Andy Ihnatko:
Okay, I’m making a new rule: whenever I’m reading something online and I see the phrase “The Mainstream Media,” I’m instantly deducting 40 credibility points from the author. It’s a meaningless phrase its use indicates laziness, sloppiness, or a line of thought that was only half-formed to begin with.
Bloomberg:
Television programs such as “The Simpsons” and “CSI” are for the first time commanding higher advertising rates at Web sites including Hulu.com and TV.com than on prime-time TV.
Understated in the article is the value of targeted web advertising. There’s more to it than a captive audience and passionate fans. Hulu, for example, can use a given user’s demographic data to tailor the ads served. That kind of customization has no real analog outside the online world.
Better yet, Hulu lets its users, in effect, choose their own advertising. Like an ad? Give it a thumbs up, and you’ll see more like it. Never want to see a certain ad again? Give it a thumbs down, and you never will. It’s a better experience for viewers, and advertisers can spend their dollars on people who want to see their ads. Everyone wins.
Michael Andersen:
Okay, question time: Imagine you’re a major national newspaper whose crosstown archrival has somehow obtained two million pages of explosive documents that outed your country’s biggest political scandal of the decade. They’ve had a team of professional journalists on the job for a month, slamming out a string of blockbuster stories as they find them in their huge stack of secrets.
How do you catch up?
Four lessons from the Guardian’s fantastic crowdsourcing experiment.
Essential listening for anyone who makes anything.