Gooogle is pass

Google is now in danger of being pass? - as a purely mechanical way of finding information

Says Alan Rushbridger Editor of the Guradian

Further

And just to be “really terrifying”, hundreds of sites are scraping the ads out of sites and aggregating them.

The Guardian looked at the phenomenon of how people are looking to these technical aggregators. So for instance, “Overheard in the UK” has had 457,000 visits in the last month.

“Comment used to be our field. Now there are web sites for fragmented audiences who want stuff they are interested in by people who are like them… However fragmented you want to be, it can be done better than a newspaper. What does a newspaper do?”

Rusbridger said that he decided to launch a new Guardian site, “Comment is Free”, after seeing how a liberal-minded blog in the US, The Huffington Post, a had overtaken The New Republic, The Nation, Mother Jones and The New Yorker in web traffic.

All of this content is created for free.

Further

But for a society to work well, citizens have to be informed across a range of subjects. Politicians, in fact, would find it hard to govern without informed citizens. And newspapers stand outside government and can critique it.

Rusbridger drew on an anecdote about a dinner he attended where representatives form the highest levels of politics, the military and judiciary were present, just after the Iraq war.

“One by one they said we all failed. All the parts if the state that were supposed to work didn’t. The only thing that did work was newspapers and broadcasters.”

In an age where some parts of the world remain no-go areas to ordinary people, like Baghdad, it’s newspapers which are sending reporters like Jonathon Steel, 67, who said “he wanted to go. What happens if all the journalists pull out? There’s a duty to go. There’ aren’t any bloggers volunteering to go.”

“I will never lose sight of the role of newspapers and their role,” said Rusbridger. “In some ways it’s the most exciting time to be in newspapers. There’s a revolution as big as Gutenberg and Caxton going on, but in many ways it’s also frightening.”

Via Mike Butcher

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Tomi on 3GTV

Tomi is featured in two periodicals this week on the topic of mobile-TV convergence. In the American business weekly Barrons, he is quoted at length saying pretty much the same stuff he’s on about here at our blogsite, for example:

Tomi Ahonen predicts people will use their mobiles mainly for “snacking” on favourite TV content at idle moments of the day. The mobile phone will never become an alternative viewing platform, he argues, adding that the real challenge is for operators to create bold new TV services around the unique features of a mobile handset. These features, he says, include the ability to interact with, personalize and pay immediately for TV-related content.

Barrons 20 March 2006

Unfortunately that issue is not free online, so you have to buy the issue to read more.

But if you want to read more about how to do 3G-TV, with several real examples of mobile-TV services and how the fourth screen differs from Cinema, TV and the PC screen, Tomi’s column in European Communications of Spring 2006, is worth a read. Tomi explains how to use his mobile service creation theory, the Six M’s, to build billable value into mobile TV services. Their Eurocomms website is open to access for all, so we warmly recommend visitors to our blogsite to hop on over and read Tomi’s full column entitled “3G TV Convergence, the Personal Touch”.

But this is something I picked out, that caught my eye

The fourth M is Multi-user, or extending into the community. A good example of a Multi-user mobile TV service is viewer participation in the form of SMS-to-TV chat. Launched in Finland in 2001, over the years it has evolved to SMS-to-TV dating as in Italy, SMS-to-TV games as in Malaysia and SMS-to-TV Rap the latest hit in Finland. But the most advanced concept of premium user-generated content on the mobile phone, broadcast live on TV, comes from Korea, on the Tu Media network. Last Autumn Tu Media introduced videoclip-to-TV chat. Any viewer could send their videoclips as premium-cost MMS messages to the broadcaster, and moments later these would be broadcast live. Your kid having a birthday? Shoot the video and turn on the TV.

To read the full column please visit European Communications

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Darwinism rudely arrives in our media ecology

Darwin said, for wont of repeating myself that

it is not the strongest or most intelligent that survive, but the ones most adaptive to change.

The other important point Darwin made was the ability of the opposite sex to attract; to find the best mate, another survival instinct.

Just think of the peacock, its gotta have something going for it, right?

So, Channel 4 is no longer a broadcaster, they are mutating into something else. Whilst other broadcasters are buying friends reunited , (though I think Murdoch got the better deal) as their advertising revenue crashes down around them, and mass audiences are in inoxerable decline. (ITV said that their advertising revenue was down ?50million). Plus a recent survey by google showed that internet vs. TV attention now was 164 minutes for the internet and 148 minutes for TV.

John Naughton in his big think the piece The age of permanent net revolution , mentions the word ecology and then references this to Television and its historical dominant role (see below) equally there is a terminology called media ecology and this is going to play a key role in our media landscape going forward.

For most of our lives, the dominant organism in this system - grabbing most of the resources, revenue and attention - was broadcast TV. Note that ‘broadcast’ implies few-to-many: a relatively small number of broadcasters, transmitting content to billions of essentially passive viewers and listeners. This ecosystem is the media environment in which most of us grew up. But it’s in the process of radical change because broadcast TV is in inexorable decline; its audience is fragmenting.

Twenty years ago, a show like The Two Ronnies could attract audiences of 20 million. Now an audience of 5 million is considered a success by any television channel. In five years’ time, 200,000 viewers will be considered a miracle.

I have personally witnessed enough changes first-hand to want to investigate what this means to all businesses whether they be media companies or businesses that use and deploy any media as marketing tools. We realised that what we were witnessing was the wholesale unbundling of the media, of business models. Dramatic changes in consumption habits, and the explosion of peer-to-peer flows of communication both online and via the mobile phone.

Hence the book that I wrote with Tomi. Also worth a read here and here

The big question was the pace of that change. Last year demonstrated the pace has accelerated. Or was at least arriving at a dramatic chapter in the story. What some might call a page turner.

Continue »

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Pushmepullyou - in a connected world

Digital music downloads triples

Digital music sale revenue tripled in the first half of 2005 compared with 2004, figures have suggested

Digital music sale revenue tripled in the first half of 2005 compared with 2004, figures have suggested. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) estimated 6% of record industry sales were digital, worth $790m (?450m).

Whilst Young Canadians are more connected than ever , and at a surprisingly early age. The second phase of the Young Canadians in a Wired World (YCWW) research project reveals that an astonishing 94 percent of young people access the Internet from home, with students as early as Grade 4 beginning to rely on the Internet to explore social roles, stay connected with friends and develop their social networks.

And our connected world online is exploding , a new blog is created every second and the phenomenon has grown 60 times larger than it was three years ago, says Technorati in its periodic ‘State of the Blogosphere’. There are about 27.2 million blogs and 75,000 new ones created each day. At that rate, the blogosphere doubles about every 5.5 months.

In terms of connectivity A Pew Internet and American Life Project study found online teens are increasingly tech-savvy . Nearly nine out of 10 teenagers say they use the net, up from 74 percent in 2000, according to the Pew study.

While e-mail is seen as a tool for communicating with adults, instant messaging was proving the most popular way to chat with friends. Three-quarters 75% of online teenagers in the US have used IM, the survey found, with personalised features proving popular.

Features such as buddy icons are a popular way for teenagers to express and differentiate themselves.

And The mobile phone could overtake the internet as the most popular medium for music downloads before the year is out, the global record industry lobby group has predicted. In its 12th annual global report the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said 3G technology would drive the growth of digital music downloads to mobiles.

And consumption habits are changing: London, 21st June 2005 ? 15-24 year olds across Europe are spending less time watching TV and listening to the radio as a result of using the Internet, according to research from the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA), the pan-European trade organisation for sellers of interactive media. Almost half of 15-24 year olds (46%) are watching less TV, preferring instead to browse the web while 22% are listening to less radio. A third of those questioned are even reading less, choosing to consume information over the Internet.

Activities done less as a result of using the Internet:
Watching TV 46% — Talking on the phone 34% — Reading newspapers 33% — Reading books 32% — Listening to the radio 22%

Across Europe, this key target audience is spending almost a quarter of their media time (24%) online, more than reading newspapers (10%) or magazines (8%). In comparison, the average European devotes 20% of their media activity to the Internet. Among 15-24 year olds, TV continues to represent the largest share of media time at 31% with radio just ahead of the Internet on 27%.

Finally; online Chat
The EIAA research also reveals the extent to which youths are using the Internet to communicate with friends, with 58% preferring to chat to friends over the Internet. Meanwhile, over a third admit to talking less on the phone now that they are online while 26% send less text messages.

“The 15-24 age group is the holy grail for most advertisers and the EIAA research conclusively demonstrates the extent to which the internet now represents an essential media for this audience, increasingly replacing other media including TV and radio

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Communities contexualise brands

This review of our book - (always great that someone is reading us). Mean’t a great deal to Tomi and I, as its diamond drilling down into our theories was so well done.

Rob Kleine at Digito Society says

I finished reading Ahonen & Moore’s book Communities Dominate Brands the other day. Most intriguing to me is that Ahonen and Moore are exploring the same question I have for the last decade ( here and here ). Striking to me is that they approach the relationship of stuff (brands) and people from a technology perspective. Ahonen & Moore’s book is, at one level, an extended meditation on why the ubiquitious cell phone will be the ultimate tool for connecting individuals (via SMS, voice, IM, and for internet access).

At another level, Ahonen and Moore build the case that ?as they parse it?communities dominate brands. My preferred parsing is that communities contextualize brands. Communities?whether you care to call them sub-cultures, social networks, or whatever?provide the context in in which consumption generally, and brands specifically, are contextualized; communities provide a context in which brands do (or don’t) make sense. The reflected appraisal process appears central to connecting communities, stuff (brands), and individuals

Rob gives some of his own highlghts of our book. But I suggest you go and read his blog. But he sums up

There’s much more to this book; I’ve but scratched the surface here. But these are the elements that resonated most powerfully with me. More gems are buried in the book. Give it a read. Find them yourself.

Thanks Rob. We really appreciate such critical appraisal.

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Social Media Forum

Social Media Forum

Taking place on 17th May 2006 at the London Hilton Hotel

The new Blogs & Social Media Forum is breaking away from the traditional conference format to help maximise interaction and networking. Conferences need to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and experience ? and the interaction with peers makes this happen. It’s all about engaging in the right conversations.

And, as I would say “Nobody is as clever as everybody.”

Effective communication is a challenge for everybody in today’s organisations and social media is all about communication. Knowing what’s being said both inside and outside your organisation is critical and must be understood and controlled. But what exactly is involved?

Examining the impact of wikis, blogs & RSS, the one day forum will combine expert industry insight from leading thinkers in the field of social media technologies with real life case studies. The programme offers an unrivalled learning experience from the moment you sign up.

Make sure you join in the debate with fellow professionals and colleagues. You’ll be able to quiz speakers in small groups and share information and experiences in an informal yet structured environment. There will be wifi so you’ll be able to blog throughout the day.

Chaired by Euan Semple, Independent Consultant and ex-Head of Knowledge Management at the BBC.

It has already been a pleasure sitting on the advisory panel and I am really looking forward to the event.

Thanks Lorna for inviting me.

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At 3GSM Barcelona, with Ogilvy

Tomi writes:

The advertising giant Ogilvy has made it a tradition to bring their top telecoms clients to an exclusive seminar coinciding with the biggest telecoms event, 3GSM World Congress, that moved from Cannes to Barcelona this year. Alan and I had the honour of joining the Ogilvy event as guest speakers.

Alan started us off, by discussing convergence, where broadband, telecoms and media come together as the “Y of Convergence”. Alan included vivid examples including our current favourite, CyWorld. He then gave his analysis of the mobile phone becoming the seventh mass media.

I next offered views on mobile and TV, what works and what doesn’t. I used the tool of the Six M’s (adapted from the Five M’s in my first books) to build value to mobile services - and also as a tool to evaluate mobile service concepts. I then showed the power of social networking, through the example of Alpha Users and briefly touched upon Omega Customers, Next Best Offer and Churn Management. I also gave views on MVNOs, churn, and showed a frightening case study of 3G market share performance from Japan.

Alan ended the presentation by first discussing digital community power, illustrating it with the “Flower Diagramme” ie the Four C’s and the case of OhmyNews. He then ended on some of his more creative work around how to launch mobile products and services.

We had a very wonderful time with Ogilvy and its guests. Thank you for inviting us.

And I am back in Barcelona next week (perhaps I should move there?) to make a keynote speech at the 50th Anniversary of the Spanish Marketing Society.

I can’t wait.

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Radio 1 Dj’s log onto Myspace

Simon Waldman posts Radio 1 Dj’s log onto Myspace

referencing Robert Hamman

Simon points out

that a load of Radio One DJs have set up stall on MySpace (here’s Jo Whiley ). I suppose this is a modern day version of ‘hanging with the kids’. Obviously something the err cash-strapped BBC could never do on their servers. Is David Cameron on there yet? No? not this one..

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3G Mobile Future: Exclusive Interview with Tomi Ahonen

Tomi was recently interviewed by Wireless watch and you can see the video here

Wireless Watch says

Tomi Ahonen is a smart guy who’s done a lot of observing and thinking about the 3G future. He reports that planet Earth has 2 bn mobile phones, with more phones in use than cars, credit cards or televisions, and that advertisers, businesses and governments are all trying to understand how the mobile future will download. For a glimpse into the future, Tomi was in Tokyo last month for the 3G Mobile World Forum 2006 where he observed that Japan already has the handsets, the networks and users who have migrated to 3G, while “the rest of the world is just starting to understand and discover this opportunity

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The Economy of Unbundled Advertising

Terry Heaton says

But now we’ve entered the world of unbundled media, where people download individual songs instead of buying CDs, watch programs when and where they want (without the commercials), and read news stories or snippets of stories via the World Wide Web instead of going out to the driveway every morning. Movie-going is down; music radio is falling fast; and you can now watch Lost on your Video iPod instead of Wednesday night on ABC. The mass audience is disappearing and with it, and the economy it supports.

If unbundled media is where we’re headed, then unbundled advertising must necessarily follow. This is a scary concept, however, for there is no command and control mechanism or manipulable infrastructure in the unbundled world. The upside, though, is that it costs very little to participate. All that’s necessary is the release what I call “ad pieces” into the seeming chaos of the internet, where other businesses will take those pieces and reassemble them when summoned by customers who are trading their scarcity for information they actually want.

Via TV News in a Postmodern World. The Economy of Unbundled Advertising

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