Monday, December 31

Ending 2007: Old Media Is Dead

If any year will ever stand out as the most dramatic change of direction for network television, it will likely be 2007. And if there is any credit is to be given, it doesn’t belong to a single network or broadcast executive, but rather the collective efforts of fans from several television shows, with Jericho Rangers leading the charge in the form of 20 tons of nuts and constant coverage from personal blogs to The Wall Street Journal.

Sure, while some networks and corporations like AT&T were quietly looking at broadcast-digital convergence long before Jericho was cast, Jericho fans helped set the agenda this year and hastened the pace. They did much more than save a television show by convincing CBS to offer up an olive branch in the form of a truncated second season premiering Feb. 12.

They demonstrated the power of organizing consumers via social media. They set a precedent of tracking signatures, e-mails, postcards, phone calls, and protest purchases. They pushed for sweeping reforms at Nielsen Media Research, enough so that Nielsen began to listen to them more than the networks it serves. They established alliances with other fan bases like Veronica Mars fans to expand their campaign five-fold. They made contact with writers, producers, cast members, and crew, giving everyone something to think about, including advertisers.

Passive viewers became active consumers

The writer’s strike is precisely what I’ve been writing about for almost two years: the transition between the era of old to the era of new media. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) even cited it as the primary explanation for the most recent stall in contract negotiations.

"The media conglomerates know that the core issue in these negotiations is new media. Their current proposals would cause writers even more economic harm in the future than they claim this strike has caused.” — Writers Guild of America

While the networks seem unwilling to make an agreement, the WGA and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants production company have reached a contract agreement that includes the proposal put forth by the WGA on Dec. 7.

In other words, production companies and writers are starting to make the deals that the networks are unwilling to make. And if that happens across the board, then network television will be reduced to a distribution channel at a time when content creation is the only tangible commodity. Distribution is easy.

Change happens in small, unseen ways

Cox Communications is one of a handful of multi-service broadband cable service providers that is beginning to offer OnDemand commercial programming, which would allow companies to produce and distribute their own television programs. This means that a company has the potential reach of 6 million residential and commercial consumers.

Once produced, segments of these shows could easily be repackaged for distribution across other platforms like YouTube, Revver, Apple iTunes, and countless others. The possibilities of programming are seemingly endless, well beyond OnDemand infomercials. It also opens the doors for enterprising producers to create their own programs, saving six to eight minutes per half hour for sponsors, much like local market home shows used to do.

The networks are hastening the need for change

As ratings continued to fall this last year, advertising rates continued to rise. The reason was that advertisers were less willing to experiment and attempted to simply purchase more spots to reach the same viewing audience that they once captured by buying fewer shows.

It’s only a matter of time before the burden of building reach shifts away from advertisers and onto the networks again. After all, the concept of last minute scatter market buys will likely die this year as marketers begin to realize they spent 18 percent more for primetime "scatter" than they ever hoped to save.

Even the classic measure of cpm (cost to reach 1,000 viewers) is being questioned. It doesn’t seem to hold as much weight as a measure as it used to. A lower cpm, augmented by Internet presence, can have a greater impact and make more sense as fans are eager to spend an hour or two talking about their favorite show on the net rather than watching the programs that follow.

Old media will become an abandoned term this year

It’s not so much that old media is dead as much as it is that old media has been challenged to become indistinguishable and better than new media. It’s the kind of challenge that will lead to bright possibilities in journalism and broadcast. The new year will be the year to decide. Will a company adapt or die?

Reality programming is not the answer. With rare exceptions like Survivor and American Idol, the net has taken over the reality programming niche. Not only can we watch real-life realty clips on YouTube, but also entire lives put up for consumption with live streaming. The networks need better niche programs.

It’s the very reason networks have to end the writer’s strike soon. It’s only a matter of time before some people begin to realize that the networks are not the only way to reach an audience. Big names in every facet of the entertainment industry are learning that the old model of distribution is dead.

Don’t believe it? Heck, even this blog, which might be considered in the minor leagues compared to what we would like to do on our own or with partners, reached 100,000 people this year. Not bad for an experimental platform.

Thank you all again for making this year a success. We look forward to seeing you in 2008! Happy New Year. Please be safe.

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Friday, December 28

Making Messes: News Release Resolutions


With the fast approaching New Year, it’s no surprise that New Year's resolutions and predications are among the hottest topics across the wire.

Sure, some journalists scramble for such tidbits because their readers expect it, doubly so when the space between Christmas and New Year's seems painfully short. But that’s hardly a reason to force a media release into a prediction or faux resolution piece, hoping it might get picked up as mainstream filler.

Here are five of my favorites, but not because they are true.

• FabJob.com released that quitting your job might be a good resolution because 77 percent of its visitors are dissatisfied with their jobs and are planning to look for a new career opportunity.

You think? If they were satisfied with their jobs, they probably wouldn’t be on FabJob.com to begin with.

• Transitions Lenses released that keeping New Year's resolutions is a matter of perseverance. “To stay true to your resolutions, experts recommend choosing realistic goals, like visiting your eye doctor yearly,” they say.

Geesh. If you're going to lower your expectations that much, there isn't much point in making a resolution in the first place.

• The Texas Society of CPAs came up with a boatload of “helpful hints” for meeting financial goals, including “paying off debts” and to “start saving.”

Sure, it’s pat advice. So pat, I can tell you that without being a CPA.

• A Body Worlds 2 (an exhibit in the Bay area) release suggests: everyone “Get fit. Drink less alcohol. Quit smoking. Spend more time with friends and family. Visit cultural events. Seek out educational activities.”

While the exhibit looks pretty neat, these tend to be the six most common resolutions people make every year anyway. Yawn.

• Sixty-two percent of respondents to the Turnaround Management Association's annual Trend Watch Poll said that homebuilders will face the "greatest financial and/or operational difficulties" next year.

Hmmm. Maybe the housing market will continue to be in a slump as long as experts continue to tell us it’s in a slump. (Hat tip to Wells Fargo for releasing the slump will not be as bad as some fear.)

Well, if you can't beat them, join them. I have a resolution suggestion too. Public relations professionals might resolve to save their clients about $400 per wire submission in favor of releasing ... drum roll ... relevant news. Releases like these leave big messes in the morning.

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Thursday, December 27

Everything: The Great Big Blog Of

My son says he is too old to remember, but there is one gift he asked for, year after year, and never received. He wanted it so much, he even tried to make one a few times: the handy-dandy Great Big Book Of Everything.

Not the one inspired by the kid's television show, Stanley, but a real one with everything in it. Every year, I ask him if he still wants it.

"Do you remember?"

"Sure Dad, but I'm too old to watch Stanley anymore."

"Really?" When did that happen?

"It's okay Dad," he laughed. "Besides, I thought your blog was The Great Big Book Of Everything."

"Funny. I guess you are growing up."

"Yep, I'm pretty old," he smiled. "So, can we play Heroscape now?"

"You bet. Just give me a minute ... I want to see if you're right."

Rich's Great Big Blog Of Everything

365 Dias, AgencyNext, Amuseline, Anyone Loves TV, Arabelle's AlleyHannah Azar, Tala Azar, Back Lot Projects, Darren Barefoot, Andy Beard, Better Business Blogging, BizHack, BizSolutionsPlus, BlogCatalog Blog, Blogging For Business, Blog Campaigning, Blog Contests On The Net, Blog Herald, BlogTalk Radio, Blogversity, Blog Village, Blogs We Luv, Brand Storming, A Bunch Of Words, Business Growth Power Pack, Business Live News, The Buzz Bin, Cardiogirl, Catepol, CBS Jericho Fan Central, Chessnoid, Cincom, John Cook’s Venture Blog, Greg Cooper, CompBlog, Communication Overtones, Common Sense PR, Conversation Agent, Copyblogger, The Crones Daily Groan, Cultural Learnings, CypherJFs Development Depot, Dada Media, dcr Blogs, Da Eveman, Behind The Scenes At Jewelry Tales, Debo Hobo Dot Com, Digital 4Front, Duck Tape Marketing, Durbin Media, Electronic Recruiting News, Eliteqz, Entreneurs, Jay Epoch, Find The Boots, Finding The Sweet Spot, Fubar, Ghost In The Machine, Amitai Givertz, Good To Know, Golden Practices, The Green Scene, History Survey, Shel Holtz, Home Office Lawyer, I Do Things, Image Empowering, idUnited, Inner88, Jdonuts, Gylon Jackson, Jaffe Juice, Jason the Content Librarian, The Jericho Bulletin, Jericho Central, Jericho Junction, Jericho Monster, Jericho On CBS, Jericho Rally Point, JR4OT Blog, KD Paine’s PR Measurement Blog, Trish Kate’s TV Talk, Keep It Simple Solutions, Alex King, Language For You, Living In The Edge Of Madness, Leadership Turn, Magnosticism, Marcom Writer Blog, Marketing Headhunter Marketing Useable, Marketing Whore, Phil McDonnell, Jeff McNeill, MediaBlog, Media Orchard, The Media Slut, Media Snackers, Mesmereyed, Miscellany from Past and Present, Andrea Morris, Movies And Film Blog, MS Language Services, My Radical Blogs, MyBlogLog, The Myles Files, Naruto’s Arena, National Business Community Blog, The Net-Savvy Executive, NoisyRoom, Now Is Gone, Nutsonline, O My Word!, Occam’s Razr, Oldephartteintraining, One Bee, Paris Hilton, Passion, People and Principles, The Perfect Customer Experience, Pet Lvr (The Blog), A Piece of Piece, Pierce Mattie Public Relations, Politics After 50, Positioning Strategy, PR 2.0, Ramblings From The Mermaid Tavern, PR Squared, Publicity Hound, Radio Caffeine, Raven’s Roads, Recruiting.com, Recruiting Animal, RecruitingBlogs RecruitingBloggers, Reddiggulo.us, Remote Access, Road Less Traveled, Ronin Marketeer, Rugjeff’s Blog, Rushda, Sabrina’s Money Matters, Save The Black Donnellys, Save Jericho Now, Save Veronica Mars, Sava Sakar, Scary Sh*t, Scatterbox, Selling To Small Businesses, Situtational Marketing, SEO Pedia, Six Degrees From Dave, Snupher, The Social Media Marketing Blog, Social Media Explorer, Space 150, Spin Thicket, SQ Central, Squeak Of The Week, Starlight Review, Strumpette, Liz Strauss, Jim Stroud, Jeffery Taylor, Teaching PR, Television Rocker Report, Tetsujin’s Blog, That Bee Girl, The Thin Red Line, This Girl’s Blog, Tough Sledding, Transmission, The TV Guy, Veronica Mars Movie, Andrea Vascellari Weblog, Web Conoscenza, Web Ink Now, Brian Whaley’s Pixelated Views, Word Sell, Writer’s Advice, Your PR Guy, Zero Calvin and Hobbes, and the The Zohner Family Blog.

Whether we agreed or agreed to disagree, thank you all for making 2007 interesting. Likewise for everyone who read and commented.

Sure, there are a couple more posts to round out 2007. But mostly I'm looking forward to a rewarding 2008, wondering who might make next year's Great Big Blog Of Everything, and making sure the lethal Marro hive is stopped from making more venomous predators in some uncharted jungle!

You have to enjoy this stuff before you're "pretty old" for it.

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Saturday, December 22

Striking Matches: Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays

Barefoot in the snow with blue and frozen toes,

A match girl strikes a fire to ward away the cold.

And in the sputter of the flame she seems to see

A stove to warm her hands; the comfort of a tree;

A roast to heal her hunger; and arms of empathy.


Friendships begin with faith.
May those close take a leap for you.


Happy Holidays. See you on Dec. 27.

Friday, December 21

Twittering Peas: Frozen Pea Friday


The first time I wrote about Twitter, it was less than flattering. But like so much of social media, communities have a tendency to shape themselves. Twitter has since proven itself to me, and it is now proving itself again with peas.

I have to be honest and say that I have yet to have the pleasure of knowing Susan Reynolds, an artist and new media consultant battling a dominant magpie gene and cancer. But thanks to those I do know through Twitter, I know a little more about her today.

You can too by visiting the Frozen Pea Fund, which was inspired by Reynolds. There, you will learn about her experiences and perhaps consider making a donation to the American Cancer Society. For me, making a donation was second nature. Living with my grandparents was pretty enlightening.

My grandmother survived with cancer for more than decade. She was extremely courageous, raising myself and her youngest of five children, in-between hospital visits that were frequent enough to become second nature. In the process, she taught me a little bit more about life by confronting her death on a daily basis.

She did not have the Internet to share her experiences. But if she did, I suspect she might have been as brave as Reynolds and shared them for the benefit of others. You see, she knew how it worked: no one ever really understands cancer until they are touched by someone close to them. And for that, I'm grateful that Reynolds has chosen to touch so many. I hope you will touched too.

It's about time we found a cure. Don't you think?

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Self-Regulating The Net: FTC


The Federal Trade Commission released five proposed principles and guidelines for self-regulation in the behavioral advertising industry, which includes the tracking of consumer activities online (searches, page visits, viewed content, etc.).

While the FTC has been looking at privacy issues related to the Web for more than a decade, it was expected that the high visibility of privacy issues recently created, in part, by Facebook, that the FTC would be taking a Facebook hard look at privacy issues in 2008.

In sum, the FTC suggests that companies involved in tracking and targeting consumers always inform consumers of the data they collect, how it is to be used, that they have a choice to opt-in, and that any changes to this agreement are stated, which would require their expressed consent.

Here are five principles for behavioral advertising (paraphrased):

Transparency and consumer control. Every Web site where data is collected for behavioral advertising should provide a clear, concise, consumer-friendly, and prominent statement that (1) data about consumers’ activities online is being collected at the site for use in providing advertising about products and services tailored to individual consumers’ interests, and (2) consumers can
choose whether or not to have their information collected for such purpose.

Reasonable security, and limited data retention, for consumer data. Companies should retain data only as long as is necessary to fulfill a legitimate business or law enforcement need. (The FTC staff is also seeking comment on how long companies should retain such data.)

Affirmative express consent for material changes to existing privacy promises. Companies must keep any promises that it makes with respect to how it will handle or protect consumer data, even if it decides to change its policies at a later date. Any changes in how collected data is used requires obtain affirmative express consent from affected consumers.

Affirmative express consent to (or prohibition against) using sensitive data for behavioral advertising. Companies should only collect sensitive data for behavioral advertising if they obtain affirmative express consent from the consumer to receive such advertising. (The FTC staff is also seeking input defining sensitive data and whether some data should never be collected.)

Call for additional information: Using tracking data for purposes other than behavioral advertising. FTC staff also seeks comment on what constitutes “sensitive data” and whether the use of sensitive data should be prohibited, rather than subject to consumer choice. (Comments will be received through Feb. 22.)

The latter suggests carrot dangling (perceived benefits) for sensitive information (like social security card numbers) might not be an option.

Overall, the FTC has been very balanced in its approach to online advertising, recognizing there is a fine between protecting consumers and allowing companies to develop advertising programs that fund content and benefits for consumers.

But what is most important is to consider that self-regulation is generally maintained by the willing participation of companies to adhere to these principles. Every abuse, especially by visible companies, will move these principles toward permanent federal regulation. You can find the complete FTC guidelines here.

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