FOLIO: Section Blogs by emedia and Technology

Looking at IDG's Move to Web-First

Joanna Pettas — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:40:03 -0400

Longtime readers of my blog, as well as the folks who have seen one of my speaking engagements, know that I often point to b-to-b publisher IDG as a guide to the future. No publisher I know has done a better job of understanding the Web and making the transition away from print.

I've had a pretty good view of the struggles the company has faced as it moved to a Web-first model. And just like everywhere else in journalism, most of those struggles involved stubborn and close-minded people.

Truth be told, IDG has fewer stubborn and close-minded people than any publisher I know. That has given the company a tremendous advantage. But as in most publishing companies, the slow-witted characters tend to be more vocal than the smart people.

I still remember, vividly, appearing before a group of reporters and editors at IDG several years ago, shortly after I launched my consulting business. My goal in that appearance was to talk about some of the things that excited me in the world that we would later call Web 2.0. My hope was that some of the editors would share my excitement.

I was able to reach some of those folks. Heck, many of them were already excited about the same things that interested me. All things considered, I think things went pretty well. IDG invited me back several times in the next few years. But what I'll remember most about that first appearance was the number of times a very small part of the audience cursed at me, rolled their eyes, interrupted, whined, insulted, complained and generally behaved like children.

As time has passed, much has changed.

I very, very seldom run into the level of hostility that first greeted me when I began writing this blog and consulting about online publishing.

Almost everyone in b-to-b publishing today "gets it" to one degree or another.

And no place has changed as quickly or as successfully as IDG.

And, much to my delight, nearly everyone in publishing now understands that IDG is blazing the trail that the rest of the industry will follow.

Today's New York Times has a lengthy feature piece on IDG's transition to Web-first publishing. Anyone who works in journalism should take a look. Pay particular attention to the words of Patrick J. McGovern, the founder and chairman of IDG, who says "the excellent thing, and good news, for publishers is that there is life after print—in fact, a better life after print."

For an earlier post of mine about my early experiences at IDG, take a look at my reaction to the end of InfoWorld's print publication.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Click here for more from Paul Conley's blog.]

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Topless Traffic: Vanity Fair's Miley Cyrus vs. New York's Lindsay Lohan

Dylan Stableford — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:42:05 -0400

In February, when New York magazine posted those arguably artful nude photos of Lindsay Lohan doing Marilyn Monroe on its Web site, the magazine's servers were, not surprisingly, tested. Traffic to the site eclipsed 17 million page views on day one, 81 million in the first week and 105 million to date, according to DART and Omniture figures provided by the magazine.

This week, another controversy—albeit an absurdly contrived one—surrounding Vanity Fair's Annie Leibovitz-shot topless story of Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus resulted, not surprisingly, in record-breaking traffic, too.

(Maxim editor Jim Kaminsky, speaking on a Mediabistro panel the other night, put it best: "They went out of their way to sexualize a 15-year-old girl and it sold a lot of copies of the New York Post and probably will sell a lot of copies of Vanity Fair.")

Executive online editor Michael Hogan said VF.com had registered 1.8 million unique visitors on Monday (it averages between 20,000 and 40,000, he said) and 17 million page views. The site normally averages 100,000.

The wide split between visitors and page views (9.4 pages per visitor, roughly) was no doubt due to the accompanying 18-page slideshow VF posted, too.

But that server-shaking traffic windfall was due, in large part, with their marketing strategy. VF gave the New York Post an exclusive to run the photos, and they did so, on the front page, on a Monday. The magazine also posted the accompanying video of the shoot, recalling the tactic of posting the video highlights from the now-infamous, entirely awkward cover shoot featuring Mark Ford and skin-baring actresses Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson, which brought the site record-breaking traffic at the time.
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The All-You-Can-Read Subscription Offer

Jason Fell — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:30:35 -0400

The French are taking the all-you-can-eat buffet gimmick to the digital newsstand.
According to a post I read yesterday on PCWorld.com, a French distributor has launched a subscription offer that allows customers to pay a $28 monthly fee to be able to download any or all of its 400 magazine titles, including Glamour and Playboy. There’s no limit to the number of digital magazines one can download.
U.S. digital magazine publisher Zinio offers individual subscriptions, but this appears to be the first to offer a flat rate all-you-can-read model.
I’m not big on reading digital magazines, but why did no one think of this sooner? Pony up a reasonable monthly flat rate to gain access to a slew of digital magazines? That’s great.
The music industry is grappling with this distribution model , too, as a number of record label are experimenting with subscription-based downloads, and Apple's iTunes—which recently surpassed Wal-Mart as the largest music retailer in the U.S.—is rumored to be prepping one.
Maybe this is another jab in the side of print publishing. There again, Time Inc. later this year is expected to launch a Netflix-like print sub service called Maghound.
We’ll have to wait and see if/when this flat rate downloadable sub model makes its way to this side of the Atlantic.
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TechCrunch Founder Hints at Eventual Roll-Up

Dylan Stableford — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:01:09 -0400

A couple quick notes on Michael Arrington—the sleep-deprived founder of Silicon Valley blog TechCrunch and member of the 2008 FOLIO: 40—which didn’t make it into his 350-word profile.
When I called him a couple weeks ago (12:00 p.m. EST, 9:00 a.m. his time) he said he was working on a post (something about a brothel—seriously) and had yet to go to sleep. He echoed then what he told the New York Times over the weekend—that tech blogging is a fiercely competitive, ultimately unhealthy thing.
Arrington said that this sort of competitive hustling means no downtime. He says he hasn’t taken any time off in three years. “Not even a day.”
He’s also not entirely comfortable with his bloggy celebrity. “When it gets personal,” Arrington said. He didn’t mention the site by name, Arrington was clearly talking about Gawker Media’s ValleyWag, which has taken to covering him with a Julia Allison-like frequency and fervor.
As far as TechCrunch sale rumors, he says that while they can be expected—given his 2007 hire of Heather Harde, the ex-Fox Interactive executive responsible for $1.3 billion in acquisitions including that little $500 million MySpace deal—a roll-up scenario, leveraging a small network of blogs, is much more likely. “I don’t know if we’re a quarterback of something like that or a defensive back.”
Or, you know, owner. Just don’t expect ValleyWag to be part of that team.
Read Arrington's full FOLIO: 40 profile here ...
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Magazines Trigger More Web Searches Than TV

Joanna Pettas — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:21:34 -0400

Yet another study supports the strength of magazines as an online traffic driver. BIGresearch's August 07 released "Simultaneous Media Survey" of 15,439 consumers shows magazines as the top offline media driving Web traffic. Here is the chart that tells the tale:
Top 10 Media that Trigger an Online Search (Adults 18+)
-------------------------------------------------------
51.6% Magazine
47.7% Read an Article
44.2% TV / Broadcast
41.3% Newspaper
35.6% Cable TV
35.3% Face-to-Face Communication
33.8% Coupons
30.3% Email Advertising
29.3% Direct Mail
28.2% Radio
Use it on a call:
This study does NOT say that magazines generate more Web traffic than online media, such as web banners etc. This study compares offline media (with the odd exception of "e-mail advertising"). The argument you have to first make, on a call, is that people still spend most of their lives OFF line. Then present the case for magazines as the top offline Web traffic builder for when those offline people get back online.
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Looking at Journalism's Future

Joanna Pettas — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:36:18 -0400

I recently had the opportunity to visit a number of universities and to attend two conventions for college journalists. This is the conclusion of a four-part series on my experiences. You can see part one here. You can read part two here. Check out part three here.
For a long time I was hopeful that journalism teachers would learn to embrace the future. I had this idea that the ability of the Web to reach people around the globe would enchant teachers. I believed that interactivity, feedback functions, user-generated content and all the other forms of conversational and democratic storytelling would appeal to people who dedicated their lives to telling stories and spreading information.

But I was wrong.

New media has brought out the worst in many teachers, turning them defensive, bitter, cowardly and curmudgeonly. The rise of new media, in other words, has had the same effect on many teachers that it has had on many legacy editors.
But there is a difference between editors and teachers. And it's silly for us not to acknowledge it: We can fire editors.

Many journalism programs are burdened with teachers who are poorly suited to teach a subject that changes as rapidly as does the media world.

But we're stuck with them. The rules of tenure and the traditions of academia mean that these folks ain't going anywhere.

So it's time for a "work around."
Read the entire post here ...
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The Next Phase for Digital Magazines

Joanna Pettas — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:58:20 -0400

Remember your magazine's first Web site?
For most publications it was a simple copy and paste job. We copied content from the magazine and pasted it right onto the the new Web site. The big question of the day was, "Should we hold off posting the Web content, as it might hurt readership of the identical print content?" Then something unexpected happened that changed everything:
Nothing.
That's right, nothing happened. Because we discovered that no new Web content meant no new Web visitors, and as result, no new ad dollars. The dialog abruptly shifted to how we could develop fresh content for the magazine's Web site and how to monetize it.
That was 10 years ago. So why are so many publishers having the same discussion, right now, about digital magazines?
I've heard it all over the magazine industry, "We tried publishing a digital magazine, but nothing happened." How soon we forget ... no new content equals no incremental new readership and no incremental new revenue.
But what if you put new content into digital magazines? What if they were not just a duplication of your magazine but an extension into niche areas unprofitable to service with print? What if they were utilized as a new content platform, not just a means of digital distribution? What if they were created to function as graphical, upscale newsletters in industries or categories where graphical appeal counts?
The trend has already started. Winding Road is a digital only car magazine that gets over 180,000 unique readers viewing an average of 22 pages every month. Click on the link and take a look. It could be your future.
P.S.: Why no industry association has taken the time to research the basics of how digital magazines work as an advertising platform is a mystery to me. I'd like to help start that discussion with anyone willing.
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Your Next Hire? Online Advertising Troubleshooter

Matt Kinsman — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:41:50 -0400

New titles are emerging daily with the shift to digital, such as "community editor," "multimedia asset manager" and "metrics analyst." Add to that list "online media optimization manager," a new position Hanley Wood developed to salvage underperforming campaigns and save thousands of dollars in potential digital makegoods.

Hanley Wood vet Martha Luchsinger, who has held positions including production operations manager and sales and data manager was tapped for the position late last year for her ability to analyze data complex data. She now oversees all aspects of Hanley Wood's online reporting and as it relates to performance and uses that data to identify issues and come up with solutions before a campaign runs off the rails.

For Hanley Wood Luchsinger has cut the online revenue loss due to under-delivery by 30 percent, saving thousands of dollars. For us, she warrants a place on the 2008 FOLIO: 40. And for the rest of the industry, she could be the model for the next MVP in your online department.
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Greenspun Looking to Hire 30 to 50 New Online Staffers

Joanna Pettas — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:33:03 -0400

It’s true! Greenspun is planning to hire a veritable army of 30 to 50 new online staffers over the next six months for its “category crushing” Web site, the company’s president Michael Carr wrote in an e-mail FOLIO: today.

The tip came from this comment, posted to our original story earlier this week:
There is a rumor that seems pretty credible that they are hiring close to 50 new web people in 2008. I saw a couple of folks from the [Las Vegas] Sun speak in San Francisco this week, and it was definitely the most impressive local news site I've seen. If those are the folks who are building the sites that this guy is talking about, then I have got to believe that they are going to do something interesting.
And this despite Greenspun’s decision this week to shutter its monthly Las Vegas Life and transition its content online, although that move may have had more to do with the fact that LVL was rubbing up against Greenspun’s other luxury glossy, Vegas.
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Google’s March to World Domination, Part II

Dylan Stableford — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:34:44 -0400

As noted in the Times earlier this week, Google users can now search deep into content sites without leaving Google, bypassing publishers' own search functions entirely. Publishers, contemplating the resulting page view migration from their sites to Google, have reacted negatively and some have asked Google to stop providing the extra search box underneath the results for their site.

Here how it works: I'm looking for an article I saw recently in Scientific American on particle physics so I google "SciAm." The first search result contains a search box incorporated with the SciAm.com links, so I type in "particle physics" there and get a page of relevant results from just SciAm. I see my article on click on it. Voila! Google creates one additional page view for Google (the second search results page) and at least two fewer for SciAm (their home page and their own search results page).

To most publishers, this probably seems like piling on. Google is already probably your number one source of external traffic. They may also be your fallback ad network, selling inventory on your site to blue chip advertisers and keeping most of the revenue. You don't want to antagonize them, for fear of losing your hard-won SEO gains (I'm getting a little skittish even writing this post).

This latest move highlights the strategic necessity of growing organic traffic and internal sales ability, reducing your Google dependency. A good role model is ESPN who announced this week that they are ditching ad networks entirely. Google may be "doing no evil" to your business, but they're not interested in giving you any help.
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J.Lo’s Twins = Traffic

Dylan Stableford — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:40:25 -0400

Move over Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.
This week's source of server-testing traffic goes instead to singer/actress Jennifer Lopez, who appeared in People magazine with her newborn twins, Max and Emme. People.com reportedly clocked an all-time daily high of four million unique visitors hungry for the photos from People's exclusive shoot, doubling its previous total.
The tots won't touch New York magazine's "artful" nude photos of Lohan as Marilyn Monroe, which crashed nymag.com's servers in February to the tune of 20 million page views on each of the first two days the pics were posted.
Now, if anyone could only snap a new photo of baby Suri ...
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Republican Congressman Proposes Fining Sites That Allow Anonymous Comments

Dylan Stableford — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:01:42 -0400

Kentucky Rep. Tim Couch (R-Hyden) has proposed a bill that would require people who contribute comments or other user-generated content to Web sites to register their real name, address and e-mail address with the host site. If passed, Web sites that violate the requirement would be fined $500 for the first offense and $1,000 for each subsequent offense.
Apparently, Couch proposed the bill to call attention to what he says are unkind and often untrue comments about people being posted online by anonymous Kentuckians—specifically high school kids in his district who badmouth each other online.
While this may seem ridiculous on the surface, it raises a good question. How much responsibility does a Web site operator or media company have in regards to monitoring its user-generated content?
As someone pointed out Wednesday at McGraw-Hill’s Media Summit, magazines don’t hire anonymous reporters to write their stories, so why should they allow anonymous people to post content to their Web sites?
What do you think? Weigh in by leaving a comment below. (And, yes, anonymous posts are OK with us!)
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If Spitzer Was a Glamour Blogger, He Would've Been Out of a Job by Now

Dylan Stableford — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:12:56 -0400

A full day after the New York Times' shocking revelation about Eliot Spitzer's involvment in a prostitution ring, the New York governor still, somehow, remains in office. UPDATE: Not anymore.
It took less time for Glamour magazine to fire a blogger after, as they say, a majority of readers wanted to "pulverize" him. Here's our story. And here's the note:
Our ultimate goal here is to open a productive conversation about men, sex, love and dating; clearly, that can't happen when the majority of readers would like to pulverize the blogger.
Glamour's hands were clearly tied. (Need to kill some time? Peruse the 200-plus comments posted here, here and here.) But did he deserve to be fired for, as he told Radar, being a "single guy with some issues and a lot to learn. So be it. I kind of thought that's what made my blog interesting"?
By the way, Glamour says it will name its new "Man Needs a Date" man soon. I can think of one candidate ...
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An Early Death Knell for User Generated Content

Matt Kinsman — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 13:25:44 -0500

Every year there's a new savior for magazine publishers. Last year it was video. The funny thing is, while many more publishers are doing video today (and some are even making money on it), the buzz has faded a bit. That's because enough publishers are doing it that they now realize video does require investment, it does require staff, and it does not usher in a wave of new revenue for everyone who tries it.

This year, it's all about user generated content and social media. However, a Newsweek.com article says user generated content may have peaked before it's really started. The article cites the continued inaccuracies of Wikipedia and scammers running rampant on sites such as Craigslist as reconfirming the power of the "expert." While most publishers cite the 80-20 rule for user content (80 percent of the feedback is generated by 20 percent of the users), the Newsweek article says the ratio is even more skewed, with 1 percent of Wikipedia users accounting for 50 percent of the contributions.

Yes, I'm aware of the irony of a struggling "old media" brand calling out what could be the defining media trend of the next decade, as well as limiting its examples to the shortcomings of Wikipedia and Craigslist. However, the article does represent further evidence that publishing CEOs need to stop acting like the front row at a Hannah Montana concert when it comes to the idea of user generated content and apply more critical thinking to their approach. "Some of our forums have been great while others have been failures," said Alec Dann, general manager of Hanley Wood Magazines Online, at the ABM Digital Velocity conference this week. "You have to have the staff to do it right, and a lot of b-to-b companies don't want to do that."

Ain't that the truth. One CEO-level attendee at ABM Digital Velocity said, "We're all moving to a relationship with the audience. I don't mean to say that our friends in editorial will become extinct, but ..."

Well, even if he doesn't mean that, plenty of other publishers (especially on the b-to-b side) are salivating at the prospect of eliminating that pesky editorial staff in favor of a few monitors of audience content.

Yes, social media and user-generated content are great opportunities (and I think they will be huge). Yes, editors need to redefine their approach and facilitate the two-way conversation. But user-generated content doesn't offer a quick fix or justify completely abandoning the backbone of your content strategy. User generated content is another tool for the toolbox.
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Ex-Time Out Editor's Web Venture Unveiled

Jason Fell — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:54:47 -0500

Former Time Out New York editor Brian Farnham has been tight-lipped about the Internet start-up company he left the magazine late last month to help launch. Today, though, I received this e-mail from Farnham via LinkedIn. His company is an online news information site called Polar News. And apparently, they’re hiring.
The new position—a production manager—is an interesting one. It seems to combine editorial, marketing and circulation responsibilities.
Interested? See the e-mail below.
From: [REDACTED]
On Behalf Of Brian Farnham
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 12:18 PM
To: Jason Fell
Subject: We're hiring!
If you have a moment, I'd appreciate your help. Please take a look and forward this job on to anyone you think would be interested in the position, or anyone else who could help me find a great candidate.
Thanks for your help!
-Brian
Company: Polar News
Job Title: Product Manager
Description: If you...
-- Get Web 2.0
-- Want to work in a flexible entrepreneurial environment
-- Understand the term “hyperlocal” and its potential
-- Love building businesses from the ground up
…then this may be a job for you:
A well-funded startup backed by Internet Pioneers You’ve Heard Of is looking for a Product Manager.
This person will OWN a specific vertical in a new online news and information site—conception, development, execution, reporting, and measurement.
The PM will report to the Vice President and work closely with all other departments—content, engineering, marketing, etc.
Major Responsibilities:
-- Build and manage a product roadmap
-- Innovate, develop and execute strategies
-- Define user requirements for new features, incorporating cross-functional input, research, usability studies and competitive analyses.
-- Define and implement feedback and reporting requirements for all products to ensure that they can be optimized based on quantitative and qualitative data.
-- Work closely with the engineering team on technical implementations
-- Work cross functionally and take a hands-on role when needed (Editorial, Design, Marketing and Engineering.)
-- Identify business development opportunities and initiate meetings and potential deals
-- Drive projects from birth to adulthood

Experience / Skills / Profile:
* BA/BS required, ideally in a business, marketing, or computer science/engineering related field.
* At least one year of product management experience with strong social networking and Web 2.0 knowledge.
* Proficiency in HTML and Photoshop are a plus.
* Strong technical background (e.g., web standards, design and usability, and common web and application architectures).
* Excellent organizational skills including ability to build effective working relationships.
* Proven track record of setting aggressive goals and meeting them, with a style characterized by personal motivation, organizational skills and communications effectiveness.
* Knowledgeable across multiple functional areas – Product Management, Engineering, UI, Sales.
* Juggle multiple tasks and projects simultaneously in a deadline-oriented environment.
* Strong aptitude for determining the optimal way to position products in the market.
* Experience managing budgets and demonstrating ROI..
* Experience in online news, media, services preferred.
Competitive compensation package including base salary, full benefits, performance and start-up based incentives.
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