Disqus - Latest Comments for Howard Owens

Re: QR codes will revolutionize the newspaper-consumer relationship - if papers allow it

Howard Owens — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:46:42 -0000

Ever hear of the CueCat?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CueCat

http://cuecat.com/

Where you'll find this: "
The associated patents from Digital:Convergence, Corp. and technology behind the first-ever consumer code reader have been purchased and maintained by LV Partners, L.P."

Re: How Not To Do Newspaper Video - The Digital Journalist

Howard Owens — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:04:09 -0000

It's a pretty good bet that I've been doing online journalism, online audience development, longer than whomever wrote this misguided editorial. And my efforts to promote newspapers doing video goes back many years. So call me a corporate bean counter if you like, but what I say isn't some shallow "oh, gee, we should do video" position, but a strategy developed over many years of experience.

If you're not approaching your job with an eye how to help the online edition grow, please go apply for a job at Wal-Mart.

If you're not producing MULTIPLE videos per day, you're doing your employer and your profession a disservice.

The only way to grow online video audience is to "get the hits up." If that isn't a major concern of yours, then your part of the problem, not the solution.

Forget the NPPA awards, forget all of the awards. If you're making video win awards rather than win readers, you're part of the problem, not the solution.

Grab a camera -- any camera that shoots video will do -- and start producing lots and lots of video.

Otherwise, go start your own web site and see how well you do at supporting yourself with your "award winning" video.

Re: Parking Structure Redeemed…..

Howard Owens — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 12:02:06 -0000

You might want to submit some of your photos to the Bakersfield community photo blog. http://bakersfield.buzznet.com/.

Re: links for 2007-02-25

Howard Owens — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 07:54:53 -0000

According to Jim Buckmaster, nobody should try to make money.

Imagine where we'd all be if newspapers hadn't had so far to slide profit wise?

That last comment is presuming, of course, that newspapers would be in trouble no matter how well run. The internet is the internet. Kids are kids. Change is change. There'd still be a craigslist. A monster. A Yahoo! and on and on ...

Re: 2008/08/01/why-there-will-be-another-lg15/

Howard Owens — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 09:31:20 -0000

I don't think you can make hulu vs. YT with YT being nothing but a repository for UGC. YT is a heck of a lot more than UGC. It is also a great repository for professionally produced content, and that stuff gets lots of views, too. It is much more commonly found among most views now than it was a couple of years ago. Yes, UGC is still big on YT, but YT is much, much more than just UGC.

Re: Time to stop printing the newspaper? It would be tough

Howard Owens — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:35:56 -0000

Frankly, you could cut staff more. Publishing online is more efficient than print, so a properly trained staff can be more efficient.

Even 30 seems fat.

That 9 percent of revenue that online gets now -- 80 percent of it is whole dependent on the print product, such as up sells from classifieds. It's debatable whether you would have to go to a free classified model. Even so, you're likely to see a huge disruption to online revenue once print is dropped. You could even argue that many of the advertisers buying banners now, even though not an up sell, do so because of the relationship with print. Once print's not around, will the relationship last?

So, while expenses could be reduced significantly more, there are still gaping questions about retaining sufficient revenue.

Re: Can really small towns plug into social media?

Howard Owens — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 18:30:50 -0000

Kurt, great post ... but check out all the activity from users on The Batavian ... started a nearly 10 months ago, more than 1,000 registered users, not print-product support.

Yes, I would say social media works in small towns.

Re: Lost Remote: The Business of Journalism

Howard Owens — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:03:56 -0000

You've gotta love newspaper executives who are so clueless they think the only thing to Google is the content newspapers produce, effectively ignoring the other 95 percent of the content indexed by Google.

Re: Lost Remote: The Business of Journalism

Howard Owens — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:07:51 -0000

Gordon, per usual, is absolutely right. The only way to attract the SMBO is to walk into his or her store and offer a value proposition. You need to be able to VERBALLY answer the question, "how will this benefit my business." And the benefit isn't always about how many pairs of feet you can get into the front door.

Local ad sales is all about relationships.

Automation can't replace that.

Re: Reinventing the Economics of News

Howard Owens — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 21:52:32 -0000

I've been harping on this theme in my blog for nearly two years -- and a lot of people have told me I'm an idiot because of it.

In the old newspaper model, subscribers paid for distribution. Advertisers paid for content.

I think far more people realize this than some journalists are willing to give them credit for.

On the web, distribution of news (I'm not talking about creation, just distribution) is virtually nil on a per-reader basis, but the reader is paying slightly more than that to get web access to begin with. Readers are paying for distribution before they even get to your news site.

So many journalists, who continue to bemoan publishers "giving away" their content fail to get the basic economics of this reality.

The last mile is still the responsibility of the news consumer, not the publisher.

Re: Google Local Coupons: A Limited Offer for Consumers

Howard Owens — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 11:46:07 -0000

All of us who watch the local media space are abuzz and atwitter about Google coupons.

I've blogged about this a few times -- a little fact nobody seems to pay attention to ... local small businesses do not use AdWords. Most AdWords advertisers (except in real estate) are aggregators and online-only plays, not your typical locally owned small business ... the kind who traditionally buy space in coupon packs.

Small business owners are busy people with a lot of things to worry about. Learning how to manage an AdWords account just isn't high on their priority list.

That's not to say that eventually small business owners won't take the plunge and figure it out, but many of them still struggle with understanding how to download their e-mail (I was just in a small business owner's office yesterday where he was complaining about how he didn't understand all this Internet stuff).

Of course, my basis for saying all of this is purely anecdotal, based on years of dealing with small business owners in various contexts, including selling advertising and consulting on Web projects. My other basis for my suppositions is actually going through various searches trying to find small business advertisers using AdWords. I'm putting the two observations together to reach my conclusions.

Re: Will Content Quality Still Be a Driver of Advertising Online?

Howard Owens — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 06:47:06 -0000

Google didn't have a revenue model until it launched AdSense/AdWords. While big advertisers sometimes use Google text ads, for the most part a whole new industry of advertisers has sprung up around that innovation (or copy of a innovation). In other words, Google grabbed market share by expanding the market, not taking advertising dollars so much from the existing market.

Big Brand advertisers may not advertise on YouTube or MySpace, but if those companies are smart, they will develop advertising platforms that will expand the market, creating new opportunities for new businesses or underserved segments of the market because what and how those segments want to advertise are not currently served well by existing advertising channels.

Re: Brands Matter More Than Ever In Media and Technology

Howard Owens — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 01:30:49 -0000

Good post. I linked to it. You've expressed something I've thought about many times over the years.

Re: Just Say No To Web 3.0

Howard Owens — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 17:31:27 -0000

A post by Greg Sterling reminds me that "publishing 3.0" is mobile video.

Re: The Deeply Painful Growing Pains of Online Advertising

Howard Owens — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 21:50:58 -0000

Where does the efficiencies in online advertising factor in? Don't you see the price of reaching per-person will only go down as online becomes even more efficient?

Re: Publishing Video Online Still Hasn’t Gone Mainstream

Howard Owens — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 21:53:14 -0000

There's always the old 1-percent-rule ... most people will never share anything ... previous commment pretty much related.

Re: Beware the Digital Generation’s BS Detector

Howard Owens — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 23:48:25 -0000

What to you think this says about MSM's ability to be all social networky and UGCy?

Re: Let’s Try This Again: If It’s Not CRYSTAL CLEAR That Something Is An Ad, It’s DECEPTION

Howard Owens — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 15:04:52 -0000

I've been thinking that the next time I want to write about some new gadget I like, I'm not to explicitly state "this is NOT a pay-for-post," just to avoid any confusion or speculation ... just to maintain the credibility of my independent recommendation.

Re: Blog Herald Column On The Great Comment Debate

Howard Owens — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 15:13:35 -0000

I do believe that a blog isn't a blog unless it is part of the conversation. Otherwise it's just Packaged Goods Media. But you don't need comments to have a conversation. There are bloggers out there who don't have comments, but are very conversational -- responding to reader e-mail, linking and commenting on other blogs.

Re: Blog Herald Column On Blogging Your Convictions

Howard Owens — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 20:31:39 -0000

It's called leadership.

Re: The Radically Changing Video-Based Media Industry

Howard Owens — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 17:54:03 -0000

And just who said YT was all UGC?

Furthermore, DMCA, Viacom doesn't have a pot to piss in regarding YT.

Re: Reinventing The News Business Requires A Little Imagination

Howard Owens — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 16:00:04 -0000

Pop thought: So Craig Newmark has said he values newspapers and journalism and never intended to hurt newspapers, so he's been working on initiatives in support of journalism.

Wonder how craigslist would react if we started a campaign to go into all of the local craigslist sites and posted messages in support of the local newspaper -- did you you know you can buy concert tickers here (link), place classifieds here (link), look at this cool thing the local newspaper site is doing here (link) etc.

Use the power of network and open architecture to spread the good word about newspapers and their web sites. There's some civic-minded volunteerism for you ... a little crowdsourcing support for democracy and community and the institutions that are part of it.

Re: Reinventing The News Business Requires A Little Imagination

Howard Owens — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 16:29:07 -0000

Ah, Scott ... leverage the power of the network ... grassroots is always more effective.

Re: Reinventing The News Business Requires A Little Imagination

Howard Owens — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 16:57:17 -0000

Well, I just did a post on the idea ... we'll see if it catches on ... if it does, I would expect strong newspaper support. Maybe I'll make a suggestion to the NAA to rechannel some of that "value of newspaper" camapaign ...

Re: New York Times vs. DailyCandy

Howard Owens — Sat, 19 May 2007 09:33:58 -0000

I'm sticking with my newspaper job.

Re: How Apple Will Use The iPhone To Take Over The Wireless Industry

Howard Owens — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 10:01:01 -0000

I travel a lot and got to a lot of business meetings ...

It used to be that you never saw a Mac laptop in anybody but a student's hand ... now MacBooks are EVERYWHERE. It's more shocking now to see a business man with a Dell than a Mac.

I think Apple is making a lot more of an advance in selling computers to the business world than you give them credit for.

Re: Ebay Free Classified Ad Site Kijiji Is Another Huge Blow To Newspapers

Howard Owens — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:21:49 -0000

Craigslist hasn't hurt newspapers as much as some people assume, and it hasn't hurt newspapers because ads are free.

Newspapers hurt themselves years ago by offering a clunky, unweb-like way of offering classifieds online, and then did all kinds of things to abuse or disappoint online customers.

But the lose of classified revenue is a fair more complex issue than just paid vs. free, or craigslist vs. newspapers. It's all the competition and changing demographics of a turbulent media environment.

I'm with Howard Weaver on this one -- this isn't a "huge blow." It's just one more cut.

Newspapers may yet die a death of a thousand cuts, but the fight isn't over yet.

Re: Online Publishers Need To Stop Selling Space

Howard Owens — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 18:23:06 -0000

Look, I have no qualms with the idea that performance-based advertising will dominate online advertising.

But "space" advertising isn't going to die.

While Bitterman's audience is all over the web, there are only a few places where it's aggregated and compacted. One of those places in on the local newspaper.com. CPM rates will continue to rise significantly over the next several years.

Re: Online Publishers Need To Stop Selling Space

Howard Owens — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:04:14 -0000

It's not "we've got them here, too" that will sell. It's "you can't reach this particular group of people as efficiently anywhere else as you can here" that will sell (but phrased tighter -- in a nice little jingle, maybe).

Re: Google News Hosting Wire Service Stories Diminishes Value Of Duplicate Content

Howard Owens — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 10:57:46 -0000

Backstory: Until a few months ago, Google didn't have a strategic business person setting the agenda for Google News. Now they have Josh Cohen.

Where Google News is going, I don't know. But I wouldn't see this as a strategic shift for all of Google, just that GN is evolving.

FWIW: I started depreciating AP news in Ventura more than three years ago. In Bakersfield, I canceled the AP contract. It's been obvious for some time that AP produced commodity content. This move devalues it even further, but I'm not sure AP has much choice.

The biggest concern for newspapers will be what happens to local-story rewrites in GN -- will the AP version trump the original local version? That is where the damage to referral traffic from GN could hit hard. But I suspect AP and Google have a plan for this. And that isn't just a guess.

Re: Apple Wins: Verizon Is First Wireless Carrier To Open Network

Howard Owens — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:16:33 -0000

For a variety of odd reasons ... I wound up in western new york with three phone plans ... an expiring Verizon plan, a new Sprint plan for my wife's phone, and a Sprint plan through work.

My cost to switch my own phone was zero. I just needed to wait another month for that old Verizon plan to expire, but when I canceled as I planed to do anyway, I said, "yeah, I got an iPhone." (dig).

Because I've experienced both Verizon and Sprint in this market, I have some idea of what their service is like here.

I'm so, so, so happy with both my iPhone and AT&T's service here (as compared to Verizon and Sprint) that for Christmas (shh, this is a surprise), I'm getting my wife and iPhone and happily paying Sprint's termination fee on her current phone.

Re: What Is The ROI Of Requiring User Registration To Access Online Content?

Howard Owens — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 17:50:30 -0000

Faulty assumption that registration costs traffic.

I've run two registration sites, and have spoken with other newspaper.com site managers who have run their own registration-required sites, and two things I found to be true based on empirical evidence:

1) There is no drop off in traffic past the first 60 days of registration (after 60 days, traffic exceeds pre-registration numbers and continues to grow).

2) Most local people -- the only thing a local news site should care about -- are quite honest in the information they share with local newspaper.com (like 96 percent match rate against independent data).

Both of these verifiable facts fly in the face of the two main arguments netheads use against registration schemes.

I've heard from enough online executives that have both a robust registration scheme and aggressive opt-in e-mail marketing program that revenue directly tied to registration is quite healthy.

That said, I think the future for newspapers is in tying registration to participation.

Re: What Is The ROI Of Requiring User Registration To Access Online Content?

Howard Owens — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:08:02 -0000

Jawfish sort of touched on something I want to clarify.

I believe registration behavior is different for people visiting their local newspaper site than for any other site.

Based on my own observations, I believe that people have a high trust level with their own local newspaper.

In other words, the person who might gladly register for his hometown Ventura County paper won't register, or give false information, to a Chicago paper. They are also more likely to opt-in for e-mail provisioned by the paper from local advertisers.

And again, I'm not advocating for registration-to-read schemes. I think there are better and smarter options newspapers should pursue. My only point to weigh in with some points I believe to be factually true. It just bugs me to see people arguing against registration with assumptions I know not to be true. Be against registration, ok, but not because it hurts local newspaper.com traffic or because most people lie or use sites like BugMeNot. I just know those assumptions are not true, not for the local newspaper.com.

Re: Can Pay-For-Performance Improve The Quality Of Content On The Web?

Howard Owens — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 14:57:13 -0000

I think because A) the bonus program is aimed at single posts, rather than aggregate results; and, B) has pretty substantial PV numbers before bonus kicks in ... that the system has little danger of rewarding salacious, etc. posts.

The posts will need to be good content to get the kind of attention that will drive links and traffic -- mere good SEO won't drive that kind of traffic.

Re: Journalism At The Crossroads: Change Or Die

Howard Owens — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 12:59:38 -0000

Scott, thanks for including me. That's very nice.

Jon, taking a magazine article or a news article and slapping it online is not embracing digital.

In the absence of any other strategy, in fact, it's the exact opposite.

Just because the words are displayed in pixels doesn't mean they're digital, not in the sense we're talking about. It takes more than that, but the real journosaurs don't get that. To them, the web is just another publishing platform, and that's clearly not the case.

Re: Journalism At The Crossroads: Change Or Die

Howard Owens — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 14:23:56 -0000

Setting aside the sort of red herrings put up here, I actually think Jon has a point about Kara. Not knowing her or having followed her previously, I can't speak to her particular case, but there is an bigger concern about MSM journalist thinking they're too big or too good not to directly engage in conversation.

Rather than debunk my point, Jon actually makes it for me by raising this issue.

Re: The Scourge Of Blog Comment Spam

Howard Owens — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 11:13:37 -0000

This is a test. Will posting as howard-owens.com (a domain I own and redirect) let me post, or will askimet still think I'm an evil spammer.

Re: Do Youth Media Habits Predict The Future Of Media?

Howard Owens — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:04:35 -0000

I think my love for newspapers began when I was about 9-years-old.

I became a huge baseball fan.

Back then, about the only way to follow my favorite team every day was to read the newspaper.

I could listen to the radio, and I often listened to the radio, and once in a while, especially when they were playing the hated Dodgers, they were on TV -- but every morning, I couldn't wait to read about my team. I loved reading the post-game commentary and quotes from the players.

I don't think I looked at any other section of the paper until I was maybe 12 and became a paperboy for the Evening Tribune, but by then I had already published my first newspaper -- a four-page mimographed one-time periodical for my fourth-grade class (next edition didn't come out until 5th grade, and I wouldn't be a publish again until after college).

I've just got to believe that that early love affair with the sports section of my home town newspaper set me up for a life-time romance with newspapers.

I'm very duel-minded about media today. I still prefer reading the news in paper, but I very much believe in the future of the newspaper.com; however, I think that duelity is one thing that leads me to push so hard for creating local news sites that just create the local news paper online.

People don't read newspapers as much as they used to not because the alternatives are more convenient or better (they are not); they don't them any more because they are no longer relevant to their busy, multi-faceted, more individualized lives.

Or something like that.

Kids today -- if the mobile device in their hands is what turns them on to being information omnivores, then it will be the mobile device they most cling to when they're 50, no matter what comes along later, I think.

And that brings us around to what may ultimately kill newspapers ... kids today just don't get turned on to them like they used to, so for those of use who believe in the civic value of journalism (especially the brand practiced by newspapers), how are we going to keep that craft alive and still appeal to future generations?

Re: Do Youth Media Habits Predict The Future Of Media?

Howard Owens — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:10:24 -0000

::: Push hard for news sites that DON'T just recreate the newspaper online ... I meant.

Re: The Only Way For Journalists To Understand The Web Is To Use It

Howard Owens — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:57:12 -0000

Thanks for the link, as always.

I think you've articulated well what I've been trying to say.

Re: Why It’s Good News If Google Is Vulnerable To A Recession

Howard Owens — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 19:03:53 -0000

Of course, we now know, ComScore's original report was based on flawed data and ComScore has issued a correction ...

However, for our own internal analysis, I made the observation that "isn't capitalism wonderful"? There are so many self-correcting mechanisms. Just when you think Google is going to run away with the game, some dose of reality hits. For every excess, there is an unmet need; for every glut, there is a scarcity. And not every solution fits every need, and so old and new competitors alike get a second chance.

Re: What Newspapers Still Don’t Understand About The Web

Howard Owens — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:33:34 -0000

Here's a problem for news web sites though -- most people aren't going to go to the Washington Post first, like you did ... they'll just go straight to Google.

FWIW: Here's a nice weather blog that one of our editors runs.

Re: GateHouse I.P.O. Up Despite Newspaper Gloom; New Media Hires

Howard Owens — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 15:55:03 -0000

Rafat -- echoing everything Melinda said ... thanks, and new site looks real good, and thanks for the notice on GateHouse.

It is exciting to be at GateHouse. I'm having a blast. And a big part of what makes it great is this team -- Bill, Melinda and Shannon. It's all coming together nicely.

Re: Advertising As Content Sites Proliferate, But Viewers Might Skip Altogether

Howard Owens — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 13:32:11 -0000

I'm been advocating for some time now that advertising video is content and should be handled accordingly on media sites. I think it's a better option than pre-roll, for example.

Can an advertising-only video site make it? Maybe. The right spin on the product, a little luck in marketing and adoption. Probably. Can several make it? Doubtful. But they're all a worthy experiment, I think.

Also, while Jupiter may find it 8 percent now, if one or two of these sites become successful, it could create demand in that odd counter-intuitive, backwards way the Net often works. Also, how many people who responded to the survey really differentiated between advertising and content? For example, is the famous mentos and diet coke video advertising or content? How many people have watched that repeatedly and then responded to Jupiter, "oh, I never watch advertising video online." I would argue that not many people watch commercials online, as Jupiter says, and that the market for commercials will remain limited -- but online video advertising is something different. Commercials were made for packaged goods media. Online video advertising is made for distributed media.

Re: Fisher Continues Expansion; To Acquire KBAK-TV, KBFX-CA For $55 Million, Will Build Up Online

Howard Owens — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 18:00:28 -0000

The Bakersfield market is getting pretty heated online.

You've got all the projects of The Bakersfield Californian, you've got Nick Belardes pushing KERO into a Web 2.0 world, and now this. This could be interesting to watch.

Re: Fisher Continues Expansion; To Acquire KBAK-TV, KBFX-CA For $55 Million, Will Build Up Online

Howard Owens — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 18:31:48 -0000

I decided to do a post of my own on this topic.

http://www.howardowens.com/2007/bakersfield-med...

Re: Lauren Rich Fine: Micropayments? Won't Work. Here's A Better Plan For Newspapers

Howard Owens — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:39:27 -0000

One quibble, Lauren. You write: "Years ago, the Chicago Sun-Times probably had it right when it tried to offer very-low-cost web-site creation and hosting for local small businesses. It could still be done."

Having been involved with newspapers trying to do web site development and hosting for small businesses, it's a nightmare. There is a natural conflict of interest in trying to sell ads to local advertisers and running their web sites. The conflicts over how best to handle the site are numerous, and any technical difficulties or hiccups in the development process can soil the relationship. The risk of losing, then, and advertiser are enormous. When you consider the lifetime value of an advertiser, especially with multiple up sell opportunities, the relative small amount of monthly hosting and inconsequential amount small advertisers will pay for development, the risk just isn't worth it.

As for current newspaper sales forces: Totally inadequate. The right sales force is more likely to be found with shoppers or radio.

Re: Updated: Publish2 Acq-Hires WiredJournalists.com

Howard Owens — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:38:05 -0000

Thank you to Scott Karp for his faith in Wired Journalists. We appreciate him coming forward with the resources to help the network grow and provide improved services.

Re: The Fallacy Of The Link Economy

Howard Owens — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:57:07 -0000

While opposing the response to aggregators by some newspapers and AP, this article reveals a good deal of truth.

Here are three similar posts I wrote some time back (this article reads almost like they were used in prep of the story).

http://www.howardowens.com/7335/myth-deep-link

http://www.howardowens.com/7337/why-nobody-clic...

http://www.howardowens.com/7336/why-home-page-a...

Many advocates of the link economy do not fully understand how links actually work.

Re: The Fallacy Of The Link Economy

Howard Owens — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:20:56 -0000

RSS feeds can be considered for private, non-commercial use. And that can be made explicit in the Terms of Use/Service.

Re: The Fallacy Of The Link Economy

Howard Owens — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:56:24 -0000

David, I would think that you would have already read it, but fair use is not a slam-dunk defense, as Gary Lichman's expert opinion in GHM vs. NYT made clear.

http://www.niemanlab.org/pdfs/douglichtman.pdf

Grabbing and republishing a site's RSS feed for commercial use is not automatically protected by fair use. It could quite possibly be a copyright violation.

Re: The Fallacy Of The Link Economy

Howard Owens — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:57:51 -0000

Correction, Doug Lichtman.

Re: The Fallacy Of The Link Economy

Howard Owens — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:58:37 -0000

Funny, Steve, you point to a logical fallacy "straw man" in using another "red herring."

The parties involved in the case, nor the outcome, do nothing to diminish the arguments put forth in Lichtman's paper.

Your entire comment is completely irrelevant to facts and opinions put forward by Lichtman.

The fact is, Mr. Lichtman's conclusions are not uncommon and should another such case arise, either Mr. Lichtman or a similar expert is quite likely to come forward with the same expert opinion, or quite similar, so those who are resting their use of RSS on a faulty and feeble understanding of fair use would do themselves well to read the paper, imbibe of some additional study and come to a reasonable conclusion, rather than relying on the myth that "just a quote and link" is ipso facto fair use.

Re: The Fallacy Of The Link Economy

Howard Owens — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:16:28 -0000

I have no idea what you mean, Steve.

Re: The Fallacy Of The Link Economy

Howard Owens — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:46:07 -0000

One problem with this debate is there is just simply enough data and verifiable research.

To get to any kind of statistically meaningful study, a research would need unfettered access to the data from a large quantity of "original content" producers, such as newspapers, TV stations, networks and even that class of bloggers that does some degree of original work. Next you would need access to the same data from the "aggregators" (with a solid definition of what that means), both their traffic data and how many links they publish in various time frames.

You would also need access to the corresponding revenue data, including types of revenue (CPM, flat-fee, nationa vs. local, etc.)

Then gather all that, categorize it appropriately, see what the real impacts are.

Then you can start getting at some meaningful conclusion about whether aggregators contribute more in a "link economy" than they subtract; are publishers really benefiting, or being harmed, or missing an opportunity?

Right now you have a lot of guesses. Few people have even closely looked at the data available. And you have people who see a slice of data in their own world (bloggers, say, which get totally different traffic data than a newspaper site, and there's a huge difference in traffic patterns from a large newspaper to a small newspaper) and jump to conclusions that may not be honestly reflective of the web as a whole.

My links above were attempt to get a larger picture using data I've observed over several years from a variety of sources. It was merely an effort to debunk some myths about the link fetish. However, the study is still incomplete. Somebody with a more scholarly background and credentials (to gain the trusted access needed) should dive deep into this topic and provide some answers.

Re: Newspapers will never understand the Internet

Howard Owens — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 08:11:21 -0000

A) I never called you an idiot.

B) I never was CEO ... not even close.

Those are both in response to your tweet.

C) I never said ads couldn't be served in RSS. Of course I know ads can be served in RSS, but that would have zero relevance to the Boston.com case.

Re: Newspapers will never understand the Internet

Howard Owens — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 09:57:27 -0000

You obviously did not read any of the detailed documentation on the Web about the GateHouse NYT lawsuit, nor are you technically savvy enough to understand how robots.txt works.

Because the NYT was using an automated RSS aggregator, putting anything in the robots.txt file would have done nothing to stop the aggregation.

Further, this case wasn't about linking. It was about creating an anti-competitive product using verbatim headlines and leads from directly competitive news source.

You'll notice that GHM never complained about any links from Boston.com prior to the launch of Your Town and part of the settlement included the right of Boston.com to continue to link to GHM sites, including its in search engine, which aggregates all of GHM's content.

The suit was very narrowly focused on a specific use of GHM's content.