Archive for the ‘Ad Tech’ Category

Monday, April 30th, 2012

Making Money from Scoops

Here is an ethical question.

Can a news source make money from its scoops – beyond the obvious – and will I keep reading the source if they continue to scoop?

The question is raised by Felix Salmon, the finance blogger on Reuters – somewhat facetiously I thought…until I thought about it and read the comments posted around his own posting.

Read on:
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/04/24/could-the-nyt-make-money-from-its-scoops/

Bottom line – companies pay for access to information. In today’s world they pay for access to ever more relevant and ever more instant sources. If I hired a research company to unearth that same information few would argue that I don’t have the right to benefit from it. But a news source? A storied institution like the New York Times? Don’t they have a compact with the public? Don’t all credible news institutions have that same sense of accountability?

Yet already I can pay the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and others to get digital access to their news and thus get it faster and before the print edition is even composed. And, if I go back in time – isn’t buying a daily subscription the same thing? I get it early in the morning – read it with my coffee and muffin and get a jump on the guy who picks it up on the way in. In fact I remember stories of people who would wait outside the printing plants to get the first copy of a given newspaper in the old days.

So – it would seem, at first glance, that in our digital world there is no additional ethical or moral issue – like most things it’s just an evolution and adaptation of understood and accepted behavior.

Or is it? HMMMMMMM….

Read the posts and tell me what you think.

My going in view was much the same as one of the contributors – a trusted news source has to be held to a different standard than a scandal rag – and I might be tempted to add that in a world where credibility, relevance and trust are becoming blurred subjects, I might feel even more strongly about that point and hope that they hew to a more rigorous interpretation of their charter.

In fact I might argue that if they fall prey to the temptation it actually lowers their future competitive advantage.

Last point – notice all the anonymity in the postings – my position on that has never changed – unless you are in a country where you fear for your life the opportunity to misuse hiding behind a curtain is too tempting for too many…and adds to the danger of having no credible sources left for benchmarking information and, yes, even behavior.

Listen:

“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.”
Samuel Johnson

I think this about sums it up. Interestingly, many weighed in on this, from the Greek and Roman philosophers to Benjamin Franklin to many of today’s most famous pundits.

Not a problem created by our age but one still very relevant and very much on people’s minds.

What do you think?

Posted by David on 04/30 at 06:43 PM
  • It is interesting how many sites are now making the move from freeview into pay for content models - most recently was the Times UK. I guess most people expect that the publications online should be free, whilst paper copies should not - however a business is a business and any profit made off the back of covering operating costs ...
    Read more >
    Posted by Suzanne Donovan on 2012-05-07 04:36:56
Monday, April 16th, 2012

Have You Tried Instagram?

Have you tried Instagram?

I was a fan from day one…everything about it was smart – it enhanced human need to share photos; platformed off the mobile phone camera – already accepted and used by consumers; was easy to use; had a simple name – all in all it was what I call a “white space “product – it filled in white/empty space around the user as opposed to being just another app of many…and their success is already legend. And well deserved.

However, this Ramble is not about their technology and what you can learn from it – it’s about learning from the founders and their understanding of how critical the human factor is to success; how critical face to face is to success; how networking to them is not about thousands of “friends” on Facebook but rather a strongly and well cultivated group of real people whom they could call on and did.

I was inspired by the following post and gratified that it amplifies so much of what I believe to be true.

Behind Instagram’s Success, Networking the Old Way (New York Times)

And here is the payoff – the lesson – the money shot if you will…listen:

“Make sure to spend some time after the talk getting to know the people around you.”
Kevin Systrom

Kevin is one of the founders – he got to KNOW the people around him – now look where he is.

Time to make sure we all know the people around us…really know them – you never know….

What do you think?

 

Posted by David on 04/16 at 07:05 PM
  • Hear you -- but dont agree -- his comments were made at a seminar -- of the people....
    Read more >
    Posted by david sable on 2012-04-17 18:50:45
  • Actually, David, I look at Kevin Systrom's comments in a different light to you. What he was really referring to is the very closed loop of contacts that exists in Silicon Valley that benefits only those who can penetrate the wall that surrounds Sand Hill Road and keeps ninety nine percent of qualified people out. Instagram's founding, its ...
    Read more >
    Posted by Tony Lee on 2012-04-16 20:32:00
Monday, April 9th, 2012

Love 2.0

Algorithms do not love make….

Yes, yes – we all know the advertised stories of all the happy couples brought together by digital dating services through the magic of advanced algorithms.

But hear out Eli Finkel, a professor of social psychology at Northwestern University. As quoted by The New York Times on Easter Sunday, Professor Finkel had this to say:

“Technology is not the way to figure out who is compatible and who will never be.  At the end of the day, the human algorithm – neural tissue in our cranium called a brain – has evolved over a long period of time to size up people efficiently. On a blind date, a person arrives and in that instant can say, ‘I’m glad I did this or I regret it.’”

It also reminded me of a joke often told by Rodney Dangerfield, the well-known American comedian:

“My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met.”

And there you have it….

As I contemplated both the professor and Rodney and the sentiment they shared, I was reminded of a piece I had seen in TIME Magazine regarding the technological aspects of the various revolutions and movements of the past year or so:

“Technology mattered, but this was not a technological revolution. Social networks did not cause these movements, but they kept them alive and connected. Technology allowed us to watch, and it spread the virus of protest, but this was not a wired revolution; it was a human one, of hearts and minds, the oldest technology of all.”

Bottom line – algorithms help us make order out of chaos – but they have no soul.

Imagine a world where we could make peace by algorithm….

So it seems to me that as we contemplate what algorithms can and cannot do – as we understand them for the tools they are and not the tools they might make us – I thought the following might spark a thought or two….

Listen:

“If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.”
Carl Sagan

So if you are looking for the love of your life or you have the urge to bring about world peace – by all means begin with Bing or Google – but remember that creating the universe takes a lot more thought….

What do you think?

Posted by David on 04/09 at 05:11 PM