Archive | November, 2008

#Mumbai part 2 – Mainstream Media Acknowledging Twitter

By on November 29, 2008 in Mass Media, Social Media, Sociology, Twitter

Today’s New York Times acknowledges the citizen journalism that was so prominent during the Mumbai terrorist incident: The attacks in India served as another case study in how technology is transforming people into potential reporters, adding a new dimension to the news media. At the peak of the violence, more than one message per second [...]

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#Mumbai – Debating Twitter’s Breaking News Role

By on November 28, 2008 in Blogging, Mass Media, Publishing, Social Media, Television, Twitter

The age old (at least during this decade) new media question: is citizen journalism journalism? Tom’s Tech Blog decries Twitter as an unreliable news source, and therefore not a news source, receives backlash from prominent bloggers: Yes, Twitter is a Source of Journalism – Mathew Ingram I Can’t Believe Some People are still Saying Twitter [...]

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Converging to a TV Standard

By on November 25, 2008 in Mass Media, Television, YouTube

Eventually all Internet-based video formats will easily play on an HDTV screen. Until then, YouTube will continue to increase the size of their player to begin to replicate a TV watching experience. It has now graduated to 16:9 960 pixel width, about the same size standard adopted by video competitor Hulu. The killer app seems [...]

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The Best Way to Introduce a New Hamburger in Japan

By on November 22, 2008 in Marketing, New business models

A new black and red storefront opens up in Shibuya, one of Tokyo’s trendiest neighborhoods, with no description beyond the words “Quarter Pounder” in front. Inside the menu offers only two items: the Quarter Pounder and the Quarter Pounder with Cheese. In Japan, the “Quarter Pounder” doesn’t exist (portions in Japan are much smaller than [...]

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The Portability of Content

By on November 18, 2008 in Advertising, Blogging, Mass Media, Real Estate, Transparency

Wired magazine’s article last month Twitter, Flickr, Facebook makes Blogs look so 2004 posits the “death of blogging”. Writing a weblog today isn’t the bright idea it was four years ago. The blogosphere, once a freshwater oasis of folksy self-expression and clever thought, has been flooded by a tsunami of paid bilge. Cut-rate journalists and [...]

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The YouTube Pulpit

By on November 16, 2008 in Advertising, Economy, Mass Media, Politics, Television, YouTube

YouTube has huge media advantages over mainstream media: It’s free. Buying airtime is way expensive. It has global reach. Airtime only reaches a regional broadcast area. It’s viral. Anybody can embed YouTube messages like I’ve done. It’s time to call YouTube the uber-network, it transcends TV and cable. Barack Obama has endorsed it for his [...]

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Why We Don’t Trust Bankers

By on November 15, 2008 in Advertising, Economy, Politics

The bumbling ex-banker and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson sure needs a few PR lessons: Is it any wonder we’re skeptical that the bankers will take all those billions and use them for the common good? A classic “greedy bankers” WAMU commercial

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What’s happening now? Lists to check

By on November 12, 2008 in Social Media, Social networking, Twitter, Web tools

Before Twitter and micro-blogging, we waited for mass media to post breaking news and then waited for the masses to Digg it up to see what caught the public fancy. With micro-blogging applications like Twitter reporting from all corners of the world in breaking news sound bytes, the speed of media hastens. The newest online [...]

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Hulu’s Biz Model Replicates Broadcast TV and it Works

By on November 11, 2008 in Advertising, Mass Media, Television, YouTube

Three snippets of recent buzz about Hulu: Hulu has attracted advertisers used to the TV advertising model (Alley Insider 11/10/08) Hulu is easier to use when searching for TV and movies. YouTube is a mess (NYT 11/10/08) YouTube is playing catchup to Hulu by offering brand name content – announces MGM film distribution deal (Wired [...]

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Owning the Artist

By on November 9, 2008 in Celebrity, Marketing, Mass Media

The early Hollywood Studio system institutionalized vertical ownership of the creative process, in this case movies. Now, with digital media inevitably moving towards free, music companies are requiring artists sign multiple rights “360 deals” that take a cut from every revenue stream. In exchange, the artist receives the marketing and distribution machinery for celebritization. It [...]

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