Category — Analysis

There is an ongoing discussion about the value of social media marketing. How do you go about it in the most efficient manor? What is the ROI, and how do you measure it? And does social media marketing really matter at all.

Some, like Nate Elliott of Jupiter Research, seem to believe that unless marketeers get their acts together, social media marketing will die. I agree with the part of getting their acts together, but I don’t think social media marketing as such will die. It’s just a matter of looking at what it fundamentally is all about. [Read more →]

It seems like the world has gone mad with data portability. The other day MySpace announced their Data Availability Programme, and before you could say ‘Yeah’, Facebook followed it up with their version called Facebook Connect and now Google has joined them with Google Friend Connect.

Marc Canter has an excellent point about this essentially being another try by the major players (which of course also includes Microsoft) to lock people in. They failed with the portals - now they try with the social graph. I agree. But what is more evident to me is that yet again media companies are left behind. [Read more →]

Nobody has suffered from the advent of the internet as the music business. Endless millions of dollars have been lost in revenue, as people have shared music among themselves free of charge. And it’s not getting better.

John Batelle links the music business to his childhood-memories of listening to vinyl records on his parents stereo, when he was a child. And he notices that his own children are using magazines the same way today, as he was using albums when he was a kid. Thus he asks the very valid question whether the magazine business will go the same way as the music business did? [Read more →]

I finally got a chance to listen to Clay Shirky’s Web 2.0 Expo speech entitled “Gin, Television, and Social Surplus”. Henriette Weber of ToothlessTiger was kind enough to forward a podcast version of the interesting piece to me.

In the piece Clay’s basic argument is that the advent of the web is a fundamental change comparable to the industrial revolution, which allows people to be active contributors rather than passive consumers. As a result consumption will be less, as people will contribute in more meaningful ways. But will they? [Read more →]

While hyperlocal weekly magazines tend to thrive on advertising, the local dailies seem to have a somewhat harder time making ends meet. In fact you could say that wasn’t it for the former bringing home the bacon for the latter, the prospects for local media companies would be really bleak.

My argument is that they still are. The hyperlocal market is a very interesting one from an advertising point-of-view, and the barriers to entry within the digital space is next to nothing. Therefore any local newspaper man/woman should be up at night wondering where the long knife is going to come from. And what to do about it. [Read more →]

According to an article in todays edition of Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende the once mighty Danish internet portal, Jubii, is planning on a complete relaunch during this summer and fall.

Management and owners Lycos Europe has (finally) declared bankruptcy on the ancient portal strategy of trying to be something for everybody and is now looking to focus within a select number of niches. However there are at least two challenges with that strategy, which leaves me somewhat sceptical about the prospects for success. [Read more →]