Ms. Adverthinker

It was a big day at South by Southwest (SXSW) as there was much anticipation for the keynote presentation from Twitter’s founder Evan Williams. Williams enjoys celebrity status here at the interactive portion of the festival, causing a line to form for entry into the room where he would be speaking. The presentation turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, but there were plenty of good sessions throughout the day to make up for the letdown.

There were almost 150 sessions available today. I was able to attend the following five:

• “The Future of Context: Getting the Bigger Picture Online”
• “After Magazines: WIRED’s Digital Rebirth”
• “The Life Graph: You are Your Location”
• Evan Williams Keynote
• “Mikey Likes It: Does the FTC?”

“The Future of Context: Getting the Bigger Picture Online” was a panel-led discussion about journalism in an online news distribution channel. The session topic was developed under the premise that news distribution has become too “bite-sized” with information shared in headline format, lacking any background information that would allow the reader to actually understand the “bigger picture” situation. The panelists used healthcare as an example: at the pace of daily news, healthcare looks like a total mess. However, when healthcare is explained at a broader level, it is easier to distill and understand.

This was another discussion that presented more questions than answers. With many journalists in the room, the discussion was lively. The general consensus was that news needs to be delivered with more in-depth context than “click here for more information” after a breaking news headline. Consumers have been conditioned to read only the headlines and hope that the torrential wash of information over them will eventually cohere into understanding and knowledge. However, this understanding is not developing, and the public is ending up uninformed during a time when they have more access to information than ever before.

“After Magazines: WIRED’s Digital Rebirth” was the coolest session of the day. WIRED magazine recognized the movement from print to digital and is the first magazine to translate its design into a format for consumption on a digital tablet. The creative director of WIRED magazine and an Adobe representative led the presentation in which they demonstrated reading the March issue of WIRED on a digital tablet. This session was tailored for designers with conversation about the custom typefaces designed for WIRED and the workflow process of design for print versus design for digital. However, the live demonstration could have been appreciated by all magazine readers, especially those that appreciate the high-end design of WIRED magazine. The designers have translated the print experience into a digital experience that is just as pleasing but with added features to take advantage of the digital format. From 360-degree viewing of objects to audio interviews to video to varying views as the orientation changes from portrait to landscape, the designers and developers created a complete experience. The digital magazine was shown on a Dell tablet, an Android tablet and an iPhone. They noted that there was much anticipation for iPad and that the WIRED app would be available for the iPad this summer. Although a pricing model has not yet been determined for the digital subscription, WIRED’s creative director said that subscribers would have a library of previous issues for their future reference, much like a music or e-book library. They will also be integrating social sharing features into the digital magazine to allow readers to instantly post articles to Facebook or Twitter without leaving the magazine.

“The Life Graph: You are Your Location” was another discussion about location-based services and applications like FourSquare, Gowalla, Loopt and Google Latitude. Location-based services are definitely garnering the most conversation this year at SXSW. The panelists predicted that in three to four years everyone with a smart phone will use location-based applications because location is what makes mobility fundamentally different.

Much of this panel’s discussion about location focused on data privacy. Again, sites like Please Rob Me were dismissed as irrelevant to security concerns. Like the panel from the earlier session on location, this panel noted that a person’s absence from home can be determined from simple status updates without revealing an exact location away from home. The privacy concerns will be with how companies use the location data they are collecting. For example, with enough data, a company could predict with 90% certainty where a user will be at a specific time in the future. (Although, according to the Loopt representative, 95% of Americans are incredibly boring, going from home to work everyday.) Additionally, they could sell the data to hedge fund managers as a prediction for success of retail locations. Interestingly, it was noted that location data can not be anonymized: it is very easy to identify who a person is based on their location data.

There will be much more talk in the coming months about location-based services, how consumers use them and how businesses will use them. This session only scratched the surface of advertising and promotion (texting coupons to your phone when you walk into or by a retail location), social etiquette (will it become rude to not “check -in?”), predictive technology services (for example, the heat in your home turning on as you get closer to home), and potential abuse (for example, tracking people with Google Latitude enable phone hidden in the trunk of a car). A survey of the 300 people attending this session revealed that approximately 90% of attendees were using at least one location-based application regularly. This is obviously not a representative sample of the general population, but SXSW attendees are early adopters and predictive of future trends.

The keynote presentation with Evan Williams, Twitter founder, was disappointing. This highly anticipated session was jam-packed with SXSW attendees; there was not an empty seat in the room when the presentation began. The format was interview-style with Umair Haque serving as the interviewer.

Williams was expected to make an announcement about Twitter and the prediction was that it would be an advertising model. Instead, the reveal was the @Anywhere platform, a way to integrate Twitter accounts/data/links onto partner media sites, allowing readers to follow Twitter accounts of people/brands/organizations mentioned in articles without leaving the media site. Williams made this announcement off the top of his interview. He went on to talk about the Twitter business model for the remainder of the hour. Unfortunately, the discussion was not very engaging and after just 30 minutes the room was half empty.

Using Twitter, SXSW attendees complained loudly about the presentation and Williams was listening. After the session, also using Twitter, he posted the message (from @ev on Twitter) “I heard on the backchannel that people want me to answer tougher questions. What’ya want to know? Will answer 10. Go.” He was, of course, flooded with questions, some relevant and some silly. The one question that was not answered, however, was whether there would be an advertising platform introduced in the future.

“Mikey Likes It: Does the FTC?” was a round-room conversation with bloggers and lawyers debating product endorsement versus editorial product reviews. The bottom line is that the FTC requires bloggers to disclose if they have been provided a product at no cost and they talk about the product on their sites. A representative from the FTC assisted in the conversation moderation and iterated that the FTC does not regulate editorial content. The FTC will step into the conversation if they believe there is a high likelihood of a consumer believing that the message is not influenced by a brand or advertiser, when in fact it is. While the FTC representative acknowledged that there was nothing improper about these relationships between brands/advertisers and bloggers, she said it was necessary to be transparent about the relationships with readers.

Day four of five is complete and the conference is almost over. Austin has been a gracious host with its abundance of Tex Mex restaurants and pleasant spring weather. Leaving will be bittersweet.

Colleges and universities are finally dipping their toes into the waters of technology.  Last month, I noted that students learn better from listening to a lecture podcast than from attending class.  Last week, the Missouri School of Journalism announced that incoming students are required to purchase an iPhone or an iPod Touch so they can download lectures from iTunes.  MU already encourages journalism students to use Apple computers.  As one can imagine, some students are not happy about the requirements.  Regardless of the choice of brand (although I am fan of Apple, of course), I am glad that MU recognizes the need to be on the forefront of technology and understands that teaching and learning methods have evolved.  Not all journalism schools are so progressive.  This is what led to our creation of SWIM: we were interviewing students who had no understanding of the impact social media can have on marketing and communications.  Our SWIM sessions are also available for download as podcasts on iTunes.

Also on the university and technology front: six universities will be part of a pilot program with the new Kindle DX.  Students at these universities will receive the Kindle DX instead of the traditional pile of text books.  The schools participating in the program are: Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Princeton University, Reed College, Pace University and University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

Now you can.  The New York Times is reporting today that HP is offering a low-cost printing solution for consumers with start-up magazines.  The new service is called MagCloud.  The magazines are printed on-demand and cost 20-cents per page.  This new type of business model presents a great opportunity for those “consumer journalists” to experiment with what they think might be a cool, niche idea.  My initial thought: if you have a magazine idea, why wouldn’t you just start it as a website?  While I read magazines, I am not sure of the general readership these days.  With the newspaper business declining, it makes sense that the magazine business will be close behind it.  Many magazines are already offering their content as a monthly subscription through Amazon’s Kindle and online, but these outlets just don’t have the same feel.  You can read newspapers on the Kindle and not miss much of the experience, but magazines need that slick paper and those glossy photos that contribute to the experience of reading them.

“It is not clear how big a market there is for small runs of narrow-interest magazines when so much information is available free on the Internet. So far, users of the service, which is still in a testing phase, have produced close to 300 magazines, including publications on paintings by Mormon artists, the history of aerospace, food photography and improving your personal brand in a digital age.

“Aspiring publishers must handle their own writing and design work, sending a PDF file of their creation over the Internet to the MagCloud repository. H.P. farms out the printing jobs to partners scattered around the globe and takes care of billing and shipping for people who order the magazine. While H.P. charges the magazine publishers 20 cents a page, they can charge whatever they like for the completed product.”

I hope this takes off.  I love the idea of being able to experiment with an idea to understand its salience before dumping a large investment of money and time into it.  And, I think the more people we have talking about their passions out in the world, the better.

The Huffington Post announced yesterday that it will pay investigative journalists to write about the nation’s economy:

“Work that the journalists produce will be available for any publication or Web site to use at the same time it is posted on The Huffington Post, she said.

“The Huffington Post Web site is a collection of opinionated blog entries and breaking news. It has seven staff reporters.

“Ms. Huffington said she and the donors were concerned that layoffs at newspapers were hurting investigative journalism at a time when the nation’s institutions need to be watched closely. She hopes to draw from the ranks of laid-off journalists.”

With the demise of newspapers on the horizon, there has been much discussion lately about the state of journalism.  The concern: the quality of reporting will decline if we rely only on unpaid “consumer journalists” posting stories online.  The Huffington Post is proposing this solution, with the hope that their actions will encourage other news outlets to do the same.

I will admit that I have never been an avid radio listener.  For the most part, the reason for this lack of interest has been the radio “personalities.”  I have never found one that “clicks” with me.  Unfortunately, I think that local radio has to cater to the lowest common denominator of public taste in order to make the money they need to make to stay on the air.  But, let’s be honest: all media outlets are trying to figure out how to stay in business right now with the free online media onslaught.

Enter NPR.  NPR is growing.  The April issue of Fast Company has an article on NPR:

“In one of the great under-told media success stories of the past decade, NPR has emerged not as the bespectacled schoolmarm of our imagination but as a massive news machine poised for what Dick Meyer, editorial director for digital media, half-jokingly calls ‘world domination.’ NPR’s listenership has nearly doubled since 1999, even as newspaper circulation dropped off a cliff. Its programming now reaches 26.4 million listeners weekly — far more than USA Today‘s 2.3 million daily circ or Fox News’ 2.8 million prime-time audience. When newspapers were closing bureaus, NPR was opening them, and now runs 38 around the world, better than CNN.  It has 860 member stations — ‘boots on the ground in every town’ that no newspaper or TV network can claim. It has moved boldly into new media as well: 14 million monthly podcast downloads, 8 million Web visitors, NPR Mobile, an open platform, a social network, even crowdsourcing. And although the nonprofit has been hit by the downturn like everyone else, its multiple revenue streams look far healthier long term than the ad-driven model of commercial media.”

NPR attributes this growth, and now sustainability, to its multiplatform distribution outlets: it has capitalized on the technology trends.  “It was the first mainstream-media organization to enter podcasting and often has several programs in the iTunes top 10….Traffic on NPR.org grew 78% from 2007 to 2008.”

This weekend, during a conversation with Blake’s Think Tank, the discussion veered to the importance of offering content to consumers in a format in which they want to receive it: no longer can the media expect consumers to come to them for the content.  We had this conversation in the context of literature, news and the Amazon Kindle.  However as it turns out, this is very relevant when it comes to radio too, evident by NPR’s success.  Radio is a convenience media outlet: “‘People don’t have 15 minutes to sit at home and read the newspaper, but you can get accurate, in-depth reporting as you sit in traffic,’ or make dinner, or clean out the garage.  It’s a screen-free complement to online browsing.”  And, people will get access to this information live by tuning in to the radio, or by downloading and listening on their iPods, or by streaming it from their computers.  NPR has given them the freedom to decide how to consume the information.  And that is making them a winner in this new distribution competition.

While it helps that NPR does not depend on advertising dollars for sustainability, it is dealing with the down economy too: “All sources of funding, from corporate underwriting to foundation grants, dipped last year, causing a projected $23 million budget shortfall for fiscal 2009.”  This news delivery battle will come down to the survival of the fittest.  Will it be radio?

Little Rock’s NPR station can be found on 89.1 and at kuar.org.  Tune in now: according to Fast Company, “…someday soon we may be looking at a world where public radio emerges as the main local-news source in many communities coast to coast.”

UPDATE: Blake’s Think Tank reports on NPR audience increases:

“Washington-based NPR will release new figures to its stations today showing that the cumulative audience for its daily news programs hit 20.9 million a week, a 9 percent increase over the previous year,” reports The Washington Post.”