Comments on: “I saw things getting out of hand; I guess they always will” http://greeleysghost.brian-fuller.com/2007/09/20/%e2%80%9ci-saw-things-getting-out-of-hand-i-guess-they-always-will%e2%80%9d/ Brian Fuller's blog on the state of media and communications Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:04:52 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.3 hourly 1 By: Ry Schwark http://greeleysghost.brian-fuller.com/2007/09/20/%e2%80%9ci-saw-things-getting-out-of-hand-i-guess-they-always-will%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-141 Ry Schwark Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:49:00 +0000 http://brian-fuller.com/blog/?p=181#comment-141 Loring,<br/><br/>I imagine the temptation when you "micro-segment" is to skip editorial, and just rely on the community to feed your content needs. They know the material best, right?<br/><br/>But it strikes me as rudderless. Someone needs to turn the noise into a symphony. <br/><br/>I hadn't thought about it, but you must be right about it making competition hard. Who wants two news portals in some niche? Readers will pick one and the other will die.<br/><br/>Tough business to be in. Loring,

I imagine the temptation when you “micro-segment” is to skip editorial, and just rely on the community to feed your content needs. They know the material best, right?

But it strikes me as rudderless. Someone needs to turn the noise into a symphony.

I hadn’t thought about it, but you must be right about it making competition hard. Who wants two news portals in some niche? Readers will pick one and the other will die.

Tough business to be in.

]]> By: Loring Wirbel http://greeleysghost.brian-fuller.com/2007/09/20/%e2%80%9ci-saw-things-getting-out-of-hand-i-guess-they-always-will%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-140 Loring Wirbel Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:32:00 +0000 http://brian-fuller.com/blog/?p=181#comment-140 Well, Ry, CMP tried that online in BTG with the Pipeline model and in Electronics Group with the DesignLine model. They both get a lot of traffic, a lot of article contributions, but the problem with stovepiping and verticalizing to death is that publishers try to do it with zero editorial staff (understandably), the small staff goes crazy trying to maintain separate sites for IP, security, wireless, digital TV, etc. and the momentum can't be sustained. And if you're even slightly late to the party, say with Light Reading's effort to create Contentinople for digital content, it gets very tough to get heard through the noise. Micro-segmentation can be implemented for blogs with no true staff, but it's a bitch for any model requiring a certain level of advertising for paid staff. Well, Ry, CMP tried that online in BTG with the Pipeline model and in Electronics Group with the DesignLine model. They both get a lot of traffic, a lot of article contributions, but the problem with stovepiping and verticalizing to death is that publishers try to do it with zero editorial staff (understandably), the small staff goes crazy trying to maintain separate sites for IP, security, wireless, digital TV, etc. and the momentum can’t be sustained. And if you’re even slightly late to the party, say with Light Reading’s effort to create Contentinople for digital content, it gets very tough to get heard through the noise. Micro-segmentation can be implemented for blogs with no true staff, but it’s a bitch for any model requiring a certain level of advertising for paid staff.

]]> By: Ry Schwark http://greeleysghost.brian-fuller.com/2007/09/20/%e2%80%9ci-saw-things-getting-out-of-hand-i-guess-they-always-will%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-139 Ry Schwark Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:19:00 +0000 http://brian-fuller.com/blog/?p=181#comment-139 I think Lou has a point, but I think the problem is more about the business model than how people want to consume content.<br/><br/>With the rise of the internet and the corresponding genesis of the holy grail of real "one-to-one" marketing, we've lost faith in old school advertising. Direct mail/marketing rises while mass marketing falls.<br/><br/>I think the collapse of general books will probably continue, unfortunately. Advertisers want very focused spend that reaches a clear target customer. <br/><br/>We used to be able to take on faith the value of advertising (or maybe we just had to). Now, when you can measure first click to first purchase, managers don't want faith-based marketing. They want measurable marketing.<br/><br/>I don't see that changing. <br/><br/>I think that means that publishers need to de-aggregate their content and build more vertical publications to create lists that appeal to the new model. If a list doesn't draw advertisers, that news segment doesn't get served. And part of that model must be a tighter feedback loop with the reader.<br/><br/>If I can't touch and interact with the reader as an advertiser, I'll look elsewhere. I think Lou has a point, but I think the problem is more about the business model than how people want to consume content.

With the rise of the internet and the corresponding genesis of the holy grail of real “one-to-one” marketing, we’ve lost faith in old school advertising. Direct mail/marketing rises while mass marketing falls.

I think the collapse of general books will probably continue, unfortunately. Advertisers want very focused spend that reaches a clear target customer.

We used to be able to take on faith the value of advertising (or maybe we just had to). Now, when you can measure first click to first purchase, managers don’t want faith-based marketing. They want measurable marketing.

I don’t see that changing.

I think that means that publishers need to de-aggregate their content and build more vertical publications to create lists that appeal to the new model. If a list doesn’t draw advertisers, that news segment doesn’t get served. And part of that model must be a tighter feedback loop with the reader.

If I can’t touch and interact with the reader as an advertiser, I’ll look elsewhere.

]]> By: Lou Covey http://greeleysghost.brian-fuller.com/2007/09/20/%e2%80%9ci-saw-things-getting-out-of-hand-i-guess-they-always-will%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-138 Lou Covey Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:39:00 +0000 http://brian-fuller.com/blog/?p=181#comment-138 There's something else to be considered here, and that's the historic progress of media. At one point, when the first scribes were establishing themselves in Mesopotamia, the storytellers and minstrels that made their living keeping people informed started sweating. Moveable type sent the scribes into dry heaves a few hundred years later. And so on and so on...<br/>What we are experiencing now with the blogosphere is not unlike when the penny-dreadful newspapers started popping up. they were undisciplined, libelous wads of birdcage lining. But they also encouraged literacy. And they changed the way people were informed.<br/>The net is in the penny-dreadful stage right now, filled with legit newspeople but mostly scoundrels. What make them different from all media before is that these new journalists are forced to accept feedback from formerly anonymous readers.<br/>What is going to happen is that the blogging phenomenon is going to eventually develop some rules of etiquette and become more civilized, more reliable and more corporate. We're in the wilding time, but that will eventually winde down...until the next medium takes its place. There’s something else to be considered here, and that’s the historic progress of media. At one point, when the first scribes were establishing themselves in Mesopotamia, the storytellers and minstrels that made their living keeping people informed started sweating. Moveable type sent the scribes into dry heaves a few hundred years later. And so on and so on…
What we are experiencing now with the blogosphere is not unlike when the penny-dreadful newspapers started popping up. they were undisciplined, libelous wads of birdcage lining. But they also encouraged literacy. And they changed the way people were informed.
The net is in the penny-dreadful stage right now, filled with legit newspeople but mostly scoundrels. What make them different from all media before is that these new journalists are forced to accept feedback from formerly anonymous readers.
What is going to happen is that the blogging phenomenon is going to eventually develop some rules of etiquette and become more civilized, more reliable and more corporate. We’re in the wilding time, but that will eventually winde down…until the next medium takes its place.

]]> By: Loring Wirbel http://greeleysghost.brian-fuller.com/2007/09/20/%e2%80%9ci-saw-things-getting-out-of-hand-i-guess-they-always-will%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-137 Loring Wirbel Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:34:00 +0000 http://brian-fuller.com/blog/?p=181#comment-137 You quoted the Dead, but might have been better quoting at length from the referenced Idiot Wind. I feel that conflagration every time I read a gossip blog these days. There's a companion song to that Dylan piece, sung by the forgotten Los Angeles cowboy band Walking Wounded, called "Saddled by Idiots." Feels like the village idiots have already set the blaze that consumes everything in its path (in journalism in general, not just in the tech trades), the time for total immolation will be measured in weeks or months rather than years, and there is very little we can do but sit and watch on the sidelines. Burning too hot to call in the jumpers. You quoted the Dead, but might have been better quoting at length from the referenced Idiot Wind. I feel that conflagration every time I read a gossip blog these days. There’s a companion song to that Dylan piece, sung by the forgotten Los Angeles cowboy band Walking Wounded, called “Saddled by Idiots.” Feels like the village idiots have already set the blaze that consumes everything in its path (in journalism in general, not just in the tech trades), the time for total immolation will be measured in weeks or months rather than years, and there is very little we can do but sit and watch on the sidelines. Burning too hot to call in the jumpers.

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