Technology

What if we had easy access and stinking content?

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

What’s the use of seamless web access if all you get is stale, flawed, biased, puerile content?

Meaning, what would happen if all the investigative reporters turned away from the news business, and all the stories that ever got published by stripped-down newspapers were opinion pieces and press releases thinly disguised as news?

These are my nightmare scenarios when I pick up my Arizona Republic, and grab a copy of The Wall Street Journal. The impact of this hit me when I read that one of the Pulitzer prize winners was a local newspaper here, the East Valley Tribune –a paper that is on life support, having turned to being a free paper, and published just a few times a week.

How can newspapers survive? Could they follow the National Public Radio model (by the way, NPR has cancelled its newspaper subscriptions!)  or turn to some other form of revenue to pay journalists? Mitch Joel has summarised some of the scary things happening in the news business.

On the same day he wrote about this, I listened to an NPR show (Talk of the Nation) talking about just this. I was somewhat optimistic to hear a few alternative business models. One of which was The Voice Of  San Diego that operates as a non-profit. Think about that. A non-profit newspaper. It says it is “the only professionally staffed, nonprofit online news site in the state focused on local news and issues” that is funded through “the support of individuals, foundations and businesses which, like you, recognize the importance of local news from an independent perspective.”

Sometimes, when I login to Yahoo, I see its front page with news such as “Paula gets choked up. Kara screws up on ‘Idol” and one about two guys in Philly who got a text messaging bill for $26,000. I know they are merely aggregating content, often content that appeals to everyone in general, and no-one in particular. At such times I want to cancel my cable and use that money to subsidize a journalist or one of the new media startups like these that can deliver some real news.

Ecohes of Ogilvy in Creative Refinery

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

I have to applaud Nathan Wagner, a friend with whom I chat about all things marketing and branding. he occasionally leaves a comment on this blog, and that starts an offline conversation.

Having worked for some pretty cool interactive agencies, he’s launched is own shop, called Creative Refinery. Intriguing name, that. (Previously there was BaconPony) Nathan is one of the few marketing practitioners I know of who rather than parrot the marketing-speak from business books, coins his own expressions. His recent blog post (the blog is called “Relevant Chews” – go figure!) talks of something after my own heart. The ordinariness of the consumer:

“I am not a consumer.  I am a husband, father and a hard working guy – but I could be your next loyal customer.”

I found it almost echoes a famous David Ogilvy idea: “The consumer is not a moron. She is your wife.” Actually I think that’s a  misquote. It is most likely Ogilvy said “The customer is not a moron. She is your wife.” Big difference.

The refinery guys should know.

Why do carriers still sell locked phones?

/ Angelo Fernando / 2 Comments

Imagine this scenario. You buy a tuxedo online from Kohls for an upcoming event. When it arrives you realize that it still has a security tag you cannot break. You call the store to find a way to remove it and they give you the runaround. Thy say they need to contact manufacturer, Croft and Barrow, to get an unlocked code. Please give them 48-hours until they they hear from the manufacturer, and email you. Meanwhile the event you need to attend comes and goes, but the product you paid for is unusable.

OK, hypothetical situation, but that’s what a locked cell phone represents. A crippled product. Companies such as T-Mobile that sell locked phones are blind to the reality that (a) the device, once paid for does not belong to them or the manufacturer anymore. It should be open by default (b) the world is flat and boundaries have blurred. People should not need customer service intervention to replace a SIM card when roaming.

I had the bad luck to travel to Sri Lanka earlier this month with such a crippled phone — a T-Mobile Dash made by HTC– because I had no time to call to check if it was locked or not. I realized my problem when I tried to swap my SIM card. I got online and found a way to chat with a customer service rep who said it can take up to 48 hours to get the phone unlocked.

I told her they had to be kidding. What kind of unconnected world were they operating in? Two days was a sort of a good turnaround, apparently.

She: When we have to email the manufacture it can take up to 14 days to get a response.

Not good enough, I said.

She: I will inform my supervisor of this issue to see if there is anything that we can do however when we have to e-mail the manufacture we just have to wait for there response as that is out of our hands to get a sooner responses.

Sooner, as in two weeks and counting. I am back in the US. Still no unlocked code. I called twice, checked my email and junk-mail folder. Still no code. That’s why there’s such a thing as text messaging, I tell them –to bypass email.

But the bigger question is not how long it takes to solve a problem, or how to communicate with a customer. The real question is: Why on earth do mobile phone companies sell locked-down smart phones?  I can only imagine three reasons:

  1. Forced loyalty. It makes customers feel they have to grovel to get their basic rights.
  2. Easy revenue: Even if 10 percent of customers get trapped in a situation like this and roam, the money to be made is just too good to forfeit.
  3. Clueless. Carriers don’t take trouble to understand just what usage patterns their customers have. They are still trapped into the old marketing mindset of selling ‘packages’ – few sizes fit all. Customers’ social, professional and economic patterns have changed but carriers have never bothered to find out.

It will take legislation for companies this backward to comply with basic customer rights. It will take a lot of disgruntled customers who say bye-bye to them, for the T-Mobiles of this world to wake up.

Quotes for the week ending 18 April, 2009

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“If we’re still in the first inning of social media, we’re clearly at the bottom of the first, with two men out, runners on first and second, and a hitter who routinely hits into double plays at bat.”

Catherine P. Taylor, in MediaPost, on the Dominoes’ viral video fueled by social media

“this lately exploded pustule on the posterior of the British body politic.”

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, writing in The Telegraph about Damian McBride, the communications strategist at the center of the email scandal in the British Prime Minister’s cabinet.

“The real impact of a blog story happens only when it moves into the traditional media”

Stephen Pollard, Editor of the Jewish Chronicle, on how the scandal surrounding Gordon Brown has shifted and exploded.

“The emails were sent from an official government computer email account, so let’s just assume he was at his desk when he wrote them, shall we?”

Editorial in the Daily Telegraph, saying the Prime Minister cannot excuse his political strategist lightly.

“The online social world is about as two-way, multi-way, any-way…”

Josh Bernoff, in Advertisng Age, on why the term ‘social media’ is fraught with too much baggage to inspire people to participate in it.

“It’s a hostage rescue operation, something like the Entebbe rescue mission …It has to be discreet and surgical.”

Gotabhaya Rajapakse, Defense Minister, on the Sri Lakan government’s decision to reject the UN appeal for hostages held by the terrorists to leave the so-called safe zone.

“We are linked by geography and history”

Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, on the digital town hall meeting from Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, on the eve of the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.

“@statesman: I see people on Twitter calling this a “hostage situation” at the Apple Bar. We have NOT been told that by police.”

Robert Quigley, a journalist, on how journalists can still play a role in verifying information. The Austin American Statesman was 35 minutes late to the story, but got it right, debunking the story. People had ‘reported’ via Twitter that a man with a gun was threatening guests.

Quotes for the week ending 11 April, 2009

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“How dare anyone take a photograph of my home without my consent?”

Paul Jacobs, resident of a small town of  Broughton in England, protesting Google’s roving camera van that captures street views of towns and cities for enhanced Googls Maps.

“We don’t prohibit public, passengers or press from photographing, videotaping, or filming at screening locations. You can take pictures at our checkpoints as long as you’re not interfering with the screening process or slowing things down. We also ask that you do not film or take pictures of our monitors.”

Post by Blogger Bob on the TSA Web site, Evolution of Security, clearing up the sticky issue of whether a camera can get you in trouble at an airport. Many airports ban photography.

“I did not eat my own dog food. Why? Because the book industry still works well enough to pay me an advance. Dog’s gotta eat, you know.”

Jeff Jarvis, in an interview with Steve Rubel, on his new book, What would Google Do. He also confesses that in seeking this old-media attention he is a sort of a hypocrite, but…

“We acknowledge that… in this world, in an increasingly cyber world, these are increasing risks.”

Janet Napolitano, Secretary US Homeland Security, on the news that the US power grid could have been infiltrated by foreign spies.

“I don’t believe in work/life balance at all. I think our professional and personal lives are converging as such a fast pace …there will be no separation in the future.”

Dan Schawabel, in an interview with Rohot Bhargava about personal branding

One way to handle a Twitter squatter

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

Thought this story about the televangelist, whose ‘channel’ was hijacked by a Twitter cyber-squatter was a great way to handle a potential brand / identity theft situation.

Robert H. Schuller, isn’t interested in fighting with the impostor, but hiring the person.

“I was honored that anybody thought my material was good enough to be repeated,”

Of course, Schuller’s next statement, that he is considering how he “could hire them as a ghostwriter,” is going to send shivers down the blogosphere that looks at ghost tweeting, like ghost blogging as the eleventh ‘thou shalt not.”

Not many know other leaders like the Dalai Lama are using Twitter in a big way, with quotes like “When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.” Which soulds a lot like Fuller’s when life gives you lemons… statement.

But how does a non celeb resolve an issue where a name or brand has been taken on Twitter? There’s a thoughtful piece by an Gartner research director, Thomas Otter, on intellectual property issues and Twitter handles.

On the other hand, maybe people pay too much attention to Twitter handles, having worn the ‘brand’ lenses for too long.

Quotes for the week, ending 21 March, 2009

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“The Holy Grail is to know as much as possible but to protect to the greatest extent privacy rights. Google’s halo has slipped for the very reason that it believes in the first part of the equation but not in the second.”

Simon Davies of Privacy International, on Google’s Street View maps of the UK.

“This is like the captain and the crew of the ship, reserving the lifeboats.”

Congressman to AIG chairman Edward Liddy on Nightline.

“My job then becomes one of ‘comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable.”

Social Media Today’s Blogger of the week Dennis Howlett, on the need for PR and Communicators to get buy in from middle management, who have much to gain from social media, but feel most threatened.

“We’re just now emerging from a dark age, and as we ease out of decadent late capitalism and into a more sustainable way of life, transparency, authenticity, balance, egalitarianism and distributed models will become the norm.”

HilaryBromberg, Writing for CMO Strategy in Adverting Age, on the 8 strategies a marketer could do tp stay afloat in an uncertain economy.

“We need human colors to paint the greatest piece of art that has ever been made – the world.”

A line from a video submission by a high school student, José Vinícius Reis Gouveia of Brazil, that won the online contest for video held by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs.

“Forget live blogging everything people say. It’s too much pressure and I guarantee there are way too many pro/experienced bloggers doing it better and more consistently than you in the crowd. Let them.”

Rohit Bhargava, a prolific blogger,with a few tips on how best to manage time and resources at SXSW Conference in Austin Texas this week.

“The role of the curator is to, in a lot of instances, broaden the horizons of the audiences …so that they don’t get stuck in an echo chamber.”

Gina Trapani, founder of LifeHacker, at a session on Curating a Crowd-sourced World, at SXSW Conference in Austin, TX.

“I also suggest to young communicators to showcase their Social Media talents and make sure that is a listed skill on resumes.”

Johna Burke, VP of BurellesLuce, in a Twinterview I conducted this week, responding to a question about the why job seekers in PR and Communications need to be doing

Quotes for the week ending 14 March, 2009

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“Stewart’s attack on CNBC is not some cable cockfight. At the heart of this spectacle is a lesson that reporters, anchors, editors, news directors and anyone with a stake in a vital American fourth estate should heed.”

Joe Vince, blogging about the Jon Stewart – Jim Kramer fight, where Stewartwho has a popular Comedy Central show, attacked Cramer of CNBC for failing to warn people about the risky Wall Street conduct.

“lot of people will actually get to see the Internet”

Tim Berners-Lee, the farther of the World Wide Web, talking about how mobile devices will be the main access points for the web in much of the developed world. He however warned of the vulnerability of being able to be snooped on.

“Guava threw together this spot in which a Blackberry literally shoots through Apple.”

A fruity quote by AdRants about a story about a new TV spot by Blackberry taking aim at the iPhone, without mentioning the latter.

“So is advertising really adding value to our brands or not? I am sure agencies fail their clients from time to time … But the difference is that civilians don’t attempt to do the job of a military man. That is why they are set apart and called civilians and military.”

Udara, a blogger at JWT Sri Lanka, commenting on the eternal problem of how anyone with a Mac and a designer may not be in the ideas business.

“So far “McCain” in gothic letters on the back of my neck is winning my unofficial survey.”

Meghan McCain, commenting on her latest media tour and writing stint.

“We’re going to attempt to conduct a full interview exclusively on Twitter — complete with the 140-character limit!”

George Stephanopoulos of ABC News announcing his attempt to ‘twinterview’ John McCain on twitter next Tuesday

“Some of the communications I see haven’t changed since the 1960s. Same bad photos, same jargon (we need to leverage our core competencies and strive for World Class synergy), same platitudes … same spin.”

Steve Crescenzo, in an interview with ValleyPRBlog, on why he he speaks out against corpoorate-speak. Crescenzo will hold a full-day seminar for IABC-Phoenix on Thursday 19 March.

“You don’t have to have your fingers in every social media pie. All these channels are grouped under one category but … If a chat forum works best then stick to that.”

Sona Hathi, Assistant Editor, Melcru, on the ROI and reasons for using social media.

“The more we can do to open the process to the public, the greater the public understanding – the more legitimacy the public system will have in the eyes of the public”

A Kansas Judge J. Thomas Marten, who allowed a court reporter to use Twitter slthough jurors are told to avout newspaper, broadcasts and online media.

What “Goodbye, Colorado” means to us Tweeps

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Whenever I talk to a new media practitioner–ok, cheerleader– I hear something along the lines of  ‘new media does not kill old media –it only complements it.’ I cheer along, being a staunch supporter of the business model that grew out of Strasbourg, Germany, and the one that grew out of Mountain View, California.

So the news that the Rocky Mountain News shuttered last week seems like an unfair blow to the head of this (romantic?) dual-platform idea. One reader comment to the last article on the RMN online site suggested that it was

demonstrating how the market is suposed to run. When a company is mismanaged and refuses to keep up with inovation and the modernation of an industry. When a news outlet makes itself biased and slants stories from a loose dog to elections. Then the outlet goes out of business … There is a differance between op/eds and news.

I have never read the paper, but I can tell you that it’s not only print media that co-mingles news and op-eds, and those darn cat (or dog) stories. But sanwiched between those silly nuggets is real information that you wouldn’t get elsewhere. More so in newspapers. They may not cover it with the speed of, say, The Drudge Report, but print journalists bring in the mind-set and passion to go deep and sideways to inform us, and perhaps connect some dots. Another RMN reader commented that “Your front page was our front door.”

Ironically, today we get news through the back door. I am a huge fan of RSS, for instance. I just got a good summary of news tips from some folk I follow on Twitter, since it is a community –whether they are journalists or not– that keeps watching out for each other. Twitter, to me, is actually the side door, the window left slightly ajar to let some air in. Occasionally someone slides relevant information through the crack. But I also get a huge dose of valuable information from my skinny, but well-put together community newspaper that isn’t being blogged about or conveyed in 140 characters.

We twitterers, voyeurs of Google alerts, and purveyors of the speeded up news cycle ought to not be so quick to write the “I told you so!” piece about the demise of Print.

Quotes for the week ending 27 February, 2009

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“Orbiting swarms of junk careen into each other like billiard balls, creating unpredictable sprays of debris, which in turn meld with other space garbage to weave a moving net around the atmosphere.”

The Wall Street Journal‘s Robert Lee Hotz, on the debris of space junk caused by colliding satellites.

“My love of TweetDeck just keeps growing …Love, love, love it.”

IABC Chair, Barbara Gibson, on the new features of Tweetdeck.

“Twitter users may donate their avatar and replace it with an image of the red female sign.”

“NCMFathom, which is asking Twitter users to micro-blog to raise 0.10 a tweet from March 2 – 5 this year.

“After getting a lot of angry calls at my office from frustrated customers, I realized we could do a better job of listening to and supporting you.”

Yahoo’s new CEO Carol Bartz, on her blog, Yodel Anecdotal, about her first one and a half months on the job, and the changes being made.

“Sometimes the face of a brand is a fictional character.”

Chris Brogan, on the Bigelow Tea company’s project, Constant Comments. The company’s president Cindi Bigelow is a prominent figure in its communication.

“There is a differance (sic) between op/eds and news.”

Reader comment on the Rocky Mountain News web site, in response to the last story of the newspaper, “Goodbye, Colorado.” The paper began in 1859. The reader suggested that it demonstrated market forces were doing the right thing.