November 27, 2006

Message From Michael                    
                                                                                                                                                      

• BIG AND SMALL IN THE DIGITAL WORLD


• PROOF AND DISPROOF


• RESEARCH OF NOTE


• WEBSITES OF NOTE


• TRENDS OF NOTE


• COCKTAIL CHATTER – MONEY REAL AND FICTIONAL

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• BIG AND SMALL IN THE DIGITAL WORLD:  The online magazine EContent has come out with its top 100 list of “companies that matter most in the digital content industry.”   Alongside giants like Adobe (5,600 employees), Apple (10,000 employees), EMC Corporation (23,000), Google (8,000), IBM (329,000), Microsoft (71,000), are companies of 100 (Brightcove and Slingmedia), 40 (Clearstorysystems and Exalead), 35 (Alfresco and Technorati), 30 (Jotspot and Socialtext), 20 (Contentguard, Crownpeak, Grokker and iUpload), ten or less (37signals, Icerocket, Wordpress) and even just one (Podcastalley and thepodcastingnetwork).  Visiting the various sites gives you a glimpse into the future.  And since none of you want to spend the time visiting all those sites, your favorite consultant did.  In one sentence, what you see is the migration of everything to being online – not just generic ‘stuff’ of the Google, YouTube, Yahoo ilk, but specific business and personal information along with the tools to manage and manipulate that information.Under the general term of CM – Content Management, which the magazine’s judges noted has many technology acronyms but which is basically “managing today’s amorphous information masses,” you can find websites that are all global in their reach but varied in their approach.  Under either search technologies or fee-based info services, you find small but agile search competitors to Google and Yahoo.  Not surprisingly the smallest companies are the blogging companies where, as the judges put it, “everyone’s a publisher” or the podcasting companies which the judges say, have “shot out meaningful roots in the enterprise market.”  What I personally found most interesting were the various sites that come under the general description of “collaboration.”  They are all, more or less, variations of the Wiki model, spanning the globe to allow “teamwork, web-style, which emphasizes shared knowledge and member contribution regardless of proximity.”  (I should note a previous MfM which reported that the Intelligence community has created a Wiki site, inaccessible to us of course, called Intellipedia.) Examples of the collaborative model are socialtext.com which its site says is “global 2000 CIO approved,” 37signals.com which offers everything from basecamp which is project collaboration for businesses to writeboard which offers collaborative writing to ta-da list which is a sharable ‘to-do list.’  Or how about jotspot.com – oh, never mind, Google just bought the company.


• PROOF AND DISPROOF:  Proof of the growing econtent development is the recent creation of an E-Media Exchange in which seven newspaper groups representing 176 newspapers have joined with Yahoo to share content, advertising and technology.  Further proof is that the number of people downloading podcasts has nearly doubled in the last six months, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project.  The latest survey reported that 12% of Web users said they had downloaded a podcast which is up from the 7% reported in the Pew project’s earlier survey.  However, as Wendy Davis notes in Online Media Daily, the Pew figures are dramatically higher than the 6.6% figure reported by Nielsen/ Net Ratings.  The Pew report also notes that, understandably, podcast downloaders are likely to connect via broadband.   Disproof is a study by the Jupiter Research group that Internet growth is slowing.  The company predicts that it will drop to two percent by 2011.  Further disproof is a report by Nielsen Media Research that iPod users are not video users.  As part of its Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement, Nielsen reported that only 16% of iPod users played a video during the month of October.


• RESEARCH OF NOTE:  The same group (Pew Internet and American Life) reports that 20% of all Americans say they get most of their science news and information from the Internet, compared to 41% who rely on television and 14% who cited newspapers and magazines as their primary source.  However, interestingly, the figures are higher for people with broadband connections with a third (34%) relying on the Internet for science news and a third (33%) relying on TV.  The younger broadband users (18 to 29) are much heavier users of the Internet when it comes to science news with 44% saying they rely on the Internet compared to the 32% who cite TV as their main source. Meanwhile, on a less serious note, two out of every three adult Americans (67%) say they have placed a bet in the last year, according to the Pew Center for Research, although most of that was in the form of lottery tickets.  Still, three in ten (29%) say they have visited a casino and one in four (25%) say they have played a slot machine.  And only one in five (21%) say they’ve never gambled.  But, again, note the dramatic change and growth when the broadband element is brought into the Internet equation.


• WEBSITES OF NOTE:   Can’t make up your mind what movie to rent?  Borat or For Your Consideration (both movies that I watched over the weekend)?  Then try the website Whattorent.com.  It asks a series of odd questions and comes up with recommendations.  For me, the first choice it made was Best In Show (another Christopher Guest movie and one I loved.)  Or you just saw a movie and you liked the dress, the shoes, the hat, the drink or whatever the actor used and you want one just like it.  Then try website Seenon.com.  It lists all the products seen on TV and in films.  On a decidedly more serious note, the Center for Democracy and Technology website (CDT.org) tracks Congressional legislation that impacts digital issues.  And keeping that serious note going, the Media Law Resource Center website (medialaw.org) tracks developments and promotes First Amendment rights.  (Thanks to former anchor, current college teacher and Ph.D candidate Becky Nee for this last website tip.)


• TRENDS OF NOTE:  Several industry newsletters are starting to report on a growing phenomenon being labeled “opinion fatigue.”  This is despite the reduction of phone solicitations through the “do not call” program.   For starters, charitable organizations are not included, or excluded, depending on how you look at it, from the program.  Secondly, some marketers are using the guise of opinion solicitation to sell their product.  AdAge recently reported on a conference of top market research executives meeting in Chicago to discuss the problem.  And the Word Of Mouth organization is discussing the issue at its next conference.  On a semi-personal note, I have been ‘surveyed’ five times in the past few years – two of them, oddly enough, were television related.  I did disclose my broadcast involvement, but they included me anyway.  I have to say that, despite my best efforts to be engaged, after about 10 to 12 minutes, my answers became much more short, clipped, less responsive and meaningful.  I also, by the way, turned down the last request to be part of a survey.


• COCKTAIL CHATTER:  According to the New York Times, the average WEEKLY pay for someone working in the financial services sector on Wall Street is more than $8,000.  (Let me repeat the key word – weekly.)  Forbes magazine compiled a list of the richest fictional characters with Little Orphan Annie’s sugar daddy, Daddy Warbucks topping the list with a calculated net value of $36.2 Billion.  Homer Simpson’s boss, Charles Montgomery Burns, came in second at $16.8 Billion, followed by Scrooge McDuck at $10.9 Billion, barely beating out Richie Rich at $10.7 Billion with Jed Clampett coming in fifth at $7.7 Billion.  My personal favorite with a net worth of $2.8 Billion is Prince Abakaliki of Nigeria ----- you know, that ‘guy’ who sends you e-mails about the fortune he has waiting for you if you will only assist him.  The new Microsoft Zune media player is causing a stir in Quebec where the name sounds like a French slang term for genitalia, according to author and consultant Don DePalma writing in ChiefMarketer.  


• SUBSCRIPTIONS:  If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, e-mail newsconsultant@aol.com with the word “unsubscribe-MM” in the subject line. Also, back issues of MfM from 2006 are available at the website, media-consultant.blogspot.com.  You can reach me directly at Michael@MediaConsultant.tv.