Pew reporting:
The transformation of the nation’s news landscape has already taken a
heavy toll on print news sources, particularly print newspapers. But
there are now signs that television news – which so far has held onto
its audience through the rise of the internet – also is increasingly
vulnerable, as it may be losing its hold on the next generation of news
consumers.
Online
and digital news consumption, meanwhile, continues to increase, with
many more people now getting news on cell phones, tablets or other
mobile platforms. And perhaps the most dramatic change in the news
environment has been the rise of social networking sites. The percentage
of Americans saying they saw news or news headlines on a social
networking site yesterday has doubled – from 9% to 19% – since 2010.
Among adults younger than age 30, as many saw news on a social
networking site the previous day (33%) as saw any television news (34%),
with just 13% having read a newspaper either in print or digital form.
These are among the principal findings of the Pew Research Center’s
biennial news consumption survey, which has tracked patterns in news use
for nearly two decades. The latest survey was conducted May 9-June 3,
2012, among 3,003 adults.
The proportion of Americans who read news on a printed page – in
newspapers and magazines – continues to decline, even as online
readership has offset some of these losses. Just 23% say they read a
print newspaper yesterday, down only slightly since 2010 (26%), but off
by about half since 2000 (47%).
http://www.people-press.org/2012/09/27/in-changing-news-landscape-even-television-is-vulnerable/
Saturday, September 29, 2012
THE TRUTH ABOUT TWITTER: It's Not A Mainstream Technology
Business Intelligence reporting:
Twitter is a great product, and millions of people have become addicted to using it for many hours per day (including me).
Investors have also gone bananas over the company, bidding its valuation up higher than $10 billion.
And advertisers have had very encouraging things to say about the power of Twitter as an advertising and customer-service channel.
But given the mind-boggling ubiquity of Twitter awareness--the little bird and @handles and quoted tweets are everywhere--it's easy to lose sight of something.
In the grand scheme, Twitter just isn't that big.
Oh, sure, in terms of sign-ups and monthly web visitors, Twitter is huge. Over 90 million people landed on Twitter.com last month. And the service blew past 500 million global accounts a while ago.
But
the little-discussed secret about Twitter is that only a tiny fraction
of those who have signed up for accounts on Twitter use it regularly.
And as far as regular usage is concerned, Twitter isn't even close to becoming a mainstream technology.
Don't believe it?
Twitter is a great product, and millions of people have become addicted to using it for many hours per day (including me).
Investors have also gone bananas over the company, bidding its valuation up higher than $10 billion.
And advertisers have had very encouraging things to say about the power of Twitter as an advertising and customer-service channel.
But given the mind-boggling ubiquity of Twitter awareness--the little bird and @handles and quoted tweets are everywhere--it's easy to lose sight of something.
In the grand scheme, Twitter just isn't that big.
Oh, sure, in terms of sign-ups and monthly web visitors, Twitter is huge. Over 90 million people landed on Twitter.com last month. And the service blew past 500 million global accounts a while ago.
Don't believe it?
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Native Ads or Advertorials?
Digiday reporting:
There’s a growing debate on the concept of native advertising. The underlying question: Is native advertising a new tool for publishers, or is it just putting lipstick on the advertorial pig?
One view is that native ads are a disruptive advertising unit publishers are using, in part to eliminate the much-maligned banner. Publishers are working with brands to develop interactive and engaging content that sits on a publisher site, looks and feels like an article from that publisher, and can be shared like any other type of content. It often comes in the form of pictures, but can also be video or a straight-up article. Visit BuzzFeed or Gawker or The Huffington Post or Forbes or The Atlantic and you’ll see these ads in the wild. The conceit is rather simple: use the Web to present compelling content that allows brands to deliver a message without it looking like an ad.
The naysayers, however, see it differently. All Things D’s Peter Kafka tweeted, “Native ads” = “fancy name for advertorials magazines and newspapers have always run.” The view is that if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, well then, it must be a duck. Advertorials on the Web aren’t new, as AdWeek (and former Digiday editor) Mike Shields reminded us in a tweet, “we’ve had ‘sponsored sections’ since 90s. Ditching banners is what’s revolutionary”
The difference between an advertorial and a native ad lies in the content. Publishers are building out creative services teams (The Atlantic has a staff of 15; Buzzfeed has nearly 20) to help brands create content that fits the voice of the outlet, whereas advertorials don’t necessarily match up. Think of any drug advertorial you may see in Sports Illustrated or Golf Digest.
What’s tripping people up is there has yet to be an operational definition for native ads.
http://www.digiday.com/publishers/native-ads-or-advertorials/
There’s a growing debate on the concept of native advertising. The underlying question: Is native advertising a new tool for publishers, or is it just putting lipstick on the advertorial pig?
One view is that native ads are a disruptive advertising unit publishers are using, in part to eliminate the much-maligned banner. Publishers are working with brands to develop interactive and engaging content that sits on a publisher site, looks and feels like an article from that publisher, and can be shared like any other type of content. It often comes in the form of pictures, but can also be video or a straight-up article. Visit BuzzFeed or Gawker or The Huffington Post or Forbes or The Atlantic and you’ll see these ads in the wild. The conceit is rather simple: use the Web to present compelling content that allows brands to deliver a message without it looking like an ad.
The naysayers, however, see it differently. All Things D’s Peter Kafka tweeted, “Native ads” = “fancy name for advertorials magazines and newspapers have always run.” The view is that if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, well then, it must be a duck. Advertorials on the Web aren’t new, as AdWeek (and former Digiday editor) Mike Shields reminded us in a tweet, “we’ve had ‘sponsored sections’ since 90s. Ditching banners is what’s revolutionary”
The difference between an advertorial and a native ad lies in the content. Publishers are building out creative services teams (The Atlantic has a staff of 15; Buzzfeed has nearly 20) to help brands create content that fits the voice of the outlet, whereas advertorials don’t necessarily match up. Think of any drug advertorial you may see in Sports Illustrated or Golf Digest.
What’s tripping people up is there has yet to be an operational definition for native ads.
http://www.digiday.com/publishers/native-ads-or-advertorials/
Digital Circ Up, but Still Tiny Magazines still mostly a print-based business
Adweek reporting:
Magazines have doubled their digital circulation in the past year, but
publishing remains a mostly ink-on-paper business for the industry.
The Audit Bureau of Circulations’ latest magazine report is out, and
for the first time, the ABC broke out digital replica circulation for
each title in a stand-alone column. Digital replicas accounted for 1.7
percent of overall magazine circulation, or 5.4 million digital replica
editions. That's up from about 2 million digital replica editions a year
ago, or less than 1 percent of total magazine circulation.
The top sellers of digital copies included some surprises. Game Informer magazine had the biggest digital circulation, reporting 1.2
million digital copies. Nylon, a small fashion title, had 75,184 digital editions, accounting for more than 35 percent of its total circulation of 216,466. Meanwhile, Parenting and Us Weekly also had a notably high number of digital editions, reporting digital circulations of 74,790 and 61,106, respectively, each totaling about 3 percent of the titles’ total circulation.
While overall magazine circulation is doing better than in recent
years, newsstand sales—which make up a relatively small part of overall
circulation but are seen as an important barometer by the advertising
community of consumer demand—continue to decline sharply.
'The Economist' Sets Digital Rate Base Claims a first in magazine world
Adweek reporting:
have a place for digital-only rate base claims.)
Print media buyers have been pushing publishers to give up more
information about their digital editions as they try to assess a new
medium. Now, The Economist is delivering on one of those buyer demands by being, it claims, the first to set a digital rate base.
The rate base of 50,000 is intended, like a print base, to increase advertisers’ confidence. It will take effect in January and appear on the newsweekly’s Consolidated Media Report, a year-old reporting tool from the Audit Bureau of Circulations that attempts to present a brand’s total footprint across print and digital platforms. (The ABC’s longstanding publisher’s statements don’t yet
“We realized that transparency is important,” said David Kaye, vp of ad sales for The Economist, which planned to announce the rate base news on Sept. 25. “The agency community is asking for this.”
The Economist has well-established digital bona fides. In
April, it reported having 48,000 digital subscriptions, or about 6
percent of its total circulation, which is on the high end for
magazines. Since then, the magazine’s digital circulation has topped
50,000, Kaye said.
The new rate base will apply to the North American non-replica, subscription sales of The Economist
that are read on the iPad, iPhone, Android devices and BlackBerry
Playbook. It does not include single-copy sales, nor does it include
Zinio, Nook and Kindle Fire versions, which are replica editions.
Having separate rate bases for print and digital is just what some
media buyers want. They don’t want to be charged for digital copies
they’re not buying, and they object to the practice by some publishers
of folding digital circulation into print circ in order to make their
print circulation guarantee.
“I get why they’re doing that; they’re trying to sell one circulation,”
said Barry Lowenthal, president of The Media Kitchen. “But advertisers
want to buy one channel’s audience.”
The most engaging companies in social media
Digiday reporting:
Last week, we looked at the most engaging brands on Twitter and found that publishers rule the platform; in fact, seven of the 10 are publishers. For Track Social’s list of the most engaging companies in social media overall, half the companies are brands and half are publishers. It makes total sense. Twitter has turned into the new news feed, which is a perfect fit for publishers. But when it comes to social media engagement overall, brands are just as strong as the media companies.
Track Social ranks the most engaging brands in social media based on how responsive the audience is to brand-initiated interactions on Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, YouTube and Instagram. It is a measure of the quality of the brand’s social media interactions, and Track Social claims it directly affects the visibility of the brand’s activity on the platforms using their visibility algorithms (such as Edgerank of Facebook).
Some in the top 10 were no surprise at all, like, for example, Disney’s first-place ranking. However, Publix’s besting giants like Walmart and Stop&Shop was a shock. Additionally, the inclusion of G4 Media was also a surprise. It’s obvious that the number of followers doesn’t matter. It’s quality over quantity in social media. It’s better to have a smaller audience that truly engages with the brand than having 1 million people who never even look at your content.
1. Disney
Disney had 26.7 million interactions in one year to brand posts. Disney has made Track Social’s lists for most engaging on Facebook and on Twitter as well. The secret to Disney’s success in social media is that it places a tremendous emphasis on pictures that every American can feel nostalgic about....
http://www.digiday.com/brands/the-most-engaging-companies-in-social-media/
Last week, we looked at the most engaging brands on Twitter and found that publishers rule the platform; in fact, seven of the 10 are publishers. For Track Social’s list of the most engaging companies in social media overall, half the companies are brands and half are publishers. It makes total sense. Twitter has turned into the new news feed, which is a perfect fit for publishers. But when it comes to social media engagement overall, brands are just as strong as the media companies.
Track Social ranks the most engaging brands in social media based on how responsive the audience is to brand-initiated interactions on Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, YouTube and Instagram. It is a measure of the quality of the brand’s social media interactions, and Track Social claims it directly affects the visibility of the brand’s activity on the platforms using their visibility algorithms (such as Edgerank of Facebook).
Some in the top 10 were no surprise at all, like, for example, Disney’s first-place ranking. However, Publix’s besting giants like Walmart and Stop&Shop was a shock. Additionally, the inclusion of G4 Media was also a surprise. It’s obvious that the number of followers doesn’t matter. It’s quality over quantity in social media. It’s better to have a smaller audience that truly engages with the brand than having 1 million people who never even look at your content.
1. Disney
Disney had 26.7 million interactions in one year to brand posts. Disney has made Track Social’s lists for most engaging on Facebook and on Twitter as well. The secret to Disney’s success in social media is that it places a tremendous emphasis on pictures that every American can feel nostalgic about....
http://www.digiday.com/brands/the-most-engaging-companies-in-social-media/
Saturday, September 22, 2012
First look: Spundge is software to help journalists to manage real-time data streams
NiemanJournalismLab reporting:
Many power users of Twitter consider TweetDeck essential for managing multiple streams of data. Once you adapt to its overwhelming user interface, the software becomes essential. And addictive.
Imagine
being able to add more real-time sources to TweetDeck — RSS feeds,
Facebook, Flickr, YouTube — and you have something like Spundge,
a web app that launches in public beta today. The software is being
marketed initially to journalists and is being tested inside a few news
organizations.
“The problem is today’s journalist has to use too many products and applications to do their job, and very few of these were actually built with newsrooms or journalistic workflow in mind,” said Craig Silverman, the corrections guru who is working with Spundge to help develop the product for journalists.
“Spundge is a platform that’s built to take a journalist from information discovery and tracking all the way to publishing, regardless of whatever internal systems they have to contend with,” he told me.
A user creates notebooks to organize material (a scheme familiar to Evernote users). Inside a notebook, a user can add streams from multiple sources and activate filters to refine by keyword, time (past few minutes, last week), location, and language.
Spundge extracts links from those sources and displays headlines and summaries in a blog-style river. A user can choose to save individual items to the notebook or hide them from view, and Spundge’s algorithms begin to learn what kind of content to show more or less of. A user can also save clippings from around the web with a bookmarklet (another Evernote-like feature). If a notebook is public, the stream can be embedded in webpages, Ã la Storify. (Here’s an example of a notebook tracking the ONA 2012 conference.)
http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/09/first-look-spundge-is-software-to-help-journalists-to-manage-real-time-data-streams/?utm_source=Daily+Lab+email+list&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=b5bbac0ff5-DAILY_EMAIL
Many power users of Twitter consider TweetDeck essential for managing multiple streams of data. Once you adapt to its overwhelming user interface, the software becomes essential. And addictive.
Imagine
being able to add more real-time sources to TweetDeck — RSS feeds,
Facebook, Flickr, YouTube — and you have something like Spundge,
a web app that launches in public beta today. The software is being
marketed initially to journalists and is being tested inside a few news
organizations.“The problem is today’s journalist has to use too many products and applications to do their job, and very few of these were actually built with newsrooms or journalistic workflow in mind,” said Craig Silverman, the corrections guru who is working with Spundge to help develop the product for journalists.
“Spundge is a platform that’s built to take a journalist from information discovery and tracking all the way to publishing, regardless of whatever internal systems they have to contend with,” he told me.
A user creates notebooks to organize material (a scheme familiar to Evernote users). Inside a notebook, a user can add streams from multiple sources and activate filters to refine by keyword, time (past few minutes, last week), location, and language.
Spundge extracts links from those sources and displays headlines and summaries in a blog-style river. A user can choose to save individual items to the notebook or hide them from view, and Spundge’s algorithms begin to learn what kind of content to show more or less of. A user can also save clippings from around the web with a bookmarklet (another Evernote-like feature). If a notebook is public, the stream can be embedded in webpages, Ã la Storify. (Here’s an example of a notebook tracking the ONA 2012 conference.)
http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/09/first-look-spundge-is-software-to-help-journalists-to-manage-real-time-data-streams/?utm_source=Daily+Lab+email+list&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=b5bbac0ff5-DAILY_EMAIL
The USA Today Redesign: Too Little, Too Early?
Newsonomics reporting:
It’s hard to know what to make of the USA Today re-do. It touts itself as a re-imagining, which may be a bit hyperbolic. God only knows how much time people spent on the redesigned logo (must-read Romenesko on Gannett’s “Cool Balls” and their spiritual purpose). I think they could have saved a lot of time and money and shopped at Office Max. You can buy 1/2-inch Fluorescent Inventory Circle Labels online for only $6.49. We’ve only seen the iPad and iPhone redesign versions so far — web version comes over the weekend – but it’s underwhelming at this point, and reminds us that USA Today’s problems are way more than skin-deep ( I outlined those issues in June: “10 Snapshots on Larry Kramer’s USA Today”).
My guess: in a rush to do something to reverse the USAT’s flagging fortunes, Gannett and/or new publisher Larry Kramer decided to take one big public step. Change the look first — and then get to the deeper, underlying questions of identity, purpose, storytelling and content, all of which are core issues with the aging product. (Yes, in the digital age, midlife crises start soon after you hit 30.) Looked at this way, the redesign is a platform. It’s a platform to do better content, to do state-of-the-art customization and to catch up with the video wave sweeping its peers (“The Newsonomics of Leapfrog Video“). Maybe, that’s what’s intended here, but here’s the rub. Tell everyone you’ve “re-imagined” the product, and they’ll try it out — again. If they arrive and still don’t feel newly compelled to come back, you’ll have a harder time getting them to come back for the next re-launch. Or, if there’s not a next relaunch, they may never find the storytelling improvements we believe Kramer and his people have planned.
Today, though, what do we find in the digital re-do, and let’s be clear, it’s the digital re-do, in the age of fast-declining newsprint, that matters most:
It’s hard to know what to make of the USA Today re-do. It touts itself as a re-imagining, which may be a bit hyperbolic. God only knows how much time people spent on the redesigned logo (must-read Romenesko on Gannett’s “Cool Balls” and their spiritual purpose). I think they could have saved a lot of time and money and shopped at Office Max. You can buy 1/2-inch Fluorescent Inventory Circle Labels online for only $6.49. We’ve only seen the iPad and iPhone redesign versions so far — web version comes over the weekend – but it’s underwhelming at this point, and reminds us that USA Today’s problems are way more than skin-deep ( I outlined those issues in June: “10 Snapshots on Larry Kramer’s USA Today”).
My guess: in a rush to do something to reverse the USAT’s flagging fortunes, Gannett and/or new publisher Larry Kramer decided to take one big public step. Change the look first — and then get to the deeper, underlying questions of identity, purpose, storytelling and content, all of which are core issues with the aging product. (Yes, in the digital age, midlife crises start soon after you hit 30.) Looked at this way, the redesign is a platform. It’s a platform to do better content, to do state-of-the-art customization and to catch up with the video wave sweeping its peers (“The Newsonomics of Leapfrog Video“). Maybe, that’s what’s intended here, but here’s the rub. Tell everyone you’ve “re-imagined” the product, and they’ll try it out — again. If they arrive and still don’t feel newly compelled to come back, you’ll have a harder time getting them to come back for the next re-launch. Or, if there’s not a next relaunch, they may never find the storytelling improvements we believe Kramer and his people have planned.
Today, though, what do we find in the digital re-do, and let’s be clear, it’s the digital re-do, in the age of fast-declining newsprint, that matters most:
- Pictures. Lots of pictures, and given smaller-than-desktop screen, size, lots of unidentified thumbnails, too small to be intriguing. We know lots of video is planned, and again the still platform may soon get some legs.
- Graphics: On the left rail, the kinds of data and visualization that we’ve got to expect from USA Today. An appropriate Life snapsnot on the lower left of that page. Kramer has talked about customization — an absolute essential for weather, sports scores, travel, etc., but only the stock portfolio looks customizable at this point. Without customization, these widgets don’t do any more than what I can get in a hundred places. With it, they begin to combine my data in one place.
- Content: The lead story, as I write, is “Middle East protests spread to more countries.” Really? If USA Today zigs, less well, as everyone else in the news world zigs, what’s the point of coming here? The content looks like the same content USA Today has always done, minus the differentiating “we-ness” of its headlines, while sometimes annoying and easy to satirize, at least made it unique.http://newsonomics.com/the-usa-today-redesign-too-little-too-early/
How much will USA Today’s redesign help?
NiemanJournalismLab reporting: USA Today unveiled its print redesign
last Friday and its web redesign the following day, and it was much
more than a mere touch-up. The paper’s new look (which is centered
around simple, single-color circles as logos), was the subject of much
mocking, including from Stephen Colbert, though Erik Wemple of The Washington Post told the blue-ball critics to give the redesign time.
Others had more substantive critiques: Charles Apple of the American Copy Editors Society said the redesign has been a great idea with great content, but horrible execution. Design consultant Mario Garcia liked the redesign overall as a colorful, contemporary look that still managed to make the paper more text-driven and conducive to long-form stories. He also gathered some opinions on USA Today’s influence on news design from several people in the industry.
USA Today’s website redesign was met with the approval of Poynter’s Julie Moos, who liked its emphasis on large images, horizontal scrolling orientation, navigation, and layering of information. Garcia talked to the redesign’s driver, Gannett’s David Payne, who noted that the redesign was about rethinking advertising as much as news, with a priority put on making multimedia ads more fully a part of the browsing experience. Poynter’s Sam Kirkland talked to the design firm that engineered the project about the influence of the iPad and the challenge of keeping the content uncluttered, and Business Insider also had a cool look at some of the other concepts USA Today was considering for its website.
Others had more substantive critiques: Charles Apple of the American Copy Editors Society said the redesign has been a great idea with great content, but horrible execution. Design consultant Mario Garcia liked the redesign overall as a colorful, contemporary look that still managed to make the paper more text-driven and conducive to long-form stories. He also gathered some opinions on USA Today’s influence on news design from several people in the industry.
USA Today’s website redesign was met with the approval of Poynter’s Julie Moos, who liked its emphasis on large images, horizontal scrolling orientation, navigation, and layering of information. Garcia talked to the redesign’s driver, Gannett’s David Payne, who noted that the redesign was about rethinking advertising as much as news, with a priority put on making multimedia ads more fully a part of the browsing experience. Poynter’s Sam Kirkland talked to the design firm that engineered the project about the influence of the iPad and the challenge of keeping the content uncluttered, and Business Insider also had a cool look at some of the other concepts USA Today was considering for its website.
Gallup: Americans mistrust media more than ever
Poynter reporting: Sixty percent of Americans said they trust the mass media “Not very much” or “Not at all,”
a Gallup survey published Friday says. That’s the highest percentage
since Gallup started asking the question regularly in the ’90s, it
reports.
Republicans and independents are pushing that number up. Nearly 60 percent of Democrats trust the media a “Great deal” or a “Fair amount.”
Interestingly, Republicans are among the top consumers of the news they distrust:
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/189225/gallup-americans-mistrust-media-more-than-ever/
Republicans and independents are pushing that number up. Nearly 60 percent of Democrats trust the media a “Great deal” or a “Fair amount.”
Interestingly, Republicans are among the top consumers of the news they distrust:
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/189225/gallup-americans-mistrust-media-more-than-ever/
News aggregator News360 goes after publishers, reveals iPad page views have doubled in two months
TabletTimes reporting:
Social
news curator News360 has rolled out a beta publisher program to promote
content from 25 publishers including The Business Insider, Fox Sports,
The Chicago Tribune and The Atlantic.
The news aggregator will also look to promote each publisher’s content when news readers look to follow new topics or sources.
“From the end user perspective, there’s not much change except featured publishers will have their own unique branding and colors,” News360 CEO Roman Karachinsky told TabTimes.
“Also, when we see that users are looking to add to their interests, we will try and recommend partners as a featured source, although we won’t try to force this.”
http://tabtimes.com/news/media/2012/09/21/news-aggregator-news360-goes-after-publishers-reveals-ipad-page-views-have
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Digital and newspaper readerships combined for UK
theguardian reporting:
How many people are really looking at this page right now? As of today, we may have a better idea.
Traditionally, news websites rely on the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABCs), which measure browsers by devices.
British print newspapers have used the National Readership Survey to guess how many people are actually reading each paper, as opposed to the numbers that are being sold.
But combining those print readers with each newspaper's digital users has been tricky. How to measure on the same basis?
Now it's been done - for the first time, print and digital figures combined in the new NRS Print and Digital Data survey (NRS PADD)
Josh Halliday writes today that the figures show
How many people are really looking at this page right now? As of today, we may have a better idea.
Traditionally, news websites rely on the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABCs), which measure browsers by devices.
British print newspapers have used the National Readership Survey to guess how many people are actually reading each paper, as opposed to the numbers that are being sold.
But combining those print readers with each newspaper's digital users has been tricky. How to measure on the same basis?
Now it's been done - for the first time, print and digital figures combined in the new NRS Print and Digital Data survey (NRS PADD)
Josh Halliday writes today that the figures show
The Guardian has the biggest total monthly readership of British quality titles … The Guardian's website and newspaper editions had a total monthly readership of 8.95 million in the year to March 2012, ahead of the Daily Telegraph audience of 8.82 million …http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/sep/12/digital-newspaper-readerships-national-survey
Including Sunday editions sees the Guardian and Observer remain in the top spot for quality titles, with a combined readership of 9.57 million. The Daily and Sunday Telegraph had 9.46 million readers in total, the Times and Sunday Times had 7.93 million and the Independent and its Sunday sister title had 5.83 million
Android tablet for kids
TabTimes reporting:
Looking
to wrestle back the iPad from the clutches of your kids? TabTimes looks
at five excellent (and affordable) Android tablets for young children.
Toys 'R' Us Tabeo
U.S. toy retailer Toys 'R' Us is coming to the tablet game with the Tabeo, a 7-inch Android tablet which is due to launch on October 21.On specs alone, the Tabeo looks like a solid device. The tablet has a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen display, runs Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and offers front and rear-facing cameras, as well as 4GB of expandable memory and a HDMI port. The battery life is reasonable too at 10 hours for Internet browsing and up to 7 hours for video content.
Toys 'R' Us says that the WiFi-only tablet will come pre-loaded with over 50 apps, while another 6,000 free educational programs, games and books will be available from the Tabeo app store.
LeapFrog LeapPad 2
Following on from the success of the original LeapPad tablet, and LeapFrog launched the LeapPad 2 -- an upgraded model with two cameras, a more powerful processor (550MHz versus 393MHz on the original) and more memory (4GB rather than 2GB).As with the first model, the 5-inch tablet (480 x 272 resolution display) comes with a stylus so children can write or draw on the educational apps, while users can tap into Leapfrog's library of 325 game cartridges, apps, videos and music.
The tablet comes pre-loaded with five fun apps; Pet Pad (essentially looking after a digital pet), Cartoon Director (making your own cartoon with pictures of friends and family), LeapFrog Learning Songs and Art Studio...
http://tabtimes.com/feature/ittech-os-android/2012/09/12/5-affordable-android-tablets-your-children
Are children’s tablets the next big market opportunity?
TabTimes reporting:
The iPad has universal appeal, but when I think about Amazon’s tablets—Kindle Fire HD reviews starting trickling out this week—I can’t shake the notion that these devices will almost exclusively be purchased for adults and older tablet users.
Kids and young adults just don’t read books—digital, paper, e-ink, or otherwise—the way adults do. And most kids don’t own Kindle e-readers, so they’re not going to want the Kindle Fire.
What kids want is to get their hands on their parents’ iPads. This probably explains why we’re seeing a glut of child-oriented tablets being announced for sale this holiday season.
Earlier this week, Toys ‘R’ Us announced its $149 Tabeo 7-inch tablet, which sports Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), front and rear cameras, 4GB of memory, and Wi-Fi. The Tabeo will come pre-loaded with over 50 apps, and will allow kids to access over 6,000 free educational apps, games, and books via its app store.
There are several more kids’ tablets coming, including LeapFrog’s LeapPad 2, and VTech’s InnoTab 2. Both are affordable, surprisingly powerful devices aimed at 3- to 9-year olds.
Then there’s Nintendo’s Wii U, which has a tablet named the WiiPad as its primary controller. I’m probably a little biased because I’ve covered the video game industry for such a long time, but it’s hard for me to see anyone but Nintendo win dominating the kids’ space around tablet computing this holiday season. And, just like Amazon, the Wii U has built-in e-commerce store options for games, videos, and more.
http://tabtimes.com/analysis/ittech-tablets/2012/09/15/week-tablets-kids-add-mass-tablet-market-expansion
The iPad has universal appeal, but when I think about Amazon’s tablets—Kindle Fire HD reviews starting trickling out this week—I can’t shake the notion that these devices will almost exclusively be purchased for adults and older tablet users.
Kids and young adults just don’t read books—digital, paper, e-ink, or otherwise—the way adults do. And most kids don’t own Kindle e-readers, so they’re not going to want the Kindle Fire.
What kids want is to get their hands on their parents’ iPads. This probably explains why we’re seeing a glut of child-oriented tablets being announced for sale this holiday season.
Earlier this week, Toys ‘R’ Us announced its $149 Tabeo 7-inch tablet, which sports Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), front and rear cameras, 4GB of memory, and Wi-Fi. The Tabeo will come pre-loaded with over 50 apps, and will allow kids to access over 6,000 free educational apps, games, and books via its app store.
There are several more kids’ tablets coming, including LeapFrog’s LeapPad 2, and VTech’s InnoTab 2. Both are affordable, surprisingly powerful devices aimed at 3- to 9-year olds.
Then there’s Nintendo’s Wii U, which has a tablet named the WiiPad as its primary controller. I’m probably a little biased because I’ve covered the video game industry for such a long time, but it’s hard for me to see anyone but Nintendo win dominating the kids’ space around tablet computing this holiday season. And, just like Amazon, the Wii U has built-in e-commerce store options for games, videos, and more.
http://tabtimes.com/analysis/ittech-tablets/2012/09/15/week-tablets-kids-add-mass-tablet-market-expansion
Saturday, September 8, 2012
How to Follow New York Fashion Week Online
mashable reporting:
Building off success from past seasons, many brands — roughly one-third showing at Lincoln Center — will live-stream the unveiling of their Spring 2013 collections on their websites and Facebook pages, as well as via video platforms such as YouTube and Livestream. Still more will upload backstage footage via their Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Pinterest accounts.
Meanwhile, members of the fashion press will churn out 140-character reviews and mobile snapshots live from the shows, while posting longer, slideshow-accompanied reviews on their respective news sites.
With so much to choose from, following Fashion Week online can feel nearly as overwhelming as attending in person, which is why we’ve gathered the best resources for enjoying the festivities online and via your mobile phone. If there’s any we’ve missed, please let us know in the comments section below.
http://mashable.com/2012/09/05/new-york-fashion-week-sept-2012/
Building off success from past seasons, many brands — roughly one-third showing at Lincoln Center — will live-stream the unveiling of their Spring 2013 collections on their websites and Facebook pages, as well as via video platforms such as YouTube and Livestream. Still more will upload backstage footage via their Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Pinterest accounts.
Meanwhile, members of the fashion press will churn out 140-character reviews and mobile snapshots live from the shows, while posting longer, slideshow-accompanied reviews on their respective news sites.
With so much to choose from, following Fashion Week online can feel nearly as overwhelming as attending in person, which is why we’ve gathered the best resources for enjoying the festivities online and via your mobile phone. If there’s any we’ve missed, please let us know in the comments section below.
http://mashable.com/2012/09/05/new-york-fashion-week-sept-2012/
UK Print Magazine to Feature a Video Ad
mashable reporting:
The October issue of Marie Claire in the UK will claim a first for that country: a video ad inserted within a print magazine.
The 45-second ad, for Dolce & Gabbana, features models posing near a coastal scene as music plays in the background. It will run in a few thousand copies of the issue, between pages 34 and 35, and starts playing automatically when you open up to these pages.
The ad uses LCD technology from Americhip, a U.S. firm that has run similar ads in other countries, including the U.S., Spain and Russia. The print/video ad format made its debut in 2009 with a Pepsi ad in 50,000 copies of Entertainment Weekly in Los Angeles and New York. More recently, the format promoted Bacardi in Russian Vogue. (See video below.)
A rep for Americhip declined to say how much it costs to do the inserts. The 2.4-inch by 4.3-inch screen (roughly the size of an iPhone’s) is powered by a rechargeable battery and can store up to 45 minutes of video. Despite its recent use in glossies, the rep says that Americhip has found a niche with instruction videos as well.
http://mashable.com/2012/09/07/uk-print-magazine-video-ad/?WT.mc_id=en_my_stories&utm_campaign=My%2BStories&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter
The October issue of Marie Claire in the UK will claim a first for that country: a video ad inserted within a print magazine.
The 45-second ad, for Dolce & Gabbana, features models posing near a coastal scene as music plays in the background. It will run in a few thousand copies of the issue, between pages 34 and 35, and starts playing automatically when you open up to these pages.
The ad uses LCD technology from Americhip, a U.S. firm that has run similar ads in other countries, including the U.S., Spain and Russia. The print/video ad format made its debut in 2009 with a Pepsi ad in 50,000 copies of Entertainment Weekly in Los Angeles and New York. More recently, the format promoted Bacardi in Russian Vogue. (See video below.)
A rep for Americhip declined to say how much it costs to do the inserts. The 2.4-inch by 4.3-inch screen (roughly the size of an iPhone’s) is powered by a rechargeable battery and can store up to 45 minutes of video. Despite its recent use in glossies, the rep says that Americhip has found a niche with instruction videos as well.
http://mashable.com/2012/09/07/uk-print-magazine-video-ad/?WT.mc_id=en_my_stories&utm_campaign=My%2BStories&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter
mashable reporting:
Social media is one of the worst things to ever happen to the discipline of marketing. The rise of Facebook and Twitter as marketing vehicles has spawned a generation of young professionals who talk instead of listen. They think engaging in “the conversation” is more important than identifying your audience, understanding what motivates them, and developing powerful messaging to address those motivations.
Here’s the reality: Social media has made marketers lazy, because so many people think it is the magic bullet for new sales. It’s not. It never has been. And it never will be. It’s just one of many available platforms for your marketing message, and you should use it as such. Don’t exclude it, be present there, but be present in a variety of other platforms as well. Here are five reasons why.
http://mashable.com/2012/09/07/social-media-bad-marketing/?WT.mc_id=en_my_stories&utm_campaign=My%2BStories&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter
Social media is one of the worst things to ever happen to the discipline of marketing. The rise of Facebook and Twitter as marketing vehicles has spawned a generation of young professionals who talk instead of listen. They think engaging in “the conversation” is more important than identifying your audience, understanding what motivates them, and developing powerful messaging to address those motivations.
Here’s the reality: Social media has made marketers lazy, because so many people think it is the magic bullet for new sales. It’s not. It never has been. And it never will be. It’s just one of many available platforms for your marketing message, and you should use it as such. Don’t exclude it, be present there, but be present in a variety of other platforms as well. Here are five reasons why.
1. Social Media Builds the Wrong Habits in Marketers
2. Social Networks are Struggling
3. Social Media Is Useless for Business-to-Business Companies
4. Social Media Leads to Neglected Messaging
5. There are a Number of More Effective Platforms
http://mashable.com/2012/09/07/social-media-bad-marketing/?WT.mc_id=en_my_stories&utm_campaign=My%2BStories&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter
dwb reporting:
New York, NY – September 5, 2012 – Today, leading romance publisher Avon Books officially launches a visually appealing, content-rich digital presence. The new AvonRomance.com spotlights a wide array of user-generated posts and commentary. The website features editorials, book reviews, pictures, videos, news, and special promotions from Avon authors, romance readers, and influential online reviewers, as well as Avon Romance editors and marketers. The site redesign and state-of-the art interactive and social capabilities are powered by Tidal, an innovator in developing dynamic syndication networks.
“At HarperCollins Publishers, we’re constantly exploring new and innovative ways to grow audiences for our authors, and to deepen engagement with their fans,” says HarperCollins Chief Marketing Officer Angela Tribelli. “Partnering with smart and fast-moving technology partners is a key component of this strategy. We’re thrilled to be the first book publisher on the Tidal platform, and are particularly excited to light up an exciting new channel where Avon Romance readers can do what they do best – share their love of Avon authors and books.”
http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/harpercollins-relaunches-avonromance-site-as-user-generated-content-platform/
New York, NY – September 5, 2012 – Today, leading romance publisher Avon Books officially launches a visually appealing, content-rich digital presence. The new AvonRomance.com spotlights a wide array of user-generated posts and commentary. The website features editorials, book reviews, pictures, videos, news, and special promotions from Avon authors, romance readers, and influential online reviewers, as well as Avon Romance editors and marketers. The site redesign and state-of-the art interactive and social capabilities are powered by Tidal, an innovator in developing dynamic syndication networks.
“At HarperCollins Publishers, we’re constantly exploring new and innovative ways to grow audiences for our authors, and to deepen engagement with their fans,” says HarperCollins Chief Marketing Officer Angela Tribelli. “Partnering with smart and fast-moving technology partners is a key component of this strategy. We’re thrilled to be the first book publisher on the Tidal platform, and are particularly excited to light up an exciting new channel where Avon Romance readers can do what they do best – share their love of Avon authors and books.”
http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/harpercollins-relaunches-avonromance-site-as-user-generated-content-platform/
Forbes reporting:
According to a recent survey,
one out of every five e-book readers use a Kindle Fire to read and
almost as many use an iPad. Some 35% use a Kindle e-ink reader but the
two leading tablets combined have now surpassed the older technology and
will soon leave it in the dust. With the new Google Nexus 7 tablet rising and Barnes & Noble lowering prices on the Nook tablet, reader momentum toward the newer technology will only accelerate.
So, what does this mean for the book publishing world? At least two things:
1. The rise of e-books and e-reading might slow.
2. Publishers have to start thinking about content in new ways...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremygreenfield/2012/08/14/the-new-tablet-reality-for-e-books-will-readers-read-less/
So, what does this mean for the book publishing world? At least two things:
1. The rise of e-books and e-reading might slow.
2. Publishers have to start thinking about content in new ways...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremygreenfield/2012/08/14/the-new-tablet-reality-for-e-books-will-readers-read-less/
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Journal Register Company files for bankruptcy
Poynter reporting:
The Journal Register Company will seek protection under Chapter 11 “and will seek to implement a prompt sale,” according to Digital First Media head John Paton.
Journal Register is one of the companies operated by Digital First Media; the others are MediaNews Group and Digital First Ventures. In a blog post, Paton calls the bankruptcy “Another Tough Step” and says the company “has a signed stalking horse bid” from an investment group affiliated with Alden Global Capital. Alden sold The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com to a group of local investors earlier this year.
Alden purchased Journal Register in 2011 and owns stakes in other newspaper publishing companies. In February, Rick Edmonds wondered whether Alden “may have concluded that the suburban cluster” of papers Journal Register operates in the Philadelphia region “has the better business prospects.”
Journal Register last filed for bankruptcy in 2009. James W. Hall, the CEO at the time, promised it would emerge “stronger, leaner and more financially viable in the current environment.”
Digital revenue is up sharply at JRC, Paton writes, “But also from 2009 to 2011 Journal Register Company’s print advertising revenue declined 19% and print advertising represents more than half of the of the Company’s revenues.” What this means for Digital First Media is a little unclear. Paton says in his post the filing “will have no impact on the day-to-day operation of Journal Register Company, Digital First Media or MediaNews Group during the sale process.”
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/187531/journal-register-company-files-for-bankruptcy/
The Journal Register Company will seek protection under Chapter 11 “and will seek to implement a prompt sale,” according to Digital First Media head John Paton.
Journal Register is one of the companies operated by Digital First Media; the others are MediaNews Group and Digital First Ventures. In a blog post, Paton calls the bankruptcy “Another Tough Step” and says the company “has a signed stalking horse bid” from an investment group affiliated with Alden Global Capital. Alden sold The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com to a group of local investors earlier this year.
Alden purchased Journal Register in 2011 and owns stakes in other newspaper publishing companies. In February, Rick Edmonds wondered whether Alden “may have concluded that the suburban cluster” of papers Journal Register operates in the Philadelphia region “has the better business prospects.”
Journal Register last filed for bankruptcy in 2009. James W. Hall, the CEO at the time, promised it would emerge “stronger, leaner and more financially viable in the current environment.”
Digital revenue is up sharply at JRC, Paton writes, “But also from 2009 to 2011 Journal Register Company’s print advertising revenue declined 19% and print advertising represents more than half of the of the Company’s revenues.” What this means for Digital First Media is a little unclear. Paton says in his post the filing “will have no impact on the day-to-day operation of Journal Register Company, Digital First Media or MediaNews Group during the sale process.”
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/187531/journal-register-company-files-for-bankruptcy/
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
How the E-Book Ruling Will Affect the Way You Read
care2 reporting: A long-running controversy has shaken the book industry, and it could affect the way you buy, access and read the books you love. On Friday, three major book publishers agreed to pay $69 million in a settlement of the highly-publicized lawsuit alleging that five of the “big six” publishers colluded with Apple to fix e-book prices, and possibly changed the future of book publishing forever..
What does the settlement mean for you?
1. It hurts traditional book publishers by taking away their control to price their own books in the marketplace. Take a look at the kind of books these publishers develop, market and sell. If you have ever read and loved one of these books, then the DOJ settlement is one to keep an eye on.2. It hurts brick-and-mortar bookstores by allowing competitors such as Amazon to price books below cost. Most physical bookstores are unable to give such steep discounts because they have to pay rent and employees. But many consumers are looking for the best bargain and will go for Amazon every time.
3. It hurts our communities by making it more difficult for local shops to sell books. When the only way to buy a book is to order it on the internet, Amazon will have won. Do you really want to live in a world with no bookstores to browse?
4. It hurts authors by allowing their books to be sold at deep discounts and putting financial strain on their publishers. A number of authors, including Richard Russo and Ann Patchett, have spoken out against the DOJ lawsuit and its potentially harmful consequences for the book industry.
5. It hurts each individual reader by reducing the diversity of the reading market. Publishers develop a variety of authors and books to appeal to virtually every taste on the planet.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/how-the-doj-e-book-ruling-will-affect-the-way-you-read.html#ixzz25aBLFEXl
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/how-the-doj-e-book-ruling-will-affect-the-way-you-read.html#ixzz25aAbQcfj
The Publishing Industry Is Compared To A Dead Norwegian Blue Parrot
Pressbooks reporting: In discussing contemporary publishing, there’s really only one
mystery. Why does a collection of sophisticated, intellectually curious
adults, many of them with substantial financial resources at their
disposal, perpetuate a system that has failed? To quote John Cleese
whilst attempting to return his deceased Norwegian Blue, publishing is
“stone-dead,” an ex-parrot nailed to its perch, as it were, by sporadic
bestseller and backlist sales. It hinges on guesswork and cronyism, on
antiquated, environmentally and fiscally disastrous supply and
production systems. The persistence of this system would be
understandable if there were no alternative. But there is, and it’s not
even based on proprietary technology. It’s primarily a matter of
attitude, of being willing to try a new direction.
Not too long ago, I was reading about the “Red Queen Theory of Evolution.” A concept first put forth by the American evolutionary biologist Leigh Van Valen in the 1970s, it was named after the bloody-minded chess piece in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass. In the relevant passage, the Red Queen says to Alice, “It takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place.” Van Valen applied this metaphor to evolution, suggesting that species are in a constant race for survival and continually must evolve new ways of defending themselves throughout time. It seems to me this metaphor is exactly what we need to keep in mind when considering book publishing today. There are a million different paths to stability, if not success—but there’s one sure route to disaster, and that’s staying in place.
http://book.pressbooks.com/chapter/or-books-john-oakes
Not too long ago, I was reading about the “Red Queen Theory of Evolution.” A concept first put forth by the American evolutionary biologist Leigh Van Valen in the 1970s, it was named after the bloody-minded chess piece in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass. In the relevant passage, the Red Queen says to Alice, “It takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place.” Van Valen applied this metaphor to evolution, suggesting that species are in a constant race for survival and continually must evolve new ways of defending themselves throughout time. It seems to me this metaphor is exactly what we need to keep in mind when considering book publishing today. There are a million different paths to stability, if not success—but there’s one sure route to disaster, and that’s staying in place.
http://book.pressbooks.com/chapter/or-books-john-oakes
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