David Herrold

Newspaper paywalls

Posted by Dave | Filed under Business, Journalism, Technology

I just realized that I haven’t posted much of anything to this blog for nearly 6 months.  Wow.  To end my dry spell I thought I’d talk a little about paywalls currently being considered by several large news organizations.

Let me start by saying that I don’t want newspapers to JUST survive.  I want them to prosper and grow.  I love newspapers. However, in order to prosper, they will have to make radical changes to their current business and operational models.

It’s no secret that newspapers are in an unpleasant predicament right now.  Business models that should have gradually evolved over the last decade to adapt to the current climate have instead stagnated in the last decade.  The only real changes newspapers made to their business models over the last dozen years was to raise their advertising and subscription rates.  Paywalls are certainly a radical change from that stagnation, but perhaps not the best solution available.  Putting the genie back in the bottle is a lot harder than letting him out.

Here are a few thoughts surrounding newspaper paywalls:

1. Exclusive and utterly fantastic content.

All parents think their children are unique, brilliant and precious.  However, without sounding mean, the vast majority of those children are probably pretty average.  (I know, that sounded mean, but hear me out.)

Newspapers think the same thing about their own content.  Each section of the newspaper is a precious child with perfect teeth and above average grades.

But what I think they don’t understand is that it’s nearly impossible to charge for content that can be found elsewhere on the internet for free.  If the content isn’t unique, then it has to be the best example of that content available.

Are you covering your technology section better than Tech Crunch?

Are your photo galleries more interesting than Flicker?

Are you covering your local dining section better than the dozen passionate food bloggers in your city?

Are your podcasts and videos more compelling than YouTube?

This is your competition…and they’re all free.

If a newspaper can’t answer “yes” to these types of questions, then perhaps that content isn’t a good candidate for subscription services.

2. Enterprising local bloggers

Several outcomes are inevitable when a local newspaper begins charging for specific categories of content.  For example, if the Boston Globe began charging for access to their Red Sox content, you would probably see 3 outcomes.

1. People would pay for access because they love the Red Sox so deeply, not even a paywall would stop them.  Web traffic would drop to that particular section, but the true fans would remain.
2. People would stop reading Red Sox content at the Boston Globe, but seek it out via bloggers, or other reliable news agencies.
3. Seeing a ripe opportunity, people would begin to blog about the Red Sox themselves and become competition for the Boston Globe in that category.

How many enterprising bloggers would cover niche news categories if your local newspaper decided to charge for content?  Are they any good?  Should you recruit them instead of compete against them?

This will not be a big deal in smaller communities, simply because smaller populations foster fewer bloggers.  However, larger metropolitan areas will be filled with bloggers writing in the exact same niche the newspaper covers.  And sometimes, covering it better than the paper (remember those unique and precious children?).

3. Run the numbers, it may (or may not) help

The New York Times launched their “TimesSelect” subscription service in September 2005 and filled it with unique and exclusive content that could only be read with a TimesSelect subscription.  Two years after its launch, the Times determined they could make more money by removing the subscription paywall and running advertising on the site.

By some accounts, TimesSelect didn’t fail (it was projected to make $10mil in revenue).  It just didn’t live up to its financial goals using that particular business model.  TimesSelect was conceived before the explosion of traffic that search engines like Google and Yahoo began delivering to news sites.  It was impossible to capitalize on that increased search engine traffic through a closed system that requires a subscription to participate.  The New York Times wasn’t able to foresee that explosive search engine growth.

Under normal circumstances, a newspaper will need to dig deep into the traffic and financial metrics and try to forecast how many loyal visitors they have available for subscriptions?  How many of these visitors will pay to return?  Is it enough to compensate for the drop in traffic?

Implementing simple registration walls caused about a 20% immediate drop in traffic when registration was all the rage a few years ago.  I can imagine the drop in traffic for requiring payment would be even greater.

The New York Times is currently building a paywall in which visitors “will be allowed to view a certain number of articles free each month; to read more, the reader must pay a flat fee for unlimited access.” This system will be in place by January 2011.

It will be interesting to see how this works for the Times in 2011.

In closing, I will leave you with this quote from Stewart Brand on the cost of information.  Hopefully newspapers can find a happy medium…

On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it’s so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other. – Stewart Brand

(Also…my disclosure, I work for a company owned, in part, by Media News Group and they’re not responsible for any craziness I may spew on this blog. Nor am I representing them in any way.  Yadda yadda yadda…)

(Images from viZZZual via Flickr, ThinkGeek, Robot in Disguise)

Tags: newspaper, paywall, subscription, Technology

NPR’s Scott Simon on how to tell a story

Posted by Dave | Filed under Journalism, Technology

Video link

I’m sure I’m late to the game on this, but I stumbled upon the YouTube Reporter’s Center today and was pleasantly surprised with the content. Ultimately, the goal of this channel is to increase the number of video submissions to YouTube by encouraging citizen journalism.

This encouragement comes form veteran journalists discussing their craft.

I hope we see more of this guidance for the next generation of journalists and bloggers.

YouTube Reporter’s Center

- Dave

Tags: citizen journalism, Journalism, news, youtube

FfffoundTape

Posted by Dave | Filed under Music, Productivity, Technology

I’m not sure how long it will be around, but Fffoundtape looks like an interesting music sharing service that doesn’t actually move files.  It only “finds” them on the internet and then makes collections of the found files online.

I suspect this will draw the attention of the recording industry much like MuxTape did.

Should we take bets on how long it will survive?

(I’m giving them 8 months, although I hope it’s much longer.)

- Dave

Tags: ffffoundtape, file sharing, Music, riaa

Want fewer emails?

Posted by Dave | Filed under Business, Communication, Networking, Social Networking, Software, Technology

Here’s a quick tip for reducing the number of emails you get in your inbox every day…

Send fewer emails.

Yep, that’s it. That’s the entire secret rolled into one sentence. For every email you send out, there is a good chance you will receive a reply. If you’ve copied multiple people in your outgoing email, you will probably receive numerous replies.

We live in a world with numerous forms of communication, yet most companies disproportionally rely on email for the majority of their contact throughout the working day. Depending upon the situation, email could be the worst form of communication to use with your coworkers, clients and business partners.

Here are some alternate forms of communication you should consider before firing up your email program: face-to-face meeting, collaboration tools (wiki, BaseCamp, Salesforce.com, Google Docs, etc), instant messaging (AOL, GTalk, Yahoo, MSN, ICQ, Skype, etc), social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), phone call, text Message, video conference, video chat, blog, fax and last, but not least a good old fashioned hand-written note.

Here are a few instances when email is NOT the best tool for the job.

1. When you need a simple yes/no answer. Use an instant messenger, text message or Twitter direct message. You’re in and out and nobody loses much time in the process.

2. When multiple colleagues need to edit and/or approve a document. Use collaboration tools like Google Docs, BaseCamp, a wiki, etc. Emailing a Word or Excel document to six of your coworkers to edit is shear insanity. Stop the madness. Seriously.

3. You sent an email to several colleagues and you got a reply from someone who clearly confused. Unless you are absolutely sure one simple email reply will clear up the confusion, pick up the phone and call this person. Chances are, one 10 minute phone call will prevent 3 or 4 more emails.

4. You need to sell something. Whether you’re selling a product to a client or an idea to a supervisor nothing beats a face-to-face meeting.

5. Someone just emailed you the funniest joke along with a hilarious photo of a kittens. I beg of you. If you really need to tell the world just how funny this joke is, post it to your blog. Please, under no circumstances should you forward this joke email to your entire address book.

So tell me, are there any communication tools you use (other than email) throughout the day?

Let me know in the comments.

Micro-connections and the speed of news

Posted by Dave | Filed under Communication, Design, Social Networking, Technology

I think we’ve forgotten something recently.  I think we’ve forgotten how easily social networks allow us to connect with unbelievable speed and accuracy.

There was a time when connecting with old high school or college friends meant contacting your reunion coordinator.  Sending emails.  Phone calls.  Snail mail.  Or worse yet, actually attending a reunion (I’m joking…sort of).

Now, we are able to locate old friends with Facebook accounts in 5 minutes during a coffee break.  One friend leads you another – and down the rabbit hole you go to find dozens more by accident.

Well, not really by accident.  It seems like synchronicity when you stumble upon a friend through another friend’s Facebook account, but it’s not luck at all. It’s good design.

A new speed

So what if we could take this speed to the next level?  What if we could temporarily connect with individuals involved in specific events while they are actually happening?

Yes, we have the ability to peer into blogs, Twitter streams, Brightkite check-ins, Flickr photostreams, etc.  But there isn’t a mechanism to allow us to connect with hundreds or thousands of people at once.

I am talking about something like the Emergency Broadcast System, but using a temporary two-way communication instead of a one-way communication.  Since it would operate over the internet (and not the airwaves) targeting could incorporate very detailed geographic information.  It would need to operate across multiple social networks to incorporate as many users as possible.

Is this a crazy idea?  Probably.  Ok, absolutley,  but think of the amazing life-saving information it could facilitate.  Think of it as crowd-casting at the microscopic level with with gateways to networks opening and closing when needed.

What do you think?

(The photo above is race car driver Bob Burman, from the Library of Congress.  He drove in the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911.)

Tags: Communication, crowd casting, crowd sourcing, emergency broadcast system, news, social networks

Maker Faire Austin 2008

Posted by Dave | Filed under Design, Personal, Technology

We had a great time in Austin, TX over the weekend at the Maker Faire. I took the video above at the Robogames in the indoor arena of Maker Faire.

I posted a few photos and videos on my Flickr account if you’re interested in seeing a little more.

Enjoy.

Tags: art, austin, Design, maker faire, maker faire austin 2008, Technology, weird

Maker Faire 2008, Austin, TX

Posted by Dave | Filed under Design, Science, Technology

It’s that time of year again: Maker Faire Oct 18 & 19 in Austin, TX!

Steve, John, Justine and I went to Maker Faire 2007 in Austin and had so much fun, we decided to go again this year.

Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It’s for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things. So much to see, you will need 2 days to see it all!

Here are the details if you’re interested in going.:

• Online tickets – discount pricing available through 10/3/2008. Online ticket purchases from 10/4/2008 – 10/16/2008 will be full price and tickets will be picked up onsite at will call
• Local tickets – discount pricing available through close of business day on 10/17/2008 at:
  • Austin Children’s Museum – 201 Colorado Street, Austin 512.472.2499
    Open: Tuesday – Saturday: 10am-5pm
    Community Night Wednesdays: 5-8pm
    Sunday: Noon-5pm
  • Whole Foods – 525 N. Lamar, Austin, 512.476.1206
    Open: 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. seven days a week
• Onsite Ticket Pricing
  • Adult – $25.00
  • Student (13-21, or with student photo ID) – $15.00
  • Youth (4-12) – $10.00
  • Children 3 and under are free

Let me know if you’re going.  Maybe we can meet for lunch or at the very least, fire rockets at each other.

Tags: austin, craft, diy, make, make magazine, maker faire, texas

Google, Internet 2 and powdered soap

Posted by Dave | Filed under Google, Mobile, Technology

Vint Cerf, Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist, posted an interesting article on their blog today speculating what the “next internet” will look like. It’s no real surprise that they touch upon mobile web and location-based services.

“In the next decade, around 70% of the human population will have fixed or mobile access to the Internet at increasingly high speeds, up to gigabits per second. We can reliably expect that mobile devices will become a major component of the Internet, as will appliances and sensors of all kinds. Many of the things on the Internet, whether mobile or fixed, will know where they are, both geographically and logically.”

I’m glad to see Google mention the importance of mobile devices in the future (which is already here). I’m fascinated by the prospects that truly “smart” phones will offer us within the next year or two (I think their estimate of 10 years is a bit high. I think the web, mobile or otherwise, is evolving far faster than that.)

Although, I’m not convinced I want the internet involved with my dirty socks.

“A box of washing machine soap will become part of a service as Internet-enabled washing machines are managed by Web-based services that can configure and activate your washing machine.”

Regardless the post is worth reading.

- Dave

Tags: future, Google, internet, Mobile, Technology

BarCampHouston3 recap

Posted by Dave | Filed under Design, Development, Marketing, Mobile, Networking, Social Networking, Software, Technology

Photo - Best name tag I saw at BarCampHouston.

Justine and I attended BarCamp Houston at the Houston Technology Center yesterday and had a great time. A big thanks to all the organizers (Marc Nathan, Kelsey Ruger, Josh Tabin, Scott Stolz). You guys made the event a smashing success for everyone. And thanks to all the sponsors for helping to make BarCamp Houston possible.

For those who don’t know what BarCamp is, here is a brief explanation:

BarCamp is an international network of user generated conferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants — often focusing on early-stage web applications, and related open source technologies, social protocols, and open data formats. – Wikipedia

This can be simplified to “day camp for nerds.”

I watched some great presentations and participated in some interesting discussions throughout the day. BarCamps are only as great as their participants, and we had some great participants this year.

Ed Schipul’s presentation on PR and social media was sharp. His creative use of a green laser pointer kept the crowd in line (as much as possible) as he explained how to “put the relations back in public relations” using social media. It’s a pleasure to watch a pro on stage engage the audience as well as Ed does.

Josh Tabin spoke about how start-up funding works. I found his discussion about the ins and outs of financing to be pretty enlightening. I left the discussion knowing a lot more about how start-ups make that initial leap into businesses.

Tracy and Imelda whipped up an impromptu discussion on digital photography and social media. I’m pretty sure there should have been a cover charge for the room and IDs checked at the door. Tracy had the room in stitches for a solid 30 minutes, while feeding them great advice for managing their photos in Flickr.

Katherine Druckman also jumped into the mix with an impromptu presentation about Drupal, the open source content management system. The crowd had lots of questions and she fielded them like a pro.

Wynn Netherland and Jim Mulholland from Squeejee.com gave a great presentation on virtual collaboration tools. I’ve gotten used to keeping much of my work “in the cloud” and Wynn and Jim did a nice job of rounding up the most useful tools for working with teams spread across the globe (they even did their presentation live on Google Docs. Cool.)

Here’s a photo of the schedule board in the lobby. A little something for everyone.

My own presentation about mobile web design & SMS went pretty well (at least I think so…it’s hard to gauge while standing behind a podium). I used a live SMS poll to determine how the crowd used their phones the most (talking, email, text messaging or mobile internet). Email and WAP came out on top, which isn’t surprising given the technologically savvy crowd at BarCampHouston. (Screenshot of the BarCampHouston3 mobile poll results.) I also posted some photos on Flickr yesterday.

(Update: I just found out my presentation deck was featured on the homepage of Slideshare today! Woot! Here’s the screenshot.)

Have a great Sunday, everyone!

P.S. – Bill Shirley posted a nice BarCampHouston update, too. Check it out.

P.P.S – Steve Evatt also recapped BarCamp Houston and took some cool photos as well.

Tags: barcamp, barcamphouston3, conference, houston, Technology

A List Apart industry survey

Posted by Dave | Filed under Design, Development, Software, Technology, Usability, Web design, Writing

A List Apart is posting their second annual survey for “people who make websites.”  The results from last year were very interesting.  If you are somehow involved in designing, developing, writing, producing, or managing websites, I encourage you to participate in this anonymous survey to help better understand the industry.

A List Apart article explaining the survey.
Link to the 2008 survey.
Results of the 2007 survey.

Thanks!

Tags: a list apart, survey, web survey