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Posted 4:56 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
The Internet Generation
Paul Grabowicz on online demographics
The new study Steve Outing pointed to (below) on kids preferring the Internet over television is one of many surveys in recent months showing the remarkable degree to which young people are embracing the Internet. The U.S. Commerce Department reported in February that more than 70% of children aged 3-17 have a computer at home, and 41% access the Internet from home. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey in December found that 90% of teens and young adults have been online, and half of them go online at least once a day.
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Posted 3:02 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Kids: Internet Is Our Most Important Medium
Steve Outing on media usage trends
This ought to make even the stodgiest old-media executives take notice. For the first time, a survey of kids' media preferences put the Internet at the top of the list — beating television. The Home Technology Monitor survey reported that when asked which medium they would pick if they were allowed access to only one, one-third of American kids 8 to 17 chose the Internet, vs. 26% who chose TV. In last year's survey, the Internet was one percentage point behind TV.What's the deciding factor here? As Carol Krol writes in her Media Buyers Daily article about the survey, "Interactivity seems to be the primary differentiator between (TV and the Internet)." Children are used to being able to interact with the media they use. Television will need to become more interactive in order to keep up with the Internet for this young generation of media consumers.
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Posted 10:23 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Is That an Ad or a Story?
Jeppe Kruse on new forms of advertising
The members of Kuro5hin, an independent community news site on technology and culture, are weighing the pros and cons of a sponsorship from the new website Digitalidworld. The writers from there want to buy a spot on Kuro5hin for their articles to be published. It's much like a traditional sponsorship, only Digitalidworld writers would submit articles on the same terms as any other member of the community, thereby also risking their stories being voted down before they are published. Put to effect this means that the writers from the sponsoring website have to really target their audience as equals, not just potential customers.It looks like the ideas of Chris Locke, et al in The Cluetrain Manifesto and Gonzo Marketing are being tested in practice at Kuro5hin. The two books are basically about new forms of advertising. They advocate a new tone in language, a view of customers and businesses as, essentially, human beings, and stress the importance of personal relationships and interests. All for the purpose of being associated with the goodwill of, say, a community like Kuro5hin. Right now, of course, nothing is certain, as the Kuro5hin community has a tradition of debating any issue into oblivion prior to acting upon it. But if they choose to go with it, that could be an early sign of what's to come in intelligent, interactive, Web-based advertising.
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Posted 8:46 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Weblog, Weblogs, Everywhere
Steve Outing on media coverage of a trend
I've been alerted to a couple good articles on the weblog trend. First, Mark Rayner of the Ottawa Citizen takes an interesting approach in his look at weblogs as a cultural phenomenon, in "A Blog By Any Other Name...." He likens weblogs to personal diaries (many are indeed public diaries of individuals, but others — like this weblog — take on different forms and purpose), and concludes the piece by saying that perhaps they are also public performances.Geitner Simmons has written another worthwhile weblog piece for The Masthead (publication of the National Conference of Editorial Writers), "Webloggers Say Away on the Internet." Simmons cites the trend of webloggers coming together online to critique mainstream media stories immediately after they are published. The weblog crowd is watching the media; media should also be watching the webloggers. There's much to be learned.
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Posted 8:41 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Online Journalism Symposium: Listen In
Steve Outing on University of Texas' event
Today between 8:45 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. U.S. Central time, you might want to listen in (via the Web) on the 3rd Symposium on Online Journalism, organized by the University of Texas at Austin's Knight Chair in Journalism (and co-sponsored by the Online News Association). During that time, click here for the webcast.
Posted 6:32 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
The CATT's Meow
Nora Paul on Web video
Imagine a local television news site with, yes, video on every story! You know how most TV news sites have very few video pieces — some even have none at all. DayPort hopes to end that ironic situation with its Capture Automatic Transcode Transfer (CATT) system. CATT is currently being used by Mankato, Minnesota's KEYC-TV to stream the newscast onto the website and provide links to the video segments of each story. Web users can check the boxes next to the stories they want to see and create their own news video rundown.Now DayPort is making a big leap in application of its technology from 186th market ranked Mankato to 16th market KSTP in Minneapolis. KSTP will roll out its new website on Monday. Each story will have the same text as before but now will have video of every story; you select the stories you want to see and they will be packaged together. Each video session has a 15-second ad and the video viewer has clickable ads to take you to information about the advertiser. DayPort won "best of show – new technology" at last year's NAB conference — now it'll really be showing what it's capable of in a major market website. Check it out on Monday (after 2 p.m.) at KSTP.
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Posted 12:47 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Cuba's Non-Internet Internet
Steve Klein on Internet access in Cuba
How does the average Cuban citizen get online? In the first of a three-part series by BBCNews.com, Cubans are said to be hungry for the Internet and are finding ways to get around the government restrictions on access. Cuba's Communist government has sought to teach citizens computer skills, but it restricts full access to the Internet. Instead, the government provides state-run computer clubs where Cubans can access a network that uses the same protocols as the Internet but is not connected to the Internet. Instead, the computers are linked to an island-wide network.
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Posted 12:34 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Interactive TV, at Last
Steve Outing on the scaled-down dream
"Interactive TV" is available to a substantial number of Americans, according to a story from the New York Times. But the reality for many American cable TV viewers who subscribe to new interactive services is scaled down significantly from what we envisioned interactive TV as being like several years ago. Remember Time Warner's celebrated flop, the Full Service Network in Orlando, Florida? That experiment proved too expensive, because it tried to do too much — such as allowing viewers to interactive live with TV game shows. The current interactive TV systems are more modest, offering on-demand movies and games, and local content such as movie listings and the ability to order pizza via the TV set. On-demand movies is still, I contend, the main draw for interactive TV. Who hasn't cursed the drive to and from the video store, and the late fees?
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Posted 10:37 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
E-mail From a Public Phone
Juan C. Camus on new ways to access the Internet
A public telephone capable of sending e-mail and SMS messages (seen at right, in a photo from Mouse.cl) is making its arrival in Chile, thanks to collaboration between local engineers at Telefónica CTC-Chile and Marconi Interactive System. According to an article in e-zine Mouse.cl, there are 70 sets of the T-M@il with a digital screen and keyboard. They are installed at airports, malls, and universities in cities from the north to the south of Chile, and the to-do list for Teléfonica (a subsidiary of the giant Spanish telco) is to install about 300 by the end of this year.
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Posted 8:23 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
The Pirate Machine
Steve Outing on intellectual property
To content creators, new technologies often seem like a threat. Film companies tried to squash the VCR when it came out, fearing it would lead to copying of movies and destroy the film industry. Of course, the VCR turned into a cash cow for Hollywood, and their short-sightedness back then looks shocking now.The same thing goes on now. Today's example is the new Copy Cat CD Duplication machine, which is appearing in Australian convenience stores. Pay $5 (Australian dollars), plus $2 more for a blank CD, and the machine will replicate a music CD in 10 minutes. (It'll even circumvent copy protection built into CDs.) Music industry spokesmen and artists are calling it "morally reprehensible" and so on, which is predictable. I'm sympathetic to content piracy concerns, but I think the industry needs to take a more rational view. Devices to make digital copying easier are inevitable; they won't be stopped for long. Remember the VCR and look at new technologies with an eye to profiting from them. The music industry is repeating Hollywood's VCR mistake. (What do you think? Click "Discuss" below.)
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Posted 8:05 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Cash and Time Evaporating for Jupiter Media Metrix
Vin Crosbie on online publishing research
Six weeks after terminating its proposed $71.2 million merger with NetRatings Inc. due to U.S. Federal Trade Commission opposition, Jupiter Media Metrix announced in its annual report this week that it has only enough funds to operate for a few more weeks, and also that it received a delisting notice from NASDAQ due to its equity price falling well below $1.00 for too long. The report cited an accumulated deficit of $620.6 million. Jupiter's stock, which traded in the $40 range two years ago and at $3.25 a year ago, was trading between $0.14 and $0.12 per share today.Jupiter provides its clients with online tracking measurements and reports and organizes conferences about online issues. Its Japanese, Brazilian, Danish, and Norwegian operations closed earlier this year. Since terminating the NetRatings merger, Jupiter executives have been seeking other suitors. "The group of prospective buyers for Jupiter is small and unenthusiastic, and includes research competitors like Forrester Research and IDC," reported Forbes today. "Besides Neilsen NetRatings, the only other real player in the Web-audience measurement market is ComScore Networks, whose CEO has expressed mild interest. Though it's been speculated that ad conglomerates might be interested in Jupiter, that's an unlikely match since other ad firms would be reluctant to buy data from a competitor. Making Jupiter particularly unappealing to suitors is the $100 million or so in real estate leases that any buyer would be stuck with."
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Posted 5:36 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
The Dangers of Outsourcing Newsletters
Rich Gordon on spammers' impact on publishers
I was reading the latest coverage of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's efforts to crack down on unsolicited e-mail. Because I've been flooded by so many unwanted offers recently, I decided that I'd take a few minutes and forward some of them on to the FTC as it has requested (to uce@ftc.gov). It's easy for me to find them because I'm using my e-mail filters to move them to the "Deleted Items" folder immediately upon arrival, and I'm updating the filters daily. Boy, was I surprised when I found an e-mail newsletter from Technology Review — which I wanted to read — among the deleted items. Technology Review apparently is using the same vendor to manage its e-mail newsletters as sites like EMail4Luck.com, PassionUp.com, and GetFreeTShirts.com, which are flooding me with unwanted e-mail and not responding to "unsubscribe" requests. So Technology Review's newsletter winds up in the electronic garbage. Suggestion for publishers: Choose your e-mail newsletter service provider carefully.
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Posted 1:06 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
The Scoop From Europe
Steve Outing on online journalism
Online Journalism Review's J.D. Lasica has written an extensive, (mostly) comprehensive package of stories about the state of online journalism in Europe. He tackles each country (minus France, since a separate story is planned, and Eastern European countries where online media is still in its infancy) with a separate profile — interviewing local online media experts, exploring the overall state of online news in each nation, and citing the key online news sites. This is good information, especially for U.S. publishers who don't always stay on top of trends in other countries (but should).(Another good source for news about European online news, of course, is this very weblog, E-Media Tidbits. Several of our European contributors regularly write about goings-on and trends in their countries.)
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Posted 9:55 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Weblogs Gain Ground in Argentina
Juan C. Camus on reach of the Web content trend
Defined as a "human selection of the best material on the Internet," a note about weblogs appeared on Clarin.com, the major newspaper in Argentina. The newspaper explained that weblogs are all about one theme, adding that they are "ironic, informal, thoughtful, and passionate." The paper points to Weblogs.com.ar as a local index for weblogs in Argentina.
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Posted 7:29 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
MLB.com Less Than Perfect on Opening Day
Steve Klein on online sports content
Mighty Casey didn't strike out Monday, but MLB.com didn't have a perfect Opening Day on Monday either, according to a story by Jim Hu on CNET's News.com. Major League Baseball's Internet division experienced what it called "minor glitches" in some of its live online broadcasts Monday, resulting in some fans being shut out of games due to an "enormous amount of traffic" as subscribers tried to access the 10 games played. The traffic surge may have had something to do with the New York Yankees-Baltimore Orioles game not being available to Yankee fans on television because of a contract dispute. MLB.com responded by opening up free of charge shortly after noon (U.S. Eastern time).Last year, MLB.com struck out on the first day of the season when it couldn't handle traffic for the site's live Web streams. MLB.com charges $14.95 for full access to all audio broadcasts during the season. Last year, MLB centralized all website production for its teams and prevented local radio affiliates — as well as content aggregators such as Yahoo! — from broadcasting live games.
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Posted 4:21 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
20 Years Ago: Malvinas or Falklands
Juan C. Camus on use of weblogs
A very interesting mini website about the war on the British Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas, for Argentina) has been set up by La Nación, to commemorate the 20 years that have passed since the beginning of that conflict (on March 28), which lasted 74 days. It includes animated infographics, chronologies, personal tales from the soldiers who were in the battles, photo and video galleries, and a special section with photos of the front pages of the newspaper 20 years ago.The other site covering those sad moments you can see from British servers, thanks to BBC.com, which has prepared "Fight for the Falklands, Twenty Years On." This site has similar features to La Nación's, but with a plus: a Spanish-language version.
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Posted 4:07 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Flash Makes Statistics Fun
Eva Domínguez on database-driven graphics
A few days ago, Martha Stone in this weblog referred to an interesting Agence France-Presse project using Flash graphics integrated with database information. Two similar experiences are going on at Spanish newspapers. Both of them use Flash connected to database information to display statistics in real time with a dynamic and visual interface.First we have Estadistadio, from the sports newspaper As, which displays soccer data. The graphics allow the user to compare all data available, such as scores, faults, outsides, shuts, steals, and turnovers, from different teams and players. Next, financial newspaper Cinco Días' Centro de Análisis shows the usually less attractive stock exchange data. The user can select any values or any of the main Spanish companies, as well as different variables, and a graphic will display the results. Statistics are becoming very visual and real fun.
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Posted 3:43 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Ads to Take Over Browser Toolbar
Paul Grabowicz on online advertising
The company that brought us "shoshkeles," animated ads that move across a Web page, is launching a new product called "Ooqa Ooqa" that embeds advertisements in the toolbar of a user's Web browser. The Wall Street Journal describes how the United Virtualities program works and the criticism it's already provoking
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Posted 12:43 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
AvantGo Relents
Steve Outing on PDA publishing
AvantGo, which provides a service whereby anyone can publish content "channels" to PDAs (Palm Pilots, Pocket PCs, et al), has changed its onerous policies to be more supportive of small publishers wishing to deliver content to portable devices. The company long has provided free channels to non-business users, but prohibited business channels with more than eight users. Many publishers used AvantGo channels anyway, until the company clamped down and demanded that fees be paid.AvantGo cites "tremendous feedback" (a.k.a., criticism) in changing its policies. Now, according to a letter sent to AvantGo publishers, the company will no longer block custom channels with fewer than 1,000 users. (Here's the official policy statement.) Those with larger channel audiences will have to pay up. This is good news especially for small publishers, who want to reach PDA users but couldn't afford AvantGo's fees.
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Posted 11:35 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Tribune Begins Requiring Registration
Steve Outing on news websites
ChicagoTribune.com has begun requiring users of its free site to register to gain full access, according to a report in DM News. Later this month, the Tribune Co.'s LATimes.com also will begin requiring registration, and this summer it will be instituted at the site of Newsday, the New York area newspaper. This is a trend that's inevitable. As a Web news consumer, expect to be asked to pay for more content, or at the least asked to pony up personal information in exchange for access to full content.
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Posted 7:50 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Awards Deadline Dilemma: Use the Web, for Gosh Sake
Steve Outing on publishing deadlines
As I plowed through my e-mail from last week (I've been on vacation), I noted a fascinating thread on the Online-News discussion list. The Knoxville News-Sentinel was accused by a list member of being racist, for distributing an edition of the paper that excluded black best actor/actress Oscar winners Denzel Washington and Hallie Berry. Actually, it was simply a case where the actor/actress awards weren't announced when the presses had to roll for the early edition, which residents of outlying neighborhoods received. There was nothing racist going on.The online hook here is that the paper should have been more convergence-savvy. What it should have done (as list member Eric Meyer suggested): publish a more prominent blurb saying, "Awards for several key categories still were being presented at press time. For full details, check the paper's website." So simple, yet some print editors still don't think beyond print in situations like this. Someday soon, they need to learn.
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Posted 2:59 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Virtual Nationality
Vin Crosbie on the world online
Nielsen/Netratings' "Year in Review: Top Internet Headlines of 2001," released last week to N//N clients, contained this neat tidbit: "If Yahoo! users constituted a country, it would be the eighth largest population on Earth, greater than the entire population of Bangladesh or Japan." Following that confection, here is a mix of virtual and real world populations, for comparison purposes: Yahoo.com, 133 million unique users; Japan, 126 million unique citizens. MSN.com 118 million; Nigeria 113 million. AOL Time Warner, 102 million; Germany, 82 million. Lycos Network, 67 million; France and the UK, 60 million each. Google, 42 million; Spain, 39 million. About.com/Primedia, 36 million; Canada, 31 million. CNET, 26 million; ABC/Walt Disney, 23 million. NYTimes.com, 6.7 million; Israel, 5.7 million. WashingtonPost.com, 3 million; Panama, 2.7 million. Trinidad and Tobago, 1 million; Chicago Tribune.com, 1 million. No borders or passports are required online.
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Posted 12:35 PM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Sex Is Getting Less Popular on the Net
Steve Outing on usage trends
This one's from CBS MarketWatch, so I'm pretty confident it's not an April Fools joke. According to a Pennsylvania State University researcher, Amanda Spink, searches on Excite for sexual content have declined to 8.5% of all queries, from double that in 1997. Why the change? The shift is largely a result of increase in usage of commerce sites. This is certainly good news for mainstream-content purveyors — that Internet users have things on their minds other than sex. (Well, at least those on the far side of the teen years.)
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Posted 9:16 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
Don't Trust Anything Today
Steve Outing on Net foolery
Most savvy Internet users know not to trust everything they read or find on the Net. With April Fools Day upon us, today is of course a day to be especially skeptical. In reviewing this morning's e-mail, I already ran across a story that had me scratching my head for the first couple paragraphs, about AOL Time Warner buying a bunch of weblogs. Enjoy the fun, but don't be made a Net fool today. And if you spot any Web April Fools gems, post them at the Discuss This link below.
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Posted 9:00 AM US Eastern Time | perma-link to item below
A Newspaper Weblog for Everyone
Steve Outing on blogging trends
Newspapers are starting to experiment more with the weblog concept. Last week (while I was vacationing), the Observer-Reporter debuted a "public" weblog called Off the Record. Edited by technology columnist and online editor Jessica Smith, the weblog invites the entire newsroom staff and the public to contribute short items — on any Internet-related topic. (The majority of items are pointers to other interesting websites.) Smith vets the incoming items (to filter out pranks, pointers to porn sites, self-promotion, etc.) and posts them along with the contributor's name. As she points out, for many people this is the quickest and easiest way of getting their names in the Observer-Reporter, short of "committing some kind of felony to be noted in our police beat."
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