Colin's Corner

2D barcodes and ViPR

One of the most interesting aspects of mobile devices is their ability to link the physical and the digital world. 2D barcoding has been extremely popular in Japan and Korea for the last few years and is starting at last to penetrate the more mobile challenged regions of the world such as the US.

In the US, the uptake on 2D barcodes and other technologies linking the analogue and the digital world has been slower- largely due to lack of agreement among the five major carriers as to which technology to adopt but even more importantly, the expensive data plans that still exist around MMS in the US and other Western countries.

One major test around 2D bar-coding and mobile discovery has been conduced at Case Western Reserve University to mixed results with a fairly negative article in the NY Times covering the experiment.

ViPR (Visual Pattern Recognition) allows the camera phone to take a photograph of an object or image - the user sends this photo to an email address after which the user receives additional information such as an invite to buy, a coupon or free gift - whatever action the marketer wants to take place.

There are various companies experimenting with ViPR technologies including MobiGlyphs.com a subsidiatry of Compex Inc. and Snap Tell which recently conduced a fun contest around the movie "Where in the world is Osama Bin Laden" and received coverage in the NYTimes for their technology.

For ViPR and 2D technologies to become more prevalent over the next years the carriers will need to more aggressively push the technologies and include them with new mobile devices - with the imminent release of the iPhone 2.0 there will be several applications released over the next month or so using these technologies which will spur adoption. While adoption has been slow to date, it's likely to pick up very rapidly over the next couple of years. One to watch !

IDG's move to "the third screen"

Just over a year ago I wrote about IDG's transition from being a print centric to web centric company.

It's often too easy to theorize and be visionary but the real proof comes when you have to execute.

Today's story in the NYTimes talks about IDG's execution over the last year, with particular reference to the team at Infoworld who successfully closed the print publication and focused entirely on online, event and mobile opportunities.

There's a lot to this story but one of the most important issues is that by being unburdened by print allowed the team at Infoworld the opportunity to focus on the changing needs of their customers and to develop online , event and mobile products. It's changed the culture of that brand.

The philosophy of listening to customers and really understanding your marketplace has been installed in the organization over the last four decades by Pat McGovern and is well summarized in a recent FT interview.

Last week in Boston, I had the opportunity to attend an internal training course of our senior managers (training is also viewed as a key competitive advantage by the company). I've experienced similar events over my fifteen years at IDG, but watching Pat McGovern work the room during dinner with those nineteen, potential future IDG executives, making them feel so special by recognizing their contributions to the company underscored the very special fabric of this organization.

In 1993 I attended such a training boot camp, having arrived in the US from the UK after being Managing Director of Dennis Publishing, Ltd. my team mate on the case study project was Bob Carrigan, now the CEO of IDG Communications Inc. I guess IDG's investment in us has paid off !

So what's next ?

Of course there is more to be done on the transition to online. In particular building on the peer to peer knowledge of our communities. Today marketers want not only eyeballs, they want truly engaged and participatory audiences and through programs such as IDG's Market Fusion initiative we demonstrate the deep engagement of our IT and Tech audiences.

Next is mobile.

While, mobile marketing initiatives are still modest and the consumption of mobile content is still in its infancy, things are going to change rapidly over the next several years. I subscribe to the belief that we're seeing the dawn of a new mass media

The mobile opportunities and the move to the 7th Mass Media are well articulated by Tomi Ahonen and Alan Moore.

While the monoculture of South Korea is much different to Western cultures, they are at the epicenter of the convergence of the Internet, Telecommunications and Broadcast TV. Not everything that works within the South Korean culture will necessarily translate but publishers around the world ignore the rapid developments in this country at their peril.

To get a glimpse of the digital culture of South Korea read Digital Korea I handed out a copy to all the students at our internal training course last week. Over at the Industry Standard there is a discussion about the merger of the mobile phone and the web.

Obviously I'm not going to give away all our plans and initiatives but as the NYTimes article showed, IDG has successfully managed the transition from print to online, now I'm thinking about the transition from online to mobile.

Future postings

As has been painfully obvious - my blog output has been non existent for the last few months. It's been hard to blog and keep up with a demanding schedule both at work and home. IDG has launched a new site http://www.idgknowledgehub.com/ which is focused on marketing business opportunities and I'll be blogging there periodically. In addition I'm positing to an internal blog at IDG covering the mobile opportunities - on Facebook I'll continue to post interesting links.

The Future of Ink on Paper

Samir Husni, "Mr Magazine" discusses the future of ink and paper and the role of the news room

I guess I don't understand why "news" has to be an online medium and "information" has to be print. While there are some unique aspects to "paper technology" - emerging developments in e-paper readers and cost reductions in technology will erode this advantage over the next several years. Personally I'd like to see a tablet type portable that allows me to download my favorite paper, magazine or book via wireless and where appropriate read it in a design format that approximates to the analog original.

Maybe the rumored ultra-portable from Apple, supposedly making an appearance at Macworld Expo in January will give some pointers to future trends. The Amazon Kindle obviously appeals to enough people to be out of stock although it is too ugly and limited for my taste.

The Singularity Summit

I spent a good part of the week-end with 800 potential "posthumans" attending The Singularity Summit at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. In case you don't know, The Singularity is the technological creation of smarter-than-human-intelligence . There was much discussion about how near or how far away we are from Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) or if we'll even notice when it comes around.

The audience was largely comprised of ernest young men - suggesting that the building of intelligent thinking machines based around engineering and computing prowess is less appealing to the female side of our species whose greater focus on emotional intelligence probably deserves a bigger place at this debating table before we unleash "smart" robots designed by men. Some excellent balance is provided by Renee Blodgett who acts as a consultant to the Singularity Summit

Some potential issues were brought into sharp focus during the opening keynote from Rodney Brooks the CTO of iRobot who noted the massive funding for robotics from the military who want to see future wars fought by machines rather than with humans !

A brave member of the audience challenged Rodney after his contention that The Geneva Convention was a way to control the inappropriate use of future military might. The questioner raised the issue of massive funding for robotic research from a government who has side-stepped certain key aspects of the Geneva Convention.

There is some excellent coverage of the event at Between The Lines including some refreshingly, non-techie and humorous coverage by Chris Matyszczyk

Some hightlights:
“What’s missing is a positive, compelling vision that ordinary people can buy into,” Paul Saffo

Peter Norvig, Director of Research at Google on the co-evolution of the web

“We were all surprised at how game theoretic it is,”. “We made a copy of the Web and indexed it and we thought it reflected of Web. Now we understand that we are in co-evolution. When we make a move, the Web changes and when Web changes we do. Optimizers look at what we do and we look at what they do and Web moves in different directions because of the interaction between them. We hadn’t expected that.”
Norvig also caused a bit of a stir when he said that computer error is probably killing a couple of hundred people a day in the medical profession. That was as cheery as the prediction from Wendell Wallach that "in the next few years there would be a major human disaster caused by a mistaken decision taken by a computer".

After telling us that Vampire bats were the first animals to bring altruism into the social world. Josh Hall focused on revisions to Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics * :

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

* Asimov added the Zeroth Law: "A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm"

Josh Hall wants the creation of robots to be a singular force for good. He wants them to understand the human condition, to be able to respond to the human condition, to improve themselves in order to improve the human condition.

As I tried to absorb all the information being presented I was left pondering certain issues:

While we are building machines that are capable of actions far superior that those of human beings, cultural and emotional issues are lagging far behind raw power.

Technology continues to develop along exponential lines - but the much slower linear evolutional of the human mind and body will either create a greater and greater gulf or (as many at the event believe) a merging of the human species with technology over the next few decades - at that point how human will we be ?

As we come up to the sixth anniversary of 911, the gulf between Western Capitalism and its reliance on technology and certain fundamentalist religious groups around the world with a radically different perspective seems to widen. I fear great clashes of ideology in the years ahead and we need to work on minimizing the inevitable conflict.

Check out the coverage of this incredibly thought provoking event. No matter your perspective these are real issues that require as wide a discussion as possible. Technology continues its exponential pace.

Time to bring back The Industry Standard ?

Following the final demise of Business 2.0 There has been some coverage regarding The Industry Standard.

Time To Bring Back The Industry Standard?
Posted by Eric Savitz

The Standard is coming back? Maybe, although a web-only format would be a lot more likely than a print magazine. Still it would be nice to have it back. Here’s hoping they do it.

See also Return of The Industry Standard and Good Luck Guys

Paid Content's The Industry Standard is Coming Back, Maybe, covers the IDG statement.

Also:

Will The Industry Standard Make A Comeback?

The Industry Standard 2.0?

The return of The Industry Standard

The Industry Standard’s next chapter

Publish2

I've long been a big fan of Scott Karp's Publishing 2.0 and was interested to read about the launch of his new company, Publish2, Inc. More coverage can be found here

Scott describes Publish2 as a social network and 2.0 platform for journalists (and independent “news bloggers,” “citizen” journalists, student journalists, i.e. ALL journalists, BROADLY defined), which aims to put journalists at the center of news on the web by creating a journalist-powered news aggregator.

He is joined by GigaOM contributing editor, Robert Young

I look forward to following the evolution of this site and wish Scott and Robert much success.

Zell to stop Google stealing his content ?

Sam Zell, the real estate magnate has kicked up a storm on the blogsphere (see Tech Meme http://www.techmeme.com/ for a collection of the articles covering the issue) after suggesting that newspapers should stop giving their content to the search engines.

Of course, IDG’s was not totally immune to such thinking a few years ago, but we realized we were wrong and got over it – fast !

Brilliant as he has proven to be in his field of expertise, it seems as if Sam Zell has not been paying attention. Sam Zell is going to lose billions on newspapers and the Washington Post has no idea what they're talking about.

These stories articulate why Sam Zell is wrong and why organizations such as Agence France-Presse (AFP) capitulated (although I’m not sure that’s how they position their new ménage à deux)

An interesting post by Lucas Grindly lays out a couple of arguments for Sam Zell's stance - I personally do not agree but it's one of the more interesting counter arguments I've read.

Just how powerful is Google and how will it evolve is an interesting debate but rather that worry about the future "artificial intelligence Googlezon", publishers need to focus on the here and now and build their brands around their local and vertical communities. It’s all about your audiences, not all about you.

Having just taken over PC World and Macworld, I know we still have a lot to do in this regard. The attitude, (despite obvious indications to the contrary that the audience needs to be front and center) is still one of pushing out content rather than pulling it in. This approach is a by-product of our print legacy and it's out of date.

I intend to work hard to change this approach at IDG and particularly at PC World and Macworld. In one memorable interaction with Steve Jobs he very calmly told me that is was not I was wrong, it was just that I needed an "attitude adjustment".

I suggest Sam Zell and his team quickly adjust their attitude to the internet or they will be joining the dodo.

Of course, I could be completely wrong and Sam Zell is a wily fox !

InfoWorld drops print edition to focus on online and events

Earlier today IDG and InfoWorld’s management announced the closure of InfoWorld’s print publication in order to focus our colleagues energies on the distribution of IT information via online and events. The last edition of InfoWorld will be 2nd April.

InfoWorld has spent the last few years aggressively pushing in non-print directions resulting in us being in a place where the InfoWorld brand will thrive for many years to come.

Recently InfoWorld’s revenue has been predominantly driven by its online and events business. Print no longer is the major product line at InfoWorld. So while the closure of a 27-year print publication is somewhat newsworthy, it is also a natural step in a plan that was put in place 2 years ago.

This move was discussed extensively with all our key marketers who keenly support InfoWorld’s strategy. The reality is that high-tech marketers are rapidly shifting their marketing investment to online and events, while they choose fewer print publications.

There is a definite "flight to quality" as advertisers select fewer brands. IDG has a number of leading brands and these are doing relatively well in print. In the future these print publications will evolve and adjust with the times in terms of design, trim size, and circulation but through all these future changes, we will continue to keep our eyes focused on the needs of readers and advertisers.

There are observations from InfoWorld's Editor in Chief, Steve Fox and from Virginia Hines, General Manager of InfoWorld's Online initiatives.

Some external blog commentary on InfoWorld’s move can be found at Dave Winer’s Scripting News and at Forbes on Tech Plus Matt McAlister’s Blog. Matt, an ex-InfoWorld staffer, is a good friend and colleague and his piece is overall very positive on the changes, but there is one comment with which I strongly disagree.

“IDG has been a deer in the headlights of the Internet 18-wheeler for years. “

Just not true. Over the last few years IDG’s management has pursued a determined and well thought through approach to change our organization.

Pat McGovern, IDG’s Chairman has been reinforcing IDG’s web centric approach, especially around the engagement of our communities. Most recently in an interview with Forbes.

Bob Carrigan, President of IDG Communications has publicly articulated our strategy on numerous occasions

And I've written extensively about IDG's transformation to an organization that is web centric which now has 35% of its US revenues coming from digital sources .

Print advertising has been declining for years and will likely continue to decline. However, despite the downturn in print advertising, IDG is coming off of one of the best years in its history. Why? Because we are executing well on a strategy that we have been talking about publicly and openly now for some time:

We are managing print for profit as we push aggressively into non-print businesses such as online and events including our mobile test with mDog

The sheer size of our non-print businesses is testament to the strengths of our brands and our online strategy.

I’m the first to admit we are on a long journey and there is still much to be done to realize this vision. It’s not easy for organizations to fundamentally change from their legacy roots. Paul Conley documents some of the internal training and issues with which we are dealing.

While it's hard sometimes to face reality and to deal with massive change, the mark of true leadership is to provide the strategy and vision for growth; to take our organization through these turbulent market shifts with compassion and understanding for those directly impacted.

Sam Whitemore summed it up well in his article:
Like all IDG titles, InfoWorld for years has been working on a print-to-online transition. The title’s big moneymakers are events and online. InfoWorld has several online projects unfolding – InfoClipz animations, podcasts and video, careers and the IT Exec-Connect community – all of which now stand to gain higher budgets without print in the picture. IDG’s decision should not affect the river of news flowing to InfoWorld.com from the IDG News Service. For tech PR pros, this news does mean that “pitching a story” is increasingly vestigial language. PR should accept online tech content in all its variety, and develop new ways to serve the decision-makers they wish to influence.

Scott Karp observes

… if InfoWorld can make the transition from print publishing to online publishing without going out of business, without diminishing its value to readers, and without laying off a lot of people, it will prove to the rest of the publishing industry that folding the print publication does not mean folding the business.
Today is a historic one for IDG and I’m proud to be a member of a company that is taking such bold steps as part of a continuing strategy to transform our organization.

Howard Sholkin, IDG's Director of Corporate Communications who can be contacted at howard_sholkin@idg.com (617) 239-7882 will handle requests for additional information.

From Evangelism to Execution, the next chapter

For the last few years I’ve been evangelizing a transition from a print centric to a web centric culture at IDG. Events and print are very important components of our brands but there is little doubt that the current rapid growth momentum is with our online businesses. We’re evolving as a media company, responding to the information needs of our users and the desire of our marketers to reach active, engaged technology buyers.

The distribution of media continues to proliferate via all forms of appliances - connected personal devices such as the game changing iPhone and other smart communication devices, personal digital devices; various forms of ultra portable PCs such as the Ultra Mobile Personal Computer (UMPC); connected entertainment devices such as the Sansa Connect and potentially, future wireless devices supporting information display via electronic paper.

Today the buzz about the future direction of the technology information and entertainment industry is happening less at events such as CeBIT and more at the various wireless and mobile events such as CTIA and of course (shameless IDG plug) Macworld Conference and Expo and E for All Expo. The “Personal Computer” is becoming the Personal Communications device. It’s an incredibly exciting time to be in the publishing industry. The pace of change is incredible but exhilarating.

It’s also a tremendous honor to be asked to take over the leadership of two of IDG’s key brands – PCWorld and Macworld. Now I get to work with some tremendously talented individuals to execute on the transformation I have been talking about.

These two brands have had a remarkable history over the last 25 years – chronicling the history of the personal computer industry - providing millions of technology buyers with credible, trusted, authoritative advice in their business and personal lives. When these brands launched in the early eighties and for a couple of decades following, their content was all about the personal computer – the PC or Mac - – today the coverage has evolved to cover Personal Computing and Personal Communications in its broadest sense.
The coverage now continues to expand to cover the digital lifestyle and digital ecosystem. It’s now less about products in isolation and more about products as part of personal technology solutions.

Everything is becoming networked. We can now interact with and consume digital content – at our desk, at home, on the go – anywhere we choose. However, the good news for technology focused media companies such as IDG is that this connected utopia is still a lot easier in theory than in practice. We will have no shortage of content for a very longtime.

The Internet has had a profound impact on IDG’s business. We no longer just have the luxury of stable print products where our editors impart their knowledge of technology to a clearly defined audience. Life has got extremely messy and complicated. Thanks to the web, our audiences have been expanded by demographics and psychographics and by location. Our content has been extended so we can now cover topics and special interest areas in a manner that previously would not have been cost effective in print.

The print versus online debate misses the point. As a media company we are platform agnostic in how we deliver content whether it's print, online, via mobile devices, or e-paper or in person at conference and events. We deliver valuable information about the technology industry in whatever form our audiences want to consume it. All the different media formats have their advantages. However, in the online world we are now facilitators rather than just originators. We mesh and mash up content from original sources, from vendors and most importantly from our engaged community members.

Whether or not you buy into the hype of “Web 2.0” it’s hard to argue there has been a fundamental behavioral shift in how people interact share and create information. I firmly believe that all publishers must find ways to truly embrace and engage their communities. Brands are defined by their communities - that’s our differentiation and competitive advantage in today's world of search, aggregation and social networking.

This is an exciting time for me, for IDG and for the great teams of people behind PCWorld and Macworld. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my friend and colleague, Jeff Edman, who has been an inspiring leader at PCWorld and who is universally loved and respected by people inside and outside PCWorld. His gift to me is a talented team of people who really care about their product. I am really looking forward to working with them all as together we have a blast developing our brands in this new digital world.

The official corporate PR will go out from IDG on Monday but now the leadership change at PC World and Macworld has been communicated to my colleagues there, it seemed appropriate to use this blog to announce the change. It’s going to be a very exciting journey ahead.

USAToday Redesigns

USAToday has launched a major re-design to their site.

In the "comments from the editor" section Ken Paulson identifies the change in approach as well as the obvious design changes:

With the new features we've introduced on the site, readers will have the ability to:

• Scan other news sources directly on USATODAY.com
• See how readers are reacting to stories
• Recommend stories and comments to other readers
• Comment directly on stories
• Participate in discussion forums
• Write reviews (of movies, music and more)
• Contribute photos
• Better communicate with USA TODAY staff

I am a firm believer that a key differentiator for media brands is to more fully integrate their communities and provide a platform and tools to their audiences so that they actively participate with the content on the site.

The site's new features are designed to better involved the community. There is nothing truly innovative but the tools are solid and I'm sure will be expanded. However the majority of comments to date shows that a lot of the initial feedback is unfavorable but that's inevitable with any change.

While the design may need some adjustment based on user feedback, the underlying approach to embracing the community makes a lot of sense and the editors of USA Today deserve a lot of credit for taking a much bolder approach than many of their colleagues.

I was a little surprised they dropped down the placement of the 300x200 ad to below the fold on the left hand side with a smaller rich media ad above the fold.

Comments from around the web have been including in the Community Center

The User Revolution and The Media Divide

I recently read a couple of reports that examine the rapidly changing media landscape, its business models and the importance of involving the communities we serve.

The IBM report identifies four primary business models it suggests will coexist through 2010

Traditional media – This model relies on professionally made and branded content delivered through a “walled” conditional access environment and with dedicated devices. This is where most content owners and distributors operate today.

Walled communities – This model is based on distribution of niche and user- and community-generated content within a conditional access environment through dedicated devices. Typically, these are traditional businesses that have expanded their “walls” to include nontraditional features and experiences.

Content hyper-syndication – This model makes professionally produced content available in open channels, without proprietary access “walls” or dedicated devices.

New platform aggregation – This model relies on user-generated content and open distribution platforms. It is arguably the most disruptive model, as neither incumbent content owners nor distributors have legacy advantages here. Most media companies seeking entry will likely have to “buy in” for Speed.

The IBM report came up with 10 recommendations to help traditional companies face up to the immediate threat from the new media world and the eventual collision with their traditional partners. AlwaysOn provides a summary

1 Put consumers at the center of your business
Create a consumer-obsessed culture and place a premium on continuous consumer feedback.

2 Give control to consumers

3 Deliver experiences, not just content

4 Leverage virtual worlds

5 Innovate business models

6 Redefine partnerships, while reducing fallout

7 Shift investments from traditional business to new models

8 Create a flexible business design

9 Determine entry strategy for going “open”

10 Make user behavior a competitive advantage

The report quesitons whether or not traditional media is adapting quickly enough.

The other report is from Piper Jaffray The User Revolution: The New Advertising Ecosystem and The Rise of the Internet as a Mass Medium

1. Global online advertising revenue is exprected to reach $81.1 billion by 2011, representing a 21% CAGR (2006-2011).

2. The User Revolution. The advertising world is going through a revolution, -the "User Revolution" as it is happening primarily with the consumers, who are taking control of content consumption and branding. This trend will cause a significant rise in prominence of the Internet as a major content consumption and marketing medium.

3. "Communitainment." (Ugh!) The Internet has increasingly become a principal medium for community, communication, and entertainment--three areas that have collided together and are impacting each other's growth--generating a new type of activity that Pipper Jaffray calls communitainment.

4. The Internet Is Mainstream. The Internet has become a mainstream media outlet that now rivals traditional media for reach and advertising dollars.

5. Media Fragmentation. The proliferation of online and offline media outlets has resulted in shrinking television audiences and an increasingly fragmented media landscape.

6. The Golden Search. Search continues to gain ground, driven by the rise of search as the New Portal, the increasing use of search in branding campaigns, and the local search opportunity.

7. Google's wide variety of non-search-related products creates a virtuous cycle of brand affinity that drives incremental search volume.

8.Video Ads Could Drive The Next Wave. Internet video ads could become a game changer for large brand advertisers, who are used to the 15- or 30-second TV commercial

9. Internet Usage Patterns Are Changing. Portals maintain the highest reach, but the fastest growing category of destinations is communitainment sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

10. Ad networks are experiencing increased demand due to increasing Internet fragmentation, desire for more targeted inventory, increasing usage of networks for branding, and increased site visibility.
Agencies are rapidly evolving into more sophisticated, technology-savvy entities that combine best of breed offerings.

Companies to watch: Google (and YouTube), Yahoo!, Disney, News Corp, Time Warner, Microsoft, InterActive, Facebook, Craigslist, Brightcove, Yelp, SINA Corp., Baidu, aQuantive, ValueClick, 24/7 Media, Netflix, Wikipedia, MobiTV, Digg, and Hakia to be the most important players to watch.

The finding of the reports should not come as a massive surprise for those who have been watching the developments in our industry.

For me it is, always was and always will be about managing the relationship with those who consume and absorb our content. It’s about developing the audiences’ emotional connection with our brands. The communities around our brands – really define our brands and they need to be nurtured. Our communities are a competitive advantage in a world of search, aggregation, syndication, mash-ups and social networking.

The transformation of IDG

For over four decades we’ve had print blood running through the veins of the corporate body. But over the last few years we’ve seen dramatic change. Today the absolute dollar growth of our online revenues now exceeds the decline in our print revenues. This occurred in the US in 2006 and in Europe during the last quarter.

With this change in the revenue mix and the higher margins from our online businesses - the company is more profitably today than it has been previously.

IDG, where I’ve spent the last 14 years of my career, is a media company, delivering information on the information technology industry – from the Enterprise with B2B brands such as Computerworld, CIO, Infoworld and Networkworld to the Consumer Technology segment with brands such as PCWorld, Macworld and GamePro.

In the US, our online revenue now accounts for over 35% of our total US publishing revenues. Next year, for many brands online revenues will be greater than print revenues, if fact they already are at some of our key brands and by 2009 – approximately 50% of IDG’s US revenues will come from online.

To drive this change and to focus on online revenue we’ve changed the business mission of our organization away from print. Going forward IDG Communications will define itself as a web centric information company complemented by expos, events and print publications.

The brutal reality that we’re facing today is the costly process of dismantling and replacing legacy operations and cultures and business models with ones with new and yet to be fully proven business models. However, we face greater risks if we don’t transform our organization and take some chances.

In the past media organizations controlled content and pushed it out to subscribers, today’s media has to deal with a world of social connections, networking and collective actions enabled by the Internet.

The more enlightened in our media world will figure how to allow their audiences freedom to create and share their knowledge and content and to mash it up in a way that engages users.

We have to become facilitators as much as content creators – our brands are trusted, they have quality content and loyal audiences – these are our competitive advantages but we’ll only hold onto those assets if we truly listen to our communities and provide appropriate environments for user initiated conversations and user created content

Figuring out the transformation from print to online is only the start. The information we produce, facilitate and aggregate increasingly will be viewed on a number of screens - the Computer, the TV, the smart mobile phone, the iPod and other portable entertainment devices. Many of these screens are more suited to video and audio than text. Even more new skills for our organization to master!

We’re in an exciting growth industry. Let’s shake off the image of being in a beleaguered print industry and seize the opportunities afforded to us by the digital revolution.

Google Search Engine

Google co-op has evolved into Google Custom Search Engine (CSE) which allows sites to develop a vertical search engine using Google technologies. IDG has already implemented this vertical search capacity at Macworld and we've replaced the Macworld internal search with CSE.

Macworld.com experimented with Google Co-Op after it debuted, says Jason Snell, VP and editorial director of Mac Publishing. "We looked at it as a way to better define our content and to improve our traffic," he says.

Upon discovering that his colleagues frequently used Google in conjunction with the "site:" operator to search their own site (rather than using the built-in search engine), Snell says his publication jumped at the chance to create a CSE as a replacement for Macworld.com's unsatisfactory search capabilities. The fact that his company was already a participant in Google's AdSense program made the decision easier.

A critical distinction between Google Co-Op and CSE is control. "Co-Op was really a part of Google," Snell says. "This is controlled by us."

We plan to announce further developments shortly. Check out the tags - news, reviews, blogs, tips etc. Search is now filtered to improve the results. Google has been trying to improve the quality of their results - Google's Custom Search Engine is a step in the right direction.

Information Week Coverage

The Transition from Print to Online is Over:Reaching the Revenue Tipping Point

Today, at the MPA breakfast briefing, Bob Carrigan, IDG Communication's President, discussed how the movement from print to online is not a transition but rather a complete transformation. Online and print are different media - online allows the aggregation of content from content creators including editors, vendors and marketers and the community. The skill is to present all this content in a manner that benefits the user. Publishers have to determine how to differentiate themselves in a world of search and aggregation. One of the most important differences is the publishers ability to help in the creation of a rich environment where the community is front and center, where the community provides content and voice and with active peer to peer interaction.

Media Bisto's coverage A Magazine Guy's Messy Internet Makes Money

Folio IDG’s Carrigan Sees Says Online Shift is Transformation, Not Transition

William B. Ziff Jr. passes away

I just heard the news, via some Ziff Davis Alumni, that William Ziff Jr. (born 1930), one of the great icons of publishing who took over Ziff-Davis Inc, from Willian Ziff Sr. in 1953, passed away in his sleep on Saturday morning. This has now been confirmed by the family.

I ran MacPublishing, a joint venture between IDG and Ziff Davis, between 1997 and 2001 by which time Ziff Davis had been sold by Bill in 1994 to Forstmann Little & Co. for $1.4 billion.  I never got to work for him but I did have the pleasure of spending a couple of days with Bill, back in 1991, at his wonderful home in Manalapan, West Palm Beach. At the time I was running Dennis Publishing, Ltd. and we were discussing the possibility of my joining Ziff Davis in the UK. The experience was remarkable and was chronicled by Forbes. Unfortunately the article is not online although I still retain a copy. Bill's insightful assessment of my personality and skill set was so remarkably accurate that when he inquired, "how he'd done" I stood up and asked how much I owed for the analysis. For a number of reasons I decided not to join Ziff Davis but when I eventually joined Ziff's arch rival, IDG in 1993, there was a personal, hand delivered letter of welcome. Bill had remarkable class. Despite his power and fame he generally stayed away from public attention and rarely gave interviews. A 1994 Wired article on Bill Ziff  appears here - Ziff Happens

I'm honored to have been able to spend some time with Bill and to work in an industry where his presence was felt everywhere.  He was one of the great architects of special interest publishing and his skills pushed us all to produce better product for our readers and for the market. My sincere condolences and respect to his wife and family.

New York Times Obituary

Bloomberg

Red Herring

PC Magazine

 

Time for the end of a guaranteed ratebase ?

Media Week reports that Time is seriously considering the elimination of its rate base, (the circulation it guarantees to advertisers).

This more could signal a move to a "total brand readership" and reader engagement model that looks at the print and online environments together. The print circulation ratebase model is hopelessly out moded so this is a bold but very welcome move for the whole industry.
   
“The rate base is really just an anachronism,” said Rebecca McPheters, who is president of McPheters & Co., a consulting and research firm. “The value to the advertiser is not the number of copies or how they are paid for or distributed, but rather who reads it and who buys the advertiser’s product. It would be a very brave thing for Time to do and would be an exciting development for the industry.”

It's Showtime - Apple Media Event

After rampant speculation Apple finally accounced its special, invite only, media event to be held  at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco. With the "showtime" subject matter the theme will obviously be around movies and TV shows. Will this be the rumored streaming or download movies service from Apple - potentially coupled with a new video iPod? Let the speculation intensify ! What wonderful PR for Apple over the next week as the debate rages. Will the movies have high enough quality to look good on my 1080p screen or will this primarily be a PC / iPod experience ?

Google Maps for Mobile

I've just downloaded Google Maps for Mobile to my Razr and Blackberry - other devices supported can be found here. To download, visit www.google.com/gmm on your mobile phone's web browser.

This is an incredibly cool product - it combines directions, maps, and satellite imagery, Google Maps is a free download that lets you find local hangouts and businesses across town or across the country — right from your phone.

>> Detailed directions: Whether you plan to walk or drive, your route is displayed on the map itself, together with step-by-step directions.

>> Integrated search results: Local business locations and contact information appear all in one place, integrated on your map.

>> Easily movable maps: Interactive, draggable maps let you zoom in or out, and move in all directions so you can orient yourself visually.

>> Satellite imagery: Get a bird's eye view of your desired location.

>> Real-time traffic:^New! See where the congestion is, and estimate delays in over 30 major US metropolitan areas.

The Revenue Tipping Point

It’s been a challenging time to be a print publisher. In the US – the print publishing industry has been experiencing the perfect storm - we’ve seen circulations fall; margins and revenues erode as new generations abandon traditional print and question its quality and independence.  Many mainstream media organizations are upset that the print world they knew and loved has changed so much. Like a death of a loved one, publishers are dealing with several stages of emotions over the loss of a traditional, well-understood business.  OK, It’s time to let go and get over it. Let’s face the reality of the loss, deal with the pain and adjust to the current environment by investing in the new reality and our future.

In the segment in which we operate - information on technology, the stark reality is that print is not rebounding and is not likely to. Every year our print ad market contracts in terms of total advertisers and total pages and revenue and our print circulations fall.  There is nothing on the horizon that indicates any sort of reversal of this trend. Print’s not dead, it's just becoming a smaller less profitable business, and we have to adjust [our brains and] our P&Ls to the market reality!

At approx $3 billion the US online tech-advertising category is one of the largest ad categories on the net.  On the readership side, some of the most popular search is for tech-related products.  We are in a great category in the online world and we are seeing massive growth in the overall readership of our branded properties and strong revenue growth - however we recognize that this is a world where the competitive set is a lot broader and more challenging and the content distributions channels are very different.  - I like our odds but it requires a massive internal attitude adjustment to deal with the new reality that our brands go far beyond print.

Our key significant strategic imperative is to transition and transform the company - taking a 40-year print legacy that’s coded into our DNA to build the company on a balanced portfolio of print, online and event products.  Advertiser and users are spending less time with the printed medium so we have to adjust our business accordingly. This evolution away from print has challenged some of IDG’s traditional managers who have thought of their brands in narrow terms - but we have many individuals who are willing to think of their products as brands across multiple media types and also to look at audiences across brands, recognizing the amazing opportunities that are ahead of them.

We think about how to develop valuable, authoritative content and how to deliver it most appropriately to our users in what everyway makes sense to meet their needs  - we’re liberating ourselves from the restrictions and cost of the print container. The brands represent the voice and participation of their communities – and it’s this user participation that differentiates them from search and aggregation.

This transition covers every aspect of the business - it’s tricky, as we have to balance the need for appropriate continued investment in print while allocating significant resources to ensure we power online growth. Transformation involves a deep cultural shift in attitude to put online first and stop over protecting print.

Interesting times.

Poland

I recently returned from Warsaw, where I was speaking about the role of media in a world of search, aggregation and social networking.  I was incredibly impressed at the entrepreneurialism of the team at IDG Poland. Poland has around 11MM internet users, approximately 37% of the total population. Spending on the Internet is still modest, around 3.6% of the total media spend but growing around 45% year on year with the major growth coming from the FMCG sector. Google is the number one site in terms of audience with 10MM users with the local portal Onet.pl not far behind with 9.5MM users. IDG Poland covering the vertical tech sector has 2.2MM users. Its largest sites being the top tech portal idg.pl with nearly 2MM users and PCWorld.pl with over 900,000 users.

Key IDG Poland sites include:
http://www.idg.pl/
http://www.idg.pl/tv/
http://www.computerworld.pl/
http://www.cxo.pl/
http://www.itpartner.pl/
http://www.networld.pl/
http://www.jobuniverse.pl/
http://www.pcworld.pl/
http://www.macworld.pl/
http://www.digit.pl/
http://www.gamestar.pl/
http://www.cyberjoy.pl/ (not what you think !)
http://www.digitallife.pl/
http://www.zoom.idg.pl/
http://www.fotografia.idg.pl/
http://www.kinodomowe.idg.pl/
http://www.internetstandard.pl/

What impressed me so much about the online team in Poland was their attitude. It was very much - can do, let’s try it to see what works.

They have some interesting experimentation with links from highlighted content launching text, graphic and video ads.  Video ads with user suppoted control, Audiobots (when the text on a page is spoken) and are actively promoting screencasts (see definition). They recognize now everything will work but the willingness to experiment is refreshing. They have embraced community participation including blogs

There was definitely concern over the power of the search companies, Google in particular and other key aggregators although an understanding that there was a sensible co-operative way to work with sites to drive audience to topic focused area with active audience participation.

My interview for those who can read Polish is here

Insights into youth culture

I've known Guy Kawasaki for many years and always respected his marketing instincts and grass roots, community approach to marketing. His evangelism at Apple , especially among user groups was ground breaking - he has just posted an insightful interview with Kathleen Gasperini, the co-founder and senior vice president of Label Networks that discusses the current trends among "young people". Appreciating current youth culture on a worldwide basis is critical to all organizations - their attitudes and trends will carry across to college and to the workforce as they age. My advice - develop intern programs that regularly bring in smart young people who challenge the status quo of your organization's thinking.

Behind the Scenes in the Blogosphere:

Nora Barnes, Chancellor Professor of Marketing and Director of the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has just posted an insightful blog study "Behind the Scenes in the Blogosphere: Advice From Established Bloggers"

The key conclusion - it's hard work and takes a lot of time to be a successful blogger - I guess I've failed that test as my recent postings  have been very sparse. Too much travel.

Blogging takes time, commitment, and honesty. In return connections are made that are personal and strong. Blogs are not a fad. They are no longer even an option. Those businesses that choose to remain outside this online conversation, will be sidelined. Eventually they will become extinct.

Consumers will move about the wired world in search of products and services that meet their needs. Every serious business needs to have a presence in this electronic global marketplace. But there is more. Businesses need to listen to other conversations that are happening around them. This includes responding to other blog posts and comments.

The blogosphere itself is a provider of more and better research than off line businesses are getting now. A true competitive analysis takes place when one searches blogs to see who your competitors are in the minds of your target market.

Blogs act as huge, ongoing focus groups providing feedback and ideas. Some of the most brilliant people in the world are blogging. Talk to them. Let them help you become more successful. Move
your business forward in a way that is new, exciting, a bit scary, and ultimately necessary.

PCWorld's Redesign

Another IDG title, PCWorld is re-designing its site and will roll out the new design this summer. In the meantime you can see a sneak preview here

The Beeb's Creative Future

On Tuesday 25th April, in a speech (well worth reading) to BBC staff, Director General, Mark Thompson, unveiled his "Creative Future" initiative and outlined a three-pronged approach to refocus all future BBC digital output and services around three concepts - "share", "find" and "play".  This strategy is designed to take the Beeb into a web 2.0 world of “user generated content” and “findability”, of community and metadata.

Five key themes were outlined:
1. Martini Media
2. Serious about entertainment
3. The Young
4. Findability
5. Active Audience

The speech is summarized at MediaGuardian with additional coverage at:

Auntie's dead
BBC's creative future gives into all the buzzwords ever invented
BBC unveils radical revamp
The sun never sets on the Beeb

Vertical Search Roundtable

DeSilva Phillips has published an edited summary of the “Can Vertical Search Prosper in the Age of GYM (Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft)?” panel held at the DeSilva + Phillips 2006 Media Dealmakers Summit on February 6, 2006 in New York. My co-panelists were Eric Shanfelt , VP eMedia Stretegy at Pention and Mitch Rouda, president e-Media for Hanley Wood.

The goal [of Vertical Search] is to pull together the content from your editors and from your vendors, and most importantly from your knowledgeable user base. So if you’re looking for a product, you do your research but then you ask people who have perhaps bought that product in the past to give you their advice. This deep type of involvement in special-interest areas is not something the general search  engines can offer.

Yahoo! Tech Launches

Paid Content notes the launch of Yahoo! Tech . This is the new tech vertical Yahoo had been working for some time now…it is more consumer focused and takes on the consumer sites owned by CNET and others.

The aggregated content for Yahoo Tech will come from established media brands such as John Wiley’s “For Dummies” book series, IDG’s PC World, Ziff Davis’ PC Magazine and McGraw-Hill publishing. The user-generated content will come primarily from Yahoo’s shopping site, which has about 300 tech products each accompanied by dozens of user reviews, and Yahoo Answers, which will fuel a Question-and-Answer section in Yahoo Tech.  Charter advertisers, include Verizon, Hewlett-Packard and Panasonic.

A tour of the site is available. Comments on the launch - which generally focus heavily on its low-end consumer orientation are available at ReadWriteWeb , Tech Memeorandum and TechCrunch

Computerworld launches redesigned site

Computerworld.com has spent the last several months completely overhauling its site and is now ready to roll out its new redesign. A walk-thru of the site can be viewed here. The new site will go live shortly.

techwords

IDG is very excited to be launching TechWords. It's designed for marketers who want to direct their keyword marketing programs to the IT-focused audience of the IDG Enterprise Network that is made up of six enterprise sites - Computerworld, NetworkWorld, Infoworld, CIO, CSO and JavaWorld. This powerful network reaches over 5.5 million unique visitors a month and has the highest concentration of high-level IT buyers anywhere on the web.

TechWords is the only keyword-targeted, auction-based, pay-per-click advertising marketplace dedicated to connecting technology advertisers with a core audience of enterprise technology buyers and influencers. The highly contextual network targets marketers ads next to the most relevant content across the IDG enterprise. 

Conversations with Digital Industry Leaders

DeSilva Phillips  have posted,  “2006 Online Advertising Roundtable,” the first in a series of conversations with digital industry leaders.  In this report, David Rosenblatt (CEO of DoubleClick), Chris Saridakis (CEO of Gannett’s PointRoll unit), and Jim Warner, EVP of aQuantive’s Avenue A / Razorfish), discuss:

·       The astounding expansion of online advertising
·       Maintaining an entrepreneurial spirit in the face of growth
·       The virtues of going private
·       How new technologies are reshaping the media, information, and entertainment industries
·       Working with and competing against Google

The report can be downloaded free or obtained from the DeSilva Philips site or from the Reports 2006 page.

and also “2006 Lead Generation Roundtable,” the second  in the series. In this report, Mike Mathieu (Chairman and CEO of All Star Directories), Kurt Robertson (CEO of FranchiseGator), Howard Tischler (Group President, Dealer Services, First Advantage Corp.), and Sam Zales (President and CEO of BuyerZone) discuss:

·       The difficulties of erecting entry barriers
·       How to deal with soaring keyword prices
·       The rise of the math geeks in lead generation
·       Why content can draw customers but undermine conversions
·       How lead quality underpins ROI

The report can be downloaded for free or obtained from the DeSilva Philips site or from  the Reports 2006 page.