C’mon, give me some credit. Not even I would write an article that cheesy!
Opinion
5
Jun 09
Journalism and Authority
True story:
- Article which peaks your interest appears on some big newspaper.
- You like it so you Tweet about it, or link to it on Facebook.
- Someone in your network of friends reads it and says a couple facts are wrong.
- You go to Wikipedia and read about the topic.
- You follow some links out of Wikipedia to some research papers and/or niche sites and skim these.
- Meanwhile a rather large comment thread has developed on the article, and you get a few more opinions and links out to supplemental information. You read them.
- One of the “experts” quoted in the article has a Twitter and/or Facebook account. This “expert” links to the interview and claims a couple of facts were a little bit off and he was quoted out of context or incomplete.
Final Verdict?
The original article that started you on this journey was mostly right, but due to about 20-30 minutes of your own research figured out the author’s bias (a few years ago he did some consulting in the industry he wrote the article about).You also learned the facts were a tad off, but generally accurate. You also learned more from the extra research of value that you can’t believe this information wasn’t included in the originating article. You click over to the original article to offer feedback and realize several others already found the same thing.
What did the newspaper provide?
This third person experience happened to me.
The newspaper started the discussion. Got it rolling. But ultimately that journalist was not the authority – to me.
That is the single biggest noticeable change for me personally.
Before Web 2.0 an author of a “researched” article was perceived by me as an authority on a subject.
Today, they are simply someone who gets the ball rolling.
Can newspapers change and adapt to this?
8
Jan 09
Nintendo teaches Microsoft and Sony a lesson in Marketing 101
Forbes offers up insight into the game console battles that teaches a few important lessons in marketing. After a complex overengineering battle for the new set-top juggernaut between Microsoft and Sony (with Microsoft winning), Nintendo snuck by – focusing on family friendly games and letting the industry leaders beat the hell out of each other trying to be the biggest fastest and best.
Distraction.
If you can keep industry leaders in a protracted pissing match long enough you can find your opening. In war, this is finding your opponents weakness and seizing the opportunity. Pouring everything into that weakness and coming out victorious.
Sure, the Wii’s graphics aren’t the best. You also cannot play many of the popular games you can on the other two consoles. But it doesn’t matter. Nintendo made a human connection. It is those human connections that defy “processor speeds” and “graphic acceleration” which tend to quantify the two industry leaders.
It’s the same reason why, during the summer movie blockbusters, some innocent family friendly movie ends up being number one. While the latest superhero pics, sci-fi epics, and biopics on the latest hipster obsession-of-the-month vie for your attention – studios often forget that families like to go to the movies too. The studios that don’t usually end up laughing all the way to the bank.
Yes, the movie blockbuster’s strength is also it’s weakness. In the music world it happens all the time. Look at SubPop, Kranky, or Dischord – labels that create entirely new music scenes – ignoring what contemporary industry may define as “popular” music. (Interestingly, the music industry is in one of the most exciting rule changing eras in decades.)
When finding a niche for your blog, or product, think about Nintendo as you try to battle it out with the A-List players in your vertical market.
Instead of playing on their field by their rules, the best strategy may be creating your own field where you make the rules. Welcome to the world of niche marketing.
Disclaimer: My daughters got a Wii over the holidays. I cannot begin to tell you the amount of laughs, fights, and just plain fun times we have had over the past few weeks.
Read the Forbes article: Why XBox and SONY fell behind Wii
3
Dec 08
Google Blog Search letting other sites slip in their results pages
Today I was looking for unique musician gift ideas.
Whenever I am looking for something offbeat I prefer to search Google Blog Search as opposed to regular search. However, when I typed in “musician gifts”, I was shocked to see the e-commerce powerhouse Musician’s Friend in the list of “Recommended Blogs”.
Say what? See below:
Further on down the page was another suspect search result for – of all things – the homepage of a large Gannett newspaper:
Not sure what the deal is with this. Does anyone know what the criteria is for what makes it into Google Blog Search? Because these results CERTAINLY do not belong there.
What I like about Google Blog Search is the immediacy of information showing up in the search results. I like the offbeat nature of blog posts. They seem to do a good job of weeding out blog spam. Unfortunately it seems these large sites are somehow creeping into the results and it doesn’t make sense at all.
Musician’s Friend? “Recommended Blog?”
Are they PAYING for this placement?
C’mon guys.