There is no denying that the newspaper industry isn’t what it once was. One of the many statistics Eric Alterman points out in his article link “Out of Print”, is that independent, publicly traded American newspapers have lost 42 percent of their market value in the past three years. You can play with the math all you want, but it’s going to be hard to make that number not sound as bad as it does.
What kind of future President/CEO/CFO/corporate crony would I be if I couldn’t explain the reasoning for those numbers? Ok. Well clearly it doesn’t take a financial wizard to determine the magical answer. The Internet.
We live in an information age where any sort of news or information is just a click away. As someone who has grown up with computers, it’s hard for me to imagine what it was like to only have the newspaper at your disposal. Forget the journalistic side of the decline of the print industry, and think about newspapers as a hub of information.
Before I was born (I’m not trying to make anyone feel old), if you wanted to know the weather forecast, movie showtimes, or browse the classifieds there was only one place to do it. The Internet has “stolen” the exclusivity that newspapers use to have over that information.
All that remains is the news. Papers exist because they hire the best and brightest (lets hope) journalists to find the stories that the public needs to know. This is there content. Whether they are putting it online or into ink, they are offering a service that is superior. But as great as the copy of the New York Times on your front porch is, nytimes.com on your VAIO is just as good, if not better.
This is the problem facing newspapers today, and there’s no easy solution. Do you try to differentiate your hardcopy and online editions enough so that people will use both? Do you try to phase out the paper edition and find ways to make your website more profitable? There are numerous possibilities.
And I don’t claim to know which of the avenues the corporate bigwigs will pursue, but I do know* that newspapers aren’t going to disappear anytime soon (*probably maybe know).
People like things that are tangible. Maybe it’s the sense of accomplishment when you turn the page or possibly the sense of ownership. The newspaper unlike any other medium can be held in your hands, and that quality should not be underestimated.
In my life I think I’ve come up with two great ideas that would be very profitable. One shall remain a secret, stay tuned for my career in sports producing, and the other is a high-tech newspaper. It would be the same size as two pages of your average newspaper, but it would consist of a foldable four-panel screen. It would be as thin as a paper clip and weigh practically nothing. Every morning you would wirelessly sync it up with your paper of choice online, and in a matter of seconds you have your portable paper to carry with you all day! The panels would also be touch screens. You could turn the page, zoom in, or email the columnist all while on the go. Think about what it would do for the environment. The need for paper disappears along with all the expenses involved in printing. That is the future I see. Not as cool as the Matrix, but close.
Are you ready? It’s metaphor time. Think of the newspaper like a living organism. In the end everything dies, but along the way there is evolution (at least in some schools). They both must adapt to survive and will not go down without a fight.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
A New Wave of Campaigning
In the mid-nineties a revolutionary public domain was released into the world, supplying an endless source of information and a new sense of connectedness. The Internet has brought the world closer to its manifest destiny, essentially connecting the east to the west, the north to the south, continents to continents. “The world is only getting smaller”, a proverb that seems to fit this situation in the most appropriate of ways. Within the last few years the Internet pioneers, AOL, CompuServe, and Prodigy, have no longer monopolized the revolutionary industry as they have in the past. The upcoming giants offer a whole new array of aspects that make the older companies almost obsolete. These offers include an unthinkable amount of memory storage in web-based mail, a list of services, and most important a crucial source of revenue: advertising. Old media giants and the younger reconstructive companies, like Google, have recently been acquiring the most popular aspect of the internet: social networking sites that seem to be increasingly more than just a passing fade, but another way of life.
Throughout the past years, younger generations seem to find their relationships in the form of a personalized webpage forum. The cell phone and their counterparts, the online social network, provides people from every possible country an opportunity to create another home for themselves, as well as an avatar to represent their individual personas. Couples no longer need to search the endless waves of personal ads, dating websites, and speed dating events to find love, but now can design their own web-page, search through others, even create communities of friends to contact without leaving the comfort of their computer chair.
These isolated forums have recently been on the top of the priority list for advertising agents all over the country. The advertisers realized the immense popularity of social networking, and began buying the right to advertise on the sites. For example, the media giant, Time-Warner, bought a reasonable small networking site called, Bebo, for the small price of $850 million. The reasoning behind these types of purchases is simple: the popularity of the sites will allow a cheap, easy access to advertise to the consumers.
Initially the advertisers felt that people within these networks would purchase products found on the page and some sort of alert to their purchase would be announced. Following this advertisement push, public advocate groups began to fire back at the advertisers for violating the rights of social networking users. Although the initial release failed, advertisers and executives alike recognize the possible profit from these social networking sites. The new social networking “ecosystem” will be the frontier of new advertising methods for years to come due to the popularity and new sense of connectivity among friends using the websites. Anyone can post blogs, videos, games, and an endless amount of interactive elements that hold possible advertising schemes for television shows, products, and so much more.
From a political standpoint, politicians could use social networking sites in a number of ways to further their political campaign. The first interactive, internet-presidential debate was held during this election season, which allowed the public to submit videos of questions for the candidates. These candidates should consider the social networking sites as a possible outlet to regain the youth vote, which has never been very strong but has immense possibilities. By reaching out to the youth vote in their domain, a connection might be made, promoting intellectual debate among the youth as well as stimulating the desire to vote and become a productive Democratic citizen.
The incorporation of these social networking sites into the political campaign is crucial for the future success of candidates attempting to reach out and grab the youth vote. The Democratic Party, a liberal party that is greatly supported by a younger generation looking for social reform, could reach even farther into this demographic and pick up the necessary votes to close the door to a heated election. On the right, or the Republican side, they could greatly improve relations with the younger generations by establishing their positions within these generations. In the past the Republicans have only been able to rally a small portion of this age group, a group that typically votes Democratic, and have felt the loose in more ways than one. This is a chance for both parties to reach out to the younger generations, encourage participation during election season, and most importantly stimulate intellectual politically debate, which is necessary to the success of the Democracy. Advertisers and politicians alike should be equally desperate in acquiring these social networking sites. The survival of social networking on the internet is certain, but their use by the various elite of America is unknown.
Throughout the past years, younger generations seem to find their relationships in the form of a personalized webpage forum. The cell phone and their counterparts, the online social network, provides people from every possible country an opportunity to create another home for themselves, as well as an avatar to represent their individual personas. Couples no longer need to search the endless waves of personal ads, dating websites, and speed dating events to find love, but now can design their own web-page, search through others, even create communities of friends to contact without leaving the comfort of their computer chair.
These isolated forums have recently been on the top of the priority list for advertising agents all over the country. The advertisers realized the immense popularity of social networking, and began buying the right to advertise on the sites. For example, the media giant, Time-Warner, bought a reasonable small networking site called, Bebo, for the small price of $850 million. The reasoning behind these types of purchases is simple: the popularity of the sites will allow a cheap, easy access to advertise to the consumers.
Initially the advertisers felt that people within these networks would purchase products found on the page and some sort of alert to their purchase would be announced. Following this advertisement push, public advocate groups began to fire back at the advertisers for violating the rights of social networking users. Although the initial release failed, advertisers and executives alike recognize the possible profit from these social networking sites. The new social networking “ecosystem” will be the frontier of new advertising methods for years to come due to the popularity and new sense of connectivity among friends using the websites. Anyone can post blogs, videos, games, and an endless amount of interactive elements that hold possible advertising schemes for television shows, products, and so much more.
From a political standpoint, politicians could use social networking sites in a number of ways to further their political campaign. The first interactive, internet-presidential debate was held during this election season, which allowed the public to submit videos of questions for the candidates. These candidates should consider the social networking sites as a possible outlet to regain the youth vote, which has never been very strong but has immense possibilities. By reaching out to the youth vote in their domain, a connection might be made, promoting intellectual debate among the youth as well as stimulating the desire to vote and become a productive Democratic citizen.
The incorporation of these social networking sites into the political campaign is crucial for the future success of candidates attempting to reach out and grab the youth vote. The Democratic Party, a liberal party that is greatly supported by a younger generation looking for social reform, could reach even farther into this demographic and pick up the necessary votes to close the door to a heated election. On the right, or the Republican side, they could greatly improve relations with the younger generations by establishing their positions within these generations. In the past the Republicans have only been able to rally a small portion of this age group, a group that typically votes Democratic, and have felt the loose in more ways than one. This is a chance for both parties to reach out to the younger generations, encourage participation during election season, and most importantly stimulate intellectual politically debate, which is necessary to the success of the Democracy. Advertisers and politicians alike should be equally desperate in acquiring these social networking sites. The survival of social networking on the internet is certain, but their use by the various elite of America is unknown.
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