I have just read the latest numbers on the newspaper industry and started wondering how these businesses might be saved. What would you do if you were put in charge of fixing that.  It's a big problem. The scale of the challenge needs to be recognised:

• Rapidly eroding market share for ad dollars
• Old product with declining market share for consumer attention
• Poor stats/analytics relative to digital media
• Relatively expensive distribution method
• Lower ROI per for web user then via print copy subscription
• Relatively higher costs then other media
• Editorial style that limits readership numbers - brand is too focused in some cases

The question needs to and is being asked (see the layoffs happening all over the industry) - how many print, mobile and web publications can the ad market sustain and how should media companies be competing in a new landscape where digital media is significant? Free CD's doesn't do it. One site http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com has some interesting ideas. The next 5 years will change the media landscape more then ever as connectivity becomes a utility rather then a luxury and mobile web usage becomes mass market. How will newspapers survive? The UK bg guns in print do have some great starting points to trade from:

• A national and in some cases an international brand 
• A readership base 
• Content Established and respected print forums for discussion
• Some cash Lots of talent
• A website with traffic to build on
• Interest in mobile

But will that be enough? Do the economic realities of 2009 mean that the print model that has been so strong and popular is now not feasible? Newspaper fans will argue that the value added and quality is worth the costs. I'm not so sure consumers feel the same way.  I think some paper such as the Guardian,Times and FT have made progress with their sites I still visit them no more frequently then foreign papers/blogs in english. My news coverage has evolved into what is popular (I generally scan this part) and what is interesting. I consume from media companies, they are all competing for my eyeballs and attention. The onlne ad market is growing fast even in a declining environment and they haven't played their biggest card yet - the letters page. Why isn't there a community view of the comments on all stories. The data is in there but it hasn't been drawn together yet. Newspaper readers are not a community yet. If they were is would be a lot more valuable and it also opens up lots of new monetisation options. Who will step out first and go web first before anyone else. The question is being asked of US papers now. Will it be the same here in 6 months? This is what I think web first strategy for a news paper would look like:

• Limited planned and post delivered distribution. Print available by subscription to home/business/shop/high traffic spots.
• Free and subscription model for more benefits.
• Consolidate print operations and lowers costs further.
• Consolidate local cost effective local operations
• Scale down operations not up
• Create digital distribution everywhere, web/mobile smartphone app/mobile/widget/desktop
• All content types created - video/audio/print/text - branded and pushed to subscribers
• Heavily social and community based - focus on community reaction to articles
• Get marginal revenues - syndicated content deals - as content gets older it is sold at market price
• Personalised control of news for user - give up some control
• Simplify ad model and focus on creating measurable targeted response using less advertising space
• Personalised control and distribution to web/mobile/ipod
• Focus of Operations on productivity and volume of quality content per salaried person.
• Create remote working conditions for all paid content generators - everyone is a blogger with ID
• Create journalist work environments around the city in partnership with other papers
• Editors form the operations desks 
• Fully digitise operations
• Announce news everywhere that people meet - acquire users through relevance to discussion
• Become real time not daily
• Go global, look at language conversion
• Focus on allowing local to be generated and aggregated by users
• Open standards on feeds and API use
• Compete everywhere - your brand will give you access everywhere

The results need to be a high traffic visibly active onlne venue for up to date news, relevant peer comment and community interaction. This can be organised around a theme or geography. Looks like an internet company doesn't it.... They will need to fund this transfer but media companies need to go digital first, lead and educate the market (while they can), enhance the convenience for the user or they will be pushed out in first the US and then Europe or under in the next 5-10 years. People are harder to monetise online but the print advertising days are numbered. It will form part of the market but its value will decline. Just my 0.02. There is a dark prediction that all advertising online is doomed but I think the key to that article is that there is a limit on how many ad dollars will be spent on it not whether it ceases to exist in the short term. His vision may well take longer to happen but he has point. At what do point do we no longer need advertising? Has anyone noticed that your can't read a broadsheet or mini paper on a train in rush hour anyway? Let me watch it or listen to it. I need more convenience if I am to go back to "getting a paper".

I saw this quoted in a blog post the other day. I wanted to share it. 

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

"Man in the Arena" Speech given April 23, 1910 26th president of US (1858 - 1919) Good luck to all those in the arena.  It as good a time as any.

It seems that all we hear about these days is the credit crunch and misery of its effect on the economy. The downside effects of the economy is front a centre of peoples minds but speaking to lots of people in the USA and UK it has struck me that there is a real lack of understanding of how this has happened.  The media haven't taken the time to really explain it to people and give them a proper overview of how it can be stopped from happening again. Whilst browsing around the web, I thought I'd draw together the best explanations of what has happened and the most useful information I have found. Its definately out there, it just isn't being out in front of enough people. There are obviously a lot of other factors that have influenced the situation but I thought these videos did a good job explaining the major factors. Values of banks before and after crunch began: [caption id="attachment_171" align="alignnone" width="480" caption="bank market caps"] [/caption]   Useful sites for more details: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7893317.stm http://www.ft.com/indepth/global-financial-crisis http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c2c12708-6d10-11dc-ab19-0000779fd2ac.html We live in interesting times......

If you know and have used twitter extensively then this post may be a bit of a bore, but recently I have been asked by a number of friends:

• "what the hell is twitter about?"
• "why do I care what you had for breakfast?"
• "why would I want to know your GPS coordinates?"
• "are there any hot chicks on there?"

So I decided not to repeat myself constantly and thought it might be of use to explain it in depth for those who are interested. There is tons of information on the web already (which I'll use to avoid repeating the good points others have made) but I wanted to add my 2 cents on what I thought was most important as an individual (not a corporate brand) and also point out the most important opportunities to get something out of it - which is the whole point of using it. Before I get started - if you don't get it, don't worry - you aren't alone. There is a commonly understood process to accepting and using twitter. People often go through the "5 stages of twitter acceptance".  Have a read of this article. I found it to be remarkably accurate. Most people are at stage 1 or 2. So, here goes: 1. What is Twitter? Twitter is a simple, free and open messaging system. I like to think of it as an open instant messenger with the world. Anyone can view messages and members can join in (more like a forum then traditional IM like MSN/Yahoo/ICQ). You can access it from your computer or mobile phone. For me, twitter is a way of saying anything to anyone who is listening via any web capable device. I can search all the messages people have sent (or tweets) in the past and find other people who are focused on the same subjects or thoughts as I am. I can then engage with them in further conversations around those subjects or anything else I choose. I use twitter differently to other social networks. I like to say that Facebook is for the people I already know and have met. Twitter is a tool i use to find the people I should meet in the future as they have similar interests and I can judge whether they have anything interesting to say by seeing their tweets. Twitter likes to say "what are you doing" but I find that I use it to say:

• What I'm reading
• What I'm thinking
• What I want to find out
• What I like or don't like
• Where I am
• Where I'm going
• What I want to other specific people

One of the big differences between twitter and other services is that you can fully access twitter's features from other websites. This is due to twitters approach to programming and a thing called an API. For example - I can go to another site like www.twitterfall.com,  login (using your twitter username and password) and then use all the twitter features from that site. The same cannot be said for other sites like facebook or myspace. They only allow partial information to be added from other sites - if at all. You can watch this video for another (and probably better) way of looking at it. The video implies that you should use twitter for people known to you -  friends and family. I use it for a much wider social group - everyone I should have met but haven't yet. I use facebook for people I have a closer connection with as I can share much more detailed/rich information. 2. How do I get involved? Go to www.twitter.com and register. Choose a name that you want to be found as on the web. Personally I think its best to be yourself on twitter, but there some instances where you might want to take on another persona. Once you have registered, fill in your details such as your bio (profile description), location (city) and upload picture of yourself. Other people will view your profile and will make a judgment - do I want to follow this person? I make this judgment based on:

• similar interests
• usefulness of your tweets
• similar location
• similar sector of employment
• your number of followers and friends

Here's a great article on why people will not follow you. 3. How do I get set up? Twitters website is very basic and to be honest it doesn't help you understand the service. My advice is:

1. Go to www.tweetdeck.com and download/install the program.
2. Start the program and login.
3. Play with the features and say Hi to the world.
4. Search for a subject you are interested in by clicking the magnifying glass icon in the top left corner.
5. View some tweets and see if you find anyone of interest.
6. If so follow them and say why you followed them. Its about reaching out.

You can also search your gmail/yahoo/hotmail address book on twitter.com to see if anyone else you know is on twitter. If there are follow, if there aren't go and find people to follow. You can also use a service called www.twollo.com to find interesting people (there are others as well). You login and search for keywords that people have in their bio's or tweets. The system will automatically follow them. Don't worry  you can unfollow them later if you wish. This will allow you to tap into a stream of tweets around a subject or theme. There are many different approaches to following other twitter users. Some people keep private, others follow a few people who are know to them. I found the best way to meet other interesting people was to follow lots of people who have similar interests and then filter them down depending on if they engage with me or if they tweet interesting things or not. This is a personal thing and is part of the discovery process of twitter. Ask for help, you'll be surprised how many people will reach out to answer questions. Don't take it personally when people unfollow you. It's different for everyone. This is where you need to invest some time. This stage will take time but you'll go from 3-5 on the twitter acceptance scale and find you have unlocked a powerful tool that can enhance your online experience. It may also help your business. Small, medium and large businesses can reach out to their consumer base, suppliers and competitors and talk about anything they want. Opportunties will follow quickly. 4 . What is the opportunity? This is the thing. Twitter is so flexible and simple it can be used for many different reasons and in many different contexts. I am using it to widen my professional network and meet new people who I can share useful information with. I hope to find people I can work with and learn from. You may want to keep your circle tight and private - such as just for your family. The opportunity for instant communication can be with whoever you wish. Its up to you - that's the point. The benefits I have experienced are:

• Great connections with interesting people
• Interesting content from lots of sources
• Breaking news updates
• Real time chat with knowledgeable thought leaders
• Hours of entertainment
• A wider range of reading from links people post

The bigger your network the more likely you are to find value in the information you  get from twitter. Listen to what the web has to say. There will be a lot of noise but within that noise will be some really useful stuff. You just need to learn how to tap into it and filter out the crap. Some people only choose to follow the people they perceive as thought leaders but I think that having you ear to the ground will allow you to get chance across more interesting people and opportunities. 5. How do I manage/track my account? You can manage your account on twitter.com and use lots of tools that can help you refine and track your accounts performance. Have a look at my blogroll (on the right side of this page) for useful twitter tools. Twitter tools generally follow themes such as:

• Statistics about your account and usage of twitter
• Suggestions about who to follow
• Directories of users
• Applications you can download to access twitter on your computer or mobile phone

6. Who should I follow and who else uses it? That is up to you. You are in control. Lots of different types of people use twitter for lots of different reasons. Some examples include:

• Celebrities to reach out to fans
• Entrepreneurs or CEO's to communicate a vision
• News outlets or Bloggers to spread the word about their publications
• Journalists to allow stories to come to them
• Moms to share useful info
• Companies to collect feedback and communicate with their customers
• Politicians who want to talk to voters
• Real estate companies who want to attract business

The list could be endless and is constantly shifting. The simplicity of the tool allows it to be applied to any type of communication. Check out this article to see a list of directories. 7. What a pile - this is another fad for geeks..... Well maybe. Plenty of people think like that. Time will tell. But remember people said the same about the web, blogging and online shopping. Microblogging is here to stay in my opinion and it will take a few more years to become a mass market product. I am often accused of being a geek for using twitter - this doesn't bother me but it frustrates me that people are slow to try new things using the web. This is an amazing communication tool and yet we are not amazed. I plan to take advantage of it whilst everyone else catches up. It may give me an edge. I would encourage you to invest some time in twitter and find out for yourself. My prediction is that twitter will become like an interactive phone book. You will be able to look people up and the communicate with them in a safe controllable way. There are issues with twitter but the community is great and cares too much to see it fail because of a few bozos. 8. @AJAG's top tips: Basically - imagine your boss or grandmother is watching. This will keep you to constructive meaningful engagements. Everything else is a waste of your time. If you wish to be a persona then the opposite of the advice above applies.

• http://shegeeks.net/twitter-101-clarifying-the-rules-for-newbies/
• http://www.lastpodcast.net/2008/01/27/how-i-use-twitter/
• http://www.doshdosh.com/ways-you-can-use-twitter/

10. Advanced stuff When are familiar with the basics check out:

1. Events
2. Hastags
3. Groups

If  you are feeling really adventurous you can go to a tweet up and meet other tweeps. But remember the basic safety advice when meeting anyone you have met online. There are some nutters out there. I'll update this article over time to share more info as I find it or learn more. So there you have it - enjoy. I hope that helps get you started. Tweet me if you like this article - I'd love to hear if it helped. I'm @AJAG. Check out my bookmarks for more info I have collected over the last 6 months on twitter.