Apple is absolutely right to try to make iTunes as easy as possible, and they are right to protect their customers’ privacy by not sending along customer data to every vendor. However, publishers really do need subscriber data. It’s not an evil plot, and it’s not only to do cross-sells and upsells. Publishers also have …
Continue reading ‘Why publishers need subscriber information’ »
The standard, old-school model for publishing is that the experts pick which stories are the most important — that is, which get top billing, which get more coverage, which get larger headlines, which get images, etc. To some extent, the socialization of the web is wearing away at that. Now we care a little less …
Continue reading ‘Who curates the content on your website?’ »
A while ago I came up with a way that Google could get on the right side of the copyright issue. See How google can be the good guy for publishers. At the time I had regular calls with some Google Adwords reps, and when I shared my idea they told me “Google doesn’t want …
Who wants a paper store receipt? What are you going to do with the thing? It’s a bother to collect them, and they always fade after a couple months anyway. Are you going to scan them, or what? The store should do that for you. Most stores try to get you to sign up with …
Continue reading ‘How retail stores can collect more email addresses’ »
I just got a long and complicated email from The New York Times about their new pay model for digital subscriptions. I think it’s a dumb model (more on that later, perhaps), but what immediately strikes me about it is how the people at the NYT think everything is about them. Today marks a significant …
Here’s a good article about some of the dangers of technologies that try to choose what content you’re going to see online. The Danger Of Personalization: A Lesson From TED Personalized content is a great thing, so long as you know that it’s been personalized, you know that what you’re looking at is an unrepresentative …
Continue reading ‘Confirmation bias in search and online content display’ »
The link below is PG-13, so if you get offended by scatological jokes and such, give it a pass. But it actually makes some really good points about store design issues, required fields, and some of the silly things people try to put their customers through. How to make your shopping cart suck less
I’m reading What Would Google Do? Generally speaking, and to over-simplify, it’s about the new relationship between producers and consumers, and how consumers are in charge. Companies that allow their customers, clients and partners to do what they want to do will succeed. And if at all possible, companies should strive to make their products …
This morning I had to get the emissions inspected on one of our vehicles, so I was in the car listening to morning radio, which usually goes something like this — The host picks a juicy morsel out the news, possibly adds something salacious, and then tosses it out to the hungry masses who wants …
There’s a really dumb story in the news right now. (You’re thinking, “Just one?”) Well … I have one in mind that I think is really dumb. But what if I write a post about how dumb it is? I have no illusions about the effect of this blog, but to some very small degree …