Message From Michael 
Today’s Date
TWITTER ME THIS
RIDDLE ME THIS
NO MYSTERY HERE
THE OXYGEN OF THE INDUSTRY
GO SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST
COCKTAIL CHATTER – SOCIAL NETWORK SEX
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TWITTER ME THIS: According to an analysis in the State of the News Media report, there appear to be as many differences between Twitter and Bloggers as there are between mainstream media and new media, or bloggers. For example, mainstream media and bloggers only had the same top story 13 times out of the 47 weeks studied. But Twitter and mainstream media had the same top story even less -- four times out of 27 weeks studied. The blogosphere “mirrored talk radio,” according to the study, turning the story of the day into heated political arguments. The “vast majority” of Tweets were not opinions or analysis but rather simply information alerts. The top story line among bloggers was ‘Obama-related news’ while that only ranked ninth among Twitter posts. And the number one topic on Twitter? According to the study, it was twitter itself which accounted for a tenth of all tweets.
RIDDLE ME THIS: The disparity, or differences, continues in other areas as well. For example, as noted in the previous message, network evening news has five times the audience of cable news, yet the network news websites lagged behind those of cable as online destinations for news. Going further, Fox has more than double the median prime time audience (2.13 Million) as CNN (891,000), yet CNN has more than double (35.57 Million) the online audience of Fox (14.74 Million). Local television is often cited as consumers’ number one source for news, yet newspaper websites out-strip television websites in most markets. Newspaper websites pull in a quarter (25%) of all local online revenue while television websites account for about a tenth (10%). The report notes that may change if some of the newspapers put up ‘pay walls.’ Nevertheless, so-called “pure-play” Internet websites (sites like Amazon or Google that don’t have a bricks and mortar presence) still account for half (51%) of all LOCAL online revenues.
NO MYSTERY HERE: While many of those bloggers are critical of mainstream media, the report shows they couldn’t get along without them. So-called ‘legacy outlets’ like newspapers and broadcast networks accounted for four out of every five items (80%) linked to blogs. International ‘legacy outlets’ accounted for a fifth (20%) while web-only sites didn’t even count for a single full percent. Even more startling, three outlets alone provided two thirds (65%) of all bloggers’ linked news articles. The New York Times (28.7%); CNN (18.9%); and the BBC (17.6%). And a follow-up confirmation to last week’s message about comparative news expenditures by the cable networks, the study shows that nearly all of CNN’s content was written by staff (93%). Less than half (49%) of Fox news content was staff written and only a fifth (20%) of MSNBC’s content was produced in house with nearly half of it (46%) coming straight from the wire services. On the flip side, the Project for Excellence in Journalism report noted that CNN.com had just over half the video links on its site as the other two sites. However, the report authors note that late last year the CNN site was re-designed to provide more video and interactivity.
THE OXYGEN OF THE INDUSTRY. That is how Maine Republican Senator Olympia Snowe describes spectrum in the wake of the debate over the National Broadband Plan released by the Federal Communications Commission. A little less poetic, but no less hyperbolic, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski calls broadband, “the indispensable infrastructure for the 21st Century… (and the) foundation for our democracy in the digital age.” But even while using the oxygen analogy, Snowe adds the proviso that even critical oxygen only constitutes 21% of the air we breathe. So, it’s not just spectrum reallocation that is needed, but also spectrum management and sharing along with “technical innovation such as spatial multiplexing, femtocells, smart antennas, and cognitive radio as well as even greater fiber optic backhaul investment.” Okay, I know a staffer wrote this, but even so, you have to be impressed with a senator talking about femtocells and cognitive radio. And she backs it up with some amazing factoids. (And you know how I love factoids.) Citing projections by technology marketing firm ABI Research, her op-ed piece says there will be a 2,900 percent increase in mobile broadband subscribers from 2007 to 2014 when there will be 150 Million of them. To that, she adds, there are already more than 276 Million wireless subscribers in the
The plan outlines six specific goals, leading with the so-called 100/squared plan which is to provide 100 Million homes ‘affordable access’ to download speeds of 100 Megabits, and upload speeds of 50 Megabits. The plan also calls for every community to have ‘affordable access’ to One Gigabit per second broadband, at what it calls anchor institutions – schools and hospitals. Those are the two most specific goals. Less specific, the plan calls for the
As noted in previous messages, the most controversial part of the National Broadband Plan is the issue of re-allocating/ re-directing/ re-purposing or re-taking (depending on your perspective) some of the digital spectrum now owned by broadcasters, for broadband delivery. The commission and members of Congress have indicated that any release of spectrum should be ‘voluntary.’ And as always, I have barely touched on the plan which runs to 17 chapters and which I have not fully read. But I will for the sake of my devoted readers, and we will have updates in future messages.
GO SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST: All right, I know I’ve played off the Horace Greeley quote before, but if you want to see why broadband is the indispensable infrastructure talked about above, go the SXSW.com website. The recently completed festival which bills itself as “geek wonderland” and adopts the mantra, “tomorrow starts here” is a mashup or “unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technology.” The conference and festival which claims that Twitter was launched there in 2007, this year was focused on location-based social networking sites which allows you to tell others where you are “in real time.” Two of the bigger players, Gowalla and Foursquare, faced off at the conference. To get a peek at tomorrow, visit the sites web award winners where you will find an amazing interactive website, Waterlife, detailing the challenges facing the Great Lakes; Or Atlas Obscura, which documents the weird and wonderful in the world; Or We Choose the Moon which shows just how interactive the Internet can be, with a multi-layered combination of pictures and graphics outlining the original moon launch; Or D.I.E. which is not what you think but a German abbreviation, created by a student and allowing you to explore the world through interactive animations. The winner of the People’s Choice Award was Cornify which allows you to add unicorns to your website or anything else you want. The best of show award went to Wolfram Alpha, which we’ve mentioned in previous messages, and which aims to make “all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone.” Anyway, here’s the link: http://www.sxsw.com/interactive/webawards/winners.
COCKTAIL CHATTER: A survey by a consumer electronics site called Retrevo claims that seven percent of those questioned claimed they would check their social networking accounts during sex… if they had the option. As far fetched as that may sound, the report by Media Post’s The Social Graf noted a previous survey by Harris Interactive in which 46% of women and 30% of men said they would rather go without sex for two weeks than give up the Internet for that long. The Retrevo survey reports that 17% said they sometimes check their social network profiles when they wake up during the night. “Edging closer to normality,” as the report by Media Post’s The Social Graf puts it, more than half (53%) say they immediately log on to check their social network profiles when they wake up in the morning. Also from The Social Graf, a report by the Association of British Insurers warns that home insurance premiums may increase 10%, in part because of an increase in home invasions resulting from people revealing their whereabouts on social networks.
Finally, a French-based company, Ultime Realite, is offering customers the so-called ‘ultimate thrill’ – being kidnapped and held hostage. Cost – 900 Euros, according to trends website Springwise. On a more pleasant note, Springwise reports that a
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