Tag Archive for 'advertising'

Can Location Based Services Save Local Media?

Published on 2/18/2009 in Profound Thoughts. Comments

A couple of follow ups on my musings from last week on location based services.

First of all, a bit thanks and kudos to Chrysanthe Tenentes of Outside.in for following up on my moaning and bitching. She agreed with me that Hoboken was no where near Yorktown Heights and pointed out that they are still building up coverage in areas outside of the more well-covered urban regions. Makes sense.

Which leads me to thought two – given the pretty lame state of the websites of most local media outlets (for shits and giggles, here’s the website of my town’s local rag), not to mention the websites maintained by school districts and local governments – will the increased use of location based services and the demand for more localized information put any pressure on these folks to improve their online presense? Does the fact that a write up on Yelp! carry more weight and brings in more business to a local diner than any amount of advertising in the local rag mean that said local rag is going to feel the pressure to move online where information can flow into more outlets?

I’d also like to see school calendars and event announcements flow into such services. I guess that’s asking alot.

Honestly I think it’s still the Westport Nows and other hyperlocal news sites that are going to win this race. They are already online, they already undestand the need to have their information in a format (XML, RSS, etc) that can be sucked up into tools like Radar and they already ‘get it.’ Which is why I’ve been thinking about finally using some of the local domains I’ve registered for good and not evil.

How Yelp and TripAdvisor Help Business Thrive (socialmediatoday.com)
FriendFeed puts location in a bit more context by auto-adding maps to the stream (venturebeat.com)
Get Hyperlocal News via the Outside.in API (programmableweb.com)
NBC and Outside.in match EveryBlock and NYTimes partnership (blogs.journalism.co.uk)

If you like what you read, please share:

Who Will Tell The Advertisers?

Published on 2/2/2009 in Profound Thoughts. Comments

: Image via Wikipedia

I had lunch today with Michelle Leder, author of footnoted.org and former co-conspirator on the Take19 blog.

We were talking revenue models, advertising and the real value of blogs. Michelle’s readers are mainly high-income, high-worth, deeply involved in the financial sector, in short, a very desirable demographic.

And suddenly in the middle of discussing click throughs and CPMs we wondered if advertising is even the solution. What about a world where, as the New York Times reported today, consumers are spending less and saving more? Who will click on an add urging you to buy another iPhone killer when you are still paying off the last one? Who will even care about the newest bright shiny toy at C.E.S. when they are struggling to pay the mortgage?

And with so many blogs and blog networks making bank off of the consumer technology industry, how much longer can so many gadget blogs and videobloggers remain afloat?

If you like what you read, please share:

The End Of More

Published on 1/16/2009 in Profound Thoughts. Comments

: Image via Wikipedia

Remember planned obsolescence? Now it’s more like planned obsoleteness.

In an era of easy credit, consumer want can fan the flames of economic growth, like it did for the past five decades. And companies can feed that want with an endless supply of useless crap designed to amuse and ultimately be tossed out for the next bright shiny object. As Jesse Taylor of Pandagon puts it:

A substantial portion of our retail economy has been built on providing things that are, above all else, easy to buy. We don’t need them, we don’t even necessarily want them, but they’re there, and it’s nice to have them, and if it only costs $60 a month, interest free, surely that can be swung.

Link

It was this model that the larger portion of our economy was built on. For a more graphic depiction, see The Story of Stuff, a ” 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns” and required viewing for anyone who uses te phrase “iPhone killer.”

Now, with credit as tight as it’s ever been, writing about a flat panel monitor that’s flatter than last year’s flat panel monitor seems silly, or even disingenuous.

I mentioned before that what really bothered me about the CES coverage in the blogosphere was the awestruck tone about any new toy no matter how useless. I mean are we really going to all toss out our iPhones and buy Pres (there’s gotta be a better way to put that)? Will trading in my SD FlipCam for an HD model really make a difference in my life?

In other words folks, do we need all of this crap? And more importantly, do we need the best and brightest, the supposed A-list of the blogosphere blabbering insensently about the latest and greatest?

Then again, maybe they aren’t the best and the brightest after all.

If you like what you read, please share:

Social Media Club New York

Published on 1/15/2009 in Events, NextNY, Self Promotion and Trajectory. Comments

I’ll be speaking on using social media in the overall marketing mix at the next meeting of the Social Media Club New York. The event is on the evening of January 22 and you can sign up here.

If you like what you read, please share:

Just What I Needed

Published on 1/13/2009 in Profound Thoughts. Comments

hoveround, originally uploaded by david parmet.

Henry Rollins has a bit about knowing how old he is based on what advertising he is getting.

Today this showed up in my inbox.

If you like what you read, please share:

Tag Archive for 'advertising'