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El crecimiento de un 600% de streaming de contenidos vía web pone denuevo el énfasis en los contenidos y no en las tuberías. Podremos esperar planes de Internet que sean TV friendly? Imagino un Plan Movistar TV que tenga conexión directa con los canales y otros proveedores de contenidos audiovisuales, full HD :-)

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Senior management

A newly-retired executive takes a job as an adjunct professor and really shakes things up. Both the school and the students are blown away by her fresh thinking and new approaches.

A forty-year old internet executive who has been running his company for decades misses one new trend after another, because he's still living in 1998.

One thing that happens to management when they get senior is that they get stuck. (As we saw with the new professor, senior isn't about old, it's about how long you've been there).

If you've been doing it forever, you discover (but may not realize) that the things that got you this power are no longer dependable.

Reliance on the tried and true can backfire (Rupert keeps missing one opportunity after another, and keeps misunderstanding the medium he works in) or it can (rarely) pay off (Steve Jobs keeps repeating the same business model again and again--it's not an accident that Apple has no real online or social media footprint. Steve believes in beautifully designed objects, closed systems and evangelizing to developers and creatives).

Worth quoting--one of Arthur C. Clarke's lesser known three laws:  "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is probably wrong."

The paradox is that by the time you get to be senior, the decisions that matter the most are the ones that would be best made made by people who are junior...

Posted by Seth Godin on August 26, 2010 | Permalink

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USD$700 millones de dolares en el último quarter de pérdidas para la división Online de Microsoft. Resume bastante bien como un ejecutivo definía modelo de negocios online: "THE WASTELAND" :-)

En Korea del Sur, Starcraft, un juego de PC, es deporte nacional y miles de fanáticos se juntan a ver a los campeones nacionales de este deporte. Ahora que viene la versión 2 de Starcraft, no es raro que se haga publicidad en los aviones de la línea aerea Koreana.
Esperamos ansiosos ver a las azafatas vestidas de Kerrigan y al piloto disfrazado de Zealot. :-)

Las redes sociales son cosa del presente/futuro próximo, pero lo que viene a continuación ya está definido. Me refiero a todos los servicios y productos que se generan al saber desde donde está conectada cada persona y/o dispositivo. La geolocalización es un tema que aún no ha despegado principalmente porque no había una masa crítica con aparatos de GPS que pudieran sustentarla. Ahora donde todos los teléfonos tienen un gps y se están masificando los smartphones, así como los planes de datos, esto es un tema cada vez mayor.

Soy usuario de FOursquare y, más allá de aún no encontrarle la utilidad al servicio, se ve claramente que el ir a un lugar y tener recomendaciones de qué hacer, que comer, ver, oir hablar, etc. es tremendamente potente. Sumemosle a lo anterior la capa de red social que hoy damos por garantizada y tenemos la posibilidad de llevar al offline nuestra red.
Les dejo el video de Google Places, un nuevo servicio orientado a la geolocalización de locales comerciales y su publicidad.
Como me repetían en clases de marketing, hay negocios donde siempre la ventaja competitiva será: location, location, location.

The Location War going on right now has many fronts (Foursquare, Twitter, search, mobile), but it is being funded by one thing: convincing local businesses to spend money on online advertising.

Google is escalating that war today by making a big push to become the de facto directory for local businesses on the Web.

Its Local Business Center is being renamed Google Places and it is introducing a whole bunch of new features including local search and map listings, realtime updates, custom QR codes and coupons, and even photo shoots for businesses.

While Geo startups like Foursquare, Gowalla, and even Twitter (and soon, Facebook?) are taking a social approach to local business listings, coupons, and offers, Google is approaching from the search side.

One out of every five searches is location related, but local search still represents a relatively small portion of Google’s revenues. Google wants local businesses to claim ther Places pages (4 million have already done so), update them and buy local search advertising.

For $25 a month, local businesses can buy “tags” which will turn up their listings in local searches, including on Google maps. They can print out custom QR codes (2D barcodes) which are readable by cell phones with cameras and QR readers and will pop up a mobile version of their Google Place page or a mobile coupon.

Businesses can also add realtime updates to their Places page (a feature that was switched on earlier this year), define the areas they serve, and even schedule a photo shoot for better pictures for their page.

Google Places is designed for one-off searches, and is powerful as a search tool a far as it goes. What is missing, however, is the social aspect. Why can’t businesses add their Twitter streams or Facebook pages? How do they establish an ongoing online relationship with customers? The location war is far from over.

Read more: http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/20/google-places/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_med...

Este gráfico es terrible para quienes trabajamos en un medio "tradicional", o como le dicen los gringos, "old media". Sin embargo es precioso para quienes trabajamos en los "new medias".

Lo triste es que, más allá de las bajas en inversión publicitaria, el marcado total declinó en un 12%. Esperemos los new media tomen un rol más preponderante en el 2010. Ya con la crisis atrás y en año de mundial, por lo menos en el resto del mundo no USA, debería ser un muy buen año para la industria en general.

Les dejo el extracto del texto:

"Media industry ad revenue declined 12% year-over-year to $125.3 billion in 2009, according to a report issued by Kantar Media, the WPP-owned research firm formerly known as TNS.

The only major growth area: Online ad spending. Internet ads -- display only -- increased 7% in 2009, according to the report.

Meanwhile, TV ad spending fell 10%, as cable outperformed network TV, and spot spending fell dramatically, as political ads from 2008 weren't around in 2009. Magazines dropped 17%, newspapers and radio each dropped 20%, and outdoor fell 13%."

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Facebook Overtakes Google Search
By Roger Browne

Hitwise, a web analysis business, said on its Analyst Weblog that Facebook was the most visited site last week, overtaking Google Search for the first time.

Hitwise suggests that Google Search accounted for 7.03% of US Internet visits last week, compared to 7.07% for Facebook.

If Google’s non-search services (Gmail, YouTube, Maps etc) are also included, Google remains in the lead with 11.03% of US Visits. Yahoo also beats Facebook, with 10.98% of US visits.

The Hitwise article includes this striking chart comparing the growth of Google Search and Facebook over the past year. Google Search has grown its traffic share just a few percent, whereas Facebook’s is more than two and a half times what it was just a year ago.

Does this mean that social sites are going to overtake search sites on the internet? Not so fast ... we might be seeing a see-sawing back and forth. In 2007 it was MySpace that was ahead of Google.

Facebook Overtakes Google ... by Roger Browne | Comments (4)

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Facebook podría facilmente transformarse en el nuevo HOME de partida, siendo un portal que agregue información, noticias y entretenimiento pero con la diferencia de los portales tradicionales de que sería información relevante al grupo de referencia del usuario. En síntesis, noticias y entretención en un contexto social, con búsquedas en el mismo contexto, algo que Google está tratando de lograr con Buzz pero que todavía no perfecciona. Facebook tiene la delantera, aunque como dice el artículo, antes pensabamos que MySpace iba a dominar la red y ahora poco se escucha al respecto.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Twitter can now let the world automatically know your whereabouts as well as your thoughts and activities.

A new feature unveiled Thursday gives Twitter users the option of including their location with the assorted musings posted on the Internet messaging service.

Locations won't be included unless users turn on the tracking tool. The technology, which shadows people through Web browsers, can be turned off at any time.

Twitter is responding to the growing popularity of other Internet services, such as Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt, that broadcast people's locations. Facebook is expected to join the trend soon, too.

Many of Twitter's 73 million worldwide users already mention their location in their messages, or tweets. But that wastes precious space because tweets are limited to 140 characters.

Location sharing is becoming so prevalent that a Web site called Please Rob Me recently launched as a reminder that burglars can mine the information to help pinpoint places where nobody's home.

Twitter is advising its users to be careful about when and how they use the new location tool.

Persuading people to share their locations could help Internet services sell more advertising to companies looking to sell products and services in certain neighborhoods at a specific time.

Twitter's tracking tool is designed to work seamlessly with two Web browsers: Chrome and Firefox 3.5. The Internet Explorer browser requires downloading Google Inc.'s Gears software.

NYT Mar 5 2010, 06:40 PM EST

11.77	Change	% Change
	+0.40	+3.52%

The New York Times surveyed their staffers in December, asking them questions about the quality of management and other worklife experiences. About half of the Times' newsroom and other employees participated.

Today, a memo from publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and president and chief executive Janet Robinson was sent out to staffers reviewing the results.

According to the memo forwarded to us in an email, these are the following unsatisfactory issues for Times staffers:

• Career growth. Employees are looking to the Company to foster ways to help them grow professionally.

• Meritocracy. Employees feel that policies and practices should be administered in an even-handed way.

• Agility. Employees want the Company to make opportunities to learn new things more available, and to further encourage adaptability and change.

• Innovation. Employees want to try new and novel approaches in their day-to-day tasks.

Executive editor Bill Keller addressed that "career growth" issue a bit last week, explaining a bunch of editor-to-writer staff shuffles because "journalists are disposed to a kind of A.D.D., a restless curiosity."

But certainly Times executives will have to pay close attention to those "agility" and "innovation" issues. The Times is, after all, taking a year to figure out their metered paywall system. But that's just one of many issues. Jeff Bercovici at Daily Finance reports that there is "a great deal of tension about what kinds of video, if any, the Times should be producing."

Those are just two examples...

But working for the Times isn't all bad, of course. Their reportedly happy with work/life balance at the Times. We heard it was free "back rub" day earlier this week. Not too shabby!

Here's the full memo:

Dear Colleague,

It is critically important for senior management to know what you and your colleagues are thinking throughout the organization. In December we invited you to complete a survey so that you could discuss your work experience and about half of the staff participated.

Thank you for your time, effort and candid comments. When we read the results, it is apparent that you had much to say on a variety of different important topics, providing valuable insight into our Company’s strengths and where we need to improve.

Today we want to share highlights of this survey. Let’s begin with five strengths:

• Discretionary effort. Employees are putting in the effort to go the extra mile.
• Brand. Employees are proud of our brand.
• Work/life balance. The Company provides programs and supports approaches that help employees maintain a healthy balance.
• Employee voice. The Company encourages employees to share their points of view.
• Manager excellence. Those who have a responsibility to manage people are doing their job well.

You also mentioned a group of opportunities that needed to be addressed:

• Career growth. Employees are looking to the Company to foster ways to help them grow professionally.
• Meritocracy. Employees feel that policies and practices should be administered in an even-handed way.
• Agility. Employees want the Company to make opportunities to learn new things more available, and to further encourage adaptability and change.
• Innovation. Employees want to try new and novel approaches in their day-to-day tasks.

We take your suggestions and counsel very seriously. We know from past experience that it will make our Company a more productive and satisfying place to work. For example, in the 2007 survey, we learned that we needed to focus on the quality of our managers. Consequently, we designed and rolled out the Manager Excellence program and introduced new tools through Times Talent. Based on the recent survey findings, it is apparent that this effort is showing positive results.

You will shortly hear about your business unit results from your unit leader or manager. Thanks again for your participation; we know how busy you have been. With that said, we count on your active participation in these efforts. These surveys have proven time-and-time again to be one of the best ways to identify opportunities important to your career and the Company’s continued success.

Arthur and Janet

De vez en cuando es bueno hacer un reality check con tu gente, y ver realmente cuales son las preocupaciones e inquietudes. Bien por el NYT y ojalá no quede sólo en papel. Ahora, no dejo de preguntarme si la gente sabrá lo que "innovate faster" really means...