Month: February 2010

I Don’t Like The iPad Because…

…it's driven by the same old media love affair with distribution lock in. I've been on about this ever since I studied Google in 2001: Media traditionally has gained its profits by owning distribution. Cable carriage, network airwaves, newsstand distribution and printing presses: all very expensive, so once you employ…

Screen shot 2010-02-27 at 6.34.59 PM.png…it’s driven by the same old media love affair with distribution lock in. I’ve been on about this ever since I studied Google in 2001: Media traditionally has gained its profits by owning distribution. Cable carriage, network airwaves, newsstand distribution and printing presses: all very expensive, so once you employ enough capital to gain them, it’s damn hard to get knocked out.  

The web changed all that and promised that economics in the media business would be driven by content and intent: the best content will win, driven by the declared intent of consumers who find it and share it. Search+Social was the biggest wave to hit media since the printing press. And the open technology to make better and better experiences has been on a ten year tear: blogging software, Flash, Ajax, HTML 5, Android, and more and more coming.

But the iPad, just like the iPhone, is designed for vertical integration and distribution lock in. Apple is building its own distribution channel, just as it did with iTunes, and media companies are falling over themselves to make an app for that. Why? Well sure, for once, it’s sexy and cool and hip. That’s why everyone loved the Wired demo.

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Friday Signal: The Web Gets Its Wisdom Teeth (We Hope)

(image ) A couple of days ago I riffed for bit on the convergence of conversation in our industry around mobile, local, real time, and social. Sometimes this stuff needs an easier name to identify it all, so I’m going to go with MOLRS (MObile Local Realtime Social).   Why…

wisdomTooth.jpg

(image ) A couple of days ago I riffed for bit on the convergence of conversation in our industry around mobile, local, real time, and social. Sometimes this stuff needs an easier name to identify it all, so I’m going to go with MOLRS (MObile Local Realtime Social).  

Why another acronym? Because honestly, it reminds us to link all these concepts together. Often folks ask me for advice about their “mobile strategy.” I remind them that if you are going to think about mobile, you have to think about social, local, and real time. Same for when someone asks about a real time strategy – real time usually means connecting through a social graph, often through a mobile platform and in a local context. And so on. So “MOLRS” is a reminder to think about all aspects of this next evolution of the web.

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Thurs. Signal

I'm spending the balance of today working on a longer piece, so here's some short links from yesterday, which I spent mainly on a plane without wifi (how odd is it to be bummed that my plane did not have wifi?). Congress Adds Location-Based Mobile to List of Privacy Concerns…

I’m spending the balance of today working on a longer piece, so here’s some short links from yesterday, which I spent mainly on a plane without wifi (how odd is it to be bummed that my plane did not have wifi?).

Congress Adds Location-Based Mobile to List of Privacy Concerns (ClickZ) We’re not even close to the end of the conversation our culture needs to have about the impact that MOLRS (MObile Local Realtime Social) technologies will have on our social contract.

Google real-time search adds status updates from Facebook Pages (VentureBeat) A big deal in that Google was not playing nice with Facebook on a number of fronts. This is a start, I’m still waiting for Facebook Connect integration with Buzz.

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Weds. Signal – “Local-Mobile-RealTime”: Re-imagining Social

Today finds me in Chicago, making the rounds of a great city that I don't get to often enough. Meeting with senior folks at agency holding companies like Omnicom and Publicis, as well as clients like McDonald's, I find this four-word mantra coming up, over and over: "Local Mobile Real…

Today finds me in Chicago, making the rounds of a great city that I don’t get to often enough. Meeting with senior folks at agency holding companies like Omnicom and Publicis, as well as clients like McDonald’s, I find this four-word mantra coming up, over and over: “Local Mobile Real Time Social“.

Fascination with these buzzwords is not news to you all, as readers here, but to have a moment when major brands are all looking for solutions in the same space is rare. It reminds me of the same vibe 15 years ago, when the four-word mantra was “world wide web whaaaa?.”

I think another way to parse this is to simplify: Social *is* local, social *is* local, social *is* mobile. The shift here is from disconnected to connected. From dictation to conversation. From isolated to social.

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Tuesday’s Signal – Notes from the IAB

Over the past few days I've been at the IAB conference, and if the mood in the hallways (and bars) is any indication, the online media industry is in a much better place – better than anytime in the past two years, most certainly. The IAB is an industry association…

Over the past few days I’ve been at the IAB conference, and if the mood in the hallways (and bars) is any indication, the online media industry is in a much better place – better than anytime in the past two years, most certainly.

The IAB is an industry association which represents, broadly, “companies that sell advertising.” The Board (on which I serve) includes senior leaders from firms as diverse as traditional publishers (NYT, IDG, NBC) to ad networks (24/7) to portal/platforms (Google, MSFT, AOL). And, of course, innovative newer firms like FM.

The IAB annual meeting has grown to become a quite well attended event, growing 30% from last year to 650 or so pretty senior folks in the online media space. It’s pretty “sell side” in nature – more publishers than marketers – but the shift this year was in the number of senior agency people attending. It’s clear agencies are starting to understand the importance of connection to audience, just as publishers do. A shift that without doubt will continue over the course of this year.

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It’s Twitter!!!!!!!! (Yahoo + Twitter)

Just got word of this deal, news of it around the blogosphere: Yahoo is announcing a partnership with Twitter on Wednesday that will bring the services of both companies closer together. Under the partnership, Yahoo users will be able to read their personal Twitter feeds on several Yahoo sites, including…

Just got word of this deal, news of it around the blogosphere:

Yahoo is announcing a partnership with Twitter on Wednesday that will bring the services of both companies closer together. Under the partnership, Yahoo users will be able to read their personal Twitter feeds on several Yahoo sites, including the company’s home page, Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Sports. Yahoo users will also be able to directly update their Twitter status from Yahoo and easily share content that they see there with their Twitter followers. Yahoo will also begin including real-time Twitter content on a variety of its sites.

So, Yahoo’s answer to Buzz? (Irony alert).

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Google’s Microsoft Moment? European Antitrust Review Looms

In past writings I’ve intoned that Google was following the path of Microsoft in many ways, and suggested that at some point it may face the same kind of scrutiny – and potential enervation – as Gates&Co did back in the late 1990s with the DOJ. Now comes news from…

In past writings I’ve intoned that Google was following the path of Microsoft in many ways, and suggested that at some point it may face the same kind of scrutiny – and potential enervation – as Gates&Co did back in the late 1990s with the DOJ. Now comes news from the WSJ that the European Union has decided to open an investigation into the company, though the allegations seem less serious than those which ultimately forced Microsoft to permanently alter its practices. Not surprisingly, one of the complainants is a subsidiary of Microsoft in Europe.

From the piece:

Google Inc. is set to announce later Tuesday that European antitrust authorities have opened a preliminary probe into complaints made against it by three European Internet companies, according to people familiar with the matter. The inquiry into allegations of anticompetitive behavior is at an early, fact-finding stage and may not result in any action. But it appeared to be the first time that European antitrust authorities have examined Google’s conduct outside of a merger review. It also comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of Google in Europe, where the company has an even more dominant position in search advertising than it does in the U.S.

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Monday Signal

At the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting today, and it's packed. Follow it on the Twitter hashtag #iabalm. Will keep this Signal focused on the links again. FM Honored with IAB Sales Excellence Award (FM Blog) Well I had to crow, didn't I? I'm so proud of the work we do….

At the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting today, and it’s packed. Follow it on the Twitter hashtag #iabalm. Will keep this Signal focused on the links again.

FM Honored with IAB Sales Excellence Award (FM Blog) Well I had to crow, didn’t I? I’m so proud of the work we do.

Networks Wary of Apple’s Push to Cut Show Prices (NYT) Apple is increasingly acting in a manner that I believe will isolate it from the Rest of the Media World.

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Twitter Stats: This Is (The Start) Of What We Wanted

Twitter just posted a shot across the bow of those who claim the service is not growing anymore. Measuring tweets per day, the post gives us a glimpse into the growth of the service. Er….up and to the right. From the post: "Tweet deliveries are a much higher number…

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Twitter just posted a shot across the bow of those who claim the service is not growing anymore. Measuring tweets per day, the post gives us a glimpse into the growth of the service.

Er….up and to the right. From the post: “Tweet deliveries are a much higher number because once created, tweets must be delivered to multiple followers. Then there’s search and so many other ways to measure and understand growth across this information network. Tweets per day is just one number to think about. We’ll make time to share more information so please stay tuned..”

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The Catchup Signal

Vacation was great. Too short. As usual. And there was plenty going on that I missed. So here are some stories from the past five or so days that are worth your attention. I'm at the IAB board and annual leadership meeting Sunday and Monday, so writing may be light….

Vacation was great. Too short. As usual. And there was plenty going on that I missed. So here are some stories from the past five or so days that are worth your attention. I’m at the IAB board and annual leadership meeting Sunday and Monday, so writing may be light. But I’ll be back at it soon.

The BrandFinance Global 500 (Brand Directory) Google #2. Walmart, Coke, IBM, Microsoft…

Google CEO Woos Suspicious Mobile Industry (Reuters) “Schmidt’s remarks were met with skepticism and some hostility from an audience already worried about economic recession and the prospect of becoming “dumb pipes” that merely carry valuable content, including free Internet calls.”

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