The Growing "Work-from-home" Component in the US workforce

A recent study/survey has confirmed the growing interest in corporate America for supporting employees as they work from home. Surprisingly, a majority of Fortune 500 firms have stated that they plan to increase the number of employees working from home, and more than 56% of decision-makers actually believe that working from home makes workers more productive!

While data is showing strong productivity for many workers as they telecommute, the added benefit is the perceived value that employers are supporting the work-life balance. In the past 10 years, workers in the US have been growing frustrated with companies that push for higher hours, and try to squeeze more and more productivity out of the workforce. Thus, allowing employees to work from home supports the work-life balance, confirming to employees that their firms value the personal lives of workers.

This trend supported more than 26 million workers in the US in 2010, with more working from home in 2011 thus far. The trend is helping companies cut costs, improve efficiency, boost productivity, and encourage morale and employee satisfaction. Hopefully, this trend will continue and become a strong component of the US workforce! For more, visit http://mashable.com/2011/09/17/work-from-home-infographi/.

Infographics On Steroids

Infographics seem to be more and more common, and more and more beautiful and bloated nowadays. This one done by Ad Age (with MBA Online and data provided by Magid Generational Strategies) is a good example: http://adage.com/article/adagestat/infographic-generational-media-usage-time-day/229831/. After staring at it for ten minutes, I was still having a hard time drawing any meaningful conclusions, maybe because it's very tall and the key is at the top...so there's a lot of scrolling required to remember what all the icons mean. But it sure is pretty. I noticed that MBA Online provided some code for embedding the infographic in your own web site, which certainly makes sense from an SEO perspective. More and more, web marketers seem to be adding infographics to their mix of digital assets, and I wouldn't be surprised if users start to get a little bit of infographic overload.

How to Leverage Social Networking to Get Your Next Job

How to Leverage Social Networking to Get Your Next Job <---Click Here

I find this article as a great starter to my blog since it sets the tone for future posts. Most people know the importance of Facebook and Linkedin for networking purposes, but I will introduce you to more creative ways to utilize social media to find your next job.

Twitter, in my opinion, is a media site that is under-utilized for job search. When people think of Twitter, they think of postings which include what they are doing at that time, re-postings of interesting articles, etc... (Similar to a blog). It was only recently that my wife introduced me to Twitter as a resource for job searching. Consider this, to be considered an insider in the industry you are looking for a job in, you must stay connected to numerous websites, magazines, and forums. The easiest way and most efficient way to to do this by opening a Twitter account and following all these magazines, websites and other news articles relating to your target industry. For example, I can now via Twitter follow and read articles relating to the financial industry on the New York Times, WallStreet Journal, Barrons, Seeking Alpha, and Bloomberg. In addition, Twitter allows me to follow industry personalities such as Susie Orman, Jim Cramer, and Warren Buffett. All this information is available to read through my Twitter application on my Blackberry whether I am on the bus going to NYC or at my lunch break. Having access to all this information was impossible prior to Twitter.

My next blog post will cover the very unique way to use Linkedin for job search.

Consumer behavior is shifting

I am working on Social media project at work. We are trying to use social media i.e. Face book and Twitter to tap online market. I was doing some research and found this very interesting article done my Mckinsey. Article talks about shift in Consumer behavior. Smartphone and social networks are changing the way consumers are reacting to marketing promotions and platform

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Marketing/Digital_Marketing/Are_your_customers_becoming_digital_junkies_2839

How Social Media is Transforming Fashion Week Coverage

An article cropped up on Mashable.com a couple of days ago about how social media transformed the coverage of Fashion Week, which recently invaded New York City. What was once considered a niche event of interest only to those directly involved in the fashion industry has suddenly become newsworthy to the general public. Even publications like the Wall Street Journal are in on the act.

Several different explanations are cited as the reasons for the increased coverage via social media platforms: growing demand from readers for play-by-play updates, sneak peeks backstage, and firsthand raw footage and/or images that give followers all over the world the sense of really being there.

What I really find most striking about this article is how obvious it all seems. It’s almost unbelievable that it has taken this long for the fashion industry and the journalists that cover it to catch up to the growing dominance of social media, especially given the proliferation of fashion bloggers and photographers, many of whom have managed to cultivate international fan bases (Ex: The Sartorialist).

However, what I did find interesting was the mention of the new challenges and opportunities that the addition of social media presents for reporters. One of the reporters from the Wall Street Journal commented on how difficult it was to find a balance between capturing those play-by-play moments that readers are most interested in, while also not missing or being distracted from the actual event. Although nowhere near the level of these reporters, as a freelance dance critic myself, I can definitely relate to how challenging it can be to be taking notes and analyzing parts of the performance, while simultaneously trying to get a sense of the show as a whole and also have the opportunity to enjoy what I’m watching. Throw in having to take photos and video while uploading the content to Facebook and Twitter while also keeping an eye out for the next look coming down the runway and you have yourself one incredibly overwhelming job.

Despite these new challenges, as there are virtually no constraints on the amount of content that can be uploaded through social media, reporters now have another outlet for all of the information they gather that didn’t make the cut for the physical newspaper or magazine. Although the information shared through social media doesn’t translate directly into dollars, the reporters in this article agreed that their involvement with social media sites has changed the way the general public views their publications. The popularity of Facebook and Twitter allows them to reach a wider audience and establish stronger ties to their readership.

Gamification Summit NYC 2011

I attended Gamification Summit in NYC over the last two days. There was great talk and discussion on how gamification is rapidly growing and impacting many important aspects of businesses, including consumer engagement, performance enhancement of enterprises, driving behavior, loyalty/engagement programs, and many other innovative and emerging marketing methods. For those who are not familiar with the term, in a nutshell, gamification is using game mechanics and dynamics to change behavior in a non-game setting. We talked about it in class, but location-based applications such as Foursquare, SCVNGR would be great examples of using game mechanics (i.e. badges, rewards, leaderboard, levels) in a real world.

Most talk involved how gamification is becoming increasingly bigger part of social media marketing. According to Garner Group, more than 50 percent of organizations that manage innovation processes will gamify those processes. In fact, by 2015, 70% of the Global 2000 largest companies will be using gamification. As you can see from the graph above, spending on gamification as part of social media marketing is expected to explode over the next half decade (source and more info).

One of the speaker was the CEO of 42 Entertainment. I'm sure Professor Kagan is familar since he is in the entertainment industry. Check out their case studies -- including pre-launch of Dark Knight -- and see how they used gamification to drive up interest and consumer engagement prior to launches. Mashable also has a good information as to how to gamify your marketing efforts.

In closing, check out this video to see gamification at work! In the days of social media and digital marketing, I believe FUN is a must!

- Sam Ahn

Online Marketing for Hotels

How does an independent hotel differentiate itself online in an industry that has largely become commoditized? Although a little to standardized, the hotelier digital marketing breakdown for 2012 has some interesting incites on the relevance of different distribution channels for the industry, and shows some awareness of the problems OTAs pose for hotels. http://www.eyefortravel.com/news/hotels/finalising-decisive-factors-hoteliers-should-target-2012-digital-marketing-budgets

Yet, it fails to address how hotels can compete with online intermediaries whose core competencies are precisely online marketing, and who are able to allocate large percentages of their operational expenses to digital distribution. The OTAs have continued to capture large percentages of room night revenues and have become some of the most recognizable travel brands. So, does it really matter if in 2012 a hotel allocates 20% of its online marketing budget to redesigning its website or 25% to SEM, if the conversion happens on Expedia’s site?

Augmented Reality to drive Machine Learning

http://www.silicon.com/technology/software/2011/02/08/augmented-reality-machine-learning-and-the-cleric-39746937/

An interesting article on how the growth of Augmented Reality will further advancements in machine learning. As we demand more from AR applications, computers will need to get better at understanding more about our very unstructured world. Right now AR can layer information over our field of view to help us find the closest subway station or tell us more about a specific monument but tomorrows AR using screens embedded in our glasses or contact lenses will be able to apply a digital layer over many more things that we come in contact with. Imagine looking an interacting with a AR-enabled movie poster, or seeing someone Facebook profile when meeting him. These are examples of the types of AR applications we have to look forward to. And as our appetite for a more interactive environment grows so will the computational capabilities of computers needed to provide these future technologies.

A movie with many lessons, one being - Responsibility of online social celebrities

Original posted on my tumblr account here

http://www.tumblr.com/tumblelog/doobious

In midst of the craziness of work and school, I found some time to go catch the movie Contagion yesterday. I believe everybody active on the social networks should watch the movie. There are tons of lessons to be learned from the movie, but the one that I took away to be the most important is the responsibility of an individual that has a huge social following online.

Now I am not going to spoil it for all of you who haven't watched the movie, but to set the context, the character played by Jude Law in the movie is the Guy Kawasaki (not the best comparison but that's what comes to mind) kind of influencer in the movie. He has a video blog where he claims to be the source of the truth that is hidden by the government. There is a crisis in the world and he seems to be the one that uncovers it before anybody else and his blog following jumps to 12 Million unique visitors a day. Not to mention, now he becomes the center of attention of many in the government since he could stir things up at the time of crisis that could lead to a full on panic. However, until the first half of the movie, this character is honest to God individual, that is here to serve his followers and bring them the truth, as bitter as it maybe.

The twist happens when the crisis hits full on and certain hedge fund managers realize that this character might have some information that they could benefit from (hedge fund managers portrayed as blood sucking parasites - again. Wonder why? :-)). He is enticed by the potential to stray a group of his followers with the information that, instead of containing the panic, could lead to more panic. At first, he disposes of the proposition. But as it gets clear that there might be a point where the situation of crisis might be averted by some sound judgement calls from the administration, this character decides to monetize his following.

Now here is the lesson for those active in the social networks. Today, you might have a following of individuals that come to you for knowledge of what is happening in the world. And today, you might just share the news about Google launching +1 and Microsoft launching Win 8. But there will come a time, a time of crisis, where the same followers will look at you to give them the true information, along with some guidance. Now, if you have nothing to provide at that point but just an opinion, please state that it is an opinion. But under no circumstances betray the trust of these people. You are not just doing disservice to your followers but to the entire premise of social network.

So my recommendation, go watch the movie. It is a great movie, and you will learn a thing or two about the animal instincts in humans in the time of crisis. And please, be honest to you the people that look up to you! Do not try to monetize being a role model.

Thank you!

The Migration of Video Content to Digital

An article in eMarketer yesterday that discussed the adoption of online and mobile platforms by sports leagues is a reminder that video content is increasingly transitioning to digital platforms. Many of these sports leagues are finding that digital viewership is not cannibalizing traditional viewership as audiences use different screens depending on the time of day, where they are, etc. and many will also multi-task and use multiple screens as once. The gains from adopting online platforms can be great as evidenced by the hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues each of the top four sport leagues received from paid content, advertising and other revenue from their digital properties in 2010.

In the case of sports, the evidence is pretty strong that digital platforms are not replacing traditional platforms. This makes sense intuitively as sports is something that people prefer to watch in real-time and offering content on more platforms captures more viewers such as those who are at work and don’t have access to a tv or those in different time zones and countries. I think a similar argument can be made for news broadcasts. On the other hand, I find it difficult to make this argument for traditional tv shows (except for shows like American Idol) although I have not seen clear evidence that suggests that tv viewership is being cannibalized by digital platforms. In this respect, I do sympathize with tv content owners.

However, whether we like it or not, everything that we do is moving towards being digital including watching tv and sports is an example of this. The question is how quickly this will happen and whether we as marketers can successfully monetize and measure it.

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008590

An Opportunity Missed?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/15/business/with-no-amazon-as-a-rival-flipkart-moves-fast-in-india.html?_r=1

It was interesting that Amazon missed such a colossal opportunity—to capitalize the growing online retail market in India. The key would have been to alter their business model to adjust for consumer preferences and understand how consumers purchase online. A doppelgänger, Flipkart, has managed to do just that and created a system where customers could purchase online and yet pay only on delivery, either by cash or by card. Low labor costs, of course, have been immensely invaluable in setting up such a system of collection and delivery. Flipkart also doesn’t rely on the traditional courier services—instead they have their own delivery department, making it easier and more comfortable for the customer to interact with the company, especially in cases where they are not familiar with online retail.

The key will be to keep up with competition—everyone seems to be joining the “e-commerce” platform and creating products and services that are similar to already successful and established ones. Currently, Flipkart’s biggest threat still remains Amazon—but the key to success will lie in which is able to understand and cater to the Indian consumer in particular.

The Online Travel Phenomenon

Online travel has become an increasingly popular industry with even Google launching its travel engine for flights and hotels (www.google.com/flights, www.google.com/hotelfinder). Online travel agencies are trying to differentiate themselves on something other than just price. Expedia launched its flash sale site with Groupon for its "Getaways" experience and Orbitz is focusing on its Facebook page launching giveaways for luxury vacations. In addition, Kayak has released a Mac application that lets users plan their vacations. The end goal of these initiatives is to both increase awareness of their brands and hopefully engage and acquire new customers.

Among the clutter of online travel there are a few standouts. The usual suspects include Tripadvisor and Travelzoo. Hipmunk was mentioned in class but here are two that I wanted to share with you:

Autoslash -

This website allows you to lock in your lowest rates for rental cars. Once you book on this site, it automatically searches for lower rates than the one you've locked in until your travel date. If a sale appears later for a lower rate, it automatically cancels your previous reservation and locks you into the new rate. Amazing right?

Plnnr -

This site instantly helps you plan itineraries tailored to your taste. Pick the location, date, theme (outdoor, with kids, best of), intensity (here to rest, here to see everything), and luxury level, and a day by day itinerary is crafted for you. Further fine tune it by preference weightings and you're off to a great start.

Other diamonds in the rough include wanderfly, gogobot, and gtrot. With travel becoming much more social it will be interesting to see which of these sites gain the scalability to become the next facebook for travel.

Social Media Marketing 101: Platforms for achieving the right objective

It's natural that when one thinks about social media - the number one response is Facebook, followed by Twitter. But as social media becomes more and more prevalent in our society, it's important to consider the objective one is trying to achieve thru a social media platform.

Will you be happy with brand exposure - or desire communication back and forth with your customer? Drive traffic to your company's website - or maxmize search engine optimization?

For example, most people know that Twitter allows a brand or person to communicate with its customers or fans by analyzing individual's own tweets, but Twitter can also act to drive traffic to your site if done carefully.

Interestingly enough, beyond Facebook and Twitter - YouTube continues to rank high across all objectives: brand exposure, customer communication, search engine optimization and brand awareness. Why? Video remains to be a powerful medium that cuts across all forms of communication. Use it to showcase your brand via "advertising" thru videos or mini TV ads. Or instead use videos (thru the hyperlinks) to rank your brand higher in search engine results.

Regardless, the intent of whatever social medium you choose - it is important to not choose just the current "fad" but the platform that helps to meet the objective you are searching for.

Now stop reading this blog and go post something on Facebook! =)


Link to article: www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/social-media-marketing-101-choosing-the-right-platform-012692.php

An OPTional Facebook

Facebook constantly experiments with new features plugged into it's interface in order to increase consumers' interest or at least keep it stable. No matter whether this or that change is preferred by facebook users, the company does not seem to try do a research on their expectations. However, this absence of action is not necessary because a consumer has a choice whether or not use a new 'button'.

An article "Facebook launches subscribe button for following anyone's updates" is mainly a new tool on facebook that helps you to subscribe any updates from any person who may not even be your 'facebook friend'. Now instead of clicking on somebody's profile and guess what he or she might be posting at the moment you simply can follow any updates this person posts. This idea does not seem to be new though. On Twitter you can do the same thing and be aware of everything that is on mind the person who you follow. At the first glance, the whole Twitter's concept is copied and inserted into facebook platform. We just take the core of the platform and transform it into the part of even better core of another platform. So now every person you want to 'read' will be posted on your news feed page. 

However, Facebook went a little bit farer than simply copying stuff from Twitter. It sorted out news for the subscriber that he/she wants to follow. Lets say, I want to know how is the best friend of my boyfriend doing and I don't know him in person, I might subscribe for only the statuses he posts, but I want to see neither the games he shares nor the pictures he puts in his albums. A good feature for those who want to follow real people, not the brand. Here I mean that if I am a big fan of Madonna I may 'like' her page and follow all updates that appear on her page, but this doesn't mean that I follow particularly Madonna. This means that I read those updates which accompany Madonna's brand, not her personally. So in this case subscription is slightly different thing from 'Like' button.

Is this idea good? Well, as long as it is optional, which under facebook terminology means that everyone who is not interested to be subscribed may remove this function from his/her page, so that others cannot follow his/her updates. On the other hand, you may not subscribe anyone so that you do not mess up your own news feed page. I feel neutral to this idea and even see how it can benefit those who necessarily want to be 'online' with every person they even are not acquainted with. Moreover, it can benefit those who are subscribed because one should be proud of the fact that lots of unknown people will to read his/her posts. However, here I see a huge flaw. Facebook positions itself as a platform which is designed for those users who want to control their own profiles. Well, this doesn't not sound control. Lets say, I do want to try and feel that a bunch of guys are interested in my updates, but what if somebody who is even not my facebook friends subscribes me in order to find any compromising info? What if a company I am going to apply is interested in following me swearing in my posts? Of course, users are warned that they better don't post compromising photos on facebook or be pc in their status updates, but most of them do not mind doing that. There are plenty of opportunities to know what a person is just by subscribing him on facebook. 

As for me, I am not going to remover this button from my page. Not because I don't want to have followers (I guess everybody wants to be recognized), but simply because I have nothing to hide. And when one has nothing to hide he is usually at a lower risk of being compromised.  

Ad Networks, the hidden cost for advertisers

You can't skim articles on digital related ventures without stumbling across something about an ad network. That's essentially a company that will buy or sell advertising inventory online based on demographic or psychographic characteristics. For example you might work with BET Digital Ad Group to target African Americans, or Modern Living Media (part of Value Click) to target individuals looking for home improvement. Then, after a while you wonder why you'd even go to an ad network instead of an ad exchange -- which has access to inventory on all these vertical platforms.

In the recent article from Ad Age "Let a Thousand Ad Networks Bloom" the author encourages the advent of more and more ad networks. More and more choice should increase the competition and drive down prices. And, all of this choice is advantageous for companies that want to to increase their brand awareness or who have the technology to track the effectiveness of such campaigns.

What no one talks about is how much work it is to use ad networks. Have you ever tried to work with one? In order to tell if your banner ad for a cherry red shirt results in a sale you need to pixel (or add tech code) on your company's conversion pages. Imagine the time and resources requires to open up 100 various conversion pages and dropping Ad Network X's pixels on it. It is labor intensive and a small typo can render all the results invalid. What's worse is what happens when you decide that you dont like the results of working with network X? You've gotta start all over again and add 100 new pixels to your conversion pages to work with network Y. This becomes a vicious cycle and one that takes immense work for your employees. Ultimately all of this hard work and use of resources doesn't provide companies with more choice for their ad dollars. Instead it makes it more difficult and locks you into working with just one network (what a great business strategy).

So ultimately while maybe more choice is nice, it is a bit ironic that it actually creates less choice.

article:
http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/a-generation-ad-networks/229772/

How to Create a Viral Launch Page

I am currently working on a web start up that I hope to launch in the next 6 months. We are doing extensive market research and starting to grapple with the biggest question that it seems almost every web start up faces: now that we feel we've identified a service that people will actually (hopefully) want to use, how do we reach users and build a community? And then once we've actually gotten a sizable user database, say, 100,000 users or whatever metric is appropriate to your particular service/product, how do you get that to grow to 1 million users? The digital marketing landscape is an intimidating and potentially expensive and problem-fraught area for new websites to tackle. Do you pay for Google Adwords? Too expensive or not appropriate in the early stages of a new site?

And then you read about the sites that have gone from 0 to 10,000 users within their first week of launching. One of the ways these sites have built an initial frenzy of excitement, collected email addresses, gained PR, and built a "brand" even before activation of their sites has been through viral launch or landing pages. A launch or landing page for a start up typically includes anywhere from a name, email address box, and perhaps a photo, all the day up to a product description, signup forms, social media links, and more. Some are mysterious and exclusive, others informative. Ultimately, however, they allow a new site to start marketing to customers and building a user database before even having something to offer them. If the launch page is done properly and gets the right attention and PR, its like running a race by getting a couple laps ahead of your competition before the start gun goes off.

There is an absolutely phenomenal post on viral launch pages for those of you who are currently working on or planning to work on your own website or just curious, courtesy of Smashing Magazine:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/09/01/elements-of-a-viral-launch-page/.

Gaming as an Online Communications Strategy for Nonprofits

Confession: I still have, and use, a TV/VCR…that I purchased with the money from my bat mitzvah, thank you very much. I’m a complete luddite.

Thankfully, working in fundraising at a nonprofit theatre, most of my donors prefer a handwritten note to an online interaction. As the industry expands efforts to communicate with the next generation of theatre-goers and philanthropists, a lot of interesting innovations are cropping up. Nevertheless, I fear that industry is still dominated by tragic facebook posts like: “First rehearsal! Are you excited?” or “Gonna be a great show. Buy tickets!” The engagement is low, the educating information is non-existent, and the call-to-action is boring. I think the main culprit in these poor posts is that nonprofits embrace online media because it’s seemingly free and “anyone can do it” ... and the strategy stops there.

I read an interesting article today (link below) that introduces a new strategy that some nonprofits are exploring: gaming. This direction definitely is engaging, the call-to-action is a bit more interesting, and the opportunity to be informative is high although has the potential to carry the boring weight of an educational game (but, c’mon, who didn’t love Oregon Trail!).

My jury is still out. These games are certainly expensive to create, and I wonder if this is the best way to stretch nonprofit dollars. But, anything that helps to broaden the online audience in an engaging, memorable, and meaningful way is worth exploring.

That said, I don’t know if a game where a Stage Manager has to corral a room full of “method” actors really tells the story my donors want to experience.

http://www.netwitsthinktank.com/gaming/why-you-need-to-game-your-supporters.htm

Digital marketing meets CPG

The use of QRC codes to enhance marketing communications direct to consumers is now being utilized in the beverage industry. Not only is this valuable to bring the next generation of soft drink 'under-the-cap' promotions, but this allows for a higher degree of consumer understanding and targeting. Plus with the codes showing up all over alcohol packages, the possibilities for engagement with captive (and buzzed consumers) could make for some very interesting promotional campaigns!

http://www.bevindustry.com/articles/84948-decoding-mobile-beverage-technology

A Truly Digital University?

U.S. News and World Report published its Top 20 universities and liberal arts schools today. As expected, our Columbia ranked in the top 5 (#4 to be exact..), but where does it stack up in the digital space, specifically social media?

Lucky for us, Mashable took the liberty of surveying the top universities and providing some high-level stats on the competition. Here's a sneak peak at what they found:

• Facebook: It's no surprise, Harvard has a massive Facebook following (~699K) followed by Stanford (226K). But after these two giants, the numbers trail off. Duke comes in third with 88K. Columbia comes in towards the lower half with about 25K Facebook "likes".
  
• Twitter: Harvard and Stanford are the top two as far as Twitter followers for the main university page.. but would you believe that Columbia doesn't have a main university handle? There are a number of smaller Twitter accounts for the university (@CU_Spectator, @GoColumbiaLions) but no central university account. Odd, no?
  
• YouTube Videos: Where Columbia does fare well is YouTube videos (619 as of today), putting it fourth after MIT, Stanford and Yale respectively.. But there are only about 4,200 subscribers. What's the point of generating so much content if nobody wants to watch it? Feels like there's an opportunity here.

For a full view of the article, as well as the liberal arts stats, check out this link.
http://mashable.com/2011/09/13/social-media-universities-colleges/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29#view_as_one_page-gallery_box2347

Niche News?

An interesting article ran in the New York Times this week entitled "News Trends Tilt Toward Niche Sites." The premise follows that Internet giants like AOL and Yahoo have discovered beat-specific news targeted to specific segments is more successful online than general-interest news items. Well, duh?

At first glance, one may assume this is another example of Chris Anderson's Long Tail theory. Smaller audiences for sites like College Humor and Gawker have proven more influential than mass audiences for, say, AOL's homepage.

What the article fails to address is that perhaps people simply don't consider AOL and Yahoo trusted "news sources." MSNBC.com or, ironically, the NYTimes.com have rightlyfully earned their real estate.

It also disregards the fact that mass media, itself, is not without niches. Rarely does traditional media succeed when attempting to be all things to all people. Charlie Rose is a far cry from the View. The target audiences and tastes maybe more subtle, but are, no doubt, present.

New media's belief that they are constantly reinventing the wheel is self-serving and a bit tiresome. It's surprising that the New York Times, of all places, as bought into the hype.

There were literally hundreds of newspapers across the country at the turn of the century (19th not 20th!), each with their own spin and demographic. Maybe the debate is more about distribution and less about content.

A good story is a good story. Plain and simple.

"News Trends Tilt Toward Niche Sites:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/business/media/news-consumption-tilts-toward-niche-sites.html