PS3′ has received over 3.5 million views, while the infamous ‘PS3 song - how to kill a brand’ is still going strong with almost 100,00 views.
To my knowledge, Sony is yet to respond to its online network. A job that it should get to fairly quickly in my mind.
March 23rd, 2007
According to McKinsey, more than three-quarters of execs surveyed worldwide* said they intend to maintain or increase investment in collaborative web-based technologies in 2007.
However, the investment isn’t reflected in social media tools, as the focus remains with technology to improve automation and networking.
Eighty per cent of respondents said they are using or considering using web services, while peer-to-peer networking is also popular with 47 per cent of respondents saying they either use it or have an interest in adopting it.
Unsurprisingly the retail sector is leading the way, with financial service organisations bringing up the rear.
The following graph gives the lowdown on social media investment from McKinsey, via Ross Dawson.
This survey along with other recent indicators from Forrester show Web 2.0 investment continues to grow, and although McKinsey’s data shows the focus is currently on automation and networking, it is certainly a step in the right direction.
Silicon has the full story.
* McKinsey surveyed 2,847 executives worldwide.