Ted Shelton

LOL Ted you know there's a button the media presse...

2009-04-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

LOL Ted you know there's a button the media presses to trigger a replay of exactly this kind of ding-dong script every time a new technology comes out. Looks to me like you and Aryn accidentally cast yourselves cameos - you aren't the first and won't be the last!

The scene is always the same - two opposing visions of the future - a utopia and a dystopia. Here are some familiar variations on the theme:

1920s:"The airplane will make countries indefensible to attack by their enemies"

"The airplane will create a new order of peace and harmony as national boundaries are transcended and seen from the air to be meaningless"

1930s:"Robots will serve us beer on the lawn and we'll never need to work again!"

"Robots will take over the world and make us all slaves!"

1940s:"TV will destroy kids literacy and rot their brains"

"TV will open a window onto the world and show kids a world they could never otherwise encounter"

In other words we always project our worst fears and greatest hopes onto new technology that has yet to be assimilated into our lives.

Once society understands where a technology fits in, the truth is always much more prosaic. So, today we know that:

* riding an airplane means getting on a metal tube and then you decide between chicken or beef. You're told you are flying at 40,000 feet but seeing as it looks exactly the same where you get off as where you get on, it could just be a massive con trick.

* our homes are stuffed with robotic devices like automatic washing machines that just do their stuff. Nobody apart from the Japanese seems to want a clanking metal man hanging around.

* TV is now just another noise in the corner of the room. (Sorry to be so cut and dried about that, old-media readers, I used to make TV for a living but you and your intrusive advertisers have totally debased it and that's why people are turning off in their millions.)

Everything internet-related seems to me to be following the same path. The media would have you believe that either it's going to corrupt your kids with paedo pornography, or it's going enable a laptop for every child to educate the developing world just like that - problem solved.

None of which is to say that social media is insignificant. Air travel and TV did change the world in their own ways but our generation doesn't fret about them in the same way our grandparents did.

It's fun to know we're creating archive material for our grandchildren to laugh at while we try to work out 'what Facebook means' isn't it?

Chicago loves I Fight Dragons. Glad to see them ge...

2009-04-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

Chicago loves I Fight Dragons. Glad to see them getting exposure outside of our city limits. We've even started our own fansite at http://ifdfans.com

I agree, I have a similar reaction when I hear the...

2009-04-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

I agree, I have a similar reaction when I hear the 'job title' Social Media Consultant/Expert. In my opinion there's no such thing. You're still a marketeer or brand consultant - but you have expertise in the techniques of social media.

One other thing fueling the ire of many "elders" i...

2009-03-31T11:16:00.000-07:00

One other thing fueling the ire of many "elders" is this: In the old newsrooms, they felt insulated from the business. Now, that insulation from bottom-line concerns has been stripped away. They (by which I mean "me and the people I worked with, mostly") felt free to report, write, edit, lay out and publish without thinking much about what the ad sales department was doing. We'd notice when the news hole was small. "Ad sales are down," we'd think. "Our story on the drought is getting trimmed or held. Hope we have more space tomorrow."

But, for some good reasons and for some that were purely convenient and circumstantial, it appeared that the bottom line was someone else's problem to figure out that business end. From most editorial folks, you heard little about the business end of things (except gripes about the size of paychecks), and virtually nothing about the economic structure of the business we were in. In that way, maybe newsroom folks have a lot more in common with car execs and autoworkers who were happy to go along with their companies and build SUVs while market conditions changed; whose idea of competing was telling U.S. consumers to buy American.

But of course, the business was always in the newsroom. On just the most superficial level: You need that screaming front-page headline, and that story about the drought, and the one about Princess Grace driving off a cliff, to get the eyeballs to attract the advertisers to pony up the cash to pay for the newsprint and so on.

I think a certain part of the anger and the resistance to change comes from resentment that engaging in the craft one loves--and performing a public service, too, for cripes sake!--has been overwhelmed by the sordid realities of finances, marketing, and new technologies.

Or maybe I'm just speaking for myself.;>

None of what anyone has said alters one fact.Newsp...

2009-03-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

None of what anyone has said alters one fact.

Newspapers were a commodity with artifically high held advertising rates via an effective monopoly.

Remove the monopoly.... watch advertising become a stark commodity.

Watch ad revenue drop.

Watch those publications overly beholdin to ad revenue wither and die. that most of them, so yes a new model willneed to arise. Just not from the elders.

In reply to Kaps - on the first point, "Many Would...

2009-03-23T06:58:00.000-07:00

In reply to Kaps - on the first point, "Many Would Shrug If Their Local Newspaper Closed" (Pew) - http://people-press.org/report/497/many-would-shrug-if-local-newspaper-closed

On the second point - yes exactly! We are right there in that blue band of confusion where the old stuff isn't working and frankly, their thrashing about is making it harder to see which of the new stuff might work. And what is needed for there to be "new stuff" is lots of experimentation. You may not like the prescription from Dr. Shirky but it is a valid one - take two experiments and call me in the morning :-)

Several thoughts:1) It's not completely true to sa...

2009-03-22T22:28:00.000-07:00

Several thoughts:

1) It's not completely true to say that people (readers) are moving away from newspapers -- subscriptions perhaps are down, but that's not why the Rocky Mtn News or Seattle P-I have stopped the presses; it's because the publishers ran the businesses into the ground, and then (as you correctly pointed out) had no room to innovate. But that doesn't mean people don't want to read papers.

2) This is still a one-winged butterfly... think the SF Gate's main (angry?) point is that pundits like Shirky are great at describing the corpse and terrible at figuring what's next. What seems to be needed at this point are some business ideas and models that might work... or more focus on the ones out there that are attempting to do new things.

Thanks Ted! You guys are very sophisticated users ...

2009-02-18T07:20:00.000-08:00

Thanks Ted! You guys are very sophisticated users of tools and strategic thinkers about social media, so it means a lot to us to earn your praise.

Thanks Ted! You guys are very sophisticated users ...

2009-02-18T07:19:00.000-08:00

Thanks Ted! You guys are very sophisticated users of tools and strategic thinkers about social media, so it means a lot to us to earn your praise.

So am I to believe that all of the genius, capabil...

2009-02-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

So am I to believe that all of the genius, capability, and ideas of hard working hard thinking people who develop silicon chips and design all of the processes all comes down to Moore's law and that a self fulfilling prophecy will eventually bring instantaneous change? I am also to believe that progress is unlimited, transistors don't have a size limit and that the software for this is just suppose to fall out of the sky. For any of those people who design out there and come up with "real ideas" that fuel progress i am sorry for the above disrespect. The only thing truly inventive here is the fact that so many will believe such a large lie and the only way they can consciously do so is if they are avoiding a fact of reality. That fact of reality which you are evading is that progress is not to be taken for granted and neither are those that make progress possible. The designer, the inventor, the investor, the engineer, and the innovator are real. Their genius is the fuel of progress.

MatthewThanks for the comment on your post. I will...

2009-02-10T23:26:00.000-08:00

Matthew

Thanks for the comment on your post. I will now hunt for your email address to see if it is possible to start a conversation with you - I hope that it is.

It is interesting that you ask why I didn't post a comment to your blog -- I DID. You didn't publish it. Maybe there is something broken in your moderation process.

Ted –Sorry for the late comment on this post. It j...

2009-02-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

Ted –

Sorry for the late comment on this post. It just came to my attention. There are some misunderstandings that I'd like to clear up, here. We couldn't agree with you more regarding the central theme of your post: transparency and authenticity. I've pulled out quotes from your post and have added my comments below them. If you'd like to talk more about this, please let me know. I'm happy to.

Also - I'm wondering why you didn't leave a comment on the FM blog post? That would have cleared things up immediately.

“…the organization doesn't allow comments.”

Of course we allow comments. We just don’t get many on the FM corporate blog. Many, many conversations happen elsewhere on FM employee blogs and particularly via Twitter. Feel free to leave a comment on the blog. We'd love more engagement there. And please follow http://twitter.com/Federated_Media.

“Secondly the post didn't communicate to customers, in this case the sites which Federated represents…”

The sites that FM represents are not customers. They are partners – valued ones. This action, while difficult, was necessary to respond to our partners and customers in the way that they have requested. FM sites received a separate internal email in advance of the blog post.

“And transparency has the additional benefit of speaking to the much larger audience of potential customers and potential employees to tell the company's story and show what the company stands for and believes in, demonstrating how it treats its stakeholders through good times and bad.”

Couldn’t agree more. This was the driving force behind our communications strategy. The news was relayed personally to those affected, it was announced on the blog, via email to all constituents, was broadcast via Twitter and employee blogs, and we briefed press whenever asked.

“…it wasn't about respecting the people who were being shown the door…”

We had separate, personal conversations with each of the people affected. These were difficult. The blog post was about the situation the company is in and why the company decided to do what it did. See your comment above: "tell the company's story and show what the company stands for and believes in." That's what this post was for.

“Paid Content reported the news with the headline "Federated Media Shifts Away From Display Ads" which is probably not the lede that John was hoping for.”

The PaidContent story is essentially correct. In response to customer requests, we are concentrating on our conversational marketing executions. Display advertising exists mostly in support of such campaigns. This is a complicated and nuanced discussion that I’m happy to have with you if you’d like – too much for this comment.

“But if FM is going to be a leader, they will have to start by being a good example themselves.”

Transparency, authenticity, and open conversations are fundamental concepts behind everything we do. I’m not sure how we could have been more transparent short of allowing the public into the boardroom.

Matthew DiPietro, Federated Media

Sounds like you need to stop being such an Apple f...

2009-02-07T18:01:00.000-08:00

Sounds like you need to stop being such an Apple fanboy and get yo'self some G1 Android love from T-Mobile...

Reminds me of the strange phenom around the Super ...

2009-01-22T07:01:00.000-08:00

Reminds me of the strange phenom around the Super Bowl. Folks tune in (raptuously) to these commercials despite (in some cases) not being familiar with the advertiser. This hits on your "entertainment" use case.

I'm also reminded of the importance of relationship when I read this post. Just like it isn't spam if I have a relationship with the sender, I'm more receptive to advertising when I have a relationship with the advertiser. But just like friendship, that doesn't mean I want all my college buddies showing up unannounced at my house at dinner time.

Ted, great stuff. I'm not as militant about spam b...

2009-01-21T23:15:00.000-08:00

Ted, great stuff.

I'm not as militant about spam because my junk mail filters are working for me and I'm not a BlackBerry email person that would get upset about every email ping that wasn't legit.

Having said that, I agree with your definition of spam. I would add one for myself, which is: I don't consider it spam if I receive something that pertains to my field. For example, I'm in the field of SAP for most of my consulting. Therefore, if I receive an email of a product or service targeted towards SAP users, I don't consider that spam, as long as there is a clear way to opt out.

For me, the fact that someone took the time to segment a targeted message to me takes the edge off.

What really bothers me are the "phishing" type mass emails that hope I'm part of a fraction of people that are interested in erectile function pills or what have you. Targeted emails based on my industry commitments don't bother me and rarely come off as spammy to me, even if the information in the emails is not A+.

Just my two cents or so.

Hi Ted-I agree with you that it doesn't count as c...

2009-01-19T09:23:00.000-08:00

Hi Ted-

I agree with you that it doesn't count as conversation unless there are comments (and subsequent interaction), and organizations who claim to blog to communicate yet disallow comments are being disingenuous.

I have to disagree with you, though, about the Zappos layoffs as an example of transparency and authenticity. The emails from Hsieh were not authentic, because they were neither candid nor honest.

Hsieh gets a lot of kudos for his twittering and other innovations, and much of this is justified-- but to hold up the emails through which he communicated the layoffs as an example of good, transparent, authentic communication misses and important point. It's not authentic communication unless it is honest.

For a humorous and pointed look at what those emails from Hsieh really communicated, maybe you would check out the post, "If Stephen Colbert were the CEO of Zappos: Explaining a Layoff to your employees" at www.AuthenticOrganizations.com .

I'd be interested in your thoughts on whether transparency works without candor. thanks-
cvharquail

Hi ted, meow = mingyeow :)Thanks for the clarifica...

2009-01-08T05:02:00.000-08:00

Hi ted, meow = mingyeow :)

Thanks for the clarification, i very much agree now with both points. The really important point i think you are making, is this:

" think the big shift is to stop thinking that advertising is going to be the model "

I consulted for a large press arm, and it was amazing how they are extremely stubborn on focusing on increasing page views, practically ignoring other forms of monetization (e.g. providing referrals from their articles towards paid services).

It was an almost blind belief that as long as they get page views, they could monetize at some point, despite the fact that they were staring at tonnes of empty inventory and terrible CPM.

Politics did not help, either. There was an (almost) paranoia around cannibalizing offline classifieds revenue in anyway, despite the fact that we were looking at very different audiences.

I think i wrote more than i wanted to, just wanted to say that i agree - there ARE lots of monetization models out there, and newspapers have the unique ability to provide editoral control over all the crappy UGC out there.

But they really need to get past the more eyeballs = more money paradigm....

I think you need one brave newspaper to blaze a trail - any idea who that might be? =)

Hi "meow" - thanks for your comment! I agree that ...

2009-01-08T01:52:00.000-08:00

Hi "meow" - thanks for your comment! I agree that your question is unanswered. Part of the point I am expressing is my confidence that the question will be answered -- that the strength of our democracy and society will lead to the development of a model which does allow for sustained investigations and thoughtful writing. I think the big shift is to stop thinking that advertising is going to be the model -- until we fully recognize that advertising is not going to work, we will get hung up on this seemingly easy answer and not do the hard work of coming up with a truly new model.

Hi Ted, thanks for pointing me to Byrne's post, an...

2009-01-04T22:06:00.000-08:00

Hi Ted, thanks for pointing me to Byrne's post, and for pointing out very clearly and concisely what you think he missed out on. Great points! One big question i still have that does not seem to be addressed: Given that sustained investigations and well thought write ups remain key (paid staff), and democracy on the production and consumption (free social media and distribution) would improve on that, what would be the model that would sustain both? This is the perhaps the oxymoron that is tearing both sides up, since they DO need each other

I'm planning on getting an iPhone in 09, so this p...

2008-12-23T13:48:00.000-08:00

I'm planning on getting an iPhone in 09, so this post is extremely relevant to me. Thanks!

Thanks so much Ted. We worked so hard on it, and i...

2008-11-17T22:33:00.000-08:00

Thanks so much Ted. We worked so hard on it, and it really means a lot to us to see folks like you say nice things.

Ted,Welcome to Ireland. Where we nabbed southwest'...

2008-11-16T00:38:00.000-08:00

Ted,

Welcome to Ireland. Where we nabbed southwest's pricing model but left the service component behind.

If its any consolation, Ryanair are much, much worse :-(

Joe.

Ugh - sorry to hear it but I don't think it's unco...

2008-11-12T21:42:00.000-08:00

Ugh - sorry to hear it but I don't think it's uncommon. United also charges to take an earlier flight. I don't think southwest does...

When will there be an affordable and EXCELLENT ele...

2008-11-04T15:07:00.000-08:00

When will there be an affordable and EXCELLENT electronic book reader? Kindle is a bit pricey!

Nice, Ted. I think you ought to apologize to Dylan...

2008-11-04T13:48:00.000-08:00

Nice, Ted. I think you ought to apologize to Dylan twice, just on general principle ;>