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Re: The Future of Publishing: Like Minds | TheMediaBriefing

Andrew Davies — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 14:41:19 -0000

Great points Ashley. I agree that the persistence of an application (on iPad for eg) is very valuable - just like subscriptions were. It's a more tangible, accessible and interactive sell than what it is replacing - paid sites or email newsletters.

Interesting question: do you think the move to digital makes it easier or harder for territory specific publishers (ie your uk indie blog/network examples)?

Re: The Future of Publishing: Like Minds | TheMediaBriefing

Andrew Davies — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 14:31:36 -0000

Thanks - and agreed. As I have written before, content is a sales tool. Always has been.

Re: The Future of Publishing: Like Minds | TheMediaBriefing

Andrew Davies — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 14:29:59 -0000

I can only assume you are joking :)

I am a digital native who reads more blog posts than any other form of media. I've just finished reading a 60 page white paper (printed on dead trees) that was more engaging and interesting than any pithy blog posts I have read in ages.

Re: The End Of The Age Of Content, Part 2

Andrew Davies — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 11:43:39 -0000

Totally agreed that people do value curation. The paradox of choice means we often opt for something pre-selected, rather than make our own choice from thousands of options.

Thanks for the link. It's the trend I'm interested in - I'll have a dig.

Re: The End Of The Age Of Content, Part 2

Andrew Davies — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:54:54 -0000

Hmmm - I'd love to see the stats on those "NOW" compilations. I'd bet you a coffee that they are trending down to the floor. The same content is easily available as separate tracks (content atomisation) so everyone can curate their own playlist.

Re: The End Of The Age Of Content, Part 2

Andrew Davies — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:10:56 -0000

Interesting....

Can you name some content that you pay more than £7 for because of its "curation" or "customisation"?

Content price is based on access and format. Not necessarily on its "curatedness". Eg: I would spend £10 on a movie at the cinema, but would expect the same movie for free if I stream it on my laptop. I pay for news apps on my iPhone, but refuse to pay for the same news when browsing. I would pay to hear you talk at a conference, but would expect the same info for free if we were chatting over coffee. The context in which I receive that content is the defining factor.

I don't pay for any site at the moment which uses a very experienced editorial team to strongly curate a stream of news and analysis of current events. Interestingly, that's exactly what a newspaper is. And they are having a *hard* time charging for their well-curated content.

Re: The End Of The Age Of Content, Part 2

Andrew Davies — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:20:58 -0000

Interesting. So I guess we need to tease out what you mean by "content".

You intimate that content is only valuable because of its "delivery", but surely you would agree that a Hemingway novel or a [insert favourite blogger here]'s best article is highly valuable regardless of whether it is a book, audiobook, or scribbled on a toilet toll...

I'm interested to see how Pine's "theory for everything" maps to content. I can certainly see how content can be every one of his categories - commodities (wouldn't risk my head pointing out some of this...!), goods (data and reporting), services (insight and intelligent thought created from data), and experiences (a well written novel).

Re: The End Of The Age Of Content, Part 2

Andrew Davies — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 05:46:20 -0000

Agreed - would be good to set this context. Especially when curation is mentioned alongside content, experience and community.

Re: The End Of The Age Of Content, Part 2

Andrew Davies — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 05:44:21 -0000

It is certainly not "the end of the age of content". Although I agree with what seems to be your fundamental point, that content is useless without relevancy, context, use. That's where curation comes in.

Publishing in the past was based on one fundamental paradigm - "scarcity". Words had to fit on pages. Pages cost money to print. Distribution of a physical product is expensive. Publishers could throttle supply of content to meet demand at a good price.

Now the fundamental paradigm is "ubiquity". The marginal cost of an additional word, page, article or book, is almost zero. So everything changes. Filtering becomes vital. Human curation is one of the best filtering methods.

But that does not mean content is commoditised. Great content will never be a commodity. The communication of new ideas (or old ideas in new ways) is a vital part of our existence.

The new tools and ecosystem makes content creation and distribution easy. So everyone will do it. We've just got to live with that. Creating platforms to filter signal from noise is what matters. Likeminds does that. You do that.

But it is worth noting that if you were not also creating original, useful, interesting ideas (and ways of communicating ideas), many would go elsewhere to the thousands of other 'curators'.

Re: http://www.themediabriefing.com/article/2010-07-13/does-content-matter-any-more

Andrew Davies — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 03:45:47 -0000

Agreed - the issue here is around content as a revenue driver. Publishers should permanently redefine the focus to be "monetise the audience, not the content." This thinking opens up many other revenue opportunities, with content just being one way of building relationships, therefore community, therefore a retained audience.

Re: Gather what you Scatter

Andrew Davies — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:48:57 -0000

I love the scatter then gather approach. I also haven't missed the fact that it can be shortened to your initials (SG)... Only joking... (But seriously!).

As well as all the benefits you have described, it perhaps also takes the pressure off being the one setting strategy. So, to find a point of further conversation and to take that point forward, do you really think that this works for all companies, or even all people?

If we didn't have people and companies willing to bet their futures on deterministic strategy and secretive research (eg Apple, James Dyson etc) there would be massive gaps in the reality we see today.

I know I am making a leap from a simple framework to company strategy, but I think its important to note that long-term vision is vital for breakout success. Is my future based solely on "scatter-gather", or is there also an element of strategic planning? To use your phrasing, if I only gathered those that responded to my scattering, wouldn't I miss out on certain opportunities, conversations, deals, that come available when I go out of my way to meet someone who I can see will be influential for me, that I can learn from, or that I can generate business from?

Re: Preaching to the Converted?

Andrew Davies — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:16:43 -0000

There is no official name yet - but as soon as the legals are done, lets talk about it :)

Re: The Curse of the Sales Lead - emedia and Technology @ FolioMag.com

Andrew Davies — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:43:27 -0000

Trouble is, if you won't sell it for them, many brands are already looking at content strategies so that they can replace the publisher entirely! Blogging and microblogging, content aggregation, digital custom publications... there are so many options for brand publishing where the brand actually owns the customer relationship.

Re: Like Minds: Measuring Social Media conference

Andrew Davies — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:42:48 -0000

lol - lets get a drink soon Dan! i'll DM you. Since you've moved to non-dying media you've gotten a lot more busy ;)

Re: Serendipity, and the Future of Media

Andrew Davies — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:26:41 -0000

Yes true! Except I don't think newspapers can afford it!

I think the problem is slightly different too. Retailers have a financial incentive to get you to choose something. Publishers don't mind what you choose, as long as you keep choosing something (ie continue browsing). So the goal of retail recommendation is "give them what they want", whereas for publishing it is "give them what they want, and then lead them on a journey from that start point."

Re: Serendipity, and the Future of Media

Andrew Davies — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:15:23 -0000

Totally agree regarding the serendipity of the print newspaper. Its exactly why I enjoy train journeys - its the rare chance I have to browse a newspaper - and the breadth of content always provides me with something really interesting that I would have never googled for.

I think online personalization has probably focused too much on 'relevancy', and not enough on the actual discovery experience. The 'most relevant next step' whether music, news, or amazon product is useful - but rarely takes me beyond known interests. "Give the unexpected" is a great way of putting it.

Here's a thought - try the serendipity of Wikipedia... You start off reading a topic, but within 20 minutes you find yourself reading something that you didn't search for, but that is very interesting - partially enabled by the entity/topic level categorisations that structure Wikipedia. Could newspapers learn from this?

Re: The "Content" API

Andrew Davies — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:11:04 -0000

Hey Fred,

the content API for http://www.idiomag.com will be live very shortly. for eg, you can call the latest music news, reviews, bios and media, from an artist name or genre.

Andrew

Re: Golden Ticket

Andrew Davies — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:32:18 -0000

awesome! and thats just the video...

Re: Press Gazette - Cedar looks to give customer publishing an online boost

Andrew Davies — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:36:48 -0000

"The only two real growth areas in marketing spend at the moment are internet and customer magazines."

Hmmm - music to my ears! (http://www.idiomag.com)

Re: Press and Viral aren't the only two marketing and distribution strategies!

Andrew Davies — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:28:12 -0000

since you mention Andrew Chen - its certainly worth pointing people to http://andrewchen.typepad.c... for 10 strategies to ruthlessly acquire users...

he rocks :)

Re: Clickpass launches! Launch story, feelings and post-analysis

Andrew Davies — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 06:03:36 -0000

congrats immad :)