Disqus - Latest Comments for Eric Berlin

Re: Blogging 2.0: The end of the beginning?

EZall — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:10:32 -0000

Absolutely - a few years ago most of the professional world was saying that there was too much senseless junk being written for blogs to ever be "real." The truth is it just needed time to shake out. Search capabilities, categorization, and the potential for major circulation numbers tell us that the game has officially changed...AP aside, most of the major media outlets are evolving.

I keep an eye on this ongoing shift for my work, so I might as well shamelessly encourage you to check in on http://thinktelos.blogspot.com/. You might see some OMC references on there...

Re: Blogging 2.0: The end of the beginning?

Eric Berlin — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:38:45 -0000

Very interesting thoughts, and I'm much agreed. Traditional media companies that get hip to this way of thinking are going to find ways to survive in this brave new climate. There's a major generational shift going on, and you see journalists like Mathew Ingram reaping the benefits.

Re: Twitter and FriendFeed: where the future may tread

Eric Berlin — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:12:06 -0000

I think that's a good way of thinking of the two Reilly, they're different kinds of "lifestream services." The great thing about both is that you have the ability to customize them to use in ways that work best for you.

Re: The future of content may come in the form of a Cavalcade

Eric Berlin — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:54:07 -0000

Hmm... So the argument you're making if I'm reading you right is that accountability leads to less fun/creative ads? I actually believe the opposite -- if you're hitting the right people at the right place at the right time, I think there's lots of room to be fun and creative. People groan at Punch the Monkey or seeing a boring insurance ad for the millionth time, but seeing a beautiful banner for an album that you're interested in while on a fave music site... that's actually a valuable experience, "ad content" that's you (in this example) actually seek out.

Re: The future of content may come in the form of a Cavalcade

Reilly — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:31:49 -0000

Agreed, Eric. What measurement creates is accountability. What accountability creates (often, at least in my perspective) is a winners-only environment. Unfortunately sometimes that means the more branding-focused (and sometimes) creative and fun ads won't deliver. But they could still be valuable.

I still loved Where's The Beef? when it came out 20 years ago and never clicked on an ad. I never even ate at Wendy's, really. Can Where's The Beef - level advertising exist when measurement rules? Who knows. But I think overall the quality of ads are on the rise due to accountability, if that makes sense.

Re: The future of content may come in the form of a Cavalcade

Eric Berlin — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:13:52 -0000

Very interesting thoughts Reilly. In a very real sense the Internet is revolutionizing both content and advertising, creating unlimited means for distribution and consumption while at the same time creating means for measurement (which to be sure are still in very very early forms).

No wonder why Hollywood is scrambling to figure out what to do about it !

Re: The future of content may come in the form of a Cavalcade

Eric Berlin — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:10:07 -0000

Well, I think it could be a game changer in terms of how high end content producers (Hollywood, TV people, etc.) think about how to break through on the Internet. And it has potential to lead out how web distributed content will be produced and consumed. I guess we'll see !

Re: College textbooks on Kindle = no brainer for brains

Eric Berlin — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:12:41 -0000

I would argue/predict that the things that poise the Kindle for mass use -- ease-of-use, relative affordability (down to $350 or so, no monthly fee, discounts on most purchases vs. print), lightning quick download speed, portability, tie-in with Amazon account, etc. -- will also add value for many college students. While the purchase price will be expensive for many -- match it against the overall cost of college texts, throw in some discount pricing... and you can make back the cost relatively quickly once the academic publishers are rounded up and books brought to digital format.

Re: Mark Cuban: Hulu kicking YouTube’s ass

Eric Berlin — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:35:03 -0000

Granted, there's bias there if only to defend the prediction that Google's purchase of YouTube wouldn't pay off longterm, but I still see some solid basis to the fact that YouTube has a longterm problem in monetizing UGC video... along with every other UGC video platform out there, by the way !

That said, it should be noted that Google is in the rarified position of not necessarily basing YouTube's performance directly on revenue. They snatched the most popular video site on the Internet away from anyone else with the purchase, and now have the ability to experiment with video on the web -- including video advertising -- on the greatest scale possible.

Re: Bridging the Blogging 1.0 and Blogging 2.0 divide

Eric Berlin — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:47:06 -0000

I think most web publishers understand that making money online is extremely difficult. Most do it for the enjoyment of the process, to take part in the greater online conversation, and if a couple of bucks can be made from it, all the better.

Lets remember too that ALL forms of publishing are extremely competitive. Web publishing at the least is egalitarian -- anyone can do it, which may of course lead some to have unrealistic expectations.

Re: Link Sharing: 5/17/08

Eric Berlin — Sun, 18 May 2008 05:03:46 -0000

That's a great description / dynamic, succinctly stated, about Digg's and Reddit's transition. Will ponder some more on that topic.... cheers, EB

Re: Ars Technica snapped up by Conde Nast

Eric Berlin — Sun, 18 May 2008 04:58:54 -0000

Agree with Lucas -- that was my first thought: $36 CPM seems awfully high. Perhaps they get it for a limited amount of inventory but can't imagine it's across -the-board.

Also agree with Mathew that Ars could be a good fit for Conde -- they're putting together a pretty interesting digital portfolio.

Re: louisgray.com: FriendFeed Friday Tips #1: Five Ways To Use the Hide Function

Eric Berlin — Sat, 17 May 2008 23:13:27 -0000

Great job as always Louis.

Semi-related: I've been wondering how friendfeed decides to provide users with friend-of-a-friend updates -- anyone know how that's done ?

Re: I’m Boycotting Twitter Until They Get Their Act Together

webomatica — Sat, 17 May 2008 16:37:53 -0000

I also hope they can figure it out. It would really be sad if they "snatched victory from the jaws of defeat" in that their service can't technically support the increasing number of folks that want to use it.

Re: I’m Boycotting Twitter Until They Get Their Act Together

Eric Berlin — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:18:48 -0000

I'm getting pretty frustrated with the outages too -- hope they get their scaling issues under control one of these days

Re: Online Media Cultist honored by The Industry Standard

Eric Berlin — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:42:16 -0000

Thanks so much for liking, posting, stopping by, and all of the above ! :-)

Re: Online Media Cultist honored by The Industry Standard

Eric Berlin — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:41:39 -0000

Thank you !

You should do a competing Louis Gray List, pulling from your monthly column ;-)

Re: Are social news sites like Digg useful anymore?

Reilly — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:17:42 -0000

Good point. At some point there's just detritus overload.

I agree with the notion that social news sites should become more vertical, but some of the early attempts at that have been slow going. I happen to like cars a lot and most of the social news sites for cars have been useless. Other than Digg/Reddit (which are somewhat horizontal, but as we know basically internet culture stuff), are there any truly vertical news sites?

Re: Are social news sites like Digg useful anymore?

Eric Berlin — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:29:30 -0000

Totally see what you're saying Reilly but I think the counter-argument -- that I'm somewhat but not 100% sold on -- is that if the curated detritus is yet more detritus... is there a point to the whole operation?

That's why I completely agree that the future as I see it for the social news platform is to find niche environments and niche communities -- probably with some sort of editorial overlay.

Re: Are social news sites like Digg useful anymore?

Eric Berlin — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:25:37 -0000

Can you explain a little more what you mean, Spuds? Do you mean that people who are into social bookmarking can find use in sharing what they're into on an online platform? thanks!

Re: Are social news sites like Digg useful anymore?

aseever — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:25:07 -0000

I certainly agree about single-river popularity sites; you'll always get bread and circuses. The new crop of services seeking to compartmentalize that crowd-sourced news dynamic based on interests sound good on paper, but I wonder if you wind up with some hybrid of friendfeed and a message board. In the end, as you allude with the thrift store analogy, the democratization of news is a net loss for signal/noise ratio.

Re: Are social news sites like Digg useful anymore?

Eric Berlin — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:11:08 -0000

Social news sites are by their very nature going to be driven by what the community thinks is important. If you find Digg to be a useful resource, that's great -- obviously man others do as well.

I'm probably biased these days as I find Twitter and Friendfeed to be pretty amazing ways to discover "what I wouldn't easily find." Alternatively, browsing through Digg and Reddit today, it felt more like sifting through the aisles of a thrift store: there are some jewels in there, but you have to have patience, as well as some luck on your side.

Re: When not talking about Twitter, what do you do in life?

Eric Berlin — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:03:38 -0000

I like to read, and the Kindle has helped me to catch up on some book learnin' even if it's just a few pages at a time. And I like to write, both the blogging thing and a long and sometimes tortuous journey into stuff that's more "creative" (sometimes there's more quotes around that word than at other times...). I'm also a TV nerd and love nothing better than having laptop on lap and something on the tube.

Luckily I'm married to a wonderful woman who drags me out of the house. We go hiking, we take walks, we'll ride our bikes around town every now and again. I'm trying to get into shape, so will take little jogs with my dog.

I'm also a big fan of music and shows and am trying to bring that element back into my life after a year+ nearly consumed with work. I locked in seeing REM at the Hollywood Bowl next month and just got tix to see The Kids in the Hall live, which I expect to be nothing less than epic. Also heading to New York in June where I have lots of family and friends, so I always store up my energy for nightlife stuff for those trips.

Re: Bitchmeme: Do blogs deserve advertising?

mathewi — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:49:03 -0000

Unintentionally hilarious perhaps.

Re: Bitchmeme: Do blogs deserve advertising?

Eric Berlin — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:38:55 -0000

Mathew - This was spot on my take across-the-board as well. If you want to take the stance that some specific sites don't deserve the traffic / ad revenue they receive, that's a very different argument, but I don't think that was what Louis was trying to say.

By the way, I *think* michael walens' comment is pretty hilarious... right?