Is Online Dating A True Match, Or Another Digital Dilemma?
My friend Alex is classically beautiful. She also has a really grown up, important job at one of those big, firm-y type places. Basically, she’s smart. Real smart. And has a real nice apartment. And she makes everyone laugh and has lots of real nice friends. That’s Alex.
But all of this is neither here nor there, because Alex is on a quest to find love. Isn’t that what we’re all essentially doing? Looking for that connection with someone, whether it’s a boyfriend, spouse, new drinking buddy or, at the very least, someone just to watch “Dexter” and order Domino’s with?!
Electronic enchantment?
You can all guess where this is going. The missing piece of the puzzle in this coming-of-age story is Alex’s Prince “I’m Ready For a Commitment and Will Bring You Diet Cokes When You’re Thirsty” Charming. So, what did this accomplished, intelligent, attractive woman do? Like millions of folks in this country, Alex shelled out $113.94 and joined Match.com for six months. Five years ago we both would have cringed at this, but now her posse of friends (myself included) and co-workers couldn’t tell her to sign up fast enough.
Several weeks of awkward dates (the guy who wouldn’t take a hint – or a straight-up “no”, the guy who lived with this parents, the guy who worked at The Cheesecake factory) and hundreds of “winks” and other online digital mating calls later, I couldn’t help but wonder: Is this REALLY what things have come to? We field hundreds of e-mails a day, obsessively track Facebook photos, and Tweet about a food cart selling crepes, so it seems only natural we attempt to find a potential life mate this way, right? I’m not convinced.
It is estimated that between 40 and 50 million people use online dating sites and nearly 1,000 NEW sites are launched every year. Point being, A LOT of us are using the Internet to date. This multi-million dollar industry includes everything from the old standbys like Match, Chemistry.com and JDate.com to SeniorPeopleMeet.com and ILoveYourAccent.com – there’s a site and “questionnaire” for every walk of life and it’s not slowing down. Even my beloved Liz Lemon joined K-Date.com (the fictional Kraft Foods dating site) on a recent “30 Rock” episode. Sigh.
There’s nothing new about the fact that we live in a digital age where virtually all communication can be done without actually MEETING the person. Not to sound all George Clooney from “Up in the Air”, but have we completely forgotten about the actual face-to-face chemistry that gets lost in digital connection?
Eternal, or Ethereal?
All that aside, maybe I’m not that relatable for the sake of this argument – I’m lucky enough to have a life partner and still old-fashioned enough to write handwritten thank you notes. And sometimes I can’t help but think about that (actually pretty good looking) couple on the eHarmony commercials. They own a store together, seem pretty in love and found this all through e-mails and “connecting” digitally. We’re led to believe they’re now married and still run their little boutique hand-in-hand, all while wearing matching denim. It’s not a bad image to shoot for.
So what ended up happening to Alex? After a final nail-in-the-coffin email from a spelling-challenged man named “Bobola” followed by a six week dating hiatus, Alex finally re-entered the world of online dating and accepted her first Match.com date a few weeks ago.
She had a really great time and will be going on a second date.
There’s an App for That: Flattening Maslow’s Pyramid
I recently delivered a lecture to my undergraduate public relations students about Maslow’s Theory of the Hierarchy of Needs, the 1940s theorem of human motivation by transpersonal psychologist Abraham Maslow. It’s usually represented in pyramid form and regarded with about as much mixed-skepticism as the food pyramid. For those who skipped or slept through Psych 101, the essential premise is that humans are motivated to action by five essential needs: food, safety, love, respect and self-actualization. Each level must be met before moving up the pyramid to subsequent needs.
Admittedly, I’ve never taken Maslow very seriously, dismissing it as a gross oversimplification of behavior. Hey, I live in New York, I challenge Maslow’s theory every time I opt to buy shoes over groceries! (Just kidding, Mom. I would NEVER do that!).
And yet … I find myself thinking about Maslow as we sit on the brink of discovering the game-changing effects and true applicability of the iPad and the subsequent tablet products and smarter smartphones that are sure to follow. As our desktop computers are siphoned into sleek laptops and our books are thinned into e-readers, Maslow’s pyramid, too, is flattening. With the advent of widespread, global Internet access, social media platforms and mobile devices, we have entered an age where the world is at our fingertips, instantaneously and simultaneously.
The phrase “there’s an app for that” has become ubiquitous and synonymous with the idea that these devices can do or become anything, satisfying every want and need at the most basic level. Order pizza, tweet about social injustice, text a friend, call a parent, post photos, video chat across time zones and continents. … We no longer have to climb up the walls of Maslow’s pyramid. We can achieve many, if not all, these needs at the same time, hypothetically allowing us more time to spend in the state of self-actualization – the state of creativity and development, the state in which many of these technologies and apps are created.
In a faster, flatter, touch-screen world, Maslow hasn’t completely lost his relevancy. Our desire for food, water, shelter, love, acceptance and success remains unchanged. As public relations professionals and marketers, it’s important to consider that much of the widespread success and adoption of these new technologies and platforms is that more than pure entertainment, they psychologically ameliorate our desire for certain fundamental needs.
That said, I’m still waiting for the app that turns my iPhone into a hot plate…
Apple iPad: Revolutionary, or Shiny Paperweight?
Corey is a life-long Mac enthusiast who started his computing life on a Macintosh 512K, and has been in love with Apple products – until the iPad. Ben has sworn by Apple products for the past seven years, and early Saturday morning made a last minute decision to stand in line for the first time at the W. 14th Street Apple Store for the iPad launch. These two LaunchSquadders discuss the iPad.
Apple’s Microsoft-like control over the platform and the apps the iPad can run is increasingly disturbing.
Corey: I love Apple’s products. I’m a lifetime Mac user, I own an iPod, and would own an iPhone if they weren’t married to AT&T. But, as a corporate entity, Apple has – to me – been rapidly backsliding in to territory once occupied by late-1990s Microsoft: controlling to the point where it’s willing to hurt its products in order to not cede its grip over its platform (see Flash below). This is especially true with iPhone and iPad apps. Apple’s stringent – and sometimes bizarre – approval process for apps, and its refusal to adopt outside platforms are means to that same end. Think about it: In order for any Web service to work on the iPad, it has to develop an app (think Hulu), and Apple tightly polices what apps it allows and doesn’t allow. What’s left is monopolistic authority over what gets seen and used on the iPad and iPhone. That’s never good. Apple has a right to make sure only good stuff is available on its platform, but it shouldn’t think solely about its larger business interests under to guise of doing so.
Ben: Since launching the App Store in the summer of 2008, Apple has built an entirely new economy around developers and their applications. Last month, the App Store topped 3 billion downloads, with over 150,000 applications available. One can only imagine how many applications are submitted every day, and Apple’s review process is ultimately necessary to weed out applications with inappropriate content, and malicious intent. Still, I have to agree that in some cases, Apple’s authority was exerted beyond boundaries, especially in their blocking of a native Google Voice application because it “duplicates functionality.” Google was quick to introduce a Web-based application, and in all reality, business is business. All in all, Apple has been working hard to better the App Store approval process, and we’ve seen more, and more applications that were originally denied entry, getting accepted. I don’t personally see Apple letting users download applications outside of the App Store any time in the future. They should however, focus on opening up more core APIs so developers can leverage all of the devices’ features.
There’s no Flash.
Corey: The fact that the No. 1 complaint about the iPhone (well, beyond AT&T) – that it doesn’t run Flash – wasn’t addressed in the iPad is just strange. Even worst is the reason: Apple’s corporate pissing match with Adobe. And, we have no idea why it’s even happening! As I talked about above, the beef most likely comes down to control, something Jobs is loathe to give up. Regardless, 75 percent of videos and 70 percent of games on the Web are powered by Flash, so that’s a pretty arrogant starting bargaining position from Apple. Shadiness aside, the iPad’s top two uses are supposed to be viewing media and playing games … yet, you can’t view or play three-quarters of the games and media on the Web. It makes no sense.
Ben: No one outside of Apple knows the full story on the exclusion of Flash from their mobile products. What it most likely comes down to is a deep-seated business rivalry. However, it’s true that in many cases, Flash is extremely resource heavy and unreliable on devices – even across desktop browsers on a Mac, Flash video and games tends to be slower. Instead of complaining about the Flash issue, companies like Brightcove are quickly adapting to offer iPad compatible H.264 video. Apple has even gone as far as to post an “iPad Ready” page on their site, with a list of major name Web sites like The New York Times, Reuters, ESPN and even Nike, all of which support H.264 video with the HTML5 tag.
The iPad’s form factor and interface make for the best possible Web browsing and reading experience.
Ben: I’m typing this post right now from my iPad. Straight out of the box, it takes some time getting used to; mostly the issue is with figuring out exactly how to hold it, or prop it up on your lap. In landscape mode, the virtual keyboard is wide, and spacious. After 48 hours of using it to catch up on news on The New York Times, and Techmeme, as well as reading books in both Apple’s iBooks and the Kindle apps, I am completely sold. Since the iPhone launched, Mobile Safari has provided the absolute best browsing experience in a pocket device. The iPad’s large, vivid touchscreen takes it to an entirely new level, where human interaction meets computing almost seamlessly. Hey, it’s so easy a 2-year-old can use it! Sure the iPad has some UX flaws here and there, but it’s paving the way to a keyboard-less future.
Corey: It’s hard to disagree with that. Tablet computing is going to be the way a lot of use the Web in five years. The iPad itself is a sleek device that’s built well for its main purpose – viewing media and the Web. But again, the problem is how it gets there. The Web is the primary destination for 95 percent of computer users, and probably 100 percent of iPad owners, so it’s baffling that the device treats the Web like a necessary evil. The Web should be at the forefront of these devices, and the browser should be the primary app that enables it. Apple is taking this notion and putting it on its head by requiring that a lot of the content on the Web be sliced out and put in to apps (available in the iTunes Store for a nominal fee!). It just seems counter to where the rest of the computing world is going, and incredibly self-interested. Google, on the other hand, has taken an open, Web-centric approach with Android that I would love to see adapted to a tablet, which I’m sure is coming soon. I’m not naive enough to say that Google is completely altruistic with its more open approach to the Web on its OS, it’s better than how Apple sees it.
As publishers adapt to the iPad, print version of their publications, as we know them, will soon become a relic of the past.
Ben: Conde Nast, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and other media houses have made it very clear that they are devoting time and resources to developing for the iPad. But will iPad applications necessarily save these publications? I don’t think so. It begins with the price point; Time Magazine is offering a weekly iPad version for exactly the same price as the print copy, $5. The Wall Street Journal is charging $17.99 a month for their touchscreen version. The fundamental flaw here, is that consumers aren’t so willing to pay for content that they can mostly find on the Web, which they have direct access to in Safari on the iPad. For example, The New York Times’ Web site in my opinion is vastly superior to their Editors’ Choice iPad application. It’s the high priced, archaic subscription model that has publishers beat, and it’s about time they learn it. I’m also skeptical that the iPad alone will provide enough revenue to stay afloat, publishers will need to innovate and accommodate the slew of tablet devices to come.
Corey: I largely agree with this, and think you’re absolutely right that publishers’ blockheaded devotion to paywalls. If these dinosaurs couldn’t adapt to Internet, even as we started taking our laptops with us everywhere we went, and began using mobile phones to surf the Web, then they surely aren’t going to be able to adapt to tablet computing simply because of a shiny new device. I also doubt that, beyond our little tech world bubble, the iPad is going to have enough mainstream adoption to make it cost-effective enough for publishers to rearrange their strategy around it. That’s the main problem with the “iPad will revolutionize X” meme – only 300,000 people own these things. That will grow, but they’re not as useful as an iPhone or a laptop to everyday consumers, and they have a high barrier of entry ($500) for the 98 percent of people who don’t geek out over new tech. While tech people can blather on for hours about its many uses, most consumers’ reactions after picking one up would go something like this: “Huh. Cool. I have no idea what I’d use this for.” The iPad is the first generation of a set of devices that will change personal computing in 3 to 5 years when they can properly access the Web. Until then, it’s a really expensive newspaper.
Global Entrepreneurship: A Cross-Generational Effort
At LaunchSquad, we encourage our team to not only be outstanding representatives and ideators for our clients, but also in our community. Part of this is supporting non-profit organizations to help them achieve great results for the services they provide.
Recently, we partnered with the Kairos Society, a student organization uniting the nation’s brightest student entrepreneurs from prestigious schools like MIT, Harvard, Stanford and others, with international student innovators representing nine countries, including China, Israel and the UK. Encompassing industries like green energy, high technology and global philanthropy, the organization connects the up-and-coming generation of leaders with many of the world’s most influential business leaders from organizations like DuPont, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Boeing and the Kauffman Foundation.
Now it its second year, the Kairos Society will host their Second Annual Summit in New York City on April 16-17, connecting 500 student innovators with 100 business leaders to foster relationships, discuss the future global economy and best practices for ensuring healthy international relationships, all while providing insight and about how to grow their company and – like the conference theme states – “do well by doing good.”
The two day event will be hosted by the New York Stock Exchange and the Intrepid Air, Sea and Space Museum, showcasing 100 of the world’s most cutting edge student companies and technologies, breakout sessions led by VIPs with selected students to discuss particular industries or opportunities and a women’s lunch, bringing together many of today’s most impactful women leaders to meet and mentor the women leaders of tomorrow.
We are thrilled to be supporting such a unique and necessary organization. Many of the student companies are developing breakthrough technologies, services and philanthropic efforts, from building schools in third-world countries to energy solutions for the military and travel industry. With the theme of “Doing well by doing good,” it’s reassuring to know that the next generation of economic leaders is proactively collaborating with those who have paved the way in their respective industries.
Check out two videos from Bill Clinton and William Gates Sr. in support of the organization, as well as highlights and insight from last year’s summit in New York.
Advertising Right Now: Stuart Ewen Should Be Proud
2010 is already proving to be an explosive year in the innovation and growth surrounding advertising. Just last week, Google announced its ‘remarketing’ feature for AdWords, an app called CrowdZone introduced its plans to monetize the ability for people to join real-time sports-fan communities, and self-service mobile-ad startup Zeep was snapped up by Vibes Media. Emphasis on just last week.
Here in the Bay Area, it’s not necessarily breaking news that advertising in all of its innovative forms is one of the hottest industries right now, and it seems that every startup is racing toward that monetizing finish line faster than their VCs are pedaling down Sand Hill Road. But as this year is looking to be a breakthrough one in how ads are served, I can’t help but remember amidst all of the flitter and flutter of the mobilegeotargetedrichgroupon excitement, the classic book from a time when advertising was less thoughtful, more forceful, and therefore, less relevant: Stuart Ewen‘s Captains of Consciousness – Advertising and the Social Roots of Consumer Culture.
Ewen’s main premise in his 1976 seminal work – which today seems like a Donald Draper one-liner after the end of a Don/Midge tryst – is still worth remembering: the Industrial Revolution led to mass production, which led to the need for mass distribution, which led the need for people to want stuff because all the stuff had to go somewhere. The ‘captains of consciousness’ – the Ad Men – created this need/want through messages that plucked at psychological and emotional heartstrings and created our wants. Essentially they constructed our modern consumer culture.
Well, here we sit as by-products of that era and having accepted our reality that people will try to get us to buy stuff, we actually have the upper hand. And the Ad Men are listening, which is why we are seeing such massive innovation around the simple idea of relevant messaging. They are now working on a completely opposite premise: that our wants are less controllable, they can’t take us for granted, and they have to come at us where we already are – both in thought and place. And I, for one, find that quite flattering.
So if a Google ad-bot follows me around the Web and tells me about a bike-gear sale three months later, I’m cool with that. Chances are my chain needs replacing at that point. If I share an article I find interesting via ShareThis, I’m OK with that publisher storing my information and showing me better stuff next time I visit their site. It’s totally fine with me when a small business keeps in touch via regular email marketing until the time is right and I need their services. And if I’m in a new neighborhood looking for a good happy hour and a free-drink coupon pops up on my Village Voice Happy Hours app for the watering hole that’s literally across the street – well, that’s way better than if it didn’t pop up, right? The mobile-marketing push is indeed fascinating and relevant, led by companies like Placecast and Admob.
Ewen might be disappointed that the Captains succeeded in creating our current culture of consumerism and to be fair, there are many reasons to question what we’re doing and buying (questioning not necessarily being a bad thing). But if we’re going to have certain advertising realities in place, I’d rather they cater to me and not waste my time.
LaunchSquad Takes Over SXSW
This year’s South By Southwest Conference featured an impressive array of panels, parties and taco trucks. Austin’s annual gathering of tech, music and film’s rising stars is always a memorable experience and to fully take advantage of the opportunity, we brought together a number of LaunchSquad’s clients and friends for the LaunchSquad Handcrafted Happy Hour event at Péché, an elegant, old fashioned French-influenced bar and restaurant in downtown Austin. The event brought together an amazing crowd and included pre-prohibition style cocktails and food, as well as a featured drink for the evening called ‘The Launchie.’ Thanks to all who came out!
While our event was tough to beat, there were a number of other great parties, including UStream‘s kickoff party, Mashable and Cliqset’s huge bash, the Boxee barbecue and StumbleUpon and The Barbarian Group’s joint party which gets a notable mention in both the music AND fire categories due to the performance by the band Man or Astro-Man, who actually lit a theramin on fire to cap their set.
A number of LaunchSquad clients also graced the stages during the day, from ShareThis’s “The Future of Influence” panel to “The UX of Mobile” moderated by Crisp Wireless to Vook’s discussion on the ‘Brave New Future for Publishing.’ Several other clients were also in attendance, including Astia, Diapers.com, Eventbrite,Evernote, Fwix, NextNewN etworks, Particle, Radian6, SeatGeek and Vook.
Now that a full week has passed, we’ve finally recovered. Until next year, Austin!
My Android & Me: 2G2BT
Call it misguided love, but I held out with my Motorola RAZR flip phone for as long as I could – more than five years. With a job in technology, though, I found that I was actually embarrassed to whip it out at industry events and in front of clients. So back in December I told my husband what I wanted for Christmas – the T-Mobile MyTouch Android phone – and he obliged. After three months with my new Internet-enabled, “everything at my fingertips” phone, I find that I’m still not as efficient as I’d like to be … but I’m pretty sure the problem is me.
I didn’t grow up with a cell phone. My first text message was sent less than 10 years ago. I missed the AOL IM obsession of many who went to college in the early 2000s. And, most importantly, it pains me to read, let alone write, incomplete words and phrases. Therein lies my daily battle with communicating via phone, emails, texts and IMs – it takes me twice as long to send a message as those who are comfortable speaking in the “lol” and “omg” language of social media.
I realize this makes me sound seriously old school in an industry where everything is about what’s new, but I prefer to think of it as being a guardian of the established, respected rules of grammar. Like many others who work in PR, I love words and I love grammar. I proudly have a copy of the AP Stylebook sitting on my desk, representing a respect and commitment to following this established code of written language. We use it to resolve the many disputes that take place between my colleagues about when to capitalize, how to appropriately abbreviate states, when to hyphenate, and any number of other topics that come up when we’re writing.
But the nature of today’s communication – IM, text, Twitter, Facebook, etc. – is all about quick, frequent communication, and sometimes this means cutting corners, abbreviating words, occasional mis-capitalizations or misspellings, or even (gasp) leaving out words all together. I still think vowels are important, I’ll never respect “donut” or “nite,” and I’ll continue searching for the acronyms people IM me, but I realize that occasionally using shorthand, or sending an e-mail without perfect punctuation won’t make or break the English language. Communication around the globe is at an all time high, and the more we can encourage young people to interact with others, express themselves and be creative, the better, even if it’s in 140 nonsensical characters or less.
Will Your Next Car Stereo Help Save Radio Advertising?
On the heels of a 10 hour holiday road trip, I’m a big believer that one of the innovations yet to hit the market is a way for people to tag stuff when they’re listening to their car radios.
A few weeks ago, Apple took an important first step in making this a reality when it teamed with Alpine to bring a set of car stereos to market that allow listeners to tag songs for later download via the iTunes Music store.
I like this move, but it’s not that big of a breakthrough – after all, Shazam recently eclipsed 50 million users (who are primarily tagging when driving) and closed a round of funding from A-list VC firm Kleiner Perkins–putting them in a nice position to own the music discovery market.
The bigger opportunity – and one that has Google written all over it – lies in an easy way to tag commercials, talk show segments, news and other information while driving. This is underscored by the fact that most songs that get radio play these days are on the pop charts, are in regular circulation and can easily be found of iTunes with a click or two.
But, when you’re in your car, you usually don’t hear the same piece of information twice. News bits are regularly updated, ads are timed to optimize reach and frequency and conversations happen only once.
For marketers, giving consumers that are interested in content or promotional messages but have their hands tied when it comes to taking action, an integrated radio/Web tagging system could be just what it takes to make radio more actionable and most importantly, more measurable.
For terrestrial radio stations, this type of system creates new value for listeners and aligns radio with the important trends that have led to ad dollars moving to digital mediums.
And for everyone involved in the radio ecosystem – advertisers, stations and consumers – it combines the real-time nature of radio (which podcasting can’t deliver) with the direct response nature of the web and could help save this dying medium.
Here’s a prediction – not for 2010 – but for 2012 or beyond. Like Apple, Google will align with car stereo OEMs (or hybrid GPS/car stereo systems as they are doing with Google Earth and the upcoming Audi A8) and integrate tagging capabilities into their devices. In a few clicks, you’ll be able to “tag this segment” or “tag this ad.” These tags will then be queued locally on your stereo and eventually surfaced to iGoogle or some soon-to-be-launched dashboard that aggregates your tags from Gmail, Google Reader, Google Docs and the like.
Then, you’ll be able to listen to the content again using Google Voice (transcribed for reading via Gmail, of course) and with embedded calls to action (call this merchant, comment on this story, etc.), so that stations and their advertising partners extend the relationship with readers beyond drive time. Google could also roll out a “switch pitch” bidding system to allow advertisers to deliver offers and promotions against tagged content.
Right now, the infrastructure isn’t there to make it happen. But as Google rolls out more free wi-fi the US and as current connectivity solutions already in cars, including bluetooth, satellite radio, etc. bring the Web to our cars, it will be. And a new term, “driving the Web” will be coined.
Maybe by then, I’ll need a new mattress.
Notes from the eBook Summit in New York
Last week I attended MediaBistro’s inaugural eBook Summit at the New World Stages Theatre in Manhattan. For the whole day, my inner geek girl got to curl up with my inner bookworm and look at what lies ahead in the world of books and the move towards digitization.
For the book industry, just like music, film and photography beforehand, the move towards digitization brings with it a massive shift in user experience, and distribution. Along with this, obviously, comes major disruption to the business models of the publishing world, affecting not only authors and retailers but also publishers and agents whose roles are quickly morphing as authors find ways to self-publish online.
The summit delved deep into some of the issues that lie ahead and the change the industry will face. The prevailing attitude was summed up by Steve Wasserman of Kneerim & Williams, who said, “its all a little too early to tell”, but I think that based on the precedents set by the music industry we can anticipate some of the changes that lie ahead and what publishers need to do to capitalize on the opportunities that are there for the taking. For instance, without the physical need to print and truck books to retailers anymore, publishers need to quickly find a way to offer value to authors (such as multimedia eBook content and promotion resources) to remain relevant, otherwise, just as we have seen in the music industry with record labels, there will be increasingly less seats at the table for middlemen such as publishers.
A few of the panelists at the event called 2010 “The Year of the Tablet” and big developments are expected over the next few years in terms of eBook devices, most likely in the forms of convergence with other multimedia devices particularly the Web. However, with the preference being for ever-smaller devices, how an eReader will comfortably work within an iPhone-type device is yet to be seen. One panelist at the event said that they were aware of a dozen new eReader devices to be unveiled at CES in January 2010, with plenty more, such as Apple’s rumored Tablet device expected later in the new year.
So far, eBook device makers such as Sony understand the effort needed to ensure that readers are able to fully immerse themselves in a comfortable and immersive narrative experience, with cozy lighting and lightweight devices without too many bells and whistles. That said – they are not ignoring the possibilities that lie ahead for the book when color touch screens, digitization and 3G connectivity come into the mix.
One of the most fascinating (and possibly ADD-inducing) aspects of eBooks will be what the industry is calling the next generation of reading (Reading 2.0?) with built-in Web and interactivity including search, dictionary, multimedia content and Web connectivity. Imagine reading a book on your Nook/Kindle/iTablet, and being able to instantly Wiki/YouTube/Dictionary.com a word, phrase or scene? Or instantly search for a favorite passage? How will this change the formerly linear world of reading? Will we ever be able to get through a book again without being tempted to jump into the Web to find out more?
Just like filmmakers and musicians, authors (or their publishers) will now be expected to be full content powerhouses, producing “special features” such as author interviews, character sketches, possibly even music and video components to embellish and complement their written work. Publishers and agents will need to stay on top of this content to propel their authors forward in the new world of eBook sales, the content will be both a marketing tool and an additional revenue stream. An example of the new iteration of books with multimedia add-ons is LaunchSquad client Vook which, combines videos with books to create a whole new experience.
While the new world of digital books and Web-enabled reading is exciting, the path ahead for pricing and distribution is not yet set in stone. This week, major publishing houses Harper Collins and Random House, both announced plans to delay the launch of eBook editions, following hardback and paperback releases – an interesting move that most of the panelists saw as a stop-gap measure until they get a real eBook strategy in place. As we saw with digital music, if you do not make a product available to purchase, people will find a way to get it whether legally or not. Sony’s Head of Digital Reading, Steve Haber, put it best “We can’t be afraid of cannibalizing our physical book sales by treading too carefully into digital, because if we don’t cannibalize our sales, someone else will do it for us.” (I’m paraphrasing but that was the gist).
Pricing is of course, another pressure point within the emerging eBook market. While there is potential for experimental pricing (e.g. 99c for the first chapter of a book or $5 for additional special features material), panel members were not afraid to call out Amazon’s $9.95 pricing as a bully-tactic, a power-play to be the big shot in the industry to replicate the success that Apple had with MP3 players and their iTunes digital music sales arm. Most people in the industry see $9.95 as an unprofitable margin for authors and publishers that is ultimately unsustainable.
Just as we have seen with music, DRM is an increasingly prickly pear for the eBook industry that could determine which devices and distribution platforms become big, and which ones ultimately fail. Significantly, the move by blockbuster business author Stephen Covey to sign an exclusive eBook deal with Amazon.com (with exclusive DRM) could greatly bolster sales of the Kindle, particularly if Amazon is able to sign enough blockbuster authors upfront so as to disable efforts by iTunes or Barnes & Noble to make a play in the eBook world.
As an avid reader, book lover and geek girl, I am excited about the world of digital books and will also treasure my physical book editions as a relic of the printed past. It would be magnificent if eBooks could encourage more reading and literacy, and that as the price of production comes down, eBooks will be more accessible and the digital divide can be gapped in a joint effort between libraries, schools, device makers, governments and non-profits.
The Changing Way We Read
Media consumption has always changed over time as new technologies are developed, from fireside storytelling shifting to printed novels, or radio to the evening news on television. For years now, we have adjusted to reading on screens, but today, we are at the brink of a fundamental shift in the way we read.
Earlier this year, Rupert Murdoch suggested that News Corp would restrict all its content within paid walls, perhaps going so far as to remove their content from search engines. With Google responding by very publicly stating how they can help newspapers and adjusting to allow publishers to limit users to view five pages a day without registering, it would seem that media giants still hold power. But this is less a complete collapse of media channels and more a merging of media with new reading platforms – desktop, browser, e-reader, mobile, tablet, etc. Publishers are just now starting to innovate on these mediums, developing new experiences and new ways to read.
The e-reader market has been picking up a lot of steam recently – Kindle just had their biggest sales month since launching and Barnes & Noble’s Nook joining the market, which, despite recent reviews, has continued to pique consumer curiosity. Apple is rumored to be releasing a tablet early next year, and companies such as Vook (a LaunchSquad client), are creating new reading formats. Just in the past few weeks, we’ve seen publishers left and right announce new initiatives that respond to this e-reader and tablet excitement.
Condé Nast announced last month its Digital Magazine Initiative starting with an e-reader version of Wired magazine, and the publisher has also been experimenting with iPhone app formats for its content, in the form of GQ’s Men of the Year issue. Early this month, Time Inc. released a demo of a new digital version of Sports Illustrated, complete with photo libraries, video and interactive ads. While its own physical tablet prototype has been developed, like Condé Nast, they’re not committed to any one particular platform yet. Hearst, just last week, announced a partnership with Sprint to launch Skiff, an e-reader platform and digital store focused on connecting publishers with marketers, in 2010. To top it all off, the five major periodical publishers – Condé Nast, Meredith, Time Inc., Hearst and News Corp – are coming together to create a “Hulu for magazines,” a digital news stand where readers can purchase and manage their subscriptions. The main challenge will be to develop digital standards and formats, so that their varied content can be viewed equally on a wide variety of devices – soon-to-come color e-readers or more multi-media friendly tablet computers.
Similar to the changing way we approach reading novels and longer-form magazine pieces, the way we consume the news is still taking shape. Customization is the new way to take in news – whether it’s your Tumblr community or your Facebook feed, we are hearing about and reading news in an instant and curated way. Twitter, for some, has come to replace RSS, news sites and even search as a main source for breaking news, and with its newest lists feature, it’s even easier to filter the stream and be selective about how you skim and read. PubSubHubbub is working with blog and social networking platforms to bring these updates and posts instantaneously to your networks and companies like ShareThis (client) are helping media fit into this new “sharing economy,” allowing them to capitalize on the virality and engagement of forwarding, retweeting, liking and voting. Even Google is trying to adjust old-world media to find a place in the online way of reading, with Living Stories, which is a new project in collaboration with the New York Times and The Washington Post that presents on-going, evolving stories in a new online format. All these means are helping us stay informed of content through a closer social circle or curated set of sources.
Mobile devices, and especially iPhone and Android platform, take real-time and personalization to another level by putting the content in your hand wherever you are. Apps from local news sources like Fwix (a LaunchSquad client), Outside.in or Topix show what’s happening in your neighborhood, and Fwix’s even allows users to “report news” in real time, directly from their phones. In addition to news and e-reading, there are also many apps that are useful for saving, noting or commenting on what you read. Instapaper is an iPhone app and bookmarklet that allows users to save articles and blog post to read later, a task that it invaluable for anyone that is keeping track of news during their busy work day. Evernote (another LaunchSquad client) is another great app to save and organize not only your own notes and photos, but Web pages and text from articles. This mobile reading is a shift beyond your typical browser reading – it’s not passive reading and goes beyond the conversation, it’s also personalized, localized and relevant to what we are doing in the physical world.
Technology is changing the way humans are interacting with text, with content. There’s no standard yet as ubiquitous as unfolding the morning paper, but it’s not for lack of trying. Give it some time though, and a few platforms will start to emerge as front-runner in this nascent market. Whatever does emerge as the new way we read, it’s going to be a whole lot different than unfolding that paper.