Internet start ups aiming to be the new Web TV networks

CNNMoney.com reports that firms are vying to become the go-to network for online video: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/03/01/8401044/index.htm?section=money_latest.

Can we ever afford to produce big ideas for small markets?

As the world of media continues to become even more fragmented, how will we ever be able to produce large-scale, high-quality content for niche markets? The exisiting model of multi-million dollar budgets funding such material does not translate well to a smaller world where we want to produce and distribute entertaining shows to a niche community of a few thousand. If our appetite for media remains strong, how will we ever afford to create compelling content that serves on a smaller scale?

It's a visual world - seeing is believing

Think about the appetite for flat-screens. It's what's driving sales at retailers like Best Buy and others. We're paving a way for ubiquitous visual communication. Everywhere you'll turn, there'll be another screen.

Cars and broadband: fast forward

Reaching a speeding target. When high-speed wireless (Wi-Max) rolls out, your car can do a lot more than 55...Read what Sprint has in mind: http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10895_7-6630605.html&tag=feat.2

A book on the future of Web video

With the possibilities of any yahoo making a video and posting it online, there's now some good direction for those who are serious about making money online with video content: http://cinematech.blogspot.com/2006/11/future-of-web-video.html

Wildest dreams: a surreal in-flight experience

Get this, and let it sink in: I am on my way home right now from a four-day business trip visiting a client in Stockholm, Sweden. Given the miracle of technology, I am on e-mail right now on an SAS flight to Chicago somewhere over Norway at 39,000 feet, crusing at 463 mph on a free, broadband wireless Internet connection listening to Asia’s Wildest Dreams on Napster and having lunch. Life takes odd turns and this certainly is one of the more amusing, productive and strange experiences I’ve had in a while. I am not sure if God is going to punish us for this or reward humanity for our pure ambition and determination to achievement given the talents He has given us. A few seconds ago, the flight attendant was suggesting two types of red wines, Merlot or Grenache and I am trying not to spill it all over my Vaio notebook. This is weird. I have to think about what this all means. The lyrics are pure irony: "I never would have thought this in my wildest dreams."

Awesome News - Wired Cover Story on YouTube

Bob Garfield's December 2006 article is great and hits the mark. Consider this quote for a moment:

"Until about five minutes ago, remember, almost all video-entertainment content was produced and distributed by Hollywood. Period. That time is over. There was a time when advertisers could count on mass audiences for what Hollywood thought we should be watching on TV. That time is all but over. There was a time when broadband penetration was too slight and bandwidth costs too prohibitive for video to be watched online. That time is sooooo over. "The era of the creepy blue light leaking out of every living room window on the block is now officially at an end," says my pal and occasional colleague Steve Rosenbaum, founder of video-sharing startup Magnify.net and one of the inventors a decade ago of citizen video. "The simple, wonderful, delirious fact is that people like you and me can now make and share content."

The promise of BrightCove

Providing a free platform for people to create their own channel, syndicate content, share it, stream it for free -- and maybe even make money -- sounds like a progressive move. BrightCove recently launched such a service which I noticed the Wall Street Journal online uses for their own online TV platform and decided (for the moment) that this is a solid way to get in the business.

Qualified for the semantic Web?

A new skill set is needed for our new world. This recent blog post says it well. http://www.newmediajournalism.com/opinion/hiringsemanticweb.

Fragmentation begets frustration

RSS; swicki's; mechanical turk; semantic search; flickr; WiMax; grazr; opera; adsense; blinkpro; screencasting; social networks. I could continue the list of new innovations all day long. The Web is good at creating countless opportunities but is really great at creating fragmentation: little bits and pieces of technology that hope to solve this or that problem. Many of them are terrific approaches but most people don't know about them or what they do - and probably never will.

That's a shame, but that's OK. It's the Web 2.0 at work.

Don't try to keep up with it all or else you'll get frustrated. Better yet, be like the person in the glass box trying to catch all the giveaway cash: don't grab it all, just get what you can. Don't be frustrated seeing all that money float around you unclaimed, walk out with something in hand.

The implications of user-generated content, part 1

With widespread broadband access, users can easily view and post audio and video content online right now. As more and more people spend time online, they're not sitting in front of their TV. There are, however, many important implications to consider regarding this dramatic shift:

1. Make it quality content: the material you see and hear has to be acceptable and entertaining enough for people to want to watch and listen. Is this the end of the home-made video?
2. The right of distribution: who else will want to see and share it - is it worth anything to do this?
3. Provocative PR value: what's the value of traditional marketing and PR to drive attention online. Can you intentionally build buzz and word of mouth?
4. Defining the community: is there a group of people who would appreciate this and how do I find and alert them?
5. A new talent pool: all of this will drive huge demand for people with wit, creativity, drive and know-how to make new media become the accepted model. What will their job title be, chief new media officer?

This is the beginning of a new day. Exciting and confusing all at once.

Video's big secret

Despite all the hype on Google's acquisition of YouTube, video will still be widely dismissed as a business communications weapon. As recent editorial pieces at B2B magazine (October 2006) and Revenue magazine (July/August 2006) attest, video needs to be taken seriously. It may be years before companies discover the right way to communicate visually. My partner and I share a 60-second spot explaining why now is the right time (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuJPcXuwqrQ).

Humor and viral marketing

This ad posted on youtube.com is a great example of how quickly humor and word of mouth can work together to draw a crowd. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rB3N5oGokQ

User generated media cruises along

The NYT reports another venture getting funded that helps users share video content online. These two guys have their own show about posts to their Web site, digg. The push to visual communication continues and some day we'll spend have our day communicating with our eyes, lips and ears and not just typing and reading away....it's actually faster that way, they say

Don Watson and the Death Sentence

There's a book out there that's worth reading called Death Sentences. It pokes fun at corporate speak and how it is killing our language. In an early passage, he laments after reading yet another mind-numbing piece: "One paragraph and my mind swam, consciousness drifted. Whatever thoughts the words contained, I could not reach them: I could not understand because I could not make myself interested."
The irony is that whoever wrote what he was reading probably was even less interested. Watson suggests that "language will lift in tone and clarity only when those who write and speak it take words seriously again."

Casting conventional wisdom aside

There are ten new flavors of broadcasting that all provide an opportunity to get the message out: Screencasting, Webcasting, Photocasting, Podcasting, Vidcasting or Vodcasting, Skypecasting, Mobilecasting, Textcasting, Coursecasting, and Blogcasting.
Are you lost yet? There's a nice site that explains each of them in plain English.

Retro-renaissance marketing

As every day passes for modern marketing, we are building a larger Tower of Babel. The descendants of Noah taught us a lesson thousands of years ago as they migrated southward along the Tigris River and westward to the land of Sennar. They progressed far from their ancestors and constructed a tower to reach heaven. Their ambitious project was never completed as they were confounded by God for their pride, unable to communicate with one another. The first babbling idiots—but certainly not the last.

In an era of rapidly changing technology, new media channels, and an overabundance of choices, brand marketers are staring at the construction of a modern Tower of Babel and stand in awe and confusion. Our world, already small, is getting carved up into tiny pieces and the marketing community can’t track of them all. Unprepared to fathom the deep-rooted effects of digital technology that continue to splinter and challenge traditional media channels, they can’t reach and speak the languages of micro segments being born every day. They are taking dictation with a chisel and stone tablet, missing nearly every word. The dark ages of marketing are getting nearer by the day.

Consider e-mail, Web logs and instant messaging: Millions of people are now using personal media to communicate and it all falls under the radar of modern marketing. Proven communication techniques—advertising, PR, event marketing, direct mail—must quickly revisit key cornerstone skills, proven centuries ago, to determine just how they will communicate to a growing number of people that are not listening and having their own sidebar conversations.

Consider growing consumer apathy and cynicism: An increasing number of people either not believing or not caring enough to listen to what they consider to be babble, marketing “white noise.” Millions upon millions of dollars pouring into channels that basically go unheard.

It is time for marketers to ask a fundamental question: Is what we say credible, clear and compelling? Does it tell a story—that can be translated universally to many languages—with one voice? With all these dramatic societal, technological, and economic changes, what will be the new criteria that will separate marketing’s next generation in a world of new media? Tough question and tall order. It would serve them well to take a look back—centuries ago—at what will work: Renaissance Marketing.

Elevation of sages—these are the few wise citizen scholars that direct and alter the mindsets of the many unlearned. To cut time to truth, people go to the town square and inquire with such elite thought leaders for recommendations, direction, insights and sound advice. Recently, this is seen as media and authors; now it’s your neighbor, a blogger, book club colleague, and co-worker. Knowing who they are, where they live, what they think, how they influence, all become keys to successful marketing.

Rebirth of storytellers—these are people that possess a golden tongue that charms, sooths, and satisfies. People that now how to turn the mundane into magical words that flow and create immediate interest. This gift is knowing how to create ways of communicating that are more visual, more memorable and more interesting—and slightly less informative. How to teach this skill becomes a treasured talent.

Birth of the programmer-poet—in the modern “retro renaissance,” these are people that can describe Keats, Augustine, and Shakespeare just as easily as Gates, Moore and Brin. Balancing how diverse technology works, the best way to use it, and the right creative content to channel through it will be a highly valuable skill—modern marketing artisans. How to recruit and develop them becomes critical to finding your way. People that understand the Web, e-mail campaigns, RSS, podcasts, blogs, viral marketing, emerging technologies, wireless mobility and tomorrow’s technical breakthroughs.

All speak convincingly and are understood. They persuade because they don’t try to convince. They’re marketing linguists, trusted to create and convey the message. Creativity becomes their added flair not the primary draw. They are retro because they’re not too proud to recognize that we can learn as much from the past as the future. They’ve studied abroad, maybe even home schooled, worked on a farm, studied human nature, worked hard, paid their dues—and are ultimately versatile in new media marketing.

They are renaissance marketers.

The Ad Industry Struggles to Stay Relevant

With all the changes in the economy and technology, Madison Avenue cannot afford not to innovate and find new ways to serve its clientele. In a recent NY Time's piece, the causes and concerns are highlighted clearly:

"The origins of the industry's current problems are many: the dot-com bust, the fallout from 9/11 and the explosive growth of technologies that help consumers avoid ads - like digital video recorders, iPods and satellite radio. Madison Avenue is still trying to regain its footing. Industry employment, which peaked at 496,500 in 2000, fell 14.4 percent, to 424,900, last year, according to the Labor Department.
'The onus is on the agencies to make sure they have the right creative talent," said Lauren Rich Fine, an analyst who follows the ad industry for Merrill Lynch, but 'I suspect that's more difficult than ever,' she added, after the 'massive layoffs of the last few years.'
Ad spending in the United States, which once grew reliably year after year, declined in 2001 for the first time in four decades - and by the largest percentage since the Depression year of 1938. While ad spending has rebounded since then, the growth rate is slower than during its heyday of the 1990's. "

Learning Entirely New Business Models

In a WSJ op-ed piece, Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee, discusses news without newspapers, and a future of publishing that takes on large, proven models. In his words:

"The news business is in trouble. Readership and viewership are declining, public trust is plummeting, and advertisers are beginning to wonder whether they're getting their money's worth. This has led people to think about what blogger and tech journalist Doc Searls calls business models for "news without newspapers," an approach to reporting and disseminating news that doesn't depend on layers of editors for publication, and big ads from carmakers for funding. Nobody's sure just how to do that yet."

Who will teach us how to do that?

People Want to Stay Home for their Entertainment

It will become a growing trend: people wanting to enjoy a good DVD, their new flat-screen high-definition TV and skip the trip to the theatre altogether. A recent NYTimes piece explains.

The Big Networks Move Online

People will get their video more via the PC as big media netowrks continue to distribute content online. See the story in the Wall Street Journal.

The Big Question: Who Will Win the War of the Living Room?

Technology companies from PC and consumer electronics manufacturers to cable and phone providers want to provide the entertainment and information content that flows into your networked home. The WSJ takes a look at who will win.

What Will Happen When Media Becomes "Do It Yourself"?

In a recent article from the WSJ, Sirius radio announced it will dedicate channel 148 to podcasting, the new phenomenon of creating your own MP3 files and sharing them with others' iPods and MP3 players. Imagine a day when people have a venue. Their own radio channel, TV statio, movie distribution, publishing house. Those days are practically here.

Who will help them create, distribute and promote this new media?

Big Media Companies See Shift

NBC Universal names digital chief.

NEW YORK, April 27 (Reuters) - NBC Universal on Wednesday named a president of its digital media unit as it focuses on expansion in high speed Internet and wireless services.
The company, controlled by General Electric (GE.N) named Deborah Reif, formerly NBC Universal's executive vice president of financial structuring, as the president of the digital unit.
She will take over the reins from Brandon Burgess, who will now continue to focus on global business development and new international cable channels, the company said.
NBC Universal, along with the rest of the media industry, is racing to woo new media consumers being slowly siphoned off by entertainment and news on the Internet and over phones.

A New Media Perspective: Is Talk Radio Taking Music's Place on Radio?

A recent NY Time's story says that many radio channels are making the switch to talk radio and dropping the rock format altogether. Maybe that's an early sign of the shift to new--alternative--media like streaming audio, iPods, CDs, and XM. If people want their rock, most don't need to get it from radio, at least so it seems. Maybe the future of radio is primarily news and talk and music is the exception. In my car and home, when I want to listen to music the last place I turn to is the radio.

Take a Closer Look at the Value of an Internship

Choice Between Summer Job,Internship Isn't Always Clear
By ERIN WHITE Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL April 26, 2005; Page B4

"Amid the mounting competition over summer internships, the traditional summer job has tumbled further down the prestige scale. College students, anxious about their career prospects, often assume any sort of corporate internship is better than an hourly wage job. Waitressing or retail couldn't possibly help them climb the corporate ladder, they figure.
In reality, the debate isn't quite that clear-cut, some career counselors say. Generally, they note, an internship is the smarter career choice. The skills, connections and perspective you gain on a good internship can be a big help in getting a job once you graduate -- and now that internships have become so commonplace, not having at least one on your résumé could put you at a disadvantage.
But sometimes a traditional summer job -- think retail, waitressing, lifeguarding, house-painting and the like -- proves a lot more substantial than the endless hours of mind-numbing clerical work that pass for an internship at some companies. If the choice is between an internship offering meaningless work and an unglamorous but more-substantial summer job, then the latter could be the better choice, some career experts say.
"If you look at some internships, it might be a great name, but if you're going to be a gofer, you're not going to develop that much," says Shawn Boyer, chief executive officer of SnagAJob.com, a job site for part-time and hourly jobs. On the other hand, as a sales clerk at a retail store, "you might end up learning a whole lot about how to work with the public -- stuff that will really help you in the development of your career."
Indeed, many traditional summer jobs don't sound prestigious, but they provide skills and experiences that employers value. Clerks at retailers, for instance, learn how to deal with difficult customers. Employees at fast-food restaurants learn the importance of urgency and accuracy. Lifeguards must be attentive, responsible and good communicators. All those skills can sound a lot better in a job interview than talking about how you answered phones all summer in a corporate internship.
"For the most part, employers really do respect the fact that [young] people are working in a position where they're actually doing something and they didn't just go to a place to have the name on their résumé," Mr. Boyer continues. "I would much rather hire somebody who worked at Boston Market or McDonald's who can tell me, 'This is what I learned in this position.' "
That is good news for college students for whom the internship vs. job debate isn't merely philosophical, but financial. Although some top internships pay sizable wages or stipends, many don't pay at all. Students can often earn more money working in construction or waitressing. For some students, that is a critical contribution to their college tuition and not something they can easily afford to sacrifice.
Peg Hendershot, director of Career Vision, a Glen Ellyn, Ill., career-counseling service, recalls a client who painted houses during his college summers. The experience helped him land a job in sales after graduation. As a house painter, he had successfully bid for jobs and had often picked up extra assignments, which showed future employers he took quality seriously and had good manners, Ms. Hendershot says.
Of course, the internship is usually the better way to advance your career prospects. Many companies' programs do involve interesting work and valuable exposure to potential careers. If you land one of these top-notch programs, then it is a no-brainer, career counselors say: If you can afford it, take the internship and ditch the traditional summer job.
The other advantage to a corporate internship, even one that's mostly busywork, is the connections you will make. You can talk with full-time staffers to learn more about the industry, and later they may help you find a job. Corporate interns are "going to have an opportunity to go for coffee and lunch every day with the hiring manager and with the people who have graduated, say, two years ago," says Steven Rothberg, president of CollegeRecruiter.com, a career site based in Minneapolis.
Pamela Gingold, a principal at CareerStart, a career-coaching firm based in Northbrook, Ill., says even if an internship doesn't sound very substantial, an enterprising intern can usually find a way to make it worthwhile. "Every internship, I think, has a possibility for being a great opportunity," Ms. Gingold says.
If your intern duties are mainly clerical, for instance, she suggests proposing a project of your own to your boss. She recalls one client, a college student who wanted to pursue a career in finance. He got an internship one summer with a financial-services firm, but it was in the human-resources department. He easily could have spent his summer filing papers and doing other clerical tasks. But instead, he talked with colleagues about other projects he might pursue, and ultimately conducted a compensation-plan analysis.
When he was interviewing for full-time positions upon graduation, "he was able to articulate to interviewers why his internship was relevant," she says. He landed a job in finance at another firm."

BusinessWeek: B-Schools For The 21st Century

From a recent editiorial in April 18th edition:
"The market is sending a troubling message to America's business schools. Falling applications, sliding enrollments, and declining selectivity all point to problems. The obvious culprit is the soaring price of tuition -- up to $39,100 a year at Harvard B-School -- at a time when starting MBA salaries have remained flat for years. But the meta-message may be much more serious. The market may be telling the B-schools that they are training managers for the 20th, not the 21st century. More and more corporations prefer to train their own managers in-house, but not just because of the rising cost. They also want to instill skills and values that B-schools don't, can't, or won't deal with.
For the many business schools, the speed of change in the global economy and in corporate culture may be making part of their curriculum obsolete. Outsourcing to India and China, the rise of customer power, the spread of broadband, and other huge developments are changing not only the economic context in which companies operate. They are also changing the way companies operate. CEOs of global corporations are demanding that their people be able to manage innovation teams, manage global supply chains, manage strategic design, and manage the consumer experience.Are B-schools keeping up? Despite scattered courses in product design and development, most B-school curriculums still focus on analytical courses -- accounting, marketing, and finance. But today, companies increasingly need softer people skills: observing consumers, collaborating with teams, conceiving new brands, and, perhaps most important, working across cultures with Chinese, Germans, Indians, Italians, Russians, and a world full of suppliers and partners.Unfortunately, many B-schools still appear to be graduating twenty- and thirtysomethings, many of whom believe they can manage by the numbers when more businesses are stressing the importance of organic growth through new products and services. Raising innovation success rates today is far more important than improving Six Sigma results.In times of economic upheaval, when the speed of change is enormous, the business world often adapts faster than academia. The drop in B-school enrollments may be signaling that people think they will receive better training inside Corporate America than out. If that is true, B-schools have a lot more learning to do before they can successfully teach this generation of managers."

Future CEOs May Need to Have Broad Liberal-Arts Foundation

On April 12, Erin White of the Wall Street Journal made many liberal-arts programs rest assured their students are on the right path. Given all the recent executive scandals, she says that our future business leaders will need philosophy more than finance, What's more, international experience (i.e., study and work abroad) also is a key factor. Article link.

When Looking for a Job, Don't Head Home for Advice

Conventional wisdom says that father (and mother) knows best. In a recent WSJ column by Erin White, the results can be disastrous--for everyone. Article Link.

Podcasting: A way to broadcast content to MP3 players

An overview of podcasting, an innovative way to subscribe to audio feeds so they're updated on your MP3 for ongoing consumption and enjoyment.

Definition
Good Web site

What is Driving a Student's Need to Prepare Differently for Professional Life

1. College tuition costs skyrocketing and more debt financing is not best alternative
2. Job market becoming more competitive—only the most prepared will thrive
3. Professional experience—during college—expected to secure first job position
4. Students do not have clear and predictable means to line up right internships
5. Students – especially those majoring in liberal arts—do not have viable mentors to guide them toward their career options
6. Colleges and Universities not well aligned with the rapid shifts in the business world

At the NYSE.

Here I am (right) with Mike Aabram visiting the New York Stock Exchange.

Is Our Current Academic Model Keeping Up With Changes in New Media?

We must prepare ourselves for the expanded role of media in society. Digital technology and broadband internet are transforming the way we create and consume information. High-speed “broadband” Internet connections, Webcasting, handheld digital video cameras, digital audio/video, affordable editing gear—even programs like PowerPoint—are turning people into publishers, able to reach a global audience faster and farther than ever. Rich media “content” delivered over the Web is pulling people away from traditional media outlets.

“In the future, as networks get faster and new kinds of easy-to-use Internet-aware devices are sold for the living room, the role of the Internet in TV will only grow,” reports Lee Gomes of The Wall Street Journal. “Of course, the Web is also likely to open up entirely new and previously unimagined programming possibilities -- just as, in the print world, the Web didn't put old media out of business but did create entirely new genres, like blogs. The current explosion of Flash animations, funny clips and other Web eye candy is a taste of things to come.”

As the world of media steadily evolves our current teaching model—based more on theory than practical learning—will only prepare consumers to consume, not create such programming. We are embarking on a journey that will fundamentally change how media information is created, managed and distributed; the rules of economic, production and distribution models in this age of “new media” are being rewritten—more complex and confusing than can possibly be tracked using our current educational/training approach. How will society prepare its citizens to go beyond simply passively embracing such change and become active promoters of their new-found voice?