Journalism professor Tim McGuire, a long-time newspaper editor and Pulitzer Prize judge, says there is much upheaval in the media industry but a lot of potential as well — provided media entities give up their gatekeeper role and learn to serve their readers better. Read more at GigaOM »
A single chart from a presentation by internet analyst Mary Meeker illustrates why the decision to move away from print is such a difficult one for traditional media companies to make — and also why it so important that they do so. Read more at GigaOM »
Media companies have collectively spent billions of dollars on content management systems. As they upgraded their offline businesses to the digital world, they turned to big enterprise systems to organize their content in an orderly digital database. And whether via internal systems or a purchased system, […] Read more »
Forbes has been reinventing itself ever since it acquired Lewis DVorkin’s media startup in 2010 — and while there have been some stumbles, the magazine has shown how a traditional media entity can take advantage of the social web and the way that content works online. Read more at GigaOM »
A Cornell professor argues that while Twitter’s “trending topics” algorithm may not be deliberately censoring topics, it is still distorting our view of the world, in the same way that other personalization tools do. But whose fault is that, and what should we do about it? Read more at GigaOM »
Time was, only strong man competition entrants would exert themselves to tear up phone directories for expectant crowds.
Now publishers themselves are this month twisting their books and businesses in to new shapes, to find relevance amid ongoing digital disruption… Read more »
The latest moves and hires in the digital media and tech industry. Read more »
As painful as the decision to stop printing daily may be for the New Orleans Times-Picayune and its staff, it grappling with a reality that almost every newspaper will have to face sooner or later, whether they want to or not. Read more at GigaOM »
It’s been a decade now that online publishers have wrestled with the same wretched dilemma: give content away for free and lose money or put up a paywall and lose audience. Now, finally, the logjam is beginning to break. Read more »
Amazon is reportedly trying to sell ads that would appear on the Kindle Fire’s welcome screen, at prices of at least $600,000 for a two-month campaign. Does that mean a cheaper, ad-supported Kindle Fire is coming soon? Read more »
The latest hires in the tech and media industry. Read more »
Yell.com and Yellow Pages operator Yell Group is acquiring UK point-and-click website builder Moonfruit, as it tries to salvage even digital classifieds that are in reverse. Read more »
Facebook’s advertising woes, including the highly publicized departure of General Motors, reinforce the fact that while Facebook may function like a social network, on the business side it looks almost exactly like a media company — and that is going to be a major challenge. Read more at GigaOM »
“Virtually every publication in the world right now would desperately like to be 100 percent digital,” said Flipboard editorial director and Time Inc. vet Josh Quittner said at Internet Week this week, as publishers debated how to monetize digital magazines. Read more »
The appointment of Ross Levinsohn as CEO is a sign Yahoo wants to focus on media as the core of its rebirth, but does the company have what it takes to succeed as a new-media entity? There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical. Read more at GigaOM »
The latest hires in the tech and media industry… Read more »
AOL CEO Tim Armstrong promised improvements in U.S. display ad sales processes, after international growth embarrassed domestic declines. Read more »
Email marketing may seem like an old-school, if not quaint, tactic. But LiveIntent is convinced it can bring sophisticated web targeting tools to the aging medium to help companies get the most out of what it considers to be their most valuable asset: email subscribers. Read more at GigaOM »
Almost three years after they agreed a search alliance, Microsoft and Yahoo are finally making it happen in Europe. Read more »
Russia’s online listings market could be about to explode, and investors want a piece of it. The latest beneficiary is a Craigslist-style site that also wants to be like eBay. Read more »
A Madrid-based mobile advertising network is taking investment to challenge big U.S. competitors. Read more »
Facebook gave investors something to ponder ahead of its mid-May IPO, when it filed an amended S-1 to report lower quarterly revenue and net income for the first three months of 2012. Read more »
While targeting big national TV advertising with premium video, Google is also going after small- and medium-sized advertisers by adapting its popular do-it-yourself AdWords platform for video. Read more »
Gawker Media founder Nick Denton talks about whether we are in another technology bubble, what the decline of Facebook and Twitter as conversational media say about social networks, the death of advertising and whether he has any interest in selling his digital empire. Read more at GigaOM »
Mobile media content is going centre-stage.
So much so that, in 2012, global revenue from mobile advertising and content will hit $67 billion, according to a new Strategy Analytics forecast. Read more »
Shazam’s efforts to enable TV ads with recognisable audio tags gain a big leg-up, with news UK broadcaster ITV will sell the idea to its advertisers. Read more »
Spotify is partnering with Coca Cola in a deal that it says will expand its international reach, giving it a boost similar to the way Facebook integration has supercharged usage. Coke will use Spotify to power its music outreach and will help promote the service internationally. Read more at GigaOM »
The online video sector is growing fast, and advertising forecasts point to a boom. So why is one of the leading companies’ share price sliding in the other direction? Read more »
Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson’s Q1 call with investors and analysts was a lot more big picture and buzzwords than details but we did get a few fine points, including plans to close 50 properties and a promise to focus on Yahoo’s own assets. Read more »
Chartbeat announced a $9.5-million round of funding and a series of new features aimed at giving websites and publishers better insight into how users are engaging with their content, something that has become increasingly important as Facebook becomes a major player in online advertising. Read more at GigaOM »
The market for job classified ads may be gloomy at present, but Mail Online publisher DMGT is buying further in to it, by acquiring the Jobrapido recruitment site for up to €30 million Read more »
Some traditional media entities seem to be hoping for a single magic bullet that will cure their revenue problems, but it is more likely success will come from making a number of smaller bets. Unfortunately, large media players don’t tend to be good at that. Read more at GigaOM »
Springpad has long been compared to Internet note-taking sensation Evernote, but starting today Springpad will likely be compared to another darling of the startup world, Pinterest. On Wednesday Springpad evolved into its third iteration, transforming the information capture service into a social networking engine. Read more at GigaOM »
Some of the latest executive hiring and exits in the digital media and online content industry… Read more »
Critics of reader comments often argue that they are worthless because they are filled with trolls, and not that many people read them. But despite these flaws, building community through comments and other social features is more important than it has ever been for online media. Read more at GigaOM »
As the online video opportunity booms, video index and advertising firm Blinkx is growing fast – but not quite as fast as had been expected, as revenue for the last 12 months fell slightly behind analysts’ expectations.. Read more »
The news that’s been telegraphed for weeks is done: Yahoo is laying off 2,000 staffers, 14.1 percent of its workforce, as new CEO Scott Thompson remakes the business around the buzzwords smaller, nimbler, core, best in class. Thompson isn’t close to finished. Read more »
Reed Business Information’s sell-offs really aren’t over yet. Now it is selling the UK’s number-two job classifieds site, TotalJobs, to German publisher Axel Springer’s equivalent StepStone for a hefty $175 million. Read more »
Tel Aviv online video ads facilitator Hiro Media is taking on a $5 million investment to expand its efforts in the U.S.. Hiro makes advertising services for content owners, publishers, syndicators and advertising agencies. It plans to open a development and support centre in New York to […] Read more »
Hearst is following Conde Nast’s lead and will start releasing metrics on its paid iPad editions, the company announced today. Separately, t… Read more »
