media landscaping

Amazing Image Technology and the Newspaper

I just came across this video from a recent TED Conference.  The technology is completely mind-blowing, but I was particularly fascinated with how this could impact the future of 'electronic editions' of newspapers and magazines. 

I still don't think that people want to read their paper this way, but with infinite resolution like this I could end up changing my mind.

Wanted: Widget Advertising

Brands that are truly embracing todays world of social media are experimenting with widgets because they know that people will evangelize and spread their love of a brand if given the tools to do so.  One good example is the Purina Pet Weather Widget.

The one thing that I am seeing very little of is actual advertising in widgets.  With the popularity of widgets growing like wildfire, I suspect that media companies who are creating these widgets will start selling a portion of the space to advertisers.   Here is the first example that I have found:

Notice the Lenovo Sponsorship at the top.

They also produce some video highlight widgets with ads from Sprite in their Video Blog, but the code didn't work right.  Here is an image of it on the left.

I think that there will be a few challenges for this type of advertising.  First of all is size.  Widgets are small to begin with, so adding advertisements runs the risk of seriously hurting the experience.

The second challenge will be my Theory of Widget Advertising Elasticity and its affect on widget adoption.  As the % of space allocated to advertising  increases, it will decrease the willingness of publishers to place that widget on their site.  This is a very important thing for media properties to consider and I believe it is the main reason we aren't seeing much of it yet.

Due to the fact that the NBA is a very premium content owner and you cannot get this content any other way, I think they have a very high widget ad elasticity.  Therefore, these ads are probably not impacting their adoption by bloggers and other publishers.

If you notice any other widgets with ads like this, let me know.  I want to keep a close eye on this topic. 

More to come...

Rocketbooms New Podcast Ad Model

I was on vacation last week and very busy at work the week before that, so sorry for the long posting drought.  (You'll get over it I'm sure)

Catching up on things I missed while I was at the beach, I noticed that Andrew Baron and the folks at Rocketboom rolled out a new model for advertising in their podcast.  PodcastingNews breaks it down to this:

The show plans to charge $3,000 per episode for sponsorships, which will include:

• Post Roll Sponsorship Gratitude. White text on black background. Company logo and byline. 7 seconds. Travels with all videos to all platforms (incl. web, phone, tv, portables). Quicktime videos online are clickable to open company website in a new browser window.
• Company Name & Link. Travels as metadata to most platforms (inc. RSS feeds). Increases company link value across the web.
• Sponsor Blog Entry. Click here for details.
• Quicktime Chapter Marker. Easy access to sponsor message from chapter drop-down box.

Early sponsors under this format are Twitter and YouTube..coincidently timed with the launch of Rocketboom's own YouTube channel.    I am surprised it took Andrew this long to get on YouTube.

Aggregating in a Disaggregated World

I wrote in the past about Bud.TV and the problems it will have attracting sustainable audiences.  According to a new article in Ad Age:

Anheuser-Busch Cos. CEO August Busch IV today said the No. 1 brewer expects its pioneering online television network to "fade" during the second half of the year.

A-B spent $30-40 Million on a site that they will just let fade away.  Smart decision, because aggregating in a world of disaggregated content is just a bad idea.  It will always be an uphill battle to attract an audience.  With open distribution systems like YouTube, Joost etc. there is no need to hold content hostage on your own little "island".  There are millions of people gathered in existing video portals who would love to watch, recommend and share your videos...so why spent ad $ to draw them out of that environment?

Bud.TV is a great case study on how not to run a branded content strategy.  Hopefully, they will adjust their mindset and extend their content out on the web.   

Dave Beaupre has said for years,

Bring the content to the people, not the people to the content.

Wise words that could have saved A-B a lot of money...

armano's presentation

On my blackberry in a cab and just left David Armano's presentation. I got to briefly meet David and spent a little time with Joe Jaffe. Very cool.   

It seemed to me that the whole point of the presentation was to help the people of Digitas understand the power of conversation and to challenge them to join in.   

He talked about a movie from a few years back called "the doctor" in which a very talented doctor learns from becoming a patient himself. Having been on the other side, he could empathize with patients in a way he never could before. This made him a better doctor.  Basically, there is no better way to understand the blogosphere than to join it. 

That is why I started this blog and exactly why anyone reading this should start their own as well.  If you don't have one...why not?  Go do it, you will be surprised what you learn.

NOTE: when I get to a computer later I will add in links.  Yomoblog doesn't allow me to add links from my blackberry.

UPDATE:  9pm...I'm back in DC and added links, categories and trackbacks

Blog's Eye View Presentation

I blogged about David Armano's blogging presentation back in August.  He was planning to do a roadshow on blogging and was putting out his diagrams for comments.  He got a lot of them.

Now the final presentation is done and it looks incredible.  David's visualizations of blogosphere are  extremely powerful.  The problem is that I want to hear what he is adding to this when presenting it...I want to be there!

David, I know you have some VIP's from Forrester and BusinessWeek attending...but how about hooking a brother up?  We go way back.  I will fly to NYC on Tuesday just to see this.  What do you think?

Offline Blog Editor Test - Qumana

I nearly jumped out of a window last weekend.  After spending 45 minutes drafting a post for the blog, I pushed "publish" only to be greeted with a "Page Cannot be Found" error....or something like that.  All I know for sure is that all of the work was lost!  45 minutes wasted.

A few weeks ago I drafted a post in Word and then pasted it into Typepad when it was done.  The result was this ugly post with a font totally out of synch with my default.  The code behind the post is so screwed up that I can't figure out how to change it back.

Today, Josh Hallett reminded me about a post he made a few weeks ago on "Blogging a Conference".  One of his tips was to use an Offline Blog Editor.  BRILLIANT!!!  This is exactly what I need.  In theory, this prevents all of my problems.

This is my first post using Qumana, an offline blog editor that Josh recommended.  My hope is that I won't have the same problems ever again. 

Payola is the Anit-Blogosphere

Stowe Boyd uses his investigative bloggerist skills to help expose the payola scheme that PayPerPost is running.  PPP just raised $3M in first round funding according to PaidContent, so this kind of crap is going to be around for a little while.  I think it greatly damages the reputation of the blogosphere at large.

Basically, PPP connects advertisers with bloggers who are willing to lower themselves to the point that they will blog about a product or service for a very small amount of money.  Stowe signed up for the service in order to find bloggers who were posting these pitches without disclosure.  Didn't take him to long to find that Sabrina's Adventures posted about a service called List'd without disclosure and did it for a meesly $7.  I would like to think that anyone who frequented this blog would abandon it the second they found out she pulled this kind of stunt.

The average American doesn't know much about the blogosphere today.  This is going to remain the same if the blogosphere keeps tarnishing its reputation like this.  VC's...please stop funding scams like this and focus on something sustainable. 

More discussion on HyKu

Cisco's Human Network

Organics Three Minds Blog writes about Cisco's new branding and their new positioning statement of "The Human Network".  Described by Sue Bostrom, Cisco's Chief Marketing Officer:

"The potential of the Internet is being fulfilled by more than the physical network alone; it is the human network where people are connecting and collaborating, enabling ideas and opportunities."

Apparently the interactive ad campaign takes you to the The Human Network Stories page, where people are invited to upload and share how the 'Human Network' helped them achieve something that once had seemed impossible.

What I find really interesting that  Three Minds didn't mention is that the Live, Work, Play and Learn links on the right side lead you to sites that show the Human Network in action.  Most are unrelated to Cisco, while others are created by them.  Each time you click you get a different site.

Here are some sites:

• Favorville.com - a pay it forward kind of thing
• The Broth - a collaborative art project
• whatshouldireadnext.com - Put in a favorite book and it tells you what other books to read, based on other readers lists.
• idealist.org

The Cisco developed sites are:

• thelivinglink.net - pulls in RSS feeds from collaborative sites and great blogs.
• howwesee.com - a tag cloud of photos.  Not really sure where they come from though.

They are really walking their talk here by incorporating the actual Human Network into the campaign.  I didn't quite get the concept at first glance, but after walking through the sites I have a strong grasp on what they are trying to convey...and it feels good.  I support Three Minds view of this...Very well done.

Harvard Law moves to Second Life

Harvard Law professor, Charles Nesson, really gets new media.  So much so that he has created a course that will live in Second Life and will require all students to make their arguments in the blogosphere, not just in a mock courtroom.

Of course, he created a video explaining the course, which was quickly posted in You Tube by an ivy league blogger who labels him as "insane".  This might not be far off, as Nesson admitted that he smokes pot before he teaches class.  His wikipedia page says he taught a class in Jamaica this summer.  Nice.

The course desription reads like this:

The subject matter of the course is the creation and delivery of persuasive argument in the new integrated media space constituted by the Internet and other new technologies. Our premise is that “First World” and corporate domination of entertainment media, laws, and news can be balanced by the voices of individuals, groups and universities who use new media intelligently. We challenge students to attempt this themselves by choosing an issue of concern to them and using the media we study to make their case for change in the court of public opinion.

Nesson could have easily just taught this in the classroom, but instead he will force himself and the students to make their arguments within the media they are debating.  The Blogosphere. 

The best part is that the course is open to anyone who drops by.  The Harvard Crimson says:

Although at-large participants earn no accreditation for the course, [everyone in Second Life] is invited to view lecture tapes and discuss class materials with professors and other students on Berkman Island, a space in Second Life that resembles Harvard Law School.

I have not spent very much time in Second Life, but this is enough to get me back in there.