There’s good news/bad news scenario about emerging media. Forrester Research is reporting that 57% of those in a recent survey don’t plan to use mobile as a marketing channel, while 72% don’t plan to use video games.

But social networking and behavioral targeting is hot. MediaPost reports on sone brand marketers picking it up. MarketingVox, also reports on the YouTube/Myspace traffic, and the power of online video. So it’s a clow pickup, in a way that’s not altogether disheartening, as ironical as that seems.

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Print media doesn’t get much credit these days, with so much digital options.

This ad, for the World Wildlife Federation uses te serrated edge of a newspaper in a way no one has ever considered as part of the medium’s benefit. Check a larger layout here.

The copy, next to the logo says: "Not recycling this newspaper is the same as cutting down another tree."

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The news seems everywhere that newspapers are dying a slow death. But I like to play the contrarian and say that there is life in them bendable, hand-held communication devices that operate without batteries or browsers…

This CNN poll, shows the weakness of newspapers in the news departement. 87% of people polled said they get their news from the Net. But what about ‘insights’ and non-earth shattering information? You know, movie reviews, food sections, ‘news’ about the latest mobile device or service, travel? Nothing beats a good read in a daily paper landing on your doorstep. I say this, in spite of subscribing to Nyt.com, and glancing at sfgate.com for great new tidbits (that don’t show up on my Yahoo home page)

Speaking of which, The San Francisco Chronicle is a great example of how the online product could impact the newspaper: Morning Edition moderator/deputy business editor recently spoke how the paper could benefit from the blog. Tech Chronicles, the blog, appears in the newspaper the next day. Talk about reverse re-purposing of content. This kind of experiment could add new life to print. I truly believe it could work. Good luck, Chronicle.

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“PCs have become the emotional hard drive of our global audience"
MTVN president and chief operating officer Michael Wolf

"Advertisers will be able to buy 15-second video commercials that can’t be skipped. Shows will also have heavy product-placement opportunities."
Wall Street Journal article on CBS launching Innertube, for TV on the web

"New-world editorial, please shake hands with old-world media economics 101."
George Simpson, ‘How the real world works," an article on why pulling ads when content is tasteless, fraudulent or politically incorrect, doesn’t amount to censoring free speech. In Online Media Daily

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No wonder people find it tricky to be interviewed by the media. Exxon Mobil CEO is quoted on CNN.com as saying "Use less of our stuff" which is a headline summary of the quotes in the piece.

But does the following: "We just have to ask people to make sure they are using energy wisely" and "Be efficient with it, don’t waste it." mean use less of our stuff? In fact using the product ‘wisely’ and efficiently, has a different meaning from what the headline implied. If the head of Toyota Prius made a statement about "using our technology wisely," would a headline on a story about hybrids be phrased ‘Use more of our stuff?’ 

Headlines are dangerous, especially in a world where information gets indexed, is retrievable, and lives virtually forever on search engines. There’s a headline about Steve Jobs telling a hacker to shut up, that goes back to a story from 1981, but lives on thanks to Digg, which provides the link.

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Now that YouTube has it’s British counterpart, Selfcast TV, there’s going to be a rash of consumer generated content. Selfcast is the creation of Blinkx.com, a one-time desk-top search engine that has now morphed many times over into a video search engine called BlinkxTV.

When I interviewed Blinkx CEO Suranga Chandratillake a few months back, he convinced me that the ‘engine’ was only as good as the content it delivered. The ability for consumers to link to anything, and find relevant content especially TV content was where all search should be headed, he said. The ‘video search engine’ model may not be the only answer, but for now, it seems like it’s making ‘appointment TV’ obsolete. The next step for a video engine is to make demographic targeting precise, so that advertiser and end-user benefit. BlinkxPico, as it is now called, has 1 million hours ofsearchable video, audio and TV, but that doesn’t help a time-strapped end user. People need to find things easily. Sure, we like to say ‘content is king’ but it’s good to remind oursleves that relevance, not the quantity of content, is the crown jewel.

Example: On BlinkxTV, type in ”Commander in chief" and the ABC series starring Geena Davis shows up 8th on the list. Use the same search terms in Google, and it is right at the top. But there is rich/mixed selection on Blinkx –a podcast with a film director comparing the ABC series to West Wing, and even a BBC TV story on the targeting of the Sri Lankan army commander by a suicide bomber last week. It’s a lot of clutter. I’m still waiting for the "I’m feeling lucky" button of smart selection.

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