It seems that there is some peer pressure to join the CEO bloggers club going on among our captain of industries. The senior executives of Jupiter Media, Sun or HP have all taken to blogging and the trend is moving to other industry sectors.
Last month, General Motors became the first large scale, non-technology company to get senior executives blogging, thanks to Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and other GM corporate management. See FastLane
Last week, Randy Baseler, VP of Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, has started Randy's Blog. His latest post, commenting on the launch of the A380 ends up with an open question: how do you want to fly?
Unfortunately, this is a question that will be left unanswered, as there are no options to post any comments on his blog. There are no links to outside sources either.
Monologues (or monoblogs?) are a common trait amongst corporate blogs as PR departments face a real dilemma when senior execs decide to open their own communication line.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t
First, there is so much limitation as to what the highest custodian of a public limited company’s interests can write on, both from a legal and competitive point of view that CEO blogs make for some rather dull reading. They tend to turn into another version of the monthly motivational email or echo corporate brochures.
If you don’t invite comments, people will think that you are afraid to hear what your stakeholders really think and many will accuse you of mistaking a blog with a letter to your shareholders. If you invite readers’ comments, you could fall into a minefield and spend too much time defending your positions to inquisitive bloggers. Some could accuse you of devoting too much time away from the business. If you get someone else to write your blog, sooner or later someone will find out, it will leak to the media and it will backfire.
Finally if you don’t blog, or at least announce that you plan to, you will be unfavourably compared to your more technology conversant and customer centric competitors.
To blog or not to blog?
Blogs offer up-to-the minute opinionated comments and information. Do it only if you have a genuine motivation, can commit the time and if you can fit within a blog format and tone. A CEO is a company’s ultimate salesman and there are plenty of interesting topics to comment on such as products innovations or where you see your industry heading to. In that respect, both GM and Boeing are doing a good job.
The press and industry analysts will be among the keenest readers, which mean that your blog will be one of the first points of contact in time of crisis. This is where you can use blogs’ personal feel and speed of publishing to your advantage.
As to inviting comments, one option is to warn your readers that for obvious reasons, you cannot reply to every enquiries and comments. Unless you have the resources, the stamina and it is done in close collaboration with your communication department, readers postings on a CEO blog are not essential. But I would recommend leaving a communication channel open and clearly state how these comments or queries are handled if not by you.
You are now one step closer to the CEO bloggers club.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
The bootstrapper's bible
If like me you are frantically looking for a free copy of Seth Godin's latest book, "The bootstrapper's bible", you can still find it on Chris Busch's blog. Buy a hard-copy as well!
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Google launches TV search
Google has launched a beta version of a new search application allowing users to search US TV shows via keywords. It displays the script and a still frame of the TV moment when the keyword was mentioned. Great application for media monitoring.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Gmail invitation
I have 2 spare Gmail invitations to give away. First come first served basis. Besides altruistic motives, I am keen to see how much traffic such a prized incentive will drive to this blog :-) If you are interested to check Gmail before everyone else does, such invitations are available as well on ebay or on newsgroups (search with today’s date as they are snapped quickly).
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Charting the blogosphere
I am looking for some applications to monitor and analyze issues and trends discussed in blogs and provide a graphical representation (share of voice, trends over time, most popular topics etc…). So far I came across Blogpulse , which allow easy creation of trend graphs across 3.5 millions blogs and Waypath offering something similar although their application is down at the moment. Have you come across something similar?
On a totally unrelated subject and because I love travelling, World66 has a neat application allowing you to generate a map of all the countries you have visited.
On a totally unrelated subject and because I love travelling, World66 has a neat application allowing you to generate a map of all the countries you have visited.
Friday, January 14, 2005
Blinkx searches video content online
Search engine Blinkx, who shot to fame with its clustering technology recently unveiled Blinkx.tv, a video search engine allowing you to retrieve footages broadcasted on some major TV channels via keywords. Blinkx claims that it can pinpoint the results of the search to the exact video segment. I wonder if Netflix or Blockbuster would be considering selling movie segments in the future... Broadband penetration is gathering pace and if TV programs are “googled” and no longer watched, the traditional broadcasting-advertising model will need some serious rethinking.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Marketing to Online Communities
A common misconception in the PR industry is that marketing to online communities can be effectively summarised by: going into a group remotely related to your target audience, pretending to be a satisfied customer who cannot resist sharing his love for brand X with the world, posting a “too good to be missed” offer and disappearing, never to be seen again.
This “hit and run” tactic does achieve something: your brand wasn’t mentioned in a newsgroup, now it is. We should therefore assume a level of positive and targeted exposure and if we are lucky, some click-through.
Unfortunately, these “satisfied customers” often get found out as “genuine fakes” and because it is a deceptive technique, it often backfires. Remember that posting a promotional offer in a newsgroup outside the context of a discussion in which you are involved in is considered spam. Community users hate that since it parasite their conversation. They will scrutinise your promotion and tear it apart, then discourage others to join. Community managers hate that too as it deteriorates the quality of their discussion environment and may ban you from the group. Your brand will certainly be mentioned, along a host of criticisms, sneers and negative comments. You may achieve a small spike in traffic but you will suffer a bid drop in reputation.
It is often preferable to work with the community administrator or webmaster as your first point of contact for advice on how to make the best of your interaction with the group. If no webmaster or administrator is available, you should identify opinion leaders within the group. Opinion leaders are the most prolific and referred to community members. Engaging them is usually done by creating an “ambassador” program and incentivising them with exclusive previews, goodies or VIP passes in return for their opinions and help in promoting to the group. If they buy into your program, they will endorse and relay messages for you.
As you would expect, many will take the opportunity of your presence to vent their anger against your company and products. You must be prepared for negative feedback. Whatever you do, always ensure that all your actions embody the brand you represent.
As a rule of thumb, try to get productively involved with the group before, during and after you start your campaign. You will gather valuable insights as to what people say about your brand, uncover the discussion dynamics, identify the influencers and the followers and find a good way to contribute to the group while following your own agenda. Building a lasting network of supporters is more likely to bear fruits over the long term than pushing your brand name to an unwilling and unreceptive audience. The latter is akin to setting a haystack in fire. It creates a spectacular ball of fire and lots of smokes but doesn’t last very long… and if the wind suddenly blows in your direction, you’ll end up badly burnt.
This “hit and run” tactic does achieve something: your brand wasn’t mentioned in a newsgroup, now it is. We should therefore assume a level of positive and targeted exposure and if we are lucky, some click-through.
Unfortunately, these “satisfied customers” often get found out as “genuine fakes” and because it is a deceptive technique, it often backfires. Remember that posting a promotional offer in a newsgroup outside the context of a discussion in which you are involved in is considered spam. Community users hate that since it parasite their conversation. They will scrutinise your promotion and tear it apart, then discourage others to join. Community managers hate that too as it deteriorates the quality of their discussion environment and may ban you from the group. Your brand will certainly be mentioned, along a host of criticisms, sneers and negative comments. You may achieve a small spike in traffic but you will suffer a bid drop in reputation.
It is often preferable to work with the community administrator or webmaster as your first point of contact for advice on how to make the best of your interaction with the group. If no webmaster or administrator is available, you should identify opinion leaders within the group. Opinion leaders are the most prolific and referred to community members. Engaging them is usually done by creating an “ambassador” program and incentivising them with exclusive previews, goodies or VIP passes in return for their opinions and help in promoting to the group. If they buy into your program, they will endorse and relay messages for you.
As you would expect, many will take the opportunity of your presence to vent their anger against your company and products. You must be prepared for negative feedback. Whatever you do, always ensure that all your actions embody the brand you represent.
As a rule of thumb, try to get productively involved with the group before, during and after you start your campaign. You will gather valuable insights as to what people say about your brand, uncover the discussion dynamics, identify the influencers and the followers and find a good way to contribute to the group while following your own agenda. Building a lasting network of supporters is more likely to bear fruits over the long term than pushing your brand name to an unwilling and unreceptive audience. The latter is akin to setting a haystack in fire. It creates a spectacular ball of fire and lots of smokes but doesn’t last very long… and if the wind suddenly blows in your direction, you’ll end up badly burnt.
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Advertisers not sold to blogs
Blogs are making headlines again today. According to a survey by the venerable Pew Internet and American Life Project, blog readership jumped 58% in the last year.
The mediapost has an interesting article where advertising executives were asked to comment on this report. In a nutshell, they are left unimpressed and give a catalogue of reasons ranging from "clients are too cautious" to "who is interested in lifestyle blogs?". The most striking comment comes from Carat Insight: "It's yet to be seen whether blogs keep up the momentum now that the political season is beyond us"…
It reads like the final nail in the coffin for bloggers :-)
Remember, ad executives were the very people who dismissed the Internet in the mid nineties only to wake up when they realised that their clients weren't spending millions of dollars on online campaigns with them.
But they raise an interesting point: are blogs a good advertising medium?
My take on that is no. Not in the traditional way we see (and ad executives see) advertising. Blogs are probably better at influencing opinions than shifting boxes on the short term.
But they can help not to sell. Just look at the number of blogs complaining about product defects, poor customer services or shedding light on some shady business practices. 58% more people are reading them compared to last year. That must account for some “attitudinal shift”.
Blogs are part of a changing environment, where thanks to the Internet and increasingly marketing savvy consumers, a more intricate web of relations, advices, information, messages, opinions and influences is formed during the purchasing process.
They contribute to what Don Tapscott in his book “The Naked Corporation” calls the age of transparency, where customers, journalists and stakeholders are gaining unprecedented access to information and scrutinise corporations’ behaviours. Blogs allow them to share that information quickly and widely, bypassing traditional media. While I may be impressed by the might of an ad campaign, I, like most internet users will be exposed to enough counter information to balance my judgement.
Blogs don't help sell but they help buy.
The mediapost has an interesting article where advertising executives were asked to comment on this report. In a nutshell, they are left unimpressed and give a catalogue of reasons ranging from "clients are too cautious" to "who is interested in lifestyle blogs?". The most striking comment comes from Carat Insight: "It's yet to be seen whether blogs keep up the momentum now that the political season is beyond us"…
It reads like the final nail in the coffin for bloggers :-)
Remember, ad executives were the very people who dismissed the Internet in the mid nineties only to wake up when they realised that their clients weren't spending millions of dollars on online campaigns with them.
But they raise an interesting point: are blogs a good advertising medium?
My take on that is no. Not in the traditional way we see (and ad executives see) advertising. Blogs are probably better at influencing opinions than shifting boxes on the short term.
But they can help not to sell. Just look at the number of blogs complaining about product defects, poor customer services or shedding light on some shady business practices. 58% more people are reading them compared to last year. That must account for some “attitudinal shift”.
Blogs are part of a changing environment, where thanks to the Internet and increasingly marketing savvy consumers, a more intricate web of relations, advices, information, messages, opinions and influences is formed during the purchasing process.
They contribute to what Don Tapscott in his book “The Naked Corporation” calls the age of transparency, where customers, journalists and stakeholders are gaining unprecedented access to information and scrutinise corporations’ behaviours. Blogs allow them to share that information quickly and widely, bypassing traditional media. While I may be impressed by the might of an ad campaign, I, like most internet users will be exposed to enough counter information to balance my judgement.
Blogs don't help sell but they help buy.
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Blogs aid disaster recovery
A moving article from the BBC online on how survivors and witnesses of the horrific tsunami that devasted Asia used blogs to keep their friends and the world informed.
Thursday, December 23, 2004
Parasitic Blogs?
Wired released its 2005 wish list, with plenty of insightful suggestions. One which particularly struck me was that bloggers shouldn't just rehash news from other media, but instead create their own news.
It makes a lot of sense.
While it could be helpful to provide a thematic aggregator service and point to articles that readers may have missed on other publications, a copy-and-paste authoring style adds little value to a topic one would like to promote or share.
As a New Year resolution, I am pledging to publish here as much original content as possible.
It makes a lot of sense.
While it could be helpful to provide a thematic aggregator service and point to articles that readers may have missed on other publications, a copy-and-paste authoring style adds little value to a topic one would like to promote or share.
As a New Year resolution, I am pledging to publish here as much original content as possible.
Monday, December 20, 2004
Better luck next life
For whose of you who feel too old to roam Habbo hotel’s corridors, why not subscribe to Second Life instead? Second life, dubbed the new generation of online community allows its members to create their own characters, build their homes and live the virtual life of their dreams, be it as a rock star, a real estate tycoon or just a nice neighbour.
If you couldn't make it in this life, build yourself another life! and you even don't have to pay for a backstreet plastic surgeon and a Panamanian passport. More seriously, I find the concept of Second Life fascinating, despite that it reminds me of the Matrix so much.
I you are interested in branding/marketing within online communities and virtual worlds, I would be very keen to hear from you to exchange best practice.
If you couldn't make it in this life, build yourself another life! and you even don't have to pay for a backstreet plastic surgeon and a Panamanian passport. More seriously, I find the concept of Second Life fascinating, despite that it reminds me of the Matrix so much.
I you are interested in branding/marketing within online communities and virtual worlds, I would be very keen to hear from you to exchange best practice.
In Care of the Community
I just came back from my annual lecture on e-marketing at the University of Metz.
Apart from increasing my cholesterol level with local fatty delicacies, this yearly pilgrimage is the opportunity to shut off from the pressure of the real world and to re-enter the more benign alter reality of the academia.
I have been doing these lectures since 1999 and I find it interesting to see how motivation, interests and the “buzz” evolve among new generations of Internet professionals. This year was particularly inspiring as my students came from very diverse backgrounds (an army submariner, a Cisco engineer, some advertising new business chaps…). They had a lecture on online journalism and were all switched on by blogs and online marketing.
We talked about the media landscape evolving from “mass media” to “we media”, contextual marketing (think Google Adsense, geo-localisation…) and online communities. On the latter, they were particularly interested in how brands were trying to “infiltrate” online communities.
Sulake’s Habbo hotel is one of my favourite examples of successful online community. Providing a safe virtual environment for teenagers to socialise, it opened in January 2001 and now counts over 2.5 millions members across Europe, Canada, US and Japan.
Some forward thinking companies have already tapped into this captive audience to create an “immersive branding” experience for promotional purposes:
Clearasil created a “Face of the Future” model competition and promoted it via the hotel’s cinema room and through pre-programmed Habbo characters talking about the event. As a result, the clickthrough to the Clearasil website was 22 per cent higher than parallel campaigns using “regular online promotion”. Over half of a sample of 5,200 Habbo members said their opinion of the brand had improved.
Momentum Pictures promoted Britney’s Crossroads movie through online billboards, internal messages via the Habbo mail console and exclusive posters for sale to adorn the walls of virtual apartments. In addition, it created a Karaoke event and staff on the site encouraged Habbo users to take to the stage and talk about the movie’s release.
Habbo’s immersive branding has seen higher response rates than traditional banners and pop-ups, with click-through rates of more than 20 per cent through its billboards.
Marketing to online communities is about providing user value, abiding by the community rules and understanding groups and online discussion dynamics. In short, it’s not easy, time consuming but increasingly indispensable to connect with otherwise fragmented and hard to reach audiences. And as the results from Habbo’s campaigns can testify: it works.
As Steve Outing, a senior editor at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies sums up: “Kids today expect to interact with their media". Community marketing is definitely a growing trend and when today’s kids will grow up, it will be part of every marketer’s toolbox.
Apart from increasing my cholesterol level with local fatty delicacies, this yearly pilgrimage is the opportunity to shut off from the pressure of the real world and to re-enter the more benign alter reality of the academia.
I have been doing these lectures since 1999 and I find it interesting to see how motivation, interests and the “buzz” evolve among new generations of Internet professionals. This year was particularly inspiring as my students came from very diverse backgrounds (an army submariner, a Cisco engineer, some advertising new business chaps…). They had a lecture on online journalism and were all switched on by blogs and online marketing.
We talked about the media landscape evolving from “mass media” to “we media”, contextual marketing (think Google Adsense, geo-localisation…) and online communities. On the latter, they were particularly interested in how brands were trying to “infiltrate” online communities.
Sulake’s Habbo hotel is one of my favourite examples of successful online community. Providing a safe virtual environment for teenagers to socialise, it opened in January 2001 and now counts over 2.5 millions members across Europe, Canada, US and Japan.
Some forward thinking companies have already tapped into this captive audience to create an “immersive branding” experience for promotional purposes:
Clearasil created a “Face of the Future” model competition and promoted it via the hotel’s cinema room and through pre-programmed Habbo characters talking about the event. As a result, the clickthrough to the Clearasil website was 22 per cent higher than parallel campaigns using “regular online promotion”. Over half of a sample of 5,200 Habbo members said their opinion of the brand had improved.
Momentum Pictures promoted Britney’s Crossroads movie through online billboards, internal messages via the Habbo mail console and exclusive posters for sale to adorn the walls of virtual apartments. In addition, it created a Karaoke event and staff on the site encouraged Habbo users to take to the stage and talk about the movie’s release.
Habbo’s immersive branding has seen higher response rates than traditional banners and pop-ups, with click-through rates of more than 20 per cent through its billboards.
Marketing to online communities is about providing user value, abiding by the community rules and understanding groups and online discussion dynamics. In short, it’s not easy, time consuming but increasingly indispensable to connect with otherwise fragmented and hard to reach audiences. And as the results from Habbo’s campaigns can testify: it works.
As Steve Outing, a senior editor at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies sums up: “Kids today expect to interact with their media". Community marketing is definitely a growing trend and when today’s kids will grow up, it will be part of every marketer’s toolbox.
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Lycos Europe: stay tuned
Lycos Europe "make love not spam" has been rather shortlived (a quicky?).
Apparently, the chorus of negative comments from the industry and the threat of litigation brought the iniative to an halt.
Another speculation, from a security company is that one of the website on Lycos' blacklist redirected traffic to www.makelovenotspam.com . Lycos Europe could have unintentionally affected its own website...
Spammers may have won the battle but could Lycos have won a PR war to position itself as THE consumer champion?
Apparently, the chorus of negative comments from the industry and the threat of litigation brought the iniative to an halt.
Another speculation, from a security company is that one of the website on Lycos' blacklist redirected traffic to www.makelovenotspam.com . Lycos Europe could have unintentionally affected its own website...
Spammers may have won the battle but could Lycos have won a PR war to position itself as THE consumer champion?
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Spammers: redeem or perish!
Lycos Europe released a screensaver which when installed on your computer, bombard a list of known spammer's servers with data to overload them.
Apparently, Lycos' tactics are dividing the web community, with many saying that it sets a dangerous precedent and could incite vigilantism. Others question the legality of the process as well.
Posting on a geek.com forum:
"All the significant spammers are in the USA. The US government passed the "You CAN spam" `law' a year ago, and has done absolutely nothing useful about it in all that time. The internet parasite spammers have destroyed e-mail as an efficient means of communication, and anything which might help to reverse this state of affairs can only be good. Are we internet users supposed to sit back and let the spammers rule the internet without even a whimper?"
Steve Linford, director of non-profit anti-spam organisation Spamhaus:
"It's irresponsible of Lycos to put its name to it because it lends legitimacy to [DDoS] attacks," "You can't break into a thief's house just because he breaks into yours. We don't support this or recommend this practice. Directing traffic is part of the degradation of the Internet we are trying to stop."
In the war against spam, I don't know if Lycos’ tactics are effective, ethical or even legal. But I am sure it must feel good.
Apparently, Lycos' tactics are dividing the web community, with many saying that it sets a dangerous precedent and could incite vigilantism. Others question the legality of the process as well.
Posting on a geek.com forum:
"All the significant spammers are in the USA. The US government passed the "You CAN spam" `law' a year ago, and has done absolutely nothing useful about it in all that time. The internet parasite spammers have destroyed e-mail as an efficient means of communication, and anything which might help to reverse this state of affairs can only be good. Are we internet users supposed to sit back and let the spammers rule the internet without even a whimper?"
Steve Linford, director of non-profit anti-spam organisation Spamhaus:
"It's irresponsible of Lycos to put its name to it because it lends legitimacy to [DDoS] attacks," "You can't break into a thief's house just because he breaks into yours. We don't support this or recommend this practice. Directing traffic is part of the degradation of the Internet we are trying to stop."
In the war against spam, I don't know if Lycos’ tactics are effective, ethical or even legal. But I am sure it must feel good.
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
2004: the year of the blog
According to Merriam-Webster, the dictionary publisher, "blog" headed the list of most looked-up terms on its site during the last twelve months. The word will appear in the 2005 edition.
Official definition:
BLOG noun [short for Weblog] (1999) : a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.
Talking about hyperlinks, here is their announcement.
Official definition:
BLOG noun [short for Weblog] (1999) : a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.
Talking about hyperlinks, here is their announcement.
In Blog We Trust: the art of micro persuasion
I wrote a short article to help blog virgin companies learn why and how they should integrate blogs in their communication plan.
See the article here
The "how to" can be summarised as:
1. Know your audience
Include blogs in your communication mix, if only to listen to what consumers say about you and your competitors.
2. Breach the trust gap
Bloggers will be naturally suspicious of any sales pitch. If you want to work with established blogs, make sure you are open and honest about who you are, why you are contacting them, what relationship you are looking for and why you value their opinion. Do not take bloggers for granted. Heavy handed or sneaky tactics will backfire and you will turn an advocate into a fiery opponent.
3. Engage in genuine partnership
If your brand is fortunate enough to have bloggers praising its merits, treat them like you would journalists. After all, your devoted blogger may have a bigger following than your favourite daily paper. Be lavish on exclusive product reviews, invitations, exclusive communication programs… But make sure you have been through tip 2 first.
4. DIY with caution
Creating your own blog might be an option provided that your brand has a following, a strong personality and plenty of interesting or fun things to say on a regular basis. As in all good communication, providing user value is key if you want consumers to engage with you. A blog updated every 2 months is a dead end and will damage your brand.
A blog could help give a personal dimension to some activities your company is engaged in. Think CSR for example with a diary of your teams’ efforts in a developing country or generating buzz around product release with your engineers reporting their progress and sharing some insights with aficionados (Microsoft’ employees write more than 700 blogs on these topics).
Equally, blogs can be effective in strengthening or raising an executive’s profile (http://prplanet.typepad.com/ceobloggers/) or helping assess authority in a sector.
Finally, whatever routes you take, encourage audience participation: blogs are collaborative efforts. If you would like to stimulate positive discussion about your brand, you must be prepared to open a two way communication channel.
See the article here
The "how to" can be summarised as:
1. Know your audience
Include blogs in your communication mix, if only to listen to what consumers say about you and your competitors.
2. Breach the trust gap
Bloggers will be naturally suspicious of any sales pitch. If you want to work with established blogs, make sure you are open and honest about who you are, why you are contacting them, what relationship you are looking for and why you value their opinion. Do not take bloggers for granted. Heavy handed or sneaky tactics will backfire and you will turn an advocate into a fiery opponent.
3. Engage in genuine partnership
If your brand is fortunate enough to have bloggers praising its merits, treat them like you would journalists. After all, your devoted blogger may have a bigger following than your favourite daily paper. Be lavish on exclusive product reviews, invitations, exclusive communication programs… But make sure you have been through tip 2 first.
4. DIY with caution
Creating your own blog might be an option provided that your brand has a following, a strong personality and plenty of interesting or fun things to say on a regular basis. As in all good communication, providing user value is key if you want consumers to engage with you. A blog updated every 2 months is a dead end and will damage your brand.
A blog could help give a personal dimension to some activities your company is engaged in. Think CSR for example with a diary of your teams’ efforts in a developing country or generating buzz around product release with your engineers reporting their progress and sharing some insights with aficionados (Microsoft’ employees write more than 700 blogs on these topics).
Equally, blogs can be effective in strengthening or raising an executive’s profile (http://prplanet.typepad.com/ceobloggers/) or helping assess authority in a sector.
Finally, whatever routes you take, encourage audience participation: blogs are collaborative efforts. If you would like to stimulate positive discussion about your brand, you must be prepared to open a two way communication channel.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Web Hunt
Hunters soon may be able to sit at their computers and blast away at animals on a Texas ranch via the Internet.
http://www.live-shot.com offers target practice with a .22 caliber rifle and could soon let hunters shoot at deer, antelope and wild pigs...
See the story here
Better played on broadband I suppose. For anyone looking to subscribe: check that one first.
I hesitated to post that story but I am too interested in the Internet to look down on a true "killer application".
http://www.live-shot.com offers target practice with a .22 caliber rifle and could soon let hunters shoot at deer, antelope and wild pigs...
See the story here
Better played on broadband I suppose. For anyone looking to subscribe: check that one first.
I hesitated to post that story but I am too interested in the Internet to look down on a true "killer application".
Monday, November 29, 2004
Open source news: wiki to jump on the bandwagon
I just heard that Wikipedia, the collaborative encyclopedia is looking to set-up a volunteer news service a la OhMyNews.
More info on http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikinews
To view the wikinews demo service: http://demo.wikinews.org/wiki/Main_Page
From the Wiki website: "(..)Wikinews should grow into a very broad news source that even covers relatively minor events in very specific fields ("Linux kernel 2.6.7 released, FP crash fix"). (...) Our goal is that you can trust us more than you can trust other media, because we tell you exactly what we know and with what level of certainty we know it. In practice this means that factual information will always be sourced, even if it is to an anonymous source who has contacted a Wikinews reporter."
That trust issue again...
More info on http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikinews
To view the wikinews demo service: http://demo.wikinews.org/wiki/Main_Page
From the Wiki website: "(..)Wikinews should grow into a very broad news source that even covers relatively minor events in very specific fields ("Linux kernel 2.6.7 released, FP crash fix"). (...) Our goal is that you can trust us more than you can trust other media, because we tell you exactly what we know and with what level of certainty we know it. In practice this means that factual information will always be sourced, even if it is to an anonymous source who has contacted a Wikinews reporter."
That trust issue again...
Friday, November 26, 2004
OhMyNews, the new CNN International?
Thanks to the rapid adoption of blogs and distribution feeds, collaborative or participatory journalism has become THE hot topic among media students and press moguls. A few months ago I stumbled against OhMyNews while writing a presentation on that subject.
OhMyNews is South Korea’s leading online newspaper and attracts over 2 million readers. The difference between OhMyNews and your daily broadsheet is that the bulk of its content is written by amateur journalists. Police officers, housewives, university professors, hairdressers, students… everyone can register online and apply to become a reporter. Not surprisingly, the site’s motto is “Every citizen is a reporter”.
To date, it has more than 35,000 volunteers providing news articles. Their stories are vetted for accuracy by a team of editors before beeing published on the site. Each volunteer is paid a small amount according to a complex formula including newsworthiness, accuracy, placement and popularity.
What is fascinating about OhMyNews is that it encapsulates so well the new dynamics rocking the media industry:
- the Internet has removed publishing production and distribution barriers. That has been one of the big promises of the dot.com era, but it is finally happening. Theoretically, anyone with an interesting story and a well linked blog can have the same reach on some segment of the population than CNN or your daily paper. (I said “reach”, not “impact”… more on that in another post).
- new generation of Internet educated individuals don’t want to be passively fed news but are keen to interact, if just for commenting or having different view points on one story. Witness how blogs are keeping traditional media in check.
- A more cynical public is developing a growing distrust towards traditional media corporations and editorial agendas. A USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll in June 2003 revealed that only 36 percent of those polled believe the news media generally "get the facts straight”. I think that it is actually worst than that.
In the late 80s, CNN changed the face of news reporting with its specialised news segments and 24 hours live coverage. Until a few months ago, OhMyNews was only available in Korean. In May, an international version in English was launched: OhMyNews International.
Jean K. Min, the director of OhmyNews International has ambitious expansion plans and wants to tour media and universities in the world to discuss his model and areas of potential cooperation.
South Korea is often referred to as the “land of the morning calm”, or “the hermit kingdom”. With one of the highest broadband penetration in the world, it seems to be rather well connected for a hermit. With ventures like OhMyNews, it seems willing to disrupt old media’s sleep with a resonating bang. I wonder if OhMyNews could become the new CNN…
More on OhMyNews.
OhMyNews is South Korea’s leading online newspaper and attracts over 2 million readers. The difference between OhMyNews and your daily broadsheet is that the bulk of its content is written by amateur journalists. Police officers, housewives, university professors, hairdressers, students… everyone can register online and apply to become a reporter. Not surprisingly, the site’s motto is “Every citizen is a reporter”.
To date, it has more than 35,000 volunteers providing news articles. Their stories are vetted for accuracy by a team of editors before beeing published on the site. Each volunteer is paid a small amount according to a complex formula including newsworthiness, accuracy, placement and popularity.
What is fascinating about OhMyNews is that it encapsulates so well the new dynamics rocking the media industry:
- the Internet has removed publishing production and distribution barriers. That has been one of the big promises of the dot.com era, but it is finally happening. Theoretically, anyone with an interesting story and a well linked blog can have the same reach on some segment of the population than CNN or your daily paper. (I said “reach”, not “impact”… more on that in another post).
- new generation of Internet educated individuals don’t want to be passively fed news but are keen to interact, if just for commenting or having different view points on one story. Witness how blogs are keeping traditional media in check.
- A more cynical public is developing a growing distrust towards traditional media corporations and editorial agendas. A USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll in June 2003 revealed that only 36 percent of those polled believe the news media generally "get the facts straight”. I think that it is actually worst than that.
In the late 80s, CNN changed the face of news reporting with its specialised news segments and 24 hours live coverage. Until a few months ago, OhMyNews was only available in Korean. In May, an international version in English was launched: OhMyNews International.
Jean K. Min, the director of OhmyNews International has ambitious expansion plans and wants to tour media and universities in the world to discuss his model and areas of potential cooperation.
South Korea is often referred to as the “land of the morning calm”, or “the hermit kingdom”. With one of the highest broadband penetration in the world, it seems to be rather well connected for a hermit. With ventures like OhMyNews, it seems willing to disrupt old media’s sleep with a resonating bang. I wonder if OhMyNews could become the new CNN…
More on OhMyNews.
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