Week of July 23, 2007

iPhone Doesn't Match The Hype

Friday, July 27, 2007

Expectations were that the iPhone would spur as many as 500,000 activations for AT&T during its first week, and now we find out that the total is a much lower 146,000. That's still a lot and an amazing number, but in this, at least, iPhone wasn't able to match the hype.

Yes, More Evidence Of The Explosion In Online Revenue

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Scripps just announced its financial results, and, as expected, its newspaper division saw sales fall (to the tune of 8.8%), while its online revenue increased dramatically (25%).

More Evidence Of Accountability And Advertising

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

AOL has bought online ad firm Tacoda, which specializes in placing ads that are targeted on behavior rather than context. We are still in the very early stage of maximizing advertising. Companies looking to maximize their revenue online must take serious stock of how to package their users better. A good example is Facebook, which has a tremendous amount of information about each user yet is still unable to match its advertising to the interests of its users to a significant degree. When a company with a lot of users can carve them up, package them by interest and behavior, and custom deliver them to advertisers, they will be in the fast lane to profitability.

Newspaper Online Audience Growing Fast

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Yet another indication that radio needs to get moving in new media or they will get left behind: The Newpaper Association of America is reporting that newspaper websites are growing twice as fast as the growth of the Internet in general. Overall, an amazing 59 million people visited newspaper websites (37.6% of the total Internet audience) each month during the first quarter of 2007.

Social Networking: Still Relevant

Monday, July 23, 2007

I recently read an article about "social networking fatigue," but this is a myopic view that focuses on user complaints about their busy lives and completely ignores human nature. We all live in a complex web of social circles, from our co-workers, to our extended families, our neighborhoods, and people we know from our various interests and hobbies. At its heart, social networking is little more than the natural online extension of these social groups.