GERJOHOFFMAN.COM

Newspapers: 5 Ways to Avoid Extinction

gerjohoffman — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 07:13:00 +0000

Woody Lewis is a Social Media Strategist and Web Architect. He authors a blog at woodylewis.com about social media strategy for newspapers. Read more on Mashable.

Twitter growth trumps Facebook

gerjohoffman — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:47:00 +0000

Twitter is the fastest-growing “member community” site in the US, posting an uplift in user numbers of 1,382% for the year to February 2009, meaning it was well ahead of more established rivals including Facebook on this measure. Read more on the World Advertising Research Center.

Robust growth for online media in South Africa

gerjohoffman — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 10:47:00 +0000

Online advertising in South Africa grew at the fastest rate of all countries in the English-language world in 2008 – and is likely to repeat this performance in 2009, according to the Online Media in South Africa 2009 study conducted by World Wide Worx in collaboration with the Online Publishers Association (OPA).

The findings indicate an encouraging 32% growth in online advertising in 2008, after an equally positive 27% growth in 2007. Actual online advertising spend in 2008 was up to R319-million, from R240-million the year before. The figures contrast strongly with the statistics from Nielsens, but are based on actual revenue figures derived directly from publishers and not rate card rates. However, neither Nielsen’s nor the commissioned study was able to obtain data from Google, which would increase the figure significantly. Read more on Marketingweb.

Internet Travel Company Black Tomato aims to provide great service

gerjohoffman — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:04:00 +0000

It is named after an indigenous Russian fruit that is viewed as the rarest in the tomato family and has an exotic, good quality taste; the company’s co-founders Tom Marchant, James Merrett and Matt Smith have sought to engender the same values in the fledgling online travel company.

“We thought the name was perfect as we wanted to really get under the skin of destinations and deliver excellent-quality travel experiences,” says Mr Marchant, the business development director. Read more on The Telegraph.

The End of News Media or Just an Accidental Business Model?

gerjohoffman — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:02:00 +0000

Pew Internet has released its 2009 State of the News Media study, its sixth annual study of trends and analysis in the news media industry. Though there was not a lot of positive news for those in the media industry, the study did suggest that the picture may not be quite as gloomy as some project.

For newspapers, 2009 does not bring good news. But while the study anticipates further bankruptcies and closures in the newspaper industry, it notes that for 2008, the industry overall remained profitable. The study attributes about 50% of the industry’s current woes to the economic downturn and 50% to structural problems caused by online competition. The key question then is whether newspapers can find a way to convert their growing online audience into sufficient revenue to sustain the industry before their shrinking revenues from print fall too far? And if some succeed and some don’t, what are the characteristics of a newspaper organization that survives and one that doesn’t?” Read more on Seeking Alpha.

Google News and newspaper publishers: allies or enemies?

gerjohoffman — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:03:00 +0000

The Internet has changed the way that people read newspapers in many ways: not least because news aggregators such as Google News have helped to bring readers away from the habit of focussing their news reading on just one paper’s website. Now most Internet-savvy users are accustomed to visiting many different websites and choosing the source that they find appropriate for each story they would like to read. But as newspapers’ print revenue drops, frustration at the way that aggregators make money out of content which is not their own has been increasing amongst newspaper publishers. Could Google’s recent adoption of small text advertisements on US Google News be the last straw? Read more on Editorsweblog.

Twitter Experimenting With Text Advertising

gerjohoffman — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:58:00 +0000

Twitter, the subject of endless business model speculation, added another weapon to the arsenal today – house advertisements on the home page when you’re logged in, and some search results.

The advertisements currently only link internally to Twitter Search or the Twitter Widget. But it isn’t much of a stretch to assume they’re testing the units for possible third party advertisements in the future. Twitter Japan, which launched a year ago, has included display ads from the beginning.Read more on TechCrunch.

Ogilvy offers recession marketing advice: Go mobile

gerjohoffman — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:45:00 +0000

Ogilvy North America is helping clients to do more with their marketing and spend less in today’s recessionary marketplace.

This new offering brings together Ogilvy’s marketing strategy, analytics, measurement, email, technology and media services to provide its clients with suggestions regarding the challenges that most companies are facing in this recession. Ogilvy has specifically designed “21 Ogilvy Solutions” to give clients strategies and methods for maximizing the value and performance of their marketing budgets.Read more on the Mobile Marketer.

Yes, CEOs Should Facebook And Twitter

gerjohoffman — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:31:00 +0000

Web 2.0 is no longer just for teenagers.
Social networking has clearly reached a tipping point. Sites like MySpace and Facebook boast hundreds of millions of members. Barack Obama’s presidential victory demonstrated that platforms like YouTube and Twitter could transform electoral politics. Yet in corporations where such tools have been expected to bring profound transformations, there has been strong resistance to change.Read more on Forbes.

The Google OS is Coming By Year’s End

gerjohoffman — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:47:00 +0000

It’s not news that Microsoft will get Windows 7 out as fast as possible this year. Vista has been a complete dog, so Microsoft will rush to deliver what is essentially a cleaned-up, lightweight version. What is news is that Google will have its own contender for desktop operating system king: Android. Read more on CIO.