The boom is not back, but business is booming for many in the digital media world. Some observations after a bevy of conferences and time spent on both coasts:
–Everyone and his brother now wants to serve text ads.
In addition to Overture, Google, Kanoodle, BlogAds, look for lots of stand-alone sites, including search and blogging sites, to move away from Google Ads and start selling their own.
On one hand this testifies to the renewed interest in online advertising; on the other it underscores how few consumer-focused businesses outside of the traditional gaming and entertainment outlets have succeeded in building a *real* business model outside of serving ads.
–Is the world ready for even more social media services?
In the past six weeks, I’ve seen countless new applications that connect users, package their feeds, and offer classifieds/ways to hook up/recommendations. Mosuki, Dodgeball, Dogster, Rojo and others still unlaunched but in development aim to be the next generation Friendsters, Feedsters, and Bloglines–and some of them are really good, damn skippy (but how many can the market handle?)
–Political ads are jumping online.
Many of the bloggers and those who service them–along with the big news sites–say happily that they’re selling out their inventory for the elections. Given that last go-round most online advertising was a last-minute buy after TV sold out, this is good news.
–Ecommerce referral isn’t on the radar for most.
Few seem to share my avid interest in how shopping transactions/recommendations/community hold together outside of an Amazon.com, and yet I am convinced that hooking up ecommerce, micropayments and loyalty schemes of some type and affiliate CPC is a big opportunity. I am totally into this–the news is that almost no else is.
–(Some) Bloggers are publishers, baby and they’re all good with that
For all the open source out there, it’s clear that blogging is a cheap way for some would-be publishers to enter the fray. Denton, Calcanis and others in their mode are recreating what great daily and weekly publications–newspapers and magazines–offered in their day–fast, cheap, interesting content–only in a more contemporary form. News here is that we all could have realized that sooner without the stupid blogging vs. journalism debate.
— Open Source Media is becoming more than a concept, it’s a movement
Creative Commons licenses and the work of the Internet Archive, plus all the Open Source software, have creativity a strong interest in Open Source Media–content, information, and consumer experiences made freely available for consumption and remixing.
— Big media is still in wait and see mode, or some RSS feeds do not a business make.
For large, established companies, the ruling imperative is (always) to protect their core businesses. With the business models for social media –and even wireless content– unclear
large media companies are proceeding cautiously, as usual. While many companies are adding RSS feeds, they’re doing it because customers want it–not because they’ve figured out a business there.
The boom is not back, but business is booming for many in the digital media world. Some observations after a bevy of conferences and time spent on both coasts:
–Everyone and his brother now wants to serve text ads.
In addition to Overture, Google, Kanoodle, BlogAds, look for lots of stand-alone sites, including search and blogging sites, to move away from Google Ads and start selling their own.
On one hand this testifies to the renewed interest in online advertising; on the other it underscores how few consumer-focused businesses outside of the traditional gaming and entertainment outlets have succeeded in building a *real* business model outside of serving ads.
–Is the world ready for even more social media services?
In the past six weeks, I’ve seen countless new applications that connect users, package their feeds, and offer classifieds/ways to hook up/recommendations. Mosuki, Dodgeball, Dogster, Rojo and others still unlaunched but in development aim to be the next generation Friendsters, Feedsters, and Bloglines–and some of them are really good, damn skippy (but how many can the market handle?)
–Political ads are jumping online.
Many of the bloggers and those who service them–along with the big news sites–say happily that they’re selling out their inventory for the elections. Given that last go-round most online advertising was a last-minute buy after TV sold out, this is good news.
–Ecommerce referral isn’t on the radar for most.
Few seem to share my avid interest in how shopping transactions/recommendations/community hold together outside of an Amazon.com, and yet I am convinced that hooking up ecommerce, micropayments and loyalty schemes of some type and affiliate CPC is a big opportunity. I am totally into this–the news is that almost no else is.
–(Some) Bloggers are publishers, baby and they’re all good with that
For all the open source out there, it’s clear that blogging is a cheap way for some would-be publishers to enter the fray. Denton, Calcanis and others in their mode are recreating what great daily and weekly publications–newspapers and magazines–offered in their day–fast, cheap, interesting content–only in a more contemporary form. News here is that we all could have realized that sooner without the stupid blogging vs. journalism debate.
— Open Source Media is becoming more than a concept, it’s a movement
Creative Commons licenses and the work of the Internet Archive, plus all the Open Source software, have creativity a strong interest in Open Source Media–content, information, and consumer experiences made freely available for consumption and remixing.
— Big media is still in wait and see mode, or some RSS feeds do not a business make.
For large, established companies, the ruling imperative is (always) to protect their core businesses. With the business models for social media –and even wireless content– unclear
large media companies are proceeding cautiously, as usual. While many companies are adding RSS feeds, they’re doing it because customers want it–not because they’ve figured out a business there.