Comments on: More Disconnects in MSM

By: John Smith

John Smith — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 09:40:24 +0000

Well, it is from a different point of view anyway.

By: its4us2think

its4us2think — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:45:55 +0000

Views on reviews is so true. Once you get used to reviews in Yelp, Amazon etc. It is really addicting. Of course, some of the comments are meaningless and biased. But, when you read a dozen of them, you fairly get an idea what to expect. Restaurant reviews by professionals are probably pre-arranged and it is quite possible that the reviewer would get a special treatment.

I remember my first encounter with these fake reviews, when I saw a charting package we were using was reviewed in one of the java magazines. Since I was fighting with so many issues with that product, I promptly sent a mail to author of the review tellign what all I find fault with it and how it could have been much better. My letter never got published, but after couple of months my manager called me and said that since were partners with that charting company, I should’ve provided that feedback to them first before sending it to the journal.

To may amazement, my letter had been forwarded to the charting company by the reviewer, then the charting company BDM had taken it up with my company, how sad. I had given the same feedback to the CS, nothing had happend so far!! Quite frankly, they never changed their approach nor did they bother to refute my points in a private email. Just a cease and desist notice kind of thing, because we had a favorable licensing contract with them.
(My apologies for a long comment)

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:29:15 +0000

Juha,
I’m glad you said it, Google is NOT the answer (unless you are talking about Google where it works just fine). Ad sales needs to evolve, but if I were running online news I would be looking at the ad unit itself because that’s what really needs work. More creative and more interactive to provide more utility.

Mokund,
The generation shift is the biggest contributor to declining readership in the U.S. Called the “Net Generation” this 80 million strong demographic doesn’t go to newspapers or news magazines or even television news for information, they get it online.

Insofar as Inforworld’s 3 million views, is that monthly? If so, I know a pretty well known blogger that generates that many views with a 4 person writing team and 1 technical person. If a 5 person team can generate that many views and achieve a high RPM ($50′ish) then what does that say about Infoworld with a 20+ year brand and a much larger staff, with support for marketing and events as well?

By: Mukund Mohan

Mukund Mohan — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:57:47 +0000

How much do you attribute Newspapers failing in US to the changing demographic towards younger folks and lack of time?

In India for E.g. Last 5 years have seen consistent newspaper readership growth.

Also don’t count Infoworld off. They have been doing 3 Mill+ views online and working on their online presence for a while now.

By: Juha

Juha — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 07:12:34 +0000

I think the last bit of this blog entry is the most poignant one. That’s where the “value” of journalism is, in crass management speak, yet those skills, instincts and the amazing breadth of experience gets mangled by poor business decisions.

It’ll all be fine in the end though, once the ad sales people get their head around making proper money online. The distribution model is great, but we need to sort out the money-making side of it – Google isn’t the answer to that, by the way.