Dan Blank: Publishing, Innovation & the Web

Where do new ideas come from?

Ideas that move your business forward.

Ideas that take you to your goals.

These ideas come from problems.

Problems that your customers face everyday.

But don’t always know they have.

Sure, you need to talk to your customers.

And watch your customers.

To understand the needs they don’t even know they have.

But you also need to look outside of your industry.

In the most unlikely of places.

To find the most absurd connections.

At the most unexpected times.

These new ideas are hiding.

Skipping.

Jumping.

And you can find them. Easily.

If you simply open yourself up to the possibilities.

New ideas are born.

How Nokia Users Drive Innovation
"You’ve heard of user-generated content? Sports Tracker is an example of how Nokia has begun experimenting with user-generated innovation. "People were misusing the application in creative ways."

Reluctantly, a Daily Stops Its Presses, Living Online
"With print revenue down and online revenue growing, newspaper executives are anticipating the day when big city dailies and national papers will abandon their print versions. That day has arrived in Madison, Wis."

How We Use Twitter for Journalism
"While cynics dismiss twitter as frivolous, we’ve got stories to share that should make anyone reconsider their doubts about the microblogging medium."

Changing Habits: How We Consume News Today
"I’ve been away from the newsroom for only two months, and I feel my news consumption has changed considerably."

Examples of Online Investigative Journalism
"I’ve decided to put together a big honking list of all the investigative reports that have happened online. I will include mainstream media reports, as long as they started online or are completely contained on the Net, as well as citizen journalism…"

‘How do I get people to come to my website?’
"Question from a reader: OJR’s editor offers tips on how journalists can promote their great work to readers online."

U.S. newspaper circulation falls 3.6 percent
"U.S. newspaper circulation fell 3.6 percent in the latest set of figures released by an industry group on Monday, reflecting a migration of readers to the Internet and publishers’ efforts to streamline their businesses."

At The Wall Street Journal, the Words Not Spoken
"Inside and outside of the paper, there’s no confusion about who the paper belongs to. Not the editors who built it, not the reporters who fill it with articles, but the men who bought and paid for it."

9 Essential Questions to Ask Yourself Before Posting to Your Blog
"I actually think that most of us as bloggers could improve many of our posts by pausing before hitting ’submit/publish’ and asking a few basic questions about the post."

Who do people trust? (It ain’t bloggers)
"If people trust the reviews of friend that they know and trust 14% more than your corporate website, what is your web marketing team doing to accommodate this? Are you spending 14% more effort to listen, learn, influence peer reviews?"

PR 2.0: PR 2.0: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
"What happened to PR? It no longer triumphs as a darling among the various marketing disciplines, and in many cases, is regarded as a necessary evil these days."

Crisis in News: State of Investigative Reporting at Newspapers, Broadcasting
"I am blogging live from the conference, “Crisis in News: Symposium on Investgative Reporting,” at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism."

Inside the Marketers Studio - David Berkowitz’s Marketing Blog: How to Twitter an Event
"There’s a lot of discussion now around how Twitter can be used at events. It gets even more interesting when the people on stage try to use it to monitor the reactions to what they’re saying. "

A Google Prototype for a Precision Image Search
"Google researchers say they have a software technology intended to do for digital images on the Web what the company’s original PageRank software did for searches of Web pages."

The Evolution of My Social Media Interactions
"The pace of change is about to accelerate dramatically, as an open Social Web unleashes a wave of innovation as significant as what we saw in 1994 and 1995. This time around, it will be sites, applications, and devices that harness a new “who-you-know” layer of the Internet."

Conversation Agent: Citizen Journalists and Responsibility
"More and more we find our roles overlap - blogger, employee, stockholder, customer, etc. Do the rules of engagement overlap? Where do we stand on ethics and responsibility?"

Tips to Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Tips on how to attract more search engine traffic.

RSS Needs An Easy Button
"…it’s time for marketing people to step up and save everyone on the planet a boatload of time by making RSS digestible for the 98% of people that don’t spend their days drowning in techie acronyms and buzzwords."

Very pretty, and very tasty sushi:

Sarah and I went to see The Verve reunion concert in New York. We went with one of my best friends… Dan Black. Of course, he is marrying a girl named Sarah this summer, so it will be Dan and Sarah Black, along with us: Dan and Sarah Blank. Life works out in funny ways sometimes. This is a photo of my wife Sarah on the left, and Dan’s fiance Sarah on the right. New York is pretty in the rain.

Love this shot… I am always more interested in the audience than the band.

Look at all the cellphone and camera screens. Everyone is a reporter.

More screens.

Even the simplest things in New York seem magical… like this Parking sign.

If you were going to open a store in New York City, would you call it “Hippo Shoes?” I much prefer “Get ‘Em,” two stores down!

The New York Times building… somehow ancient and modern at the same time.

Feed me!

Two icons.

I spend a lot of time listening to, and thinking about music. I love dissecting the artistic process, and trying to understand why music moves people. In thinking about this, I can’t help but see connections to the current state of the media industry and journalism. I find myself meditating on two concepts:

• Authenticity
• Perfectionism

Let’s take a look at both, and dig into why each is a driving force in how the web is reshaping media.

Authenticity:

When I think of authenticity in music, one of the things I think of is the punk ethos. Mostly, I suppose, I think of The Clash. Pure power. A blend of the cognitive and the primal.

Now, the thing about the internet is that it has leveled the playing field in terms of the power of gatekeepers. Anyone, anywhere, can publish, for free, and reach a worldwide audience.

So what we have, is a lot more direct contact with information sources from any corner of the world. You can say a lot of things about the "wild wild web," but authenticity is a key element that the web has driven into the deepest corners of our lives.

In journalism and news reporting, we find many more voices from "in the trenches" - first hand reporting via text and video. Some is commentary, some is just bearing witness - but we have become a world of reporters. Everyone has their cell phone camera… their social networks… their blogs… their Twitter account… or email… or instant messaging… what have you.

The masses have a voice. The voices are not always polite. Not always accurate. But then, neither were The Clash. However, they were authentic, and say what you will about blogs and new media - it allows for an unmediated sense of authenticity at a compelling pace.

Perfectionism:

Where authenticity can lie in the raw expression of someone’s passion, perfectionism is often the result of slowly crafting something - experiencing the journey of creation in its most minute detail - in order to strip away anything that is not absolutely essential.

Perfectionism in my mind tends to lie with those who produce records… like Brian Eno. People who spend countless days and nights fiddling in the studio, remixing, rerecording, searching for the perfect sound. No beat is errant - no path has gone unexplored in even the smallest decision.

In journalism, perfectionism can be viewed from the standpoint of objectively reporting only proven fact. What new media has added to this are the concepts of a "living document" and of crowdsourcing. Both attempt to do what could not be done in the past due to the limitations of media.

By a "living document," I mean the concept that a piece of reporting - can constantly be revised as new facts are uncovered. It is a living breathing thing. It is fluid. It is a process. Wikipedia embraces this, as do many blogs - the sense of an event unfolding in real-time.

The concept of voice is where crowdsourcing comes in…

Crowdsourcing is the idea that the many can create something more nuanced than a single person could on their own. The knowledge and experience of a group, often outweights that of the individual.

You see this in blogs, through comments, and the hundreds or thousands or millions of voices commenting on a single story.

Can this be a slow and painful process, where you are constantly confronted questions, not answers? Sure. But then, what’s easy is not always what’s right.

And that is the beauty of Brian Eno’s work… you find yourself asking questions… expanding your experience, rather than simply fitting it into preconceived notions and categories.

Perhaps what I like most of all about new media is the limits it has removed in terms of creation, cost, and reach, which allow us to further explore the tenets of journalism. And the beauty of it is that there is no one answer - there is no one voice. What we are left with is a deeper connection to each other, as we explore what it is to communicate, to become aware of our world, and to play a part in shaping it.

New York Times swings to loss on charge, lower ad sales
"While online revenues are rising, that growth isn’t coming nearly fast enough to offset losses in print advertising and circulation. The company said in February that the New York Times would need to cut its newsroom staff by about 100 positions."

Cheap Editing Tools a Boon for Media Makers
"In addition to being free, the online editing tools require no special equipment beyond an Internet connection and a fairly new browser… these services can get simple jobs done and even help hone editing skills. Here’s a look at some of the more useful ones."

Music magazines shaking and rattling
"Ad pages for the three biggest music magazines slid 26% in the first quarter. Jann Wenner’s Rolling Stone, the category’s iconic publication, saw a 33% drop, according to just-released numbers from Publishers Information Bureau."

Six Apart to offer ad network to bloggers
"The goal: become a one-stop shop for bloggers big and small who want to make money on their musings."

How ‘Gossip Girl’ Is Changing the Way We Watch Television
"How a wunderkind producer, seven tabloid-ready stars, an army of bloggers, and a nation of texting tweenagers are changing the way we watch television."

Modesto Bee offers buyouts to 100 employees
"We’re really just managing through a very challenging business environment. Our business model is changing," publisher Margaret Randazzo said. "We’re realigning our resources to support a multi-media operation and changing our business practices to become more efficient."

Mobile data: Next hurdle for journalism
"In addition to making voice phone calls, mobile users are texting, e-mailing, sending instant messages; taking pictures; looking for maps or directions; recording or watching video; listening to music; playing games."

Digging Deeper: Public Documents + Shoe Leather Reporting = The Smoking Gun’s Staying Power
"I realize it’s still the infancy of the Net, but it amazes me how few places are doing this sort of stuff, at least that aren’t tethered to huge news organizations. There are a lot of people commenting on stuff and riffing on things and blogging, but actually reporters breaking stories on the Net — there are a lot fewer than I would expect…Even though we’re no longer running the site out of my living room and sold it, we’re still a three-person outfit."

What makes a design "Googley"?
A look into Google’s goal "to design products that satisfy and delight our users."

Facebook Platform Faces Rough Road Ahead, Despite Successes
"All panelists agreed, however, that CPM rates on Facebook are miserably low, perhaps averaging 15 cents. Developers have begun experimenting with other sources of revenue, such as the sale of virtual goods and premium services, but advertising still generates more than 80% of the platform’s revenue."

Making Money, the How-To Way
"In the last two years, investors have put tens of millions of dollars into start-up companies with names like WonderHowTo.com, VideoJug, Howcast, ExpertVillage and Graspr, which are all hoping to become the YouTube of how-to video clips."

Inspirational PDF Magazines
"Numerous visual arts publications from around the world are available for you to draw inspiration from. These magazines serve as excellent sources of both conceptual and visual design."

The Reality of Depending on True Fans
"The sort of artist who survives at the long tail is the sort who would be happy doing nothing else… In reality the life of a "microcelebrity" resembles more the fate of Sisyphus, whose boulder rolls back down the mountain every time he reaches the summit."

Twitter May Not Have To Care About Uptime Any Longer
Michael Arrington on Twitter: "It is now an important part of my work and social life, as I carry on bite-sized conversations with thousands of people around the world throughout the day. It’s a huge marketing tool, and information tool. But it is also a social habit that’s hard to kick."

Tension Over Sports Blogging
"The explosion of new media, especially with regard to advertising income, has made competitors out of two traditional allies — news media and professional sports. At the heart of the issue, which people on both sides alternately describe as a commercial dispute and a First Amendment fight, is a simple question: Who owns sports coverage?"

Tweeting for Companies 101
"There are no rules about what you should tweet out, here are a few suggestions for you. It is important that you balance the ‘outbound’ with the ‘inbound’. In otherwords, the announcements with the conversations…"

A Web Shift in the Way Advertisers Seek Clicks
"…the threat of a recession has not slowed the migration of ad dollars to the Internet" but it "might be changing where those ad dollars are being spent."

On the Internet, It’s All About ‘My’
"The “my” prefix has become an easy and increasingly popular shorthand for suggesting that bond between consumers and corporations."

The Rise of the Creator Class
"Looking back, I now realise why content was king. Because we’d managed to drive a wedge between creators and their creations. It’s not going to be that easy any more, separating the creator from her creation."

Social Networking Advertising - It Will Be Even Harder than we Think
"Models that rely on capturing value based on social recommendations, particularly those models which want to tax those transactions by taking a share of the transaction, are going to have a hard time getting traction today."

Who Are The Top Tech Bloggers?
"[These] are the top 100 tech bloggers/authors, based on the total number of headlines they have had on TechMeme from January 1, 2008 to today."

ReadWriteWeb Turns 5
"Today the blogging landscape is vastly different. The top blogs now are full-on media businesses. ReadWriteWeb, which started out 5 years ago as an evening hobby for me, has evolved with the times and is now the 11th ranked blog on Technorati’s Top 100."

Ning’s Infinite Ambition — Viral Networks
"a viral loop [is] the "most advanced direct-marketing strategy being developed in the world right now." And make no mistake: Viral expansion loops are about marketing, just not in the traditional sense. "Nothing can be truly viral unless it is good…"

Encyclopedia Britannica Now Free For Bloggers
"Like the music labels, [Encyclopedia Britannica] still somehow feel as though people should pay to consume their content. And that means search engines can’t index their content. And that means they don’t exist."

Can User-Generated Content Generate Revenue?
"Advertising revenues against user-generated content are modest, and they are expected to stay that way for some time."

Startup School
An interesting look at key issues a startup faces.

The Social Map Is All About Me
"Not only did Google-ification disrupt entire industries (like media and packaged software), but it operated like a tornado on business models, distribution, marketing and product lifecycles across many segments. History suggests, however, that it created a rising tide that lifted a lot of boats."

How I Use Different Social Networks for Different Purposes
"With so many social networking sites out there for so many different things, I figured I’d give my take on what’s best for what and how I use the different primary social networks I’m on."

Most Bloggers Don’t Deserve Any Ad Revenue
"There are millions of bloggers out there today, screaming for their "fair" share of the advertising pie. And while Google rakes in cash from vendors by the billions, some smaller bloggers are crying foul at the perceived inequalities. But it’s more likely they are getting exactly what they deserve when it comes to ads - pennies."

This is the tastiest thing I have ever eaten, Matzo with milk chocolate on one side and some kind of toffee on the other side:

I can still remember the covers of Rolling Stone magazine that I read as a kid. Each seemed to encapsulate a moment in time, and reading them felt like a shared experience with the writers, musicians and other readers. To me, shared experience is a key aspect throughout media; I somehow feel more connected to others when I read the current issue of The New Yorker, than if I read an old issue from 1998. We experience this in many ways, from sitting next to strangers when watching a movie in the theater, to knowing that millions of others are enjoying a TV show at the same moment you are.

But what has the web added to this notion of “shared experience?” How has it changed the concept of what sharing really is within media and publishing? Do these changes speak to the increasing marginalization of some forms of traditional media?

If I think about why people are increasingly favoring online sources for news and reporting over printed materials, I can’t help but feel that is about more than just a cheaper and faster delivery channel. I can’t help but feel that shared experience plays an increasing role in people’s expectations of not just CONSUMING news and information, but INTERACTING with the world that surrounds this news and information. A few basic examples:

• Commenting on an online article allows me to become a part of the conversation - to have my voice heard, and even responded to.
• Via blogs, I no longer need to cede power to the few who can afford to publish. I can publish my own work.
• With social networks, I can make contact with industry insiders, and even find people from my past, and understand how their current lives match up to mine.

So this is about more than simply CONSUMING media silently at the same time as someone else - it is about becoming an active part of CREATING the shared experience.

• “Sharing” is about creating something more than a single person could on their own.
• “Experience” is to not just consume - but to be a part of the unique moment of creation.

Recently, I have been playing around with Twitter. The service essentially allows me to instant message the entire world, and to “follow” the lives of others who post to Twitter. I can’t tell you how much more connected I feel to people when I experience their day as it happens - and can respond instantly - even to total strangers.

Of course, publishing and print media are about so much more than just shared experience. But I am always amazed to see what happens when connections are made - between ideas, between people, and between cultures.

Is the Mobile Web Dead? Some Mobile Entrepreneurs Say Yes
"Former Yahoo! Mobile evangelist turned startup entrepreneur Russell Beattie announced today that he’s calling it quits for his company Mowser because the market for mobile browsing is taking a fast turn for the worse."

How Social Networking Could Kill Web Search as We Know It
"…there’s a sea change taking place in the way people use the Internet—one that may leave the Web’s biggest players holding all the cards to a game nobody wants to buy in to anymore."

Study: Editor-Reader Gap in News Sites
"The audience has demanded much more… But what that "much more" should look like and how newspapers can stimulate conversations in their communities while maintaining the trust they have established remain unclear…"

Little Relief in Sight for Newspapers
"Newspaper publishers embody Wall Street’s definition of an out of favor industry as ad revenue tanks and readers turn to the Internet for news. To offset slower growth, publishers have cut jobs to slash costs, and none dares to guess when their online business will compensate for print declines."

AOL Rolls Out Technology Network
"AOL says its Technology Network will give users a resource to compile information about technology news and products. For advertisers it will allow them to integrate ad campaigns across the network of sites."

The Reporter’s Audio Gear List
Mindy McAdams shares her advice on the best audio gear for reporters.

Sue Cross on the news industry’s bleak state, bright future
"…in the digital flood of grassroots journalism, traditional-media outlets face an immense challenge in keeping their work afloat online."

Why Paying Bloggers & Editors by Page Views is Wrong
"Paying a blogger or journalist based on page views puts the onus on the writer to get traffic and takes away from their main job of research and writing."

What’s News? Who Knows! Welcome to Print 2.0
"Several reporters and editors say they’re noticing an increasingly changed dynamic where more stories with little fresh news are getting packaged with strong placement."

Rocker Peter Gabriel offers Filter to cut through online clutter
"…it’s still not easy to find material that appeals to you… The Filter’s system sizes up a lot of information before spitting out suggestions. It looks at a person’s past searches, purchases, and browsing and then runs that through a new set of filters that may include the opinions of friends, favorite critics or reviewer…"

Nick Denton "Pruning" Gawker Media, Ditching Three Sites
"You can interpret this two ways. Either Denton is dumping three weak sites to concentrate on his strong ones, or he’s worried about the online ad market in the face of a looming recession. Denton is happy to provide both spins."

The Press Becomes the Press-Sphere
"One problem I’ve had with much discussion about the future of news lately is that it’s too press-centric."

The Adolescence of the Blogosphere
"The blogosphere is changing… These bloggers that are a part of this new era of blogging may not make all the money and neither will most of them become big names but they will be the ones that readers know they will be able to go to for the full story."

Majority Uncomfortable with Websites Customizing Content Based Visitors Personal Profiles
"A majority of U.S. adults are skeptical about the practice of websites using information about a person’s online activity to customize website content."

Advertising for bloggers has to change
"For blogs that try hard to be original thought providers and bring something of value to the table they find themselves increasingly difficult to make a living because they don’t play the link bait game that would otherwise bring the much needed traffic to their blogs."

Should Fractured Feed Reader Comments Raise Blog Owners’ Ire?
"I would not be surprised to see that more comments on my posts might eventually live outside of my blog. It would behoove me and other bloggers to be aware of the other places the conversation will be taking place, and to engage there…"

At a Certain Age, Simplicity Sells in High-Tech Gadgets
"Go to any supermarket and try to sift through the different cereals or juices or teas, and choice often seems more like a burden than an opportunity. It is in technology, however, where the biggest advances are being made and where it is easiest to feel as if I am slipping further and further behind."

Yogurt parfait and coffee at Le Pain Quotidien.

Where I live, spring is suddenly here, with the temperature hitting 70, buds on the trees, and birds laying eggs in our roofline drain pipes. I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of the amazingly smart and passionate people I have the pleasure of working with. Below are just the folks that I had a chance to take photos of in the past few months - there are MANY more of you out there. Thanks for making my winter and spring so much fun!

Multichannel News’ Tom Umstead

JCK’s Todd Gast