The Eyeball Economy - A Blog Blog by David Weiner

The Future of Gaming is Not Mobile

2009-11-09T21:39:00.005-05:00

Ben Parr wrote a terrific piece on the future of gaming over at Mashable. I agree with most of the prognostications but I think Ben buried what will turn out to shift the space in the most substantial way. He wrote that he expects to see a "wave of social gaming on the console." While there has been social gaming on consoles for quite a while now, I think this is a major understatement.

Games such as Pet Society or Who Has The Biggest Brain will likely make their way onto the console, either in disc or downloadable form. It’s lucrative and people have proven their willingness to pay for the HD, console-based experience.
Other social gaming platforms will either be acquired or strike lucrative deals to bring their games to the console as well.

Delivery of advertisements into video games is nothing new and, as Jeremy Pepper pointed out to me last week at the Audience Conference, ads even appeared in relics like Pole Position. Advertisers have embraced video games as a very relevant and cost-effective platform but we haven't even seen the beginning. Contextual advertising has been appearing everywhere from web search to email. I believe we will see a ton of targeted advertising in video games for consoles over the next 5 years. I think the consoles will be able to tell advertisers which games are being played on the console and then deliver relevant and unobtrusive advertisements to players. Consoles will be able to mine data about web history, game-playing habits, chats within games, movies played on the device, music and pictures uploaded, etc. Then ads can be streamed into games instead of burned into discs or software.

Beyond gaming on consoles like the PS3, XBOX 360 and the Wii, streaming movies is also a new avenue for marketing and advertising. Instead of getting outdated trailers for movies from 8 years ago when you decide to rent Wonder Boys, you would be able to stream trailers for movies like Where the Wild Things Are or Paranormal Activity (maybe here Netflix could help more).

Especially after today's AdMob acquisition by Google for $750 million in stock, Google has emerged as the undisputed leader in ad delivery for almost every medium. Owning Massive gives Microsoft a solid head start though it hasn't helped them in the past when going against Google. Some are predicting massive growth for that group but one blogger doesn't see how that provides value to the gamers ... more on that in a minute.

I think Google needs to buy or partner with Wii or purchase Sony's PS3 unit. I'd like to see them build the hardware but that doesn't seem to be the way they do things. I would also like to see a gaming console built on Andriod, which would allow anyone to create games, alter games and probably lower the price significantly.

The name of this blog is Eyeball Economy. I believe almost all media should, and will, be free. As a consumer, an organization should subsidize my media consumption (eventually to zero-cost) with the realistic hopes that I could then become one of their consumers.

A lot of things I've been thinking about over the last few months concern distribution. I shouldn't find that odd considering I work for a company primarily known for the distribution of multimedia and plain-text press releases. I think there will be a ton of consolidation in the TV/Internet delivery space and I think the best companies to make those moves will be Microsoft, Google and Apple. Sony could still contend but they have no foundation in advertising to become a factor. Having internet capabilities built into televisions is a great start, but they're going to have to rely on other companies to deliver the content.

To recap a scattered post:

Google should buy the PS3 or the Wii and Scientific Atlanta or another set-top box maker (like Cisco's recent acquisition of DVN.)
Video games will primarily be played on the television or computer for a lot longer. Delivering ads to those eyeballs is where the money will be. Look for some action in the space over the next 6-12 months.
Media (tv, internet, video games, web content) will all be subsidized by advertisers

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A Death Greatly Exaggerated

2009-05-20T18:01:00.005-04:00

Over the last few weeks, we have seen a reincarnation of the old debate that the press release is dead. Though recent forms of the argument have been a little less dire, the sentiment is still the same in some circles. Whether the argument is that the Social Media News Release will replace the traditional release or that the press release is dead, it is an argument I'm willing (and eager) to take part in.

It's been a very peculiar few days in the blogosphere as it relates to this topic. On Monday we saw an epic post (yes, another great one) by Brian Solis entitled, Reviving the Traditional Release. He focused heavily on how to enhance a traditional release and what kinds of tools are out there that enable a release for use across all media and mediums.

New media releases aren’t a new tool to package the same old marketing "speak" that form and enforce the stereotype of existing press releases. They are indeed an opportunity to improve how we, as individuals representing a company that helps real world customers, share our story with them in a way that means something.

Some of the conversation that ensued circled around different tactics, grandiose claims, agreement and disagreement. I largely agree with what Brian went over in the post, however the were a good bunch points I'd disagree with. Adding a photo to a release, no matter when it was done, does not make it Social. PR Newswire has been issuing releases with photos since 1996. Those weren't the first Social Media Releases either. Let's not forget that there really weren't any viable social networks in 2001 that were being used widely, let alone in 1996 (except for ProfNet, maybe ;-). The first social media release was the MNR created for the movie, Pearl Harbor, in 2001. Since then the MNR and SMNR have evolved greatly as has the space it was created for.

When Todd Defren used the MNR to disseminate his template, a new version (and name) for the vehicle was born: The Social Media Press Release. There was, and still is, a ton of conversation around the template and the theory: A release with multiple multimedia assets will be more of value to journalists and consumers. While that theory has held true in my mind, many of the tools used in that template were superfluos. The most obvious example of this are tags to delicious or technorati. These tags are disruptive, are a barrier to stickiness and take the audience away from the key messages. Additionally, there has been no data to suggest that bullet points or isolating quotes makes a release get more pickup, views, or visibility. What do you have left then? A release with multimedia enabled for the social web ... an MNR. Will the IABC version of the template make this an easier vehicle for journalists and bloggers to consumer with an hTemplate? I doubt it.

Today, on the other hand, Hubspot hosted a Webinar to supplement a blog post entitled, Study Shows Social Media Releases Are Less Effective Than Traditional Press Releases. The webinar and the blog post featured some really great tips that all wire clients should heed. However, the target audience for the webinar and post is more Marketer than PR Pro as Hubspot was determining success by the amount of times a release was syndicated as opposed to picked up ... the perpetual earned vs. unearned media dilemma. They took a close look at traditional text releases vs. SMPRs. But they didn't look into dissemination and syndication of video, audio or photos. They didn't take into account traditional releases enabled for Social Media. They didn't take into account a lot of things ... A release isn't successful if it's only displayed, verbatim, on another site. A release is successful by so many other factors that their too numerous to list. Here are a few: earned media pickup, traffic driven, conversation, tonality, volume, impressions, etc.

Considering three of the major voices online have taken mostly contradictory views of the future of the release, I am curious to find out, "What's Next?"

What do you think?

(Photo Source)

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The Twitter Backlash Begins? Nah

2009-04-18T02:27:00.005-04:00

Though today wasn't the first day where we started seeing #unfollowfriday, it did begin the avalanche of negativity and vitriol from the bleeding edgers and first adopters.

As a result of Ashton Kutcher vs. CNNBR and Oprah, Twitterholics, geeks and media nuts went berserk on twitter. Some even abandoned it ...

Now the New York Observer and The Industry Standard are predicting that Google will acquire Twitter. I don't see how this is a logical or even sane reaction when on March 3rd Google's CEO called Twitter a "poor man's email system."

Google will not by Twitter. Microsoft might think about it because they have to do anything they can to try and compete (though this won't help).

No search engine will or should buy twitter. AOL could be dumb enough too, though. Twitter could be purchased by someone like LinkedIn, Skype, Amazon, IAC or a news company of some sort.

Twitter will be fine. As a matter of fact, after this so called backlash ends, the community may be even stronger. Twitter didn't die when the fail whale was a common sighting. It won't fail when Kim Kardashian shares her sunburn photos either...

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The Price of Passed Links

2009-04-17T23:05:00.008-04:00

Everyone's favorite Venture Capitalist, Fred Wilson, wrote a terrific article today on "The Power of Passed Links." The conversation that ensued was equally as robust. He excerpted a quote from a previous comment that raised earned media vs. unearned media as it related to conversion rates. This comment seemingly implored Fred to take a critical look at where traffic is coming from, where it is trending from, and how that will effect conversion rates, growth rates, and value to marketers.

Fred, admittedly, unscientifically analyzed traffic patterns to websites to determine the effectiveness of shared links (twitter, facebook, email) vs. Search (paid or natural).

Here is the chart he shared:

(Photo from A VC)

An email link is a direct suggestion from one friend to another. A Facebook link is a suggestion passed from one friend to a group of friends. I get that those links would be more potent than a search link. And I understand why a Facebook is a more potent link than a Twitter link since Facebook is friends following friends, and Twitter is more like blogging where people follow other people who aren't necessarily friends.

As noted in the comments, where traffic comes from is completely dependent on what kind of site you are analyzing. For e-commerce sites you should expect a large majority of referrals to come from search (50-80%). For small and medium-sized blogs you should see a majority of referrals from search but a much more sizable audience come from 'friend' referrals... sometimes 15-30%. This is probably due to the fact that the bloggers are much more active in the communities that share than are the ecommerce companies and other organizations.

Where the rub of this whole argument lies is in the eyeball economy. How much is a view worth?

We may be seeing the beginnings of a standard for the worth of an online eyeball thanks to the AP's desperate grasp to make up for lost time.

In this image, taken from Betanews.com, the AP is demanding $12.50 from publishers and websites that display between 5 and 25 words from one of their articles. The rates, as you can see, go up to $100 for 251 words and up. Does this mean they think a view is worth $12.50? $100? With newspaper and magazine circulations drowning, we are finally reaching the point where the online will be worth more than the offline.

Comparing this to the STRAWMAN from Fred Wilson where a view is valued at $0.50, we have a slight difference. Should the value be determined by the content or the content creator? What about time spent? What about referral type? How much less if it's not a unique visitor?

These are all questions that need to be addressed before a standard is created or adopted and I fear that it is such a complicated endeavor that we'll have to get the other geeks involved... applied mathematicians.

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Counterpoint: The Associated Press Is Necessary and More Important Than Ever

2009-04-17T11:30:00.010-04:00

Chris Lynn and I were going back and forth a few days ago about the Associated Press and the state of the newspaper industry. Chris followed up our twitter conversation with a solid post on why he thinks the "AP is outdated and losing relevancy."

The AP has been a burning effigy for the bloggers and twitterers for the last year. The AP has brought a lot of this heat on by itself because of their slow adaptation to online news and the shifting revenue models for newspapers and online publications. They have had to react quickly to this shift due to the economic conditions that are forcing publications to quit the cooperative.

Over the last year, we have seen publications like the Tribune Blade, The Columbus Dispatch, The Bakersfield Californian, The Spokesman-Review, The Yakima Herald-Republic, Wenatchee World, and even the Tribue Company leave the AP or file an option to leave the AP (apparently the "AP requires two years' notice for members to cut ties").

Last summer we saw some publications form their own 'Hyperlocal AP' as a result. Ironically, this move validates the need for the Associated Press.

The AP was created in 1846 in order for five New York City newspapers to receive news and reports from the fields of battle during the Mexican American War. In 1900 the Associated Press was set up as a Non-Profit Membership Organization in order to protect itself against people using the cooperative for free.

"In 1891 it was revealed that UPI was getting AP news for free causing a rift among the subset groups and most defected to the UPI. AP responded by striking a monopoly deal with Reuters in England, Havas in France and Wolff in Germany. Most of the papers returned to the AP.

"In 1898 the AP discovered that Chicago Inter Ocean was using news from a wire set up by then rival New York Sun publisher William M. Laffan. AP refused service to the Inter Ocean and the paper filed suit with the Illinois Supreme Court which ruled that the AP was similar to a public utility and could not refuse service."

It's amazing that the AP is going through similar trials over 100 years later due to aggregators and the dominance of web news.

Without the Associated Press, subscribing news organizations would not have been able to publish timely and accurate news on events ranging from the Civil War to WWI to WWII to Bush's National Guard Service toRick Wagoner's resignation, threats by Somali Pirates, #AmazonFail, the Russian incursion into Georgia, to Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson 'taking a break.'

The Associated Press has "243 news bureaus and serves 121 countries." There is no way news can be reported fairly, timely and unbiased without an organization of this type and size. It is even more important to have the AP because of platforms like Twitter and Facebook where memes can spread instantaneously, without the benefit of an editor or fact-checking. There is no question that the immediacy of news is a good thing for all people. This immediacy also inherently lacks the patience, perspective and process that news and information must go through. The absence of this perpetuates incorrect information.

Twitter updates, Facebook, RSS, email alerts all ensure that people receive news in near-real time. It, however, doesn't ensure that people will receive accurate news or corrections. All of these platforms, devices and portals are part of the seemingly infinite echo chamber and, without a filter or editor, we'd be doomed to see that the first iReport will be the only report.

While blogs, twitter, and wikipedia have all been the resources that broke major news stories over the last five years, they've also been a haven for disinformation, misinformation, lies, errors, etc; So have Mainstream Media publications.

Essentially, accurate news is fleeting. When the World needs accurate information from the most and least remote locations, bloggers and twitterers just won't suffice. The AP is necessary to the Fourth Estate and the Fourth Estate is necessary to Democracy.

(Photo from newsroom-magazine.com)

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Below the Fray. Above the Fold?

2009-03-31T08:08:00.006-04:00

Is it ironic that a lot of the conversations happening in media is about media? I'm not sure ...

From people stating that blogs are the new newspapers to Democracy dying because of newspapers' demise to people predicting/wishing for all major papers to become online-only to how newspapers need to engage their audience more and on and on and on, the fact is: Newspapers will never die. There will always be a newspaper on paper (until paper is too expensive and/or rare a resource. Then, maybe, back to papyrus?). Though publications continue to file for Chapter 11, cut staff, and even cut days, newspapers will be around for a very, very long time. That said; Newspapers need to change dramatically in order to thrive.

The Press is the Fourth Estate. Unfortunately for the many thousands of journalists and editors who have been victims of gross mismanagement and a complete ignorance to the wave of internet publications and the threat that all websites pose to newspapers, they are still very much one of the most instrumental pieces of our Democratic puzzle. If not for writers, we'd still be living in a pre-RegFD, pre-SarBox, pre-Enron, pre-WorldCom, pre-Walter Reed, pre-Watergate, pre-countless stories.

With the nature of this ubiquitous Web 2.0 world, some forget that mainstream media (TV, Print, Radio) are the main sources for stories on blogs and other social sites. Yes, some bloggers have broken many important stories (iPhone, RatherGate, Tim Russert's death, etc.) but they predominantly get their news the same way their parents did, from newspapers, albeit very often via RSS feeds and Google/Marketwatch Alerts.

I read newspapers but I’m not one of those fanatics that read papers because I love the feel of paper and ink on my fingertips. I read newspapers because that’s where the best and most thorough news is.

I don't often buy newspapers. When I do, I buy newspapers because I’m about to get on a plane or train or I just feel like looking at the Sunday circulars. Are newspaper sales being hurt due to people shopping less and looking at circulars less? Maybe.

More often than not, I just don't buy newspapers because I get them free during the week outside of the subway stops. By the time I get to work, I’m then able to filter through all my RSS feeds and find out what I need to know from those subscriptions, from twitter, or from other sources. For those people lucky enough to have access to Metro International's papers or AMNY, you don't need to buy a daily paper anymore. The best part about these papers is that they cater to the audience better than the New York Times, Daily News, NY Post, Newsday, etc.

These papers are made with commutes in mind. The average New Yorker's commute is 38.4 minutes, according to the U.S. Census (source 2 and 3). This is the longest commute time in the nation. What is worse, New Yorker's probably live closer to their place of employment than almost anyone else.

Despite it being the paper of record, the New York Times cannot be read in 40 minutes (none of the ‘major’ NYC papers can). Yet, this and all the other major dailies are the ones getting the big advertising dollars. I think that the ‘commuter papers’ should be the ones getting bigger ad dollars than many papers. They are being read in full, and for communications purposes, they’re actually being read by several people per paper (I’m not the only one that leaves it on the bus or subway, am I?).

News is now available everywhere… it’s available on your computer, it’s available on your blackberry or iPhone, on your Kindle, iTouch, Palm Pre, etc. However, the most convenient and simplest place to read all your news is in your hands in long form. Nothing beats a newspaper in ease of use, battery life or data plans. Nothing.

So, what is the future of the newspaper? The New York Times has consistently shrunk in size and in bredth over the last few years. Circulation for the NY Times was down nearly 4% last year. Major papers have been seeing enormous declines for a long time. The writing has been on the wall, yet no one has done much about it.

If the NY Times wants to regain the circulation numbers it had it has to do something drastic.

The future of the newspaper is free. While they should and could still charge for Sunday papers, weekday papers should be free and available to as many people as possible. This would increase the circulation numbers and will allow the company to sell ad space for a much higher price. Since the majority of classified ads (for all papers, but especially metropolitan papers) have gone online to Craig’s List and other online sites, the only revenue left to grow is advertising. The NY Times did sign a distribution agreement with Metro International for Classified Advertising distribution (though I haven’t seen the ads as being incredibly valuable).

The NY Times should buy out Metro International (they currently own 49%) completely and run briefs of all of their stories in it. Currently, it appears that Metro employs its own staff and piggybacks on news from the day before. The NYT briefs should all direct people to the website where the NY Times could double their ad dollars by having the eyeballs in both print and online.

The days of multiplying eyeballs by two and one-half are gone. There is no pass-through rate anymore. There’s hardly circulation like we were used to. The future of the paper is smaller and cheaper. Free, cheaper.

This is not a bad thing. The only bad thing is that our kids won’t know what “Above the Fold” means …

Is This The End Of Twitter?

2009-03-03T11:19:00.004-05:00

Usually, by the time a fad or emerging technology goes mainstream it's the sign that it's no longer a fad, emerging, or cool. We have seen Twitter rise as an astronomical success ... despite all the Fail Whales and identi.ca's. Twitter will be around for a while. It's not dying. It may just be that it will become less useful if the users continue down the same track. It will, eventually, become way to noisy for the major voices (Chris Brogan, Robert Scoble, Guy Kawasaki, etc.) to follow everyone that follows them. It's just untenable. Despite all the tools that allow you to group your friends and maintain conversations, Twitter wasn't built well enough to truly show the evolution of a conversation ... certainly not as well as FriendFeed.

One other ironic thing is the way that traditional media has grasped onto this '2.0' technology. As we can see from this compilation, there are hundreds of reporters on Twitter. If only they were this fervent about blogs when they were in their infancy ... maybe we wouldn't be saying goodbye to our local news and hello to hyperlocal news.

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Is Second Life Getting a Second Wind?

2009-03-02T12:31:00.005-05:00

In boardrooms across the country, screenshots of twitter still evoke chuckles every once in a while. I still play the word association game when it seems appropriate (What's the first word that comes to mind when I say "Twitter?"). While I still hear the words noisy, chaos and waste of time, it does not elicit anywhere near the reaction that Second Life does.

Over the weekend CNBC covered, in great detail, the business of Second Life and the growth it has allegedly seen since September (a 30% increase in user transactions). While many people have their doubts about the 'world,' the business model, and the statistics, what is astounding is the resurgence and apparent need Second Life has cultivated due to the economic conditions (who do I owe a nickel to for saying that phrase?). Trying to think of an analogy for this situation is somewhat futile, but fun nonetheless. It's kind of like going back to Friendster because the lines are shorter ... no, It's kind of like going back to MySpace because the new TOC at Facebook impinge on your social liberties. No. It's like going back to the BBSs because you can only afford to use the web over your 14.4 baud modem. Maybe.

Regardless, I think this resurgence in Second Life is more of a last gasp than a Second Wind. Second Life is doomed (and has always been doomed for the mainstram) to fail because it fosters fantasy and caters to people trying to obfuscate from their real persona. Social Media is succeeding because it allows people to connect, engage, participate and affect. While Second Life does meet these curt criterion, Social Media, generally, exists to build the brand and network of real people. And though you can't argue with the business being done on Second Life and the fortunes being spent there, you can still make fun of it (if you wish). After all, the internet is serious business.

Yes, we will see a short uptick in the use of Second Life for Corporate Events, Trade Shows and other business uses. But I don't think anyone that's not a Furry is Long on Second Life.

UPDATE: Reuters closes bureau in Second Life today!

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The Best SEO? A Well-Written Press Release

2009-02-13T13:14:00.003-05:00

When you write a press release, your first objective should always be: Get your message out and across to your key audiences. Now, due to the growing desire for optimized press releases, many people want their press release to be keyword rich documents which guarantee results on search engines. The 'new' audience is search engines. There is, however, a double-edged sword when it comes to keywords that people need to be aware of.

Every one of our clients wants to be on the first page of search results under the keywords closely associated with their industry and vertical. Obviously our clients want to, and should, appear on the first page of results with their company names, product names, executive names, etc. They should also be concerned about what else appears on that page. Are there blog posts on the first page? Videos on YouTube? Images? After all, people are far more likely to click on search results that have a thumbnail than results that don’t. Additionally, it can take a lot more ‘work’ to get some blog posts off the first page than to get your content on the first page …

We know that press releases drive traffic, spread messages and sell products… they also, however, play a major role in online reputation management. Press Releases can push down negative coverage of your company, competitor’s websites and other sites that don’t fit with your message.

Not every keyword is a word you should be fighting for… not every word is possible for you to own online. Whether it is “cell phone,” “office products,” “semiconductor,” or “asthma,” these words are already owned and are very difficult to penetrate (ask me how!)… these are words you should target with AdWords. That said, you can also fight the fight by including those phrases consistently in your messaging and placing them in very visible parts of your release (headline, subheadline, first graph, anchor text, etc.).

So, which words do you target with your press release? This is where tools like Google.com/trends and Blogpulse.com come in handy … even sites like delicious and reddit can be used to determine the folksonomy of your organization. “How are our consumers defining our company?” “Are we a company that makes sneakers for running or sneakers for jogging?” "Do more people associate my brand with data storage or cloud computing?"

A lot of agencies, influencers and clients talk about tags within a release and using anchor text to add Google Juice. To say it plainly and loudly, the best thing you can do with your release for search is to write a relevant release for those keywords you are targeting. Of the thousands of sites PR Newswire distributes to, only ours will be the one that hosts your tags and ‘keywords.’ While we put up a good fight with Yahoo and Marketwatch, very often those are the sites that are going to appear higher in search engine results within the first few days and weeks. They, however, purge their data after 30, 60, or 90 days. This is where SEO really helps.

These are all issues that an agency or corporations needs to address in their goals.

If I made you even more confused, I apologize and extend the opportunity for a personal discussion at your convenience.

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Live Blogging Is Dead (How Else Am I Supposed to Title This?)

2008-11-03T13:36:00.008-05:00

Live Tweeting has replaced Live Blogging, if it wasn't already obvious. I can't remember if it was the latest Jobs MacWorld Keynote where it became apparent (because Twitter was much faster than MacRumors) or if was during one of the 25+ debates this past election season ... all I do know is that Twitter has replaced blogs for instant information. It has ceased to be a microblogging platform. Twitter has become a macro-messaging dashboard.

Whether it is finding out the new relationship between SalesForce and FaceBook, the trade of Allen Iverson, or the untimely death of Tim Russert, information is being learned on Twitter more than any other medium. For it to make it to Twitter, it very often has to be broken by a (hopefully reputable) source first ... but once that link exists, the chances of it going viral (assuming it deserves to go viral) is greater. Is Twitter even faster than Digg now? That answer is definitely YES.

While I wasn't the biggest advocate of Twitter for a while, this particular use of the platform is transformative.

As many of you know, I do a lot of presentations for agencies, corporations and industry events. Recently I have been playing a word association game with Twitter while presenting. I ask the audience, "What's the first word that comes to mind when I say 'Twitter.'"

I started doing this because I had a very surprising experience at an agency. There is a small firm in downtown NYC that pretty much exploded in laughter when I pulled up the screenshot of twitter. So we went around the room and asked everyone what they thought? The words that were thrown out were: ridiculous, crazy, boring, waste of time, bird, etc. I don't remember anyone in those events saying journalist, influencers, instant messaging, conversation, etc.

I'd love to be able to do it now, but due to time I'll have to save my, "Why Twitter is Important" post for later and just point you towards HubSpot's solid tome.

UPDATE: The untimely and unfortunate death of Barack Obama's grandmother was spread on Twitter only seconds after it was broken on MSNBC and beat Reuters, CNN, Marketwatch, etc. to the news. It also beat Digg by a mile. I'm very saddened by the news and hope it doesn't come across as callous.

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All This Fuss Over A Can?

2008-11-03T09:41:00.005-05:00

Can you believe there are hundreds of people arguing (including Seth Godin) about whether or not Pepsi should have redesigned their can? Even worse, people are lambasting the company for reaching out to influential bloggers ... GASP!

If you aren't familiar with the idea, they sent influential bloggers all of their cans dating back to the stone age. How they actually delivered the cans is brilliant. Read Peter Shankman's post on it ... (Yes, they did ask for addresses. Otherwise, that would be creepy.)

So why, when you go to Chris Brogan's post, is there outrage in the comments over how much this endeavor must have cost?

Are you serious? This endeavor, in total, probably cost less than one ad buy on television talking about the new logo. Moreover, they didn't even have to talk about it ... this strategy enabled us, or You, to talk about it. This is the way brands should communicate. The problem is, when you do talk about it ... you completely miss the point.

Darryl Parker compiled a list of people who received the 'gift basket.'

One of things that I think PR people and agencies should really think about moving forward wit h a program like this is: What kind of pickup did it get?

Sure, this got posted in many of the most influential blogs online. But it seems mostly only in the PR, Marketing and Communications field. This is the one issue I have with outreach programs like this, the Nikon D80 Campaign, Virtual Thirst, and, less so, the Acer Ferrari program. All of these programs got a lot of views and had a lot of conversation around it online. However, with the exception of the latter, they were in sites surrounding the PR, Ad, and Marketing communities. The programs that do the best, or will do best in the future, are the ones that reach out to the community at large ... the 'regular folks' that aren't in the biz.

Regardless, I love the new design and am very proud of Bonin and his team over at Pepsi for what is a new approach to blogger outreach ... one that ethically guaranteed pickup, unlike so many of the precedents.

If you like, go to FriendFeed and participate in the conversation at the Pepsi Cooler.

(Photo Source)

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A New Friend

2008-10-31T18:26:00.000-04:00

For a Friday night ...

Friendly Company

2008-10-24T21:21:00.000-04:00

For a Friday night

A Techmeme Killer?

2008-10-02T09:09:00.002-04:00

Google Launched a Topix-like Techmeme killer ... will it replace Techmeme?

No... probably not, but it does give everyone one more reason to migrate to Google's Blogsearch over technorati (don't get me started).

What do you think?

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Viral Crashing ... Are We Going To Hear About A Movie Launch Soon?

2008-09-26T20:24:00.004-04:00

Gotta say I've always been a very big fan of Sacha Baron Cohen... wasn't that into his latest film, but many of his skits were so brilliantly satirical that they went over most of his audience's head (and how a propos now during an election that is hinging on race and intolerance)... but his most recent splash came today at a fashion show for Prada ... Hilarious, Sacha. Bravo! Bravo!

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We're a Cartoon .... Again?!?!

2008-09-26T12:37:00.003-04:00

Sure, I got a kick out of the cartoons with me and Peter Shankman regarding the HARO vs. ProfNet kerfuffle ... this latest one's funny but a bit off. Even still ...

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The Proof Is In The Pudding

2008-09-23T16:37:00.005-04:00

Today PR Newswire distributed a release which verifies PR Newswire’s leadership position in the commercial newswire industry. The study was conducted by the market research and intelligence firm Diagnostics Plus. The results were very stark and somewhat surprising to many of the clients I have spoken to about this.

While I urge you to read the release, the additional materials for online and print, as well as the slideshare presentation, please also view the videos.

"Our content has been referred to in more blog posts, Diggs and Delicious Links than any other commercial wire service," said Dave Armon, President of PR Newswire. "PR Newswire has the highest Google page rank in our industry, and has been referenced as a source on Wikipedia more than any other wire service as well. We believe this proves PR Newswire is the most trusted and credible source for news from the corporate and public policy sectors."

This is a very encouraging day for a lot of us as the things we’ve been told and have been telling clients for a year have been statistically and scientifically verified.

There is a great discussion about this study happening right now on twitter and on PR-Squared.

Where I'm At

2008-09-16T19:50:00.000-04:00

Bigger Fish To Fry ...

2008-09-12T16:22:00.004-04:00

Google News has found an even bigger fish to fry than United Airlines ... Microsoft.

Do you think it is coincidence that a story about IE8 has Google Chrome's logo next to it?

The issue with Google's bots severely hurting the stock price of United Airlines is actually a much bigger story for our industry than many people want to admit ... or maybe it's just that this isn't the kind of story that can get you on to TechMeme.

From my perspective, one of Google News' biggest issues has always been the lead source they put forward to the public on major breaking news. As an employee of PR Newswire I tend to see a lot of news before anyone else ... web indexers included. But how all press releases aren't the lead on Google News when a release is issued is beyond me. The first story released should always be the first one indexed on this particular site. While I understand the need and value of the reaction to the news, credible and authentic sources will become even more important in this changing media landscape.

Yes, a press release isn't exactly a story, but it is an official and authorized company statement. Additionally, many times Google News indexes a release from the wire but picked up (not covered) verbatim by a downstream partner (like Marketwatch, Reuters, AP, DJ, etc.).

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I'm Going To Be A Daddy Blogger

2008-08-28T14:57:00.004-04:00

My wife is not nearly the kind of geek I am ... though she was blogging over 4 years ago. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by the way she told me she was pregnant...

(this pic was sent via a text message while I was out of town)

This major development has obviously thrown us into a spiral of doctor's visits, sonograms, ultrasounds and the dreaded registries. I cannot believe all of the stuff that is required of parents (this will be our first, and no, we are not finding out the gender of the baby).

With all of the strollers, prams, travel systems, and car seats we have to look into, I'm astonished and intimidated. On the other hand, professionally, I can totally understand the importance and influence of 'Mommy Bloggers.' HELP!!!

For the men and women who speak online about certain products, whether it is a review on Amazon or a video on YouTube (which KiddieCare is terrific at (though they don't ship to the U.S.)). Bloggers are also incredibly influential for many reasons ... most importantly are the comment and conversation aspect as well as the google juice effect. I am more inclined to believe and place import in a conversation on a blog than reviews on a particular retailers website (then again, if there are 10 reviews and all are 5 out of 5, that says something).

For the registry, I considered building a website that would serve as a registry so we could add items from numerous sites. We also found out about Amazon's WishList Bookmarklet around the same time but because it wouldn't advise the owner of the list nor the other friends looking to buy things of the purchases it became impractical... Anyhow ... It looks like the Stokke Xplory and Orbit Infant System are out of the question. Over $1,000 on a stroller! We are looking at a few Silver Cross prams from an English retailer (depending on the shipping costs)...

Anyhow. My wife and I are very excited and we wanted all of our friends out in the webosphere to know ... we're expecting December 9th.

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Ted Kennedy's Speech at the 2008 DNC Was Historic and Perfect

2008-08-25T21:49:00.003-04:00

It was a very emotional evening for fans of history and the Kennedy's (at least, the sons of Joe). Though he wasn't as vigorous as he was in some of the video they showed during the tribute, the content and words were exacting.

I urge you to read the transcript.

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Will Location Based Programs Farewell?

2008-08-25T20:34:00.000-04:00

Though I only get slightly creeped out by the prompt on my iPhone asking me if I'd like to share my location, it is not as invasive as dodgeball or BrightKite. Dodgeball, though purchased by Google, never took off despite the initial shiny factor. BrightKite isn't taking off because the service doesn't make much sense. What's the purpose of these programs? Stalker enablers? I completely understand that they're "opt-in," I just don't want to get that involved ... it also speaks to my feelings about Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, etc. (ask me over a drink, I dare you).

Anyhow, enter Garmin ... Garmin partnered with uLocate "to add friend-finding capabilities to select current and future Garmin GPS devices."

The Alley Insider thinks that location-based services might be a $3.3 Billion market in 5 years. I'm no expert in the futures market of LBS, I just think that this fervor is misdirected.

Location-based Advertising is going to be a prevalent disruption, this is for sure.

Let's use Apple's iPhone as an example (shocker). Imagine if the (newly, much improved) Google Maps application pulls local and relevant advertising just as quick as it can find an address. Imagine if that advertising included Yelp reviews. Imagine of positive reviews that resulted in OpenTable reservations resulted in revenue for that Yelp reviewer? As a foodie, I think this could be the biggest opportunity. Unfortunately, it seems restaurants (conglomerates or local mom and pops) have very low PR budgets.

Location based services are not going to be that big unless they include advertising in the forecast. I don't think they did and that's why I think that report was way off... Agree?

Speaking of low PR budgets, and due out very soon on this shelf, "Why Advertising and Marketing Need to Share."

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Immunity or Community?

2008-08-08T21:37:00.007-04:00

To Stumble Or To Digg … Is It Even A Question?

One of the things that puts me in a tricky position as a consultant for PR Newswire is counseling (is that ironic or what?). As an Editor (I was an Editor and Senior Editor from 2002 - 2005), we were not able to counsel clients on what was or was not material to a news announcement. This had to be determined by the client and their legal team. More recently, as the Manager of Emerging Media and a Senior Account Supervisor, I am responsible for counseling clients on rules in Social Media. I'm not exactly sure yet, but this may be a lot trickier.

Much of my presentations focus on social media, social bookmarking and social networking (YES, there is a VERY big distinction between the three (or four)). I contend that the former consists of sites like Wikipedia, Citizendium, Digg, SocialMedian, Newsvine, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Marketwatch and even Reuters Buzz and TD Ameritrade. Social Bookmarking consists of sites like Delicious, Magnolia and Furl. Social Networking consists of sites like Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Bebo and newcomers like Corkd, Ning, and SocialGo. Maybe even there's room for a distinction between social media sites and social aggregators like FriendFeed, SocialThing, and others.

There is a very big difference between these four. Social Media relies on the wisdom of crowds and policing of its constituents. The users and community determine the story, definition, accuracy, popularity and trend of the data and/or information. Social Bookmarking sites allows users to store, organize, search, and manage information with other users. Social Networking consists of sites that allow its users to congregate, conversate and organize friends, events and information. Social Aggregators, which is still somewhat of a new term, allow users to stream their online lives and peer into the lives of others.

As far as PR, Marketing and Advertising is concerned, using many of these sites is off-limits. I don't necessarily mean abusing . Digg, StumbleUpon, Reuters Buzz, Yahoo Message Boards, Wikipedia, and many other of these kinds of sites should NOT be used to promote your product, company or blog post. As I say in all of my presentations, doing this is the same thing as patting yourself on the back on video. I don't even think that proactively requesting Diggs is appropriate. Most of these functions are supposed to be reactions by the community at large. The results are supposed to be organic... not contrived. While everyone agrees that the A-List consists of, and requires, shameless self-promotion, it should be done with the utmost integrity.

For the corporate bloggers and shareholders out there ... be aware that you are not an A-List blogger. They can get away with this ... you can't. The problem is their immunity, not their community.

(Photo Credit)

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I'm a Bit of a Geek ...

2008-08-04T00:47:00.005-04:00

It's true and it doesn't only hold true for media, the web and the New York Rangers. I also LOVE gadgets. I have always been into mobile phones, cameras, console wars, etc.

I've recently capitulated and determined that I finally NEED to purchase a camcorder (more on that some other time). After doing extensive research on sites from CNET and Amazon to blog reviews and B&H, I decided on the aforelinked DCR-SR85. I'm hoping it arrives when I return from Vegas on Wednesday morning ...

I've also decided, after recent difficulties finding what seemed to be simple locations, I'm in desperate (sic) need of a GPS device. Though the iPhone's turn-by-turn directions are very impressive and useful, it is not a viable or safe solution. I cannot decide between Garmin and TomTom and am confused as to how prices on older devices haven't dropped enough ... the low range still is in the $150 - $200 area and has been for a VERY long time. Anyhow. I have yet to find out which one I will get because I've only used Garmin's in rental cars and have never tried a TomTom. Have you?

There is a lot of debate about HD and iLife and even the length of time it would take for any computer to compress, edit, process, etc. HD video. I'm always the first one to get the best of breed or top model, but in this case I just didn't see how HD for a consumer who wants to edit video is feasible ... Have you heard or experienced otherwise?

Anyhow ... it's bedtime.

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Is Google Reader The New FriendFeed?

2008-08-01T09:54:00.002-04:00

I know I know ... everything's the new next thing ... but this feature looks like it could steal a lot of FriendFeed's thunder. What do you think?

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