Tech 24 Hours

Home » content

Results for "content"

A very interesting development took place this Monday. The World's biggest online social network Facebook launched a high-end Print magazine 'Grow'.

Facebook's high-end Print magazine 'Grow' for Businesses means for Content

The quarterly high-end magazine offered in both print and online, is launched for business leaders in the UK and Northern Europe markets.

Facebook print magazine "Grow" points at the direction where premium business decision making content or premium marketing content is heading"

A print magazine from Facebook in 2018 is surprising for any blogger or online content creator.

It is surprising because it throws at us a number of questions?

Why a print magazine in 2018?

Is it a Facebook's marketing brochure for selling its premium content online?

Is it changing the entire content industry by restricting access to premium content?

etc.

There are so many questions.

But the most important question for me is -- Does Facebook's print magazine tell us something about where premium content is heading in coming months and years?

This is an important question because in the last 12 years, the proliferation & growth of content and social networks at the same time, made premium content really cheap. Almost everyone online got access to quality content sooner than later.

Although this democratization of content was quite logical and welcome from a web user's perspective, it took a heavy toll on the content business or more specifically original content creators. The same content was being offered for different objectives -- to increase followers, to increase influence, to make small money, to market small businesses etc. -- by content creators down the line. All this resulted in -- the task of creating Original content quite expensive. If people and businesses creating original content are made inconsequential (both revenue and skill-wise), then why will they create any content.

So does Facebook's print magazine in 2018 point to a separation of premium or exclusive content from ordinary content online?

It seems so.

And when seen this way it is not surprising at all.

We are already seeing payment windows on major original content creators' websites.

We are also seeing the development of an alternate ecosystem where ad blockers are blocking automatic context based ads on majority of websites. These non-original content creators have two options to remain afloat -- 1) Enter some revenue generating subscription model OR; 2) Pay the major Ad blockers to be white-listed.

So exclusive or premium content is already being segregated online. The content is heading this direction in coming months and years.

Who knows, Youtube also brings one such model in coming days and months.

And finally, going back to Print in 2018.

As far as Facebook's Print magazine is concerned it seems more like a marketing brochure for business leaders in premium markets; and the complete offerings will still be offered behind premium windows online.

But can it be a revival of premium business marketing content in Print?

It can be. After all what business leaders look at most times is concise summary. The print magazine can always be glanced one time and put into shredder immediately.

---------

content , facebook grow , premium content

What Facebook's high-end Print magazine 'Grow' for Businesses means for Content?

Anil Singh Thursday, June 28, 2018

What are the three biggest challenges of Blogging, other than technical bottlenecks, are :

Creating Good and Quality Content.
Curating (collecting, sourcing) Good and Quality Content.
Not losing the focus; else one has too many irons on fire.

Do you agree? ---------

Blogging , Challenges , content , Curation , Quality

Three Biggest Challenges of Blogging... For a Ambitious Blogger!

Anil Singh Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Yahoo Acquires Summly “pocket sized news for iPhone” Technology

I've always found iOS devices good for consuming content. Hence when I got to know about Yahoo's acquisition of mobile product company Summly, which has an app billed as “pocket sized news for iPhone”, it appeared a good acquisition.

Under the deal terms, Summly Founder Nick D’Aloisio and his team will join Yahoo in coming weeks, and the Summly app will be shut down. That's Yahoo is acquiring the technology, and will develop a similar product or some other product for its own mobile offerings.

Summly Founder Nick D’Aloisio created the App when just 15 Years Old:

At the age of 15, Nick D’Aloisio created the Summly app at his home in London. This is just November 2011. The idea behind the app was — with increasing content consumption on mobile devices how to simplify discovery of news and information that are important to us, at a glance. And articles and web pages formatted for browsing with mouse clicks, definitely not suit mobiles.

Summly offers a solution to this problem by delivering snapshots of stories, giving a reader a simple and elegant way to find the news you want, faster than ever before. Summly offers simple browsing and condensed summaries from news outlets to get the point across, and quickly allows you to digest what’s happening in the world. Summly users read over 90 million summaries in just a few short months, since the app is launched.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed. ---------

content , iPhone , Pocket Sized news , Summly

Yahoo Acquires Summly “pocket sized news for iPhone” Technology

Anil Singh Monday, March 25, 2013

If you are passionate about blogging, then you may have read hundreds of articles, which suggest Commenting to increase blog traffic. Actually, commenting does help pull traffic to one's own blog. In addition it also brings quality back-links for your blog (but for that you have to comment on blogs with higher PR than yours).

All is good in this Commenting Wisdom; except that it fails to recognize the human element involved in commenting process. Failing to involve the Human Factor in the commenting wisdom, makes the bloggers walk the wisdom, in a wrong way. And very soon they are overwhelmed. First signs of this overwhelming, is that they stop focusing on content. Later stages include blogging waywardness; culminating in disillusion (from Blogging).

The Right way to approach Commenting:

Commenting is Just a Side Tool To Blogging:

Commenting on other people's blogs, works well; when you have Good content on your own blog. In the absence of good content, commenting will be useless; as people who visit to your blog, will be bounces (means "Visit and Leave, and Never ever visit Again". Look for Bounce Rate for your site in its analytics page). So Commenting can never go beyond 10-15 percent percent of your Total blogging time. For instance if you sit 10 hours a day for your blog; then you should not spend more than 1 or 1 & 1/2 hour on commenting.

Comment, as a Reader:

Don't make commenting your objective. Instead, approach the other persons' blog as a reader. The main reason for bloggers getting overwhelmed with commenting, is that they approach other blogs as a blogger (with the aim to get back links and traffic). Approach the other's blog as a reader.

Comment only if you like Commenting:

Approaching any blog for the greed of traffic and back-links is not good. It will overwhelm you sooner than expected. So comment on only those blogs which you like to read. Here Reading part is important and must take 70 percent of your commenting Time. As if you don't read an article, you will not make a useful comment. That apart, if you don't like commenting even after reading an article, don't throw a careless or robotic comment such as "Valid point" or "Great Blog". Instead, just leave that page; and look for something better to read.

Make Useful Comments:

Now, if you are into blogging for some time now, you may also tell a difference between a Spammy comment and that done with the intent to value add the article. If you as ablogger know it; so do the other bloggers. Hence, the eternal rule of commenting is: Make Useful comments. Useful comments go beyond -- "Good", "Great", "Agree" etc. Useful Comments inform, criticise and rattle. Above all they are well grounded.

Summary:

Commenting is a good tool to pull traffic to one's blog and increase its reputation. But the primary area of blogging will always be the content. Only good content brings Reputation, Goodwill and eventually Money to a Blogger. Commenting must always be done keeping in view the Human limitations (there are only 24 hours in a day) and commenting should always be as honest (same honesty needed as practiced while creating content). Hence, comment for small duration of time daily, only on articles which you feel like reading, read then first and if like commenting -- offer a useful comment. ---------

backlinks , Blogging , Bounce Rate , Commenting , content , Traffic

Commenting Helps Blog Traffic...But it also overwhelms

Anil Singh Sunday, January 6, 2013

I had to write about this topic ten days ago, but for some reason failed to do so. But as the observation is still relevant today, so let I share with you now.

We all know many publishers are launching their iPad magazines. Virgin Head Richard Branson, launched one around Christmas last year, Media baron Rupert Murdoch is launching his this week.

But, after a strong start following the debut of Apple's popular iPad in April 2010, sales of digital magazines on the tablet computer have fallen significantly, according to data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations analyzed by Women's Wear Daily ( Contrary to the pitch that hailed the medium as a lifesaver for publishing, it appears things are either different or it may take time for the medium to kick in. But even after whopping iPad sales, total number of iPads sold jumped 565% from 2 million at the end of May to an estimated 13.3 million by the end of the year; if the medium has still to take roots, then it is surprising).

Remarkably all iPad digital magazines looked at, have shown a double figure decline. Some of the biggest drops came at Wired magazine, a seemingly natural fit for the iPad audience with its futuristic tech focus.

The sales of the Wired's first digital iPad issue in June had over 100,000 digital magazines sales. Sales slumped to 31,000 digital copies in September, followed by 22,000 in October and 23,000 in November, per WWD. A 77 percent decline compared to the peak sales of June. Even if one takes into account, the novelty factor of the First issue, and compares the November figures from where decline is visible, i.e. September; then too the decline is 69 percent.

Similarly, Vanity Fair slumped from 10,500 digital magazines sold in August-October to 8,700 in November. A 17 percent decline compared to August sales.

In addition, Glamour slid from 4,301 copies in September to 2,775 in November. A 35 percent decline.

After averaging roughly 13,000 digital magazines sold from May-October, GQ slid to 11,000 in November. A 15 percent decline.

Now, it’s a clear decline, as there’s no skew. The entities that had bigger sales have also bigger slumps. So it’s not the case that with a magazine with smaller sales, any decline will look appreciable.

What can be the reason: We at Tech24hours, believe that iPad is not a reading device, the people who are buying the device are buying it for the many non-reading apps on App world. So it’s no surprising that reading content is not picking up as other activities like gaming. Which is clearly reflected in the sales of magazine subscriptions as one comes nearer to the festive season; reflecting other activities that are primary to iPad like gaming, shopping, surfing taking the center stage.

One major hurdle for the decline may be because many magazine and newspaper publishers say they are discouraged from offering digital subscriptions for the device, given Apple's reticence in sharing consumer data -- like the geographic location of iPad owners -- which makes it hard to market subscriptions to likely buyers. So far, most publishers have confined themselves to selling single issues. Notably, this is a major de-motivator for readers as well. ---------

Apple iPad , content

Digital Magazine on iPad Sales show a decline: Why?

Anil Singh Sunday, January 16, 2011

Increasing number of people consuming content on iPad

According to a new study, conducted by Cooper Murphy Webb, a UK copywriting firm, among iPad owners, Apple’s iPad has emerged as preferred source of reading books, newspapers and magazines, apart from playing games among the device users in Britain.

Findings of the study:

1) Over 41% of the iPad owning Britons admitted that they prefer to read books using their iPad, while a comparatively low 36% of them admitted to stick to the conventional method.

2) About 44 percent of the iPad owners reported to use the device for more than 10 hours a week, with a majority of them taking their iPad outside of the home on occasional basis.

3) However, a mere 5% of iPad owning Britons carried their iPads with them whenever they left home, compared to 35% who very rarely took the device out with them.

4) Interestingly only 24 per cent said that they used the iPad as their ‘primary entertainment device’. The laptop emerged as the clear winner in this field, accounting for 33 per cent of the vote.

5) 38 per cent of iPad owning Britons, preferred iPad to the mobile phone, for web browsing. Only 7 percent preferred mobile for the same purpose. However, the laptop still reigned supreme in this area, with 55 per cent of people preferring its browsing experience. ---------

Apple iPad , content , Tablets

Apple iPad usage behaviour of Britons

Anil Singh Monday, August 16, 2010

American movie and Television content makers, distributors and allied businesses are optimistic that in coming years an increased number of consumers will have willingness to pay for their creations.

The renewed optimism amidst general prevailing concerns regarding a collective addiction of a sizeable number of consumers to pirated free content is the generation, which is still young (or younger siblings of the so-called Napster generation--which prefers everything for free), but prefers to pay for content rather than get it for free.

There’s a consensus among content makers and distributors that, this generation, who is being inculcated, among other things, with the habit of paying for content rather than stealing it, by their parents; is a big hope for content makers, distributors and allied businesses.

Thanks in part to these youngest consumers, consensus estimates put the download-to-own segment of film and TV content on track to grow by an average of 15% or more annually through 2015.

And data from tracking firm Rentrak show a 30% uptick in digital revenue from 2008 to 2009. Such double-digit growths remind one of the early days of DVD.

According to Rentrak,
Electronic-distribution revenue remains relatively modest at about $2.1 billion from a total $20 billion spend last year on purchase or rental of film and TV titles. But most agree it simply is a matter of time before the younger generation embraces digital distribution as their preferred means of enjoying entertainment. ---------

content

A generation willing to pay for content

Anil Singh Saturday, August 7, 2010

Yahoo is going to buy the user-generated content publishing company Associated Content in order to add more pages to attract advertisers, according to Reuters.

Financial terms of the deal are not disclosed.

To create content, Associated Content pays its 380,000 contributors a nominal fee to produce niche-related articles on thousands of topics like health, technology and travel. ---------

Announcements , content , yahoo

Yahoo buys Associated Content

Anil Singh Thursday, May 20, 2010

According to Nikesh Arora, Google President of Global Sales, said on the sidelines of an International Advertising Association conference,

The number of Internet users is expected to rise to 5 billion worldwide over the next 10 years from about 1.8 billion now, Arora said.

(This if materializes is a big number, for clarity, it will be covering almost the entire world population at that time. Some numbers peg the world population to reach 9.2 billion by 2050. So Mr Arora’s prediction seems limiting in many respects).

"I think in the next 5 to 8 years 30-50 percent of the media is going to be consumed on the web, and if you look at the advertising proportion of the Internet versus the overall ad market, we are still under 10 percent." Arora added. ---------

content , Web

Content consumption on Web in next 5 to 8 years

Anil Singh Monday, May 17, 2010

A new publishing company is asserting that in coming time, readers will bypass electronic readers such as Amazon's Kindle and Sony's Reader in favor of reading content on mobile devices they already own. Although the company, seems to keep Apple iPad out of the e-readers bypassed list.

The publishing company Ether books will begin on Monday by offering a catalog of short stories, essays and poetry initially via Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch, by authors including Alexander McCall-Smith and Louis de Bernieres.

The company makes for its case on the following reasoning (and may be some research too):
With about over 1 billion mobile phones expected to sell worldwide this year, compared with just a few million e-readers; offering readers content on the mobile devices they already own or buy in coming time makes for a good business sense.

Regarding, the initial content offering just to Apple iPhone and iPod alone; the company says that : with Apple already having sold more than 85 million iPhone and iPod touch devices (compared to a few million e-readers), and the recent launch and sales of iPad tablet PCs; offering content on a restricted brands of mobile devices still makes sense.

I personally find the mobile screen too small any productive reading. But the company says it’s happy to get 10-15 mins of attention during a mobile user’s spare time; then one can leave the productive argument aside.

The logic which goes in favour of Ether books, other than the ones already stated are:
The presence of a mobile device everywhere and every time; more than e-readers. The evolution of touch screens in smart phones and; they getting better web connectivity and increasing local storage.

Do you think Ether books is right in targeting mobile devices ? And Do you like reading content on your mobiles ? ---------

content , e readers

Reasons Ether books puts for offering content on mobiles

Anil Singh Monday, April 19, 2010

From a report which can be found here,

The Number of US Internet users who will consume some form of user-created content by 2013:

2008:______________________________116 million
2013:______________________________155 million

Increase over 2008:___________________ 34 %

The number of user-generated content creators by 2013

2008:______________________83 million
2009:______________________89 million
2010:______________________95 million
2011:______________________102 million
2012:______________________108 million
2013:______________________115 million

Increase by 2013 over 2008:___________________ 39 %

The share of US UGC creators of the total US internet users from 2008 to 2013:

2008:______________________________ 43 %
2009:______________________________ 45 %
2010:______________________________ 46 %
2011:______________________________ 48 %
2012:______________________________ 50 %
2013:______________________________ 52 %

On the basis of the report and the above numbers the key inferences that can be derived are:

--User Generated Content (UGC) is all pervasive.

--Consumers are increasingly taking charge of the creation, distribution and consumption of digital content.

--Advertisers still shy away from the UGC, as they find it risky to associate with unpredictable (in majority of cases) content.

--The bigger inference so derived is that the UGC is popular rather than profitable. Some effort is needed from both the marketers or site publishers and the advertisers.

--In addition, by 2013 about 70 % of the total US internet users will be consuming some form of User generated content.

-- By 2013 , about 52 % of the total US internet users will be creating some form of User generated content.

-- In the next five years user generated content consumption and creation will grow by similar proportions(from above numbers for 2013, the consumption increased 34 % and the creation 39% of the numbers for 2008).

---------

content , Figuring out the future , US Internet Users , User Generated Content

Size of user generated content in US by 2013

Anil Singh Friday, March 13, 2009

Although the picture is not looking very bright for AOL from advertising point of view, it’s still very confident about the popularity of its content sites. For AOL it seems content is the king. And it excels in Content for sure.

Have a look at the following facts and numbers:

AOL’s content sites are the No. 2-ranked sites in a variety of categories to those at Yahoo.

No. of unique monthly visitors at AOL content sites: _______________ 70 million or 7 crore

Annual Growth in page views: _____________________________40 percent

No. of sites (low-cost, niche-focused) AOL has at present: ________ 75

Interesting Fact:

--AOL(America Online)is an asset owned by Time Warner Inc.

--In its intention to give the content more attention, Time Warner (TWX) unit will expand its publishing unit, which is curiously called MediaGlow.

--AOL will be developing over 30 new sites in 2009.

---------

content , content is king , focus in content , value of content

Content is the king: AOL thinks so

Mr Bisht Monday, January 12, 2009

Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )