Vinod Khosla Says Silicon Valley VCs Tried to Save Newspaper Industry In 1996
By Tom Foremski - July 1, 2009
At the recent SDForum 2009 Visionary Awards, Vinod Khosla, one of Silicon Valley's top VCs, gave an inspiring and very humble speech.
How To Succeed In Silicon Valley By Bumbling And Failing...
Afterwards, I went over to congratulate him on his award and also say how much I enjoyed his speech. Rebecca Buckman, one of Forbe's top journalists, was also there. He then started to tell us a very interesting story, about how Silicon Valley VCs could have saved the newspaper industry--back in 1996.
July 1, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: Media Watch | Subscribe to SVW
Visonary 2009: Jim Clark Was Always Looking For An Exit Strategy . . .
By Tom Foremski - July 1, 2009
Jim Clark, co-founder of Silicon Graphics and Netscape was one of four winners of the SDForum 2009 Visionary Awards. He spoke about his earlier life and how he was thrown out of school, then trying to get out of Texas, then trying to get out of the navy. It seems his instincts for an exit strategy have served him well as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur...
He also spoke about the importance of Stanford university and its encouragement of entrepreneurs. Other universities look down upon business people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfUEf8X7JIE
Please also see the other winners:
Judy Estrin: Silicon Valley Unwilling To Fix Structural Problems Around Innovation, Blame Others
Kay Koplovitz: We Need More Women Entrepreneurs
Vinod Khosla: How To Succeed In Silicon Valley By Bumbling And Failing...
July 1, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: Silicon Valley | Subscribe to SVW
Green Tech Investment Rebounds In Latest Quarter - Smaller Deals
By Tom Foremski - June 30, 2009
Greentech Media reports:
- Second quarter VC investments jumped to $1.2 billion in 85 deals compared with first quarter $836 million in 59 deals.
- Solar power was once again the leading investment segment at more than $330 million.
- One of the drivers for steady second quarter venture investment was the promise of stimulus monies offering startup investors a non-dilutive funding source.
- Early-stage and late-stage investments dominated, while mid-stage funding was harder to come by, and the average round sizes were slightly smaller.
- No giant $100 million+ solar or biofuel rounds as in 2008.
- Second quarter was more balanced investments across sectors:
June 30, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: | Subscribe to SVW
Jajah Co-Founder Leads Launch Of Talenthouse - A Social Network For Artists
By Tom Foremski - June 30, 2009
Talenthouse launched today, lead by Roman Scharf, the co-founder of Jajah, a succesful free telephony service.
Talenthouse aims to be the first online community for artists worldwide. It allows them to exhibit their work and also to connect with each other to collaborate on projects.
"With Talenthouse we eliminate the age-old artistic struggle for recognition and instead focus on creative excellence,” said Roman Scharf, CEO of Talenthouse. “We are filling a tremendous void felt by the artistic community."
The site has won support from international artists:
June 30, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: Startups | Subscribe to SVW
Kay Koplovitz: We Need More Women Entrepreneurs
By Tom Foremski - June 30, 2009
Kay Koplovitz calls for more women entrepreneurs during her acceptance speech at the SDForum visionary awards.
She said that women haven't had the access to capital and she urged Silicon Valley to "open your hearts" to more women entrepreneurs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGRyvhsP7UkHer Bio:
Kay Koplovitz is currently a principal of Koplovitz & Co. LLC., a media investment firm and is the founder of USA Network, the first basic cable network delivered via satellite nationwide. Koplovitz was the first woman to head a television network when she founded USANetworks under the banner of Madison Square Garden Sports in 1977. Ms. Koplovitz co-created Springboard Enterprises, a national organization that fosters venture capital investments in women-led high growth companies. Since its inception, Springboard has presented over 380 companies that have raised $4.4 billion in new capital. She also co-founded Boldcap Ventures, a venture capital fund backed exclusively by leading women executives. Ms. Koplovitz is Chairman of the Board of Liz Claiborne, Inc. and a board member of CA.
Please see:
Judy Estrin on the Gender Gap in Silicon Valley
June 30, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: Silicon Valley | Subscribe to SVW
Judy Estrin: Silicon Valley Unwilling To Fix Structural Problems Around Innovation, Blame Others
By Tom Foremski - June 30, 2009
Judy Estrin, one of Silicon Valley's top entrepreneurs, continues to sound warnings that innovation is in danger because of fundamental structural problems.
Ms Estrin again voiced her concerns during her speech at the SDForum Visionary Awards 2009. She was one of four recepients of the annual awards.
She said that Silicon Valley has been living off the innovative work that has been created over the past 30 years but that there needs to be new work done to support future startups.
"What I've been struck by, and concerned by, is that although everybody seems to understand that we have significant structural problems, few are willing to acknowledge their role in the solution. Each group tends to point to someone else that needs to change. The VCs need to take more risk, Wall Street needs to be less short-term focused, government is too involved, government is not involved enough... This is natural because change is hard. But isn't innovation and change what this valley is all about?"
She said that there is a need for "sustainable innovation" so that our future generations, our children, can experience a quality of life at least as good as we have had.
Here is her speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmNOEZM6kpkPlease see: SDForum Garden Party Notes: Vinod Khosla is the Antichrist; Jim Clark has a size problem; Silicon Valley Trophies - Hot women and large yachts...
Thought Leader Interview: Judy Estrin on the Innovation Gap in Silicon Valley and Beyond . . .
We Have a Serious Innovation Deficit Says Silicon Valley Thought Leader Judy Estrin
June 30, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: Future Watch | Subscribe to SVW
Scobleizer Traffic Plunge - The Real-Time Web Can Be Bad For Your Blog
By Tom Foremski - June 29, 2009
Robert Scoble has been a tireless evangelist for the real-time web and he has been spending much of his time on Twitter and Friendfeed, and less and less time on his blog Scobleizer. [Please see: Is Twitter (and Friendfeed) Killing Blogging? Scobleizer Hasn't Posted In 12 Days!!!]
Now he has sworn off FriendFeed and Twitter, saying that those services are "hurting long-time knowledge." This about turn comes on the heels of Mr Scoble berating Kara Swisher at All Things D for not taking part in the real-time web.
It’s interesting that neither Kara nor Walt show up very often on friendfeed, which is the best example of the 2010 Web right now. Kara Swisher has made a total of five comments there. Walt is even worse, doesn’t bring any items in there, and only has six comments. How can you know what the 2010 Web is, if you don’t use it and don’t participate in it?
However, by largely avoiding the real-time web Ms Swisher and Mr Mossberg have chosen to protect their largest asset -- their web site traffic.
By neglecting, Scobleizer, a web site run by Mr Scoble's employer, Rackspace, traffic to the site has plunged.
In just two months, from March to May 2009, Compete.com reports that traffic to Scobleizer fell from 181,500 unique visitors to 91,792. That's a nearly 50% drop in unique visitors!!! If the traffic for June can be projected, it looks headed for a 75% plunge.
I can imagine that Rackspace isn't too pleased to have such a massive drop in audience for its advertising and outages reports.
I'm sure that Robert can bring back the traffic but it's clear that its going to be difficult for him to also be active in all the other places, Building 43, Google Reader, email, Twitter, FriendFeed, FaceBook. And there's a lesson here for others too. You can't do it all.
June 29, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: Media Watch | Subscribe to SVW
Socialbrite: Helping Non-Profits Master Social Tools For Social Change
By Tom Foremski - June 29, 2009
Eight top experts have joined together to launch Socialbrite - an online resource for non-profits searching for consultants and media tools to help them take their message to new audiences.
“We’re here to help nonprofits master the social Web to bring about meaningful social change,” said J.D. Lasica, a consultant and author of four books about emerging technologies. “There’s nothing else like this on the Web for nonprofits, social change organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and educators. Socialbrite's mission is to shine a light on the best practices, social tools and strategies that will benefit each of these important constituencies.”
June 29, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: A Top Story | Subscribe to SVW
The Pressure Is On When Every Company Is Now A Media Company...
By Tom Foremski - June 29, 2009
I've been writing on this topic of "every company is now a media company" ever since I visited Dan Scheinman, head of M&A at Cisco Systems in March, 2005.
He told me that the @Cisco news site is run by journalists, and gets more traffic than the top computer trade newspapers. At the time Cisco was publishing more than 200 RSS streams. The penny quickly dropped and it was another of many "aha!" moments I have had since leaving the Financial Times five years ago.
These days more people understand the term and what it means to companies. However, not everyone understands what it takes to be a media company. If you are going to do it well It's a hell of a commitment.
June 29, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: Media Watch | Subscribe to SVW
Vinod Khosla: How To Succeed In Silicon Valley By Bumbling And Failing...
By Tom Foremski - June 28, 2009
Vinod Khosla is one of Silicon Valley's most successful VCs. I was at the recent SDForum Visionary Awards where Mr Khosla was one of four winners of the 2009 awards.
His acceptance speech was short and very good. Excellent advice for entrepreneurs.
Also, he talks about failure, which I have long advocated is Silicon Valley's strength.
A couple of years ago I met with a delegation of Russian diplomats, VCs, and government officials. They were visiting Silicon Valley and wanted to meet with me as part of their tour. They were looking for ways to create several silicon valley-like regions in Russia.
During our meeting, I told them I would tell them the secret of Silicon Valley. I paused. They all leaned in a little closer...
June 28, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: VC Watch | Subscribe to SVW
Saturday Post: If You Are In The Path Of A Disruptive Technology You Are Toast - Goodbye Newspaper Companies
By Tom Foremski - June 27, 2009
Last week my Saturday Post was about how Internet based technologies have been used to create applications and services that devalue existing business models. It's a hugely disruptive process. [The Internet Devalues Everything It Touches, Anything That Can Be Digitized]
This trend is occurring because it can occur -- because if you have the ability to significantly improve a service at a dramatically lower cost, then there will be startups that will attempt to disrupt the business models of existing companies.
One of the best examples of how the Internet can devalue business models is Craigslist and its effect on the classified ads business.
June 27, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: Saturday Post | Subscribe to SVW
SDForum Garden Party Notes: Vinod Khosla is the Antichrist; Jim Clark has a size problem; Silicon Valley Trophies - Hot women and large yachts...
By Tom Foremski - June 26, 2009
The SDForum Visionary Awards are my favorite event of the year because there are tons of great stories and contacts to make.
It was good to see BusinessWeek's bureau chief Rob Hof, and also Rebecca Buckman from Forbes, but apart from them, there was very little media there -- which was great for me because it gives me more chance to get exclusive stories, which I did. I'll be publishing more stories and video over the next few days.
Here is a taste of what's to come and also some notes from the evening:
June 26, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: Silicon Valley | Subscribe to SVW
Chips News Roundup: Memory Is A Mess; Chip Startups Are Squeezed
By Tom Foremski - June 26, 2009
[Matt Grimshaw offers a weekly roundup of news affecting the largest US tech industry.]
By Matt Grimshaw, Editorial Director, Future-Fab International
Change seems to be the only constant left in this age of double caffeinated, taurine infused hyper-communication. Icons seem to be a thing of a bygone era, now the world is populated by sharks; to stop swimming is to die. The Chip industry in particular is facing several key infliction points in parallel.
We’re entering an age of exponential change, in everything we know and take for granted, and the chip industry is no different. In fact it’s the chip business that is the catalyst for most of the changes; well what do you think runs your gadgets, laptops, TV’s and the like?
Well you haven’t seen anything yet – if some of the Star Trek Tech that I see coming from Universities is anything to go by prepared to not only accept change, but have that change happen to your physical being – for an idea of that which I speak take a look at this presentation by Juan Enriquez speaking at TED.
The News This Week…
June 26, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: News Watch | Subscribe to SVW
Traveling Geeks Trip Next Week ... Join Us In London!
By Tom Foremski - June 25, 2009
I'm looking forward to the Traveling Geeks trip to London. I'm leaving next week and we will spend a few days in London and then Cambridge, meeting with local startups and larger tech companies.
I'll be particularly interested in how the startup scene differs in the UK compared to here. I keep coming across companies that are moving here, or at least having co-HQs here. Over the next few months I'll be profiling these Silicon Valley debutantes in a special section. So please let me know if you, or a company you know has recently moved to the San Francisco/Silicon Valley area. And also if you'd like to publish a guest post on why you moved here. More on this later...
In the meantime, here is our agenda for the London trip, come join us at one of te opne events.
Also on the trip is:
June 25, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: TG2009 | Subscribe to SVW
AMD: Building Blocks For Building Clouds
By Tom Foremski - June 25, 2009
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I met with Margaret Lewis, she is director of commercial solutions and software at Advanced Micro Devices. She spends a lot of time talking with data center managers about their needs and the transition to cloud computing.
Here are some notes from our conversation:
- AMD is creating microprocessors with many cores because clock-speed alone cannot increase the performance of IT systems. With several cores on a processor, servers can be virtualized and that means applications can be provisioned dynamically, which results in better utilization of IT resources.
June 25, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: Enterprise IT | Subscribe to SVW
Bitten and Smitten: Why Journalism Is Like Falling For The Wrong Person
By Tom Foremski - June 24, 2009
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I was at an event this evening and I met a journalist who was new to the profession. She had been in IT and now was working for a San Francisco newspaper. She asked if I had any words of advice for a new journalist.
I said welcome. But be careful it doesn't get under your skin because if it does, it will become a problem. It'll be very difficult to leave.
In many ways, being bitten by journalism is similar to being smitten. It's similar to falling for the wrong person.
June 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: Culture Watch | Subscribe to SVW
Human Or Machine - Or How To Get The News Before Techmeme
By Tom Foremski - June 24, 2009
I'm a big fan of Gabe Rivera's Techmeme. Over the past year or so, Techmeme has managed to improve its results by using humans, in addition to its much vaunted algorithm -based approach.
Lately, Techmeme seems to be relying even more on humans by paying attention to Twitter and to Twitter's prolific news tipsters. The most successful of these is Atul Arora.
June 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: Media Watch | Subscribe to SVW
Year One: The Lessons Of The Intel Insider Media Advisory Program
By Tom Foremski - June 24, 2009
[Today marks the first anniversary of the Intel Insider program, which brought together leaders in new/social media. I am a founding member of Intel Insiders. Ken Kaplan, is one of the key proponents of the Intel Insider program. Intel is a former sponsor of SVW.]
By Ken Kaplan - Intel
Two steps forward and a half step back to see if we’re going in the right direction and bringing forward things that can help us leap into tomorrow. That’s how we’re celebrating the June 24 anniversary of our Intel Insiders social media adviser program.
Last year, my Global Communications teammates agreed that we’d benefit from fresh advice from people who are doing great things in the quickly advancing area of social media. We wanted to get more involved with the inspiration, talent and know-how we saw driving people to communicate and share experiences and knowledge online.
So we pulled together some long time acquaintances, invited a few new friends we admired and created the Intel Insiders.
Our goals remained steadfast, but 12 months of relationship building, meetups and feedback gathering has changed the way we think, act and plan our communications and events. Across my Global Communications team, each public relations manager has moved more time, resources and ambition toward communicating online…in addition to their work with traditional print, TV and radio.
June 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: | Subscribe to SVW
UberCEO Survey: CEOs Of Fortune 100 Snub Social Media - None Blog, Only 2 Twitter
By Tom Foremski - June 24, 2009
A survey of CEOs of Fortune 100 companies by UberCEO, found that their involvement in social media is almost none existent. No CEOs blog and only two have a Twitter account.
"I didn't expect CEOs to be heavily involved in social media but I was very surprised to see how few there were," said Sharon Barclay, founder of Blue Trumpet Group, which publishes UberCEO.com. It's a San Francisco based firm that helps manage the online reputations for senior executives.
Here are some of her findings:
- Only two CEOs have Twitter accounts.
- 13 CEOs have LinkedIn profiles, and of those only three have more than 10 connections.
- 81% of CEOs don’t have a personal Facebook page.
-Three quarters of the CEOs have some kind of Wikipedia entry, but nearly a third of those have limited or outdated information.
- Not one Fortune 100 CEO has a blog.
- Twitter was the least used service by Fortune 100 CEOs, despite being one of the fastest growing social media networks.
- Wikipedia had the highest level of engagement among the Fortune 100 CEOs, yet 28% of those entries had incorrect titles, missing information or lacked sources.
- LinkedIn, a site mainly used for professional networking, only attracted 13 Fortune 100 CEOs, five of which had just one connection.
- Three CEOs stood out from the pack on LinkedIn, each having more than 80 connections. However, they are all from technology companies – Michael Dell (Dell), Gregory Spierkel (Ingram Micro) and John Chambers (Cisco).
Ms Barclays' interest in the subject was piqued recently when she was researching a senior executive at one of the largest US technology companies. Google results linked his name to a sexual offender. She was surprised that he hadn't taken steps to distance himself from his online namesake.
"A company's brand value is closely tied to its CEO and senior executives. Companies need to pay attention to managing their online reputations. Also, by snubbing social media, CEOs can appear to customers as being disengaged, disinterested, and disconnected. That's not a good message."
Ms Barclay says she will repeat her survey next year.
Here is a more data from the survey:
June 24, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: A Top Story | Subscribe to SVW
Silicon Valley Stories: How Scott McNealy Made Room At The Top For Carol Bartz ( . . . Now At Yahoo)
By Tom Foremski - June 23, 2009
[SDForum visionary awards are later this week. Here is a series SVW is plublishing this week on Silicon Valley stories from previous SDForum awards events.]
From 2005:
Scott McNealy, Sun's CEO, introduced Carol Bartz, CEO of Autodesk.
Mr McNealy was in classic form, dressed in his signature jeans, white shirt ,and navy blue blazer, and he shared a couple of anecdotes about Ms. Bartz, who used to work at Sun.
He recalls that Ms Bartz stomped into his office and resigned because of a generous job offer from a rival firm. Mr McNealy acted swiftly: He walked down the corridor and into the office of his VP of Marketing and said "You're fired."
He walked back over to Ms Bartz and said "You can't resign, you're VP of Marketing." What happened to Lloyd? Ms Bartz asked.
"Lloyd is no longer with us," deadpanned Mr McNealy. Lots of laughter.
June 23, 2009 | Permalink | Comment | Category: Silicon Valley | Subscribe to SVW
Comments
Dog Breeds on Friday Watch: All Dogs Go To Heaven . . .
will we see churches for dogs soon. no wonder,in this crazy world.
Jason Lopez on Vinod Khosla Says Silicon Valley VCs Tried to Save Newspaper Industry In 1996
If Vinod was working with newspaper execs that early on, it would be really fascinating to know what their vision was. The newspaper business was in a crisis before the Internet arrived. There's a lengthy list of business dynamics that reared up in the 1980s and '90s like unions, the advertising paradigm, competition from cable TV, stiffer competition from local TV news, the renaissance of news/talk radio, and even the expansion of morning drive-time in metro areas (and the list could go on).
Alison van Diggelen on Vinod Khosla: How To Succeed In Silicon Valley By Bumbling And Failing...
Tom- enjoyed your post and video of Vinod. I also interviewed him for Fresh Dialogues at the Visionary Awards and he talked further about how he "muddles through and hopes to find the right answer." Also discussed the bubble in clean tech. He said, "Although this economic downturn is not good, it has helped slow down the bubble or pop it."
You can check out the interview and transcript at FreshDialogues http://tinyurl.com/mgau6q
cheers Aliso
Tom Foremski on A Saturday Post: The Internet Devalues Everything It Touches, Anything That Can Be Digitized
Chester: Thanks for the used books example. And yes, rarity is always valuable. And information about rarity can bring down the price of items, such as used books. De Beers approach is to control the rarity of diamonds, which are not as rare as you might think.
Chester White on A Saturday Post: The Internet Devalues Everything It Touches, Anything That Can Be Digitized
The Internet has drastically affected the used book business, too.
Used to be that you could search for years to find that one title you wanted; this happened to me many times. In the old days, some bookseller in Idaho might have had a book that a guy in South Africa desperately needed, but they couldn't find one another.
Now, if it's available from one of the thousands of bookdealers who put their inventory online, you can find it in 10 seconds.
As a result, t
Sharon Barclay on Socialbrite: Helping Non-Profits Master Social Tools For Social Change
What we really need in addition to services like SocialBrite is a Craig's List-type offering for non-profits. I know of many companies that would love to donate time, services, furniture, supplies, equipment, etc, but it's so hard to do effectively that it becomes too much hassle. You've said it before - there's a great opportunity for a technology company to develop and host this - matching the needs of the non-profits with the extra resources of corporations.
Dave Evans on Scobleizer Traffic Plunge - The Real-Time Web Can Be Bad For Your Blog
Agree about the fragmenting, we'll all be using something different next year anyway, no sense worrying about who's using what and how much, we're all out there on the edge trying things out and experimenting. I doubt we'll be using Twitter or FriendFeed in two years anyway.
I'm remain a huge fan of Techmeme (my home page which alternates with feedly and a few others). I do wish they would roll out different channels though.
Tom Foremski on Scobleizer Traffic Plunge - The Real-Time Web Can Be Bad For Your Blog
Robert, thanks for the clarification.
I love the fact that things keep on changing in the this shattered/fragmented media landscape of today. And I don't think they will ever stop changing.
That makes it challenging for both media and PR to tell their stories. Or rather, to get attention for their stories and the subsequent conversations.
Robert Scoble on Scobleizer Traffic Plunge - The Real-Time Web Can Be Bad For Your Blog
Tom: I disagree with your thesis. I specifically made the choice to blog less to focus on Twitter and FriendFeed and I see that that investment has paid off very well for me.
Yes, my blog traffic has gone way down, but my FriendFeed posts are now being found all over the place in Google and are going up and I'm the #1 most followed person there.
On Twitter I still am in the top 10 in terms of organically gained followers, which is quite impressive.
Now I have a distri
Doug Millison on Scobleizer Traffic Plunge - The Real-Time Web Can Be Bad For Your Blog
Didn't he use all those tweets to drive traffic to his blog by linking to media & posts there? If not, why not? Seems to me it could be both/and instead of either/or. Work backwards from good blog posts, highlight them in tweets + link back to blog.
Steve "PodcastSteve" Lubetkin on The Pressure Is On When Every Company Is Now A Media Company...
Tom, great post. We've been pointing out the value of content creation when we speak to audiences of marketers and PR people. The reality of reduced staffing at many local media outlets means more opportunities to generate content for clients.
Press conferences that go uncovered by the media can be vidcast via websites; photos of events can be shared with interested audiences, and of course, powerfully influential blog sites like SVW rise up on the radar of publicists trying to get th
Tom Foremski on Scobleizer Traffic Plunge - The Real-Time Web Can Be Bad For Your Blog
Louis: Thanks for speaking for Robert, I know that you know him well. I used to sit next to Robert at Podtech and I would often say to him, I don't know how you do it because he was able to do it all, and do it all the time. But even an online athlete such as Robert needs to decide where his time produces the most value. It's clear that the real-time web is currently a less valuable use of time than publishing on well established web sites such as his own. That might change. You clearly need
Louis Gray on Scobleizer Traffic Plunge - The Real-Time Web Can Be Bad For Your Blog
Robert hasn't ditched Twitter and FriendFeed in a New York second. He's taking a one week hiatus from both, just like he has taken hiatuses from his blog on previous occasions.
He may have quickly written how he "was addicted" to both and made it sound past tense, but all he has done is moved his current attention to one focus of activity, rather than broadly covering all pieces.
Even today, when he said he was "off FriendFeed", he made a comment on his own posts. So this is t
Tom Foremski on Scobleizer Traffic Plunge - The Real-Time Web Can Be Bad For Your Blog
Louis, you are right, Robert's traffic on the real-time web increased substantially. But it's ephemeral, it doesn't provide the same value as his blog traffic because it doesn't exist within Google in the same way web site content exists, it's not as searchable, as Robert points out. And the loss of that traffic does indeed show a loss of "thought leadership" as others have pointed out. At the moment, one set of traffic numbers related to the real-time web does not equate with "static" web tr
Tom Foremski on Saturday Post: If You Are In The Path Of A Disruptive Technology You Are Toast - Goodbye Newspaper Companies
Jason: I totally agree. The demand for high quality news reporting isn't going away, in fact, it will increase, as we have less of it. It might very well come from the same people that produce it today but not from the same companies. It's the companies and their business models that are being disrupted. News reporting and journalism will survive and prosper.
Jason Lopez on Saturday Post: If You Are In The Path Of A Disruptive Technology You Are Toast - Goodbye Newspaper Companies
I'm not so sure the news is becoming irrelevant. It seems more like paper is. Tom, you are a professional so you know that, as a few prominent bloggers want to believe, there are no high priests of media who sanction the news we will all consume. There are some wacky editors for sure, but the downfall of newspapers isn't because they chose to not cover stories. You rightly point out the toppling of the classified ad model. A newspaper, as currently published, must have wide distribution for c
Louis Gray on Scobleizer Traffic Plunge - The Real-Time Web Can Be Bad For Your Blog
This single data point is correct - Scoble's traffic has decreased.
But, if you consider that he has blogged less than half as often as he did previously, you could argue that each story got more views. And what is his goal anyway? If his goal is to gain visibility and participate as the Web evolves, then the best places to do that are on the blog, on Facebook, Twitter and FriendFeed. And nobody does that better than Scoble, myself included.
If this is the only metric you can
Lawrence Greenberg on The Pressure Is On When Every Company Is Now A Media Company...
This is an excellent post.
I launched a blog on my site just a few weeks ago and am already appreciating the challenge involved in providing meaningful content according to a regular editorial calendar.
The fact that these platforms require little or no monetary investment suggests that publishing online is a cinch. Far from it. It represents a significant investment of time, thought and care.
As a communications professional, it's vital that I engage with others in
Michele Weldon on Saturday Post: If You Are In The Path Of A Disruptive Technology You Are Toast - Goodbye Newspaper Companies
You're right, but I am not full frontal negative. The good journalism will survive. The technology alters and disrupts the delivery mode, but not the need for the content. Call me delusional, but I think the audience will seek the solid, quality journalism wherever it arrives.
I commented on my blog about it:
http://micheleweldon.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/change-sure-extinction-no/
Alessandro Machi on Saturday Post: If You Are In The Path Of A Disruptive Technology You Are Toast - Goodbye Newspaper Companies
I guess the YouTube video insert did not work. Here is the link instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kjM9jwra5U
Richard Stacy on Saturday Post: If You Are In The Path Of A Disruptive Technology You Are Toast - Goodbye Newspaper Companies
Spot on. Newspapers are facing irrelevancy - not something you can adjust to. Clay Shirky has said something similar here http://tinyurl.com/bpxulr
I have contributed my own ha'penny worth here http://tinyurl.com/pkzr7f
Andreas Ramos on A Saturday Post: The Internet Devalues Everything It Touches, Anything That Can Be Digitized
Advertising will also collapse. Google tried to do ads on AM/FM radio, but the bids were only $0.15 for 30-second ads. Radio stations can't live on $6 per hour so the radio industry quit on Google.
The same with TV. We pay $2 to run an ad on cable TV via Google.
Google's advertising platform will kill TV advertising (currently, a $70 billion industry). All of those ad agencies, TV studios, camera operators, etc., will lose their jobs.
Andreas Ramos on A Saturday Post: The Internet Devalues Everything It Touches, Anything That Can Be Digitized
"Value" has two meanings. MBAs are taught in business school that their goal is to "maximize value", but that means only monetary value. "Value to society" means zero to them.
Tom's essay is a good summary of many trends. Digitization lowers the costs to zero.
Another good example: Rick Astley's song "Never Going to Give You Up" has been viewed over 100 million times on YouTube. Google's royalty payment to the songwriter? $17. Digitized media is not good for artists.
Alessandro Machi on Saturday Post: If You Are In The Path Of A Disruptive Technology You Are Toast - Goodbye Newspaper Companies
Thanks, and I'm glad you have a sense of humor.
Check out this YouTube video put out by a member of the news media.
Tom Foremski on Saturday Post: If You Are In The Path Of A Disruptive Technology You Are Toast - Goodbye Newspaper Companies
Allesandro: You can have both :) BTW I like your site.
James: Excellent points. I'm reporting on what is going on and not trying to judge things, which is very tempting. History will be the judge :)
Doug: Yes, newspaper companies could have rearranged their deck chairs in a nicer order, but that's what happens when dealing with a disruptive technology--everything is crystal in hindsight.
Alessandro Machi on Saturday Post: If You Are In The Path Of A Disruptive Technology You Are Toast - Goodbye Newspaper Companies
In the movie "Our Man Flint", a co-conspirator says to his evil scientist counterpart, "I told you I was right", to which the scientist responds, I don't care if you were right, I care more about intelligence.
You may be right, but I prefer the company of intelligent people, found on the staffs of newspapers.
http://www.daily-protest.com
James Miller on Saturday Post: If You Are In The Path Of A Disruptive Technology You Are Toast - Goodbye Newspaper Companies
Of course, I agree with this but have questions.
When the newspapers and traditional media companies fail, how can we be assured of quality reporting? With the Iran election crisis, major media companies like CNN & Fox are relying heavily on Twitter reports and blogs. Can we trust these citizen reporters?
You sight both Google and Craiglist as disruptive business models but they are far from perfect. I've heard many a client express disappoint with search traffic when looki
Doug Milison on Saturday Post: If You Are In The Path Of A Disruptive Technology You Are Toast - Goodbye Newspaper Companies
Good analysis, Tom.
Re the challenges facing newspapers: I wonder if they would be better able to deal with the discontinuity now, if their owners hadn't treated them as assets to be gutted and leveraged like any other buy-out target? Certainly management and directors share the blame for treating them only as financial assets to be squeezed and sold off.
kenekaplan on Bitten and Smitten: Why Journalism Is Like Falling For The Wrong Person
Lovely, painful, true. Modern day Greek tragedy.
You have the makings of a great screenplay. Maybe the stage and screen can become a next great seduction! But then, there's transformation hitting there, too.
This was a great read. I'd love to hear it performed at a J-School-themed slam in San Francisco's sunny South Park.
Kevin Wolf on Keeping It Real: PR's Real-Time Web Challenge
Why must it be one or the other--social or traditional PR? Clients want it all, and that's OK. Thing is, everything comes down to credibility and traditional media still has plenty of it, despite what disruption lies ahead. Who wouldn't prefer a WSJ story front page above-the-fold to a flash-in-the-pan pop on Twitter? When companies start publishing Facebook and Twitter results to their News pages I'll consider advising clients to stop investing in building relationships with old school m