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Re: Pokemon Go Guide: How To Take Over Gyms

George Nimeh — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 09:21:14 -0000

Can you heal the pokemon you battled with before placing it in the gym? Or, are you forced to choose a different one that is already full health? ... And, can someone else step into the gym in the meantime and steal your spot? ... In the cities, there are so many players that it happens very fast. ;-)

Re: Pokemon Go Guide: How To Stay A Gym Leader

George Nimeh — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 09:16:51 -0000

Hi. I just beat a gym and a couple things happened which I didn't quite understand. 1) When I beat the gym, it turned grey so it could be occupied. When I went to select my highest CP pokemon to put in the gym, I noticed that *both* of the pokemon that I had used in the battle were not available for selection. They were both still alive and well. And 2) as soon as I took the gym and had to pick a lesser pokemon to occupy it, someone apparently slipped in and tool the gym leader. As the winner of the gym, should I not have the rights to be leader, or is it determined by level. FYI, the leader is 21 and I am 19 ... Any ideas about these 2 things would be very welcome. Thanks so much. :-)

Re: Exclusive: specs for "Sailfish" - the smaller of two upcoming HTC-built Nexus devices

George Nimeh — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 07:50:32 -0000

I've owned every single Nexus mobile phone, and they are getting worse not better in terms of the ratio of specifications to consumer need. This is supposed to be a flagship phone. The example by which all others are judged ... It's 2016, who the f*ck wants a 2770mAh battery? It's 2016, who the f*ck wants 32GB (probably unexpandable) storage? So. Incredibly. Pathetic.

Re: Hershey's Just Made a Father-Daughter Ad That's One of the Year's Sweetest

George Nimeh — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 12:45:39 -0000

"Happiness" at the core of a masterbrand strategy for a sugary product. Softrock whispery version of a classic rock song? Check. Heartstrings pulled? Check. A hint at an alternative family structure (kinda seems like he's a single dad)? Check. We just need Don Draper to teach the chocolatey world to sing, and we'd be all set. Fcuk this.

Re: Touchdown Blues

George Nimeh — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 06:35:20 -0000

ps: for the nightowls ...

How to ... and where to watch the Super Bowl in Vienna
http://www.viennawurstelsta...

Re: Touchdown Blues

George Nimeh — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 04:57:43 -0000

Fun read. Thanks!

tl;dr ... Less TV is a great thing: It leaves more time to read Metropole!

One of the best things about having difficult access to US sports is the realization of just how little it matters. The amount of time I've regained by not watching hours and hours of the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NCAA etc. is incredible.

FWIW, the Marriott now sells out months in advance of the game. Mostly "Stammgästen" who have reserved tables all season long ... Someone could definitely make some spare change by putting together a competing midnight madness Superbowl party (with the ads, of course).

Re: 'New Money' Powers PayPal's Super Bowl Push

George Nimeh — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 17:01:37 -0000

Because everyone just *loves* to read things on the TV screen during the Superbowl.

Re: Michelob Ultra Focuses on Fitness with Beautiful Super Bowl Ad Directed by Antoine Fuqua

George Nimeh — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 16:57:08 -0000

Because what better way to advertise beer, than by associating it with fitness ... Congrats to FCB Chicago, who just wasted $5 million of A-B InBev's hard-earned money.

Re: The Media Briefing

George Nimeh — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 10:02:12 -0000

This is naïve thinking at best ... and dangerous at worst.

Most legacy publishers are not tap dancing on quicksand. That's wishful thinking. Most of them are standing in it, hip deep, and complaining that they're sinking.

Basically, the author says: Innovation is over. Pack it up. Go home. Buzzfeed and Vice and a handful of others have won (but even they are in danger of "losing their cool"). The world doesn't need more content. ... The big problem is over-supply of everything, especially content. And, to top it off, distribution is over. Read: Facebook and co. have won. Game over.

Bullshit.

The problem is a fundamental lack of innovation in advertising and (to a lesser degree) content development, primarily by legacy publishers who would prefer to moan about how hard it is or how over-supplied the market is, rather than innovating and actually doing something to change their situation.

The mobile ecosystem is exploding. Look at Snapchat Discover, Facebook Instant Articles and Google's AMP.

Video is huge, but yet it is still just getting started.

Content marketing/storytelling by brands is exploding, yet traditional media companies are addicted to the banner ad.

The AR/VR market is about to explode with opportunity for both content and advertising.

But ... the vast majority of legacy publishers are producing the same shit, on the same platforms, with the same monetization strategies, for the same people that they have been for the last 10 to 20 years.

Innovate or die.

Re: The L.A. Times has the ‘Star Wars’ style guide you’ve been wishing for

George Nimeh — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 16:27:10 -0000

Mainstream journalism. Once again pnwnd by the interwebz.

http://starwars.wikia.com/w...

Re: Everest’s Helicopters Could’ve Been Used Elsewhere

George Nimeh — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 13:38:09 -0000

"Without question, getting through the Khumbu Ice Fall without the aid of ladders and fixed ropes pre-established by the Ice Fall Doctors would be tough." ... Just, tough? ... Are you kidding? ... And, by the same logic, should guides for everything be eliminated? ... This is ludicrous.

Re: How your non-traditional competitors are attracting Generation Y readers

George Nimeh — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 07:19:20 -0000

Great article Gerold!

A few thoughts ...

Upcoming is a good example of a traditional European publisher (Telegraaf-Mediengruppe TMG) taking on the new competition head-on. See: http://www.upcoming.nl

In terms of start-ups, you didn't mention Heftig: I think they might be the biggest buzz player in Germany, right?

And while all the local/European new businesses you mention should definitely concern legacy publishers, I think that BuzzFeed is far-and-away the one to watch, regardless of their origins. They are clearly the leader of the "social disruptors" and are creating more original content than anyone else in their field. Jonah Peretti and his team understand the social dynamics of publishing better than anyone ever has. They've got 200M+ monthly users and now well over 100M video views per month thanks to Ze Frank and his team.

VICE, however, is what keeps me up at night. Thanks for that, Stefan Häckel.

Re: 5 digital video trends to watch in 2015

George Nimeh — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 06:56:37 -0000

Nice list. I'd add:

1) Video via YouTube and Facebook will dominate publishers for the foreseeable future due to better execution and tons more content. Publishers should think hard about how to build a sustainable video business off the back of those two platforms.

2) For publishers, stand-alone videos are not as important (nor as successful) as videos embedded or accompanied by an article or other content. That might change, but for now that seems to be the way things are.

3) If you're not doing video well on mobile, then you're not doing well on video or mobile.

Re: Little Pork Chop coming back

George Nimeh — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 14:40:17 -0000

https://twitter.com/iboy

Thanks Dave. Loving the littleporkchop. :)

Re: Little Pork Chop coming back

George Nimeh — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 11:58:02 -0000

Somehow, I'm not able to use it anymore ... Can you whitelist me, please? @iboy

Re: The 40-year-old millennial: 6 days without a printed newspaper

George Nimeh — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 09:24:06 -0000

Hi Kevin.

Nice article. Please allow me play Advocatus Diaboli ...

I don't think it's because you're a "40-year-old Millennial" ... I think it has to do with that 1) you are not behaving like a digital native, and 2) you may not have the digital skills to make sense of the situation you are trying to examine.

Your first mistake is that you artificially limited yourself to 4 sites. Why do that? Natives certainly don't. They use multiple sources across multiple platforms and devices. You are not behaving like them, so it's obvious you're getting a different experience.

I think .mic is pretty good, to be honest ... If you were to add Verge and Vox to your other sources, you'd have a pretty good set.

You don't mention any specific use of mobile. No messaging apps during those 6 days? Really? Well, you're a long way from having a Native experience now.

And you don't mention YouTube ... which makes no sense whatsoever. And Instagram, but let's not go there.

"Day 1: Millennial news blends commentary with fact." Well, so does FOX and a ton of other artfully biased legacy publications. This is a media issue, not a Millennial issue. Get off the high horse.

"Day 2: NSFW means what it says." ... Glad you had fun, though I fail to see the relevance here. Porn was around long before digital media, that's for sure.

"Day 3: Millennial news is fun, at any cost." ... I certainly would not say that Vice is always fun. They send people into the trenches as often as into the clubs. And .Mic is also full of serious news. And before you regurgitate the all-too-often line about BuzzFeed and cats, let me save you the trouble ... except it isn't. They're building a large team of smart journalists led by Pulitzer-prize winning reporters.

"Day 4: Sharing is popular." ... Yes, you nail this. New media is very good at getting things shared. In the 2014 NYTimes innovation Report (leaked on BuzzFeed, btw), the Times cites this fact as a major cause for alarm. I think it's important to focus on impact as much as the story itself, otherwise, we're doing this in a vacuum.

"Day 5: Cursing is rampant." ... I think "selectively rampant" would be more accurate. Other than Vice, can you point out 5 instances of a reporter/editor using the word 'shit' or 'fuck' when it wasn't in a quote? On Mic or BuzzFeed? Doubtful.

"Day 6: Hockey ranks low." ... I'm getting around 353,000,000 results for the keyword "hockey' on Google and have a sneaking suspicion that there's everything you need online.

"I cannot handle it." ... No, you obviously can't. Sorry about that.

Best,
George

Re: Elf Prognosen für das digitale Jahr 2015

George Nimeh — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 12:12:25 -0000

Dank für das Lob! :-)

The first thing to do is to realize that these things - newspapers, broadcast shows, magazines, websites, mobile sites, apps, etc. - are different. Sounds easy, but if seems that many pubkishers have not quite understood that yet. For legacy publishers, mobile needs a different strategy and business plan than the www. It needs a different content plan. It needs a different team, at least from a tech and production perspective. We (the media) need to do a better job at delivering the right content, at the right time, on the right platform, to the right person. We need to develop products that do that. This is the beginning of creating a business on mobile as opposed to publishing the same stuff on different platforms at more or less the same time ... and hoping it works.

The second thing to do is to figure out how to help advertisers and media agencies understand the size of the gap that exists between how much time people spend on mobile (compared to other media) and the percentage of their budgets that they invest into mobile ... That gap is huge, and it makes that much harder for the publishers to invest into mobile in the first place.

Re: The New Foursquare

George Nimeh — Thu, 07 Aug 2014 04:28:16 -0000

I loved Vindego.
I played with Dodgeball.
I became a multi-mayor on Foursquare.
I met and interviewed Dennis at MWC in Barcelona several years ago.

Dennis has such great passion and knowledge about local data and mobile, and he's an all-around nice guy. However, let's be honest here:

Vindigo was innovative but failed. (Yes, I know he was "only" the product dev and not the founder.)

Dodgeball was innovative, was acquired by GOOG, and then (by Dennis' own admission) failed. "I had a startup that sold to Google, which is a success, but it was a failure.”

Foursquare was innovative and fun for a while, but it has never had a business model.

This isn't a pivot. This is (finally) the admission that the single greatest feature that Foursquare created (the checkin) cannot be monetized. There was no way that the checkin - with all the hope and promise of pinpointed specials and offers from local merchants - would ever pay off. That free cup of coffee for the mayor was never going to be a big enough hook to earn a $billion valuation. The checkin, however, is what makes Foursquare, Foursquare ... and so it has been incredibly painful watching the business struggle and finally decide to cut out its soul and try to compete in a space where it cannot win.

SIX rounds and a total of $162.4M (incl. a $41M debt round) ... Can you imagine how many cooler smaller better ideas you could have funded instead of constantly pouring good money in after bad?

At what point do you stop investing your time, money and reputation, Fred?

Get out.

Sell it.

Sell it to MSFT if you can.

Or convince Marissa Mayer to buy it, though she probably knows too much and is already jaded given her previous local title at Google.

Or call Tim Armstrong ... He'll buy just about anything.

When do you cut your losses and get the fcuk out of Dodge(ball)?

Re: What we can learn from the evolution of Content Management Systems

George Nimeh — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 19:05:12 -0000

I think you kinda forgot all those content management companies (like Vignette) that established the entire CMS market in the mid-1990s. (I/we were using, building, selling, and developing them.) Saying "2nd decade (early 2000): The First Content Management Systems (CMS)" is completely incorrect.

Re: The state of Google+

George Nimeh — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 12:08:14 -0000

Yes, something daily (or at least weekly) ... What is useful about someone who visits a social network on a monthly basis? That is not engagement. That's a fleeting glance. You have a one in a bazillion chance of engaging with that person. As a metric being used by marketers and brands to plan campaigns, it's useless imho.

Re: The state of Google+

George Nimeh — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 11:31:54 -0000

In 2014, monthly usage (especially of a social network) can hardly be defined as "active". I think it is time to change the definition and use of "Active Users" from monthly to a much more frequent basis.

Re: A new chapter for We Are Social

George Nimeh — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 04:46:33 -0000

Well done guys. Great idea. Great team. Great Leadership. Something like this was bound to happen. Very happy for you.

Re: Nike-RZN

George Nimeh — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 16:04:38 -0000

Nice press release. Thanks.

Re: Powder Awards “Best Powder”

George Nimeh — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 04:49:01 -0000

Rory's snow wave @ 2:34 and Hoji's snow selfie at 2:42 seal the deal. Great pow plus fantastic camera work. For me, that's a winning combination.

Re: Yahoo! And Tumblr: It’s About Display, Streams & Native at Scale

George Nimeh — Sun, 19 May 2013 20:23:39 -0000

My take: This deal wreaks of desperation. It's more about Yahoo (and MM) being cool and less about developing a bizmodel based on naive ads.

Here's a mix of questions and mini-rants:

1) Since when is anyone to believe that David Karp has any interest whatsoever in making Tumblr a business? He recently said that making money is "not a metric that is particularly important to us.” He once suggested that AdSense "poisoned" the blogosphere. He doesn't like advertising. Is this really someone that is going to propel Yahoo's business forward, or is he going to stick around for four years and then leave them to do whatever, just like so many others have done before him.

2) Isn't there a big difference between Tumblr sites and sites/domains powered by Tumblr? it will be easier to do native ads on the former and probably much harder to do on the latter.

3) I also wonder about the quality of their inventory ... How much is porn? How much is self mutilation? How much is worst than that stuff? To date, Tumblr doesn't seem to care about that stuff (actually, they seem to purposefully look the other way). What impact does that have on Yahoo's relatively clean reputation? Not good.

4) GeoCities cost Yahoo $3.5 billion, and at the time, people talked about the potential for lots of new ad formats and tons of new inventory. When they boughtBroadcast.com for $5.7 billion, it was a revolutionary move in an attempt to dominate a bold new ad market. This is more of the same, but worse though at a lower cost.

5) Tumblr reportedly costs $40 million/year to run, and given that run rate, they were getting close to needing more cash from investors. Yahoo's bailout is just in time ... Yahoo continues to invest int he consumer web at a time when most VCs are not.

6) John, you have written (in January which is decades ago, I know) about the myth of infinite inventory. You wrote, "There are even fewer places where marketers can be assured of quality, engagement, and appropriate context." Given that, should Yahoo buy Tumblr for $1 billion?

To those who say yes, I'll borrow your retort: Hogwash.