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Posted 1:19 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Legit E-publishers Fight Bulk Mail Folders
Steve Outing on e-newsletter troubles
E-mail newsletter publishers are starting to be seriously concerned about their opt-in publications not reaching subscribers, because of new "bulk mail" folders used by Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, and AOL. Ethical e-publishers are having their newsletters shuffled into users' bulk mail folders, where they're often not seen. ContentBiz publisher Anne Holland is starting a campaign to lobby the big e-mail providers to come up with solutions so that opt-in newsletters aren't treated as junk mail. Holland has written on this topic in ContentBiz, and I also explored this issue in my latest Editor & Publisher Online column.
Posted 4:52 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
ESPN.com Buys SportsJones
Steve Klein on online sports content
Perhaps you've noticed that SportsJones, the thinking fan's sports site, has been on summer hiatus (there's been nothing new on the site since Jeff Merron's last SurfJones weblog on July 13). A note on the site promised "some changes," which turns out to be something of an understatement. The Disney Internet Group announced that ESPN.com has acquired the three-and-a-half-year-old online sports magazine that featured alternative viewpoints and voices. Daily content from SportsJones contributors will be integrated throughout ESPN.com beginning August 31, when SportsJones.com ceases to publish independently. SportsJones.com was previously owned by NewCity, a Chicago-based media company. I'll have more on the demise of SportsJones as an independent brand and the consistent vision of editor Royce Webb in my Content Spotlight newsletter column on Monday.
Posted 12:18 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
CNN Headline News: For the E-generation
Steve Outing on interactive TV
The redesigned CNN Headline News cable channel sports a very Web-like look, with the bottom and left sides of the TV screen now allotted to headlines, sports scores, weather maps, etc. Take a look, because this change represents several trends: 1) A move toward the integration of TV and online programming as a result of the AOL Time Warner merger; 2) an early glimpse at what "interactive TV" will look like in the years ahead (think watching Jeopardy and interacting with the game show via your TV remote control); and 3) TV attempting to appeal to younger audiences who have grown up with the Internet and are comfortable with a Web interface. CNET's Jim Hu wrote an interesting article examining CNN Headline News' redesign earlier this week.
Posted 5:44 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
E-books Go to College
Amy Gahran on book trends
Beginning this fall, students at the University of Phoenix (which has more than 100 campuses throughout the U.S.) will be carrying fewer books and more bits. The university is phasing out printed textbooks in favor of e-books. (Wired News, "E-textbooks Offer Light Reading.") Will e-textbooks really be cheaper when you consider hardware and software costs? That remains to be seen — but remember, e-textbooks can offer value-adds such as multimedia and searchability.
Posted 4:30 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Undervalued Banner Ads?
Katja Riefler on European study on Web advertising
Interpreting the results of advertising campaigns may be tricky. Here's another 5 cents from a study conducted by just-sites.com and Engage Adknowledge. According to this report (released in July), advertisers could be underestimating the power of online media by up to 50%. The European study considered the effects of post-impression conversions. In the study data, conventional click-through analysis underestimated the campaign performance by nearly half. The companies say the findings could mean that banner ad campaigns could be twice as effective as previously thought. In addition, the report shows that those who do not click but visit sites after seeing the ad were more likely to return and stay longer than visitors who did click.
Posted 1:24 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Netscape Makes a Comeback
Steve Klein on reinventing the orginal browser
It's not your father's (OK, maybe it's not that old!) Netscape anymore. The browser that introduced so many of us to the Internet in the mid-'90s before succumbing to Microsoft's Internet Explorer in a brutal browser war is making something of a comeback now that it is part of AOL Time Warner. According to an article by Alec Klein in the Washington Post, Netscape wants to be thought of as a portal that delivers services to the masses on a consumer-themed Internet. As AOL's connection point to the Internet, Netscape's latest version, 6.1, links consumers from its Web site to such AOL brands as MapQuest and to other Time Warner properties. Netscape has added a new tool bar, branded with the Netscape name, at the top of Time Warner Web sites such as Time.com, People.com, and Money.com that features mail, a calendar, and IM access, as well as a search engine and a link to a download for version 6.1.
Posted 12:42 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
No $895/year WWD Online
Steve Outing on content retrenchment
As the New York Post reports, Women's Wear Daily has scrapped its plans to introduce an online news service, WWD.com, that was to have carried a subscription fee of $895 a year. "We have a great product that we are very proud of, but the timing just isn't right. The market is too tough," said (WWD parent Fairchild Publications) CEO Mary Berner. I hope this is just a temporary setback and that the online subscription service will be resurrected when market and economic conditions improve again. WWD is one of those trade magazines where a paid subscription strategy makes sense, because it offers unique content not available elsewhere, and an audience willing and able to pay. (Its positioning is similar to Variety, the entertainment industry trade magazine, which charges a subscription fee for its Web site.)
Posted 8:57 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Keep Up on the E-news News
Peter Zollman on another source for online news info
Perhaps you've already seen it, but it had escaped me until a few weeks ago: There's a rough UK/European equivalent to Steve Outing's Online-News list and Rob Runett's Online Publishing Update from NAA (both of which are "required reading," in my book). It's a site called OnlinePublishingNews.com, based in the UK and funded by a software house called Littoralis that is trying to break into the online-news content management system business. Most of the information is culled by a British writer, Soozie Campbel, from news releases, publications, and other open sources — so not all of it will be new to readers of Online-News and OPU. But it offers a different perspective and some different articles than the U.S.-centric perspective that OPU and (less so) Online-News offer. It also offers a free weekly e-mail alert about the stories on the site. Worth checking out regularly — maybe even bookmarking.
Posted 8:38 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Rate Your Media Savvy
Jade Walker on online press rooms
In an age where reputations are gained and lost in a few keystrokes, it's always wise to take a few precautions. To aid companies in this task, The Maloney Group has developed a quiz on how to develop an online newsroom any journalist would love to access. Members of the media will also find this quiz quite useful.
Posted 1:09 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Tracerlock Upgrades Its Service
Steve Outing on a useful resource
The Web site Tracerlock is a useful tool for media people (and in fact, everyone else). You can use it to keep track of phrases that appear on Web sites, and it alerts you when a page with the phrase turns up. So it's great for tracking when your name (vanity search) or company name appear newly on the Web, or when a specific topic is mentioned somewhere on the Web, for instance. Frankly, I've found the service to be lacking in the past, with the reports it sends me periodically being old Web pages. But Tracerlock just released an upgrade that sounds interesting, because it purports to track online news sites and gets updates every 15 minutes.I haven't yet used the "new" Tracerlock enough to know if it actually works well, but this does sounds like a promising new Internet tool that should be mighty handy for media folks.
Posted 6:49 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
ExciteAtHome: Troubles for Online Media, As Well
Steve Outing on broadband troubles
You've probably seen the headlines about ExciteAtHome teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. AtHome, the largest broadband cable provider in the U.S., is just the latest victim of the dot-com depression and the lack of available capital for Internet-related companies. (Lesser broadband providers have also been dropping like flies.) Those lucky enough to have broadband Internet service now consider themselves lucky to still have the privilege of paying for continuing service. It's a sad state of affairs.As the (Wired.com) article linked above notes, existing AtHome customers will get continued service, but the company's financial problems are sure to slow down growth. That which online publishers have been counting on — widespread broadband into the home — is now looking to be even slower to arrive. Without broadband for the masses, online media cannot grow to a mature industry. Sadly, we'll have to wait even longer. The winners ultimately will be those with the patience to see the online media industry through the broadband crisis.
Posted 3:06 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
The Revolt of the Underdog
Carla Passino on the launch of SNNi
Eleven news agencies and newspapers from Africa and South East Asia have teamed up to launch a new Internet-based news service, reports Wired.com. Based in Malaysia, the Smart News Network International (SNNi) intends to provide a balanced view of events in developing countries, "to counter inaccurate and biased news disseminated by other news providers" — namely Western newspapers and agencies. "SNNi would distribute local news in Africa without reinterpretation (by Western media)," says Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.In a world dominated by Western media conglomerates, it is refreshing to see an independent voice come onto the scene. But I wonder just how fair and balanced SNNi's reporting will be. Although its founders maintain that the service will remain free of government control, the news organizations that take part in it are mostly state-owned.
Posted 5:11 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Workers, Collaborate!
Andrew Nachison on software politics in Houston
The digital divide between technology haves and have-nots has become a political issue in the Houston mayor's race. The Houston Chronicle reports that Mayor Lee Brown is promoting installation of public Net kiosks with SimDesk software from — ta-dah — Houston software firm Internet Access Technologies. The "virtual" desktop software allows access to personalized e-mail, applications, and personal documents from any computer connected to the Internet. Check out the software: It's one of a class of programs under development to make personal hard drives and software installation obsolete. It's the next step in file sharing and collaboration that Napster helped popularize. Groove, a program I've been using for a few months, doesn't eliminate the need for local software installs, but it's great for sharing documents with colleagues anywhere. It makes LANs and local servers look old fashioned.Media angle: Virtual desktops, file sharing, and collaboration tools are alternative channels to traditional browser-based content. Think Groove News Channel. These systems could evolve into serious content, application, and interface alternatives to Microsoft and AOL (until they get in on the act — hey, what's that POP e-mail thing in the new AOL IM app?).
Posted 5:05 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Can Free Software Run a Newspaper's Web Site?
Katja Riefler on open-source content management systems
I just read in the Chicago Tribune that the Chicago software company Divine has bought Open Market, a company battling Vignette and Interwoven for dominance in the market for content-management software, through a US $59.3 million stock purchase. Open Market Software is also used by German online newspapers. Just wondering: do proprietary content management systems still have a future? I just learned that Knight Ridder is developing a professional content management system called Cofax for all its newspaper sites and the Real Cities Network that is open source. Steve Yelvington of Morris Communications told the members of the Online-News discussion list recently that the foundation of InfiNet's online classified system for newspapers is the free CMS Zope (thanks, Steve). Norbert Specker, contributer to this weblog, will give the developers of Wyona the opportunity to present their newly built open source CMS for the Neue Zuercher Zeitung at his Content Summit Conference in November this year. Enough evidence to see a trend?
Posted 2:34 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Book Execs Just Don't Get It!
Steve Outing on e-books
When I read about new developments in e-book publishing, I often feel frustrated. The latest is a report in Media Guardian about Penguin's new online library, which makes it possible for consumers to download hundreds of its titles. Penguin also will release some new titles online before they're available in print. That's great, but what sucks is that Penguin will release its e-titles at prices a measly 20% below print prices. D'uh! That's nowhere near enough of a discount to encourage e-reading, and it doesn't take into account (and pass along to the consumer) the cost savings of not having to physically print and distribute books. At those rates, the Penguin e-library will be a failure. Book publishers have got to stop being scared of digital books cannibalizing print sales, and instead take digital book-selling seriously. Prices like 20% below print are not enough to allow e-publishing of books to take off. Book execs need to stop undermining e-book publishing and start making pricing decisions that support it.
Posted 1:53 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Gator Swallows Up Internet Ads
Paul Grabowicz on online advertising
CNET's News.com reports on a battle brewing over a software program by a company called Gator.com that superimposes its advertisements over the banner ads at Web sites. The Interactive Advertising Bureau is considering legal action against the company. (I first heard about this when a reporter from News.com called me, which is why you'll see me quoted in the CNET story cited above.)
Posted 11:17 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Check It Out, Internationally
Steve Outing on online communities
I've long hosted Internet discussion lists on online publishing and online writing, and I continue to think that they're powerful tools. Over the weekend, someone posted a message to my Online-Writing list (OWL) about the phrase "check it out!" In the U.S., people understand what it means, but what about in other English-speaking countries? Several OWL members from around the world posted replies — most indicating that people in their countries would catch the meaning. What I liked about this modest episode was the efficient international exchange that took place. Outstanding!
Posted 11:03 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
CitySearch Hangs In There
Steve Outing on surviving dot-coms
We haven't heard much lately from CitySearch, the online city guide service that was a star (though not a profitable one) back in the dot-com heydays. But dotcomscoop.com reports today (via the New York Post Technology section) that CitySearch is not dying (as rumors have it) and in fact is planning a major redesign for September 4. New emphasis will be on yellow pages. CitySearch's new executive mantra: "What Zagat did for restaurants, we will do for yellow pages." We'll see. The online city guide concept remains a useful one for consumers. Let's hope this sector survives the current down cycle.
Posted 10:39 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Advertising Revenues at the Local Level
Peter Zollman on the alleged revenue bust
Sitting in a meeting of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association "new media" committee last week, I once again heard more than a handful of publishers and major media executives make clear statements about the future of interactive media at newspapers:
- Business models are becoming clearer, but they're still evolving. The successful ones focus on what newspapers do best: Local content, local services, and local promotion.
- There are huge "missed opportunities" for revenue generation. (E.g., circulation department pays telemarketing companies and/or its own people for starts.)
- Regardless of whether these enterprises turn "profitable" this year or next, they ain't going away. Period.
- Revenue is still increasing, steadily and substantially, at the local level. All of the papers reported significant increases in their revenue this year, over last year's "bubble" growth. And they're confident that the 20%-plus rates of growth will continue next year.
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