Category Archives: Media

Finding Your Voice

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Fred Wilson is definitely a top-shelf business blogger, if not the best. He started his blog AVC when he was 42, and he does a great job in this post in explaining how it helped him find his voice for the first time (and how his wife's blog did the same for her). An excerpt is provided below, but I think it's important to point out that you could replace "blog" with "newsletter", or "Facebook profile", "YouTube video",or "LinkedIn post", or any other form of communication and make the same point – the important thing is to find whatever it is that gives your voice an outlet:

Everyone has something to say, something to contribute, everyone can make a difference. And I believe the Internet is making it easier for all of us to find that voice, use it, and make that difference.

I am supporting evidence item number one in this case. I was 42 years old when I started blogging. I'd always had a lot to say. Just ask my mom about that. But I never really found the place and the way to get it all out. AVC became that thing and now I've got a platform to make a difference. I hope I'm using it well.

I have watched so many people find their voice on the Internet over the years and it warms my heart when they nail it. It happens all the time in the blog comments here at AVC. I'm not going to name names but you all know the stories and who they are.

Xbox Not Just for Gamers

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Two Christmases ago our big family gift was Xbox Kinect. Normally with a gift like that I'd put family in quotes because we'd all have known that it was really a gift for the kids, but in this case it was a true family gift that's used more by the kids than the parents. Why's that? Because while the kids (our youngest son in particular) use the Xbox as it was originally intended – to play video games – the rest of us use it as an entertainment center. Apparently we aren't the only ones:

As promised, Xbox has rolled out three big content partners, beefing up its role as a big television player in the living room. Starting today, HBO Go (for participating providers), Xfinity and MLB (for subscribers) are debuting on Xbox Live, adding to Netflix, Hulu, ESPN and many more. And marking today’s announcement, Xbox said more people are now using the console for entertainment purposes (TV, movies and music) than gaming. (Emphasis mine)…

As we’ve written several times before, Xbox is television’s largest social network. While these new apps don’t take advantage of many Xbox Live features, the obvious next evolution is to become more social, engaging and connecting subscribers over voice, video and data. The foundation is built, and the scale is there (Xbox sold 426,000 units in February alone). And now it’s just up to developers to evolve a consumption experience to a social experience, tapping the Xbox Live wiring to make it happen. Stay tuned…

It's been obvious for a while that the wall between most households' primary entertainment vehicle (television) and primary information vehicle (computer tied to internet) has been crumbling, but it's fascinating to see how it's happening. In retrospect it makes total sense that the video game console would become the vehicle, but we've been witness to far too many failed "WebTV-ish" experiments to say that it was obvious to many people beforehand.

Down Goes Print Advertising! Down Goes Print Advertising!

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The Atlantic has a pretty stunning graph showing the decline of print advertising over the last 10-12 years, and worse, the acceleration over the last couple of years. (h/t to Ed Cone for the link).

The decline is stunning. "Last year's ad revenues of about $21 billion were less than half of the $46 billion spent just four years ago in 2007, and less than one-third of the $64 billion spent in 2000," Mark Perry writes. In the next few years — and hopefully, in the next few decades (I like print!) — we'll see papers and magazines continue to invest in their websites and find advertising and pricing models that support journalism independently. Otherwise, one hopes that rich people continue to be fond of paying for the production of great writing on bundles of ink and paper.

PIPA/SOPA Explained

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As you might have guessed I love staying on top of current events, especially as it relates to politics, the economy and just about anything not related to Justin Bieber or Dancing with the Stars. So you can imagine my frustration when I just don't have the time to get up to speed on an issue that I'm pretty sure is important.  That's what has happened with the current PIPA/SOPA issue in Congress which is why I was so pleased to come across this explanation of the issue by Clay Shirky:

Local TV News on Social Media

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I have a question for local TV news folks.  Do you think your social media outlets, Facebook in particular, should reflect your station/corporate values?  I would imagine the answer is yes, and if it is you really should be careful what you post or link to on your Facebook page.  Although I think it's perfectly appropriate to link to stories you don't air on your regular broadcast since, like your website, your Facebook page is a great way to expand your coverage, I don't think it's appropriate to link to stories that you wouldn't air on your broadcast because it's simply too racy. 

If you'd like me to give you examples I'll give you two just from this week: a story about a guy having unnatural relations with a dog, and another story about a guy who got a tattoo on a certain body part that resulted in him developing an unexpected condition normally associated with a Viagra overdose.  Sure, some people will find them funny, and I've been around long enough to know that stories like that grab attention, but if they aren't an accurate reflection of your organization's values then you really shouldn't post them.

By the way, the same can be said for any organization in any industry.  Just because they're a different venue that might have a slightly edgier audience than your norm doesn't mean that your social media outlets should not reflect your values.  Remember, you are what you post.

NewsRight

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I just read a story on the Winston-Salem Journal's website that its parent company is one of a group of news organizations spearheaded by the Associated Pres that's launching a company called NewsRight.  The purpose of this company is to track the usage of news stories on "unauthorized" websites, blogs and other newsgathering services and turn those users into paying customers.  Later in the article the president of the company talks about using the data to inform advertisers about who's reading which articles, but let's be honest here – they're going after folks they think are impropertly profiting off of content they've created.  

On the surface I have no problem with the idea of content creators getting paid for their content*, but I get a little tired of newspapers ignoring the flip side of the coin.  You see there are a lot of people out there who use content appropriately – they quote a paragraph or two and then provide a link to the source material.  Are the news organizations compensating the people who are providing a free reader to them?  Remember, if someone clicks a link from this blog to a story in the Winston-Salem Journal the Journal gets to count that reader towards their ad count. Even if they only make a penny on that reader that's a penny I gave them and I didn't get compensated for it.

My point is this – they might want to view people who are properly using the information they produce as partners rather than customers.  You know, maybe reward people like me for bringing you readers rather than assuming I'm stealing your content.  Maybe that's what the company president meant when he mentioned the advertising, but I didn't take it that they were going to share ad revenue with "partners", but that they were going to use the data gathered to raise ad rates.  

I'd love to know what John Robinson (recently retired editor from the Greensboro News & Record) and Lex Alexander (was responsible for the News & Record's online initiatives before he jumped ship) think about this.

*Back in the early days of my blogging ('04-05) I thought newspapers were wrong-headed for going after blogs that copied and pasted stories wholesale – basically I thought it was overkill – but since then I've changed my mind.  There's no reason for them not to protect their product, but at the same time I think they truly missed an opportunity to develop a new business model that used those very same people to build their audience and profit.  That's a longer post for another day.

BTW, if you're reading this and you work for Media General you're welcome for the link. 

Online Confessional

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If you follow any of the media outlets on Facebook or Twitter you've probably noticed how they use social media to find interview subjects for their stories.  One of my kids was interviewed for a story a while back because I saw a local business writer's post on Facebook asking if anyone had teenagers who were having a hard time finding work, and if they'd found a job how they'd done it.  Nothing earth shattering about reporters using social media to find story subjects, but I have to say I was somewhat surprised by this post on AP's Twitter feed:

Have you stolen from a grocery store or other retailer to get something for the holidays? If so, contact@sarahskidmoreap for an interview.

Why would anyone actually reply to this?  Even if you weren't worried that it was a setup wouldn't you be horribly embarassed to admit something like this?  Well, maybe not.  Given some of the things I've seen over these last few years on social media I'm certain there are plenty of people out there who are totally devoid of shame and crave any kind of attention they can get, so this would be right up their alley. 

Sign of the times I guess.

Ugly Signs and Fish Wrap

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Wells Fargo is trying to make a splash here in the home territory of the former Wachovia Bank it absorbed a while back.  It did a full wrap of today's Winston-Salem Journal, Greensboro News & Record and Charlotte Observer, and apparently some GNR readers aren't thrilled with it. I know this because John Robinson, the GNR's editor, maintains a blog and wrote about it, but I have no idea what WSJ readers' reaction has been because the Journal's folks don't do the blog thing that I know of.

Wells Fargo has a long way to go to win Carolinians' hearts and I don't think buying any amount of fish wrap will do it, although I guess they have to try.  Its western roots and garish red and gold signs don't help here in the land of Carolina Blue either. 

Having a Mike Rowe Moment on Live TV

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If you haven't seen Mike Rowe get covered in poo on Dirty Jobs you've probably been living in a cave for the last 10 years.  This reporter for the DC Fox affiliate had his own Rowement when he was covered with a "mystery foam was raw sewage pouring into the sea and being whipped into a froth by the hurricane's winds." I sure hope our own Fox affiliate photog Lenslinger was able to stay to the leeside of any flying crap as he covered Irene.

Reporter Gives Update Covered In Sea Foam: MyFoxNY.com