Photo of the Week: The new Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. hosted the Chicago Cubs last weekend I got a chance to see the "big headed" Presidents Race up close and took this shot.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Chicago Tribune Embraces The iPhone
The Tribune Company, an old Chicago-based newspaper giant, has just announced an iPhone compartable version of one of its flagship properties, the Chicago Tribune. As a former Tribune employee it gives me great joy to see my old hometown paper now viewable on my iPhone at this URL: chicagotribune.com/iphone.
They have not enabled an auto redirect to when viewing ChicagoTribune.com from an iPhone but it does promote the iPhone option. I figure the auto redirect on the iPhone will be coming soon. Congrats to the Tribune on embracing the new device. Thanks to Steve Rubel for pointing it out.
Editor's Note: The SF Bit as I am calling it is new short or brief format post on Somewhat Frank which will basically offer a quick informative post or bit rather longer article format. Let me know if you like it and I will keep them flowing.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
End of the Web's Free Ride?
End of the web's free ride? Doubtful.
As a former Tribune Co. employee it was surprising to see the Washington Post article published today (April 7, 2007) saying that, soon-to-be Tribune Co. owner and real estate billionaire, Samuel Zell was set on trying to make news aggregators pay for newspaper.com content. Though Sam is quick to admit he is new to the newspaper industry, he was quoted saying:
"If all of the newspapers in America did not allow Google to steal their content, how profitable would Google be? Not very."
In an age of an open, attention economy of syndication and new media, Sam Zell's direction seems so 5 years ago. Don't Google and other news aggregators provide a service to these news sources by sending them relevant traffic so that they can serve up their own ads and generate revenue? Yes. Mathew Ingram offers some additional perspective on this topic by saying:
"On the contrary, newspapers get a tremendous benefit from being indexed by Google News, just as websites get a tremendous benefit from being indexed by Google’s search."
Mathew is right on the money. Though Google has been reported to be paying for some of its Google News content, publishers have the power to restrict the amount of content that is syndicated and most newspapers do this by only syndicating a one sentence news brief thus sending most traffic back to the source site. While I do not know the entire context around Sam Zell's quote to make aggregators pay, I find it rather disturbing as it could land Tribune in some trouble if this philosophy is applied, especially in a time when micro-publishers and citizen journalists with less overhead thus higher profit margin are out there covering the news.
It will be intriguing to watch what Tribune does with its content, I hope they decide to capitalize on the ad revenues from it rather than the revenue generated from aggregator rights. No disrespect to Sam Zell, he is a billionaire and I am not, but if I could give one bit of advice I would suggest he investigate the recent changes in the media landscape in regard to paid vs. free content strategies before taking the helm at Tribune. I would point to Washington Post Newsweek Interactive a competitor that "gets it" and could serve as a great role model for Tribune. I guess my point is, if Tribune is going to turn the clock back and dive into the old "people should pay for our online content" mindset then Tribune is totally f*cked - I would hate to see that happen.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Topix Unveils New Design, Search Feature
Topix.net, the news and blog content aggregator, has launched a new fresh design for the layout of its homepage. The design includes a new logo as well as a new layout for the page. The old design is shown below on the left and the new design is shown further below.
In addition to a layout upgrade Topix.net has also released a very interesting historic search sliders that can be accessed by doing a search in the top search box. It appears Topix has been in contact with search guru, Danny Sullivan about the updates and wanted to get them out in time for the Search Engine Strategies show in San Jose. The new slider presents the live web search results for over 1 year. It reminds me of the slider that blog search engine Sphere currently uses to sift through blog search result by date.
These changes come on the heels of the Inform.com deal I highlighted last week. Bottomline: Topix.net offers a more esthetically pleasing product than Inform.com and the redesign amplifies that point.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Topix.net Enters Classified Ad Business
Topix.net, a news aggregator service owned by three large, traditional media companies, has added the ability to post free classified ads on its site. Topix offers a free alternative to both print and online classified newspaper sites, which have been banking on paid classified ads for years. Another direct competitor would be Craigslist, among others.
You can see a screen-shot of the layout to the Chicago ads below. Obviously, the number of ads is limited, however, I expect them to pick up with time.
According to Chris Tolles, who posted on the Topix blog about the classified system and how it fits into Topix mission:
"Our goal here at Topix.net is to help people connect better with their community -- whether that be where they live, or what they're interested in. We started by collecting news from all over the net and using technology to automatically tag it with geo-location and topic."
I am a big fan of Topix.net and the moves that included the introduction of blog search results, mapping conversations and, most recently, a publisher platform. I think this move by Topix.net further hedges the bet of its old media ownership, which has been looking for additional revenue streams due to the decline in print readership. Maybe they should look to Topix because I feel Topix gets it.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Freedom Rings At New Museum
I recently had a chance to get a sneak peak at the newly created McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum which opened to the public today (April 11, 2006). The museum is three stories and offers visitors an interactive experience focused on our first amendment rights which include speech, religion, press, assembly and petition.
The museum is located next to the Tribune Tower and is operated by the McCormick Tribune Foundation. t houses a unique sculpture center piece which I previously wrote about. If you are ever in the city of Chicago you might want to check it out on Michigan Avenue. The Museum admission fee is only $5.00, a dollar for each first amendment freedom, and getting through the museum probably will take you about 45 minutes.
I take my first first amendment rights seriously, especially with my activity in the blogosphere, so I am glad to see a museum dedicated to them.
For more information visit: FreedomMuseum.us. Also check out my Flickr Freedom Museum photo stream from my recent visit.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Future of Blogs Debated
A recent debate has surfaced among the pages of the Chicago Tribune calling into question the longevity of the blogging phenomenon. On one side we have the recent Chicago Tribune editorial, "Bloggy, We Hardly Knew Ye," citing dated 2004 data. Although numbers resound with our society, I have to question the credibility they provide in this case, as the blogosphere has doubled - several times - since then. According to a recent report the blogosphere doubles every 5 months.
The rebuttal came on Thursday (Feburary 23, 2006), as the Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn pronounced "Bloggy" as premature and exaggerated in this post by saying:
"It wasn't exactly 'Dewey Defeats Truman,' but the cute valedictory, 'Bloggy, We Hardly Knew Ye,' in a headline atop a Tribune editorial Wednesday seems likely to take a place in history alongside such clouded crystal-ball pronouncements as 'Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?' 'Radio has no future' and 'There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable.'"
Zorn uses an unexpected reverse method of persuasion to argue that blogging is more than a fad. Agreeing that, indeed, most people don't read blogs, Zorn postulates that the uncharted territory comprised by this group is actually up for grabs as opposed to inaccessible. In other words, blogging simply hasn't yet arrived as mainstream, but along those lines: what were your thoughts when you heard about the Internet for the very first time... and look where that is now.
Personally, I find it refreshing that blogging and its implications has moved beyond simply being acknowledged to actually being debated by and sometimes even influential over media outlets. It's yet another reassuring sign that blogging, citizen journalism, grass roots communications or whatever you want to call it, is here to stay.
What do you think?
Saturday, January 28, 2006
More Classified Ads Heading Online
A recent Wall Street Journal article by Joseph T. Hallinan highlighted the recent drops in auto advertising of the newspaper publishing companies including the Tribune and McClatchy Co. According to the article:
Revenue from auto classifieds has now fallen for seven straight quarters, to $1.01 billion in the third quarter of 2005 from $1.16 billion in the second quarter of 2004, according to the Newspaper Association of America, a Vienna, Va., industry trade group.
These same newspaper publishing companies have been hedging the print classified losses with investments in a company called Classified Ventures, LLC which owns Cars.com and was also mentioned in Hallinan's WSJ article. As the trend or declines continue Cars.com will continue to be in an excellent position to be successful in the online auto space.
*Image thanks to post-gazette.com
Friday, January 20, 2006
Jeff Johns Talks Web Design With E&P
A web developer, colleague and friend of mine Jeff Johns recently talked shop with Editor and Publisher's Jay DeFoore as he lent his expert opinion on some recent newspaper website redesigns. The article highlighted several websites and Jeff, an online producer and web developer for Allentown Morning Call or MCall.com and Jay Small director of online content and operations for E.W. Scripps Newspapers gave their perspectives.
Jeff Johns offered these 5 personal thoughts on web design in general:
1.) Make the user feel like they are part of the experience, they know what they want and how they want it. Let them customize, customize, customize. The more interaction in my eyes the better.
2.) Step away from packing as much info on one page as possible; you have an entire site to use. Put your main "HOT" topics up front, rail items you want to promote, some user features, and you're done. Let the user see enough to get interested and be intrigued to find more throughout the site. You can pack a lot of cool links in one rail item as long as your present it correctly.
3.) Have an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed for everything. Whether you think people will use them or not, having a feed for all possible news on your site will never hurt you. Even if people are leeching it on their site, the user will still end up back on your homepage once they click the link. It's a great way to reach more people.
4.) Integrate more interactive/flash type projects. Build stuff people want to use or play with, which will also bring them back.
5.) Hire the right people. I see a lot of places where people are not in the correct positions. Every newspaper.com Web site should have Web developers, not just graphic designers. Graphic designers are needed but not as much as Web developers.
I particularly found number 5 to be the MOST IMPORTANT tip for any company competing in the online space. Development teams need people who have the correct background and can see the big picture by staying on the cutting edge of technology and business which leads to new ideas and eventually product development. Many times if these types of guru's are not in place within organization thus the first instinct of the business unit might be to partner or acquire, rather then create something new. Number 3 which highlights the importance of offering RSS syndication for just about everything is something that cannot be overlooked in Web 2.0. Excellent job Mr. Johns, keep up the remarkable work.
Free vs. Paid Content: Online Publishing Strategy Examined
Publisher content is the backbone of a web of information on the Internet. Without publisher content, search engines would have less results to provide thus searchers would be less likely to find relevant results. Content producers, namely large publishers, have known this for years but have been trying to determine the best way to position content to monetize on this strength. This could help examine the recent trend by the large search engine companies jump into their own unique content development. Additionally, bloggers have begun to realize and capitalize on content production via the emergence of the blogosphere. After various attempts, two high-level, basic publisher content strategies have emerged though they may have slight variations or hybrid form the purest form are as follows:
1. Paid Content
2. Free Content
The paid content method has been tried by many but has been successful for few. This strategy has only worked when the content offered is so extraordinary that visitors cannot get it somewhere else and, therefore, are willing to pay for it. The Wall Street Journal is the prime example of successfully executing this strategy as an online newspaper site; however, the WSJ produces an
overabundant amount of unique content and boasts an international brand that people trust.
The New York Times recently started a similar strategy with Times
Select and seems to be doing well thus far for predominantly the same reasons as the WSJ. Outside of the traditional newspaper publishers, Playboy is the prime example of how sex sells with its paid content offerings. Additionally, Consumer Reports is another example of a paid content success story for its valued, exclusive reviews and ratings of consumer products. There are probably other paid content initiatives that I have failed to mention but I will leave it to you do find and discover them.
Those successful examples aside, the free content scenario seems to make more sense, as not every content-producing firm has the same brand awareness and iconic following. However, with a free content offering a content producer could still position its offering to leverage abundant and strong content by making content free, permanent and opened to the world to discover. This way, each individual site could push out thousands of content items or stories a week that could then be optimized to the item level for search via Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Search engine optimization, or SEO, at the item level is very important to a successful free content strategy. It has, for example, helped countless bloggers pull visitors to their blogs without having the brand awareness of a large content producer. So, in short, the website is just a place to display free content and serve advertisements around that content. Syndication has furthered the website as a landing place for content display and ad serving, however, that’s another Somewhat Frank post topic altogether.
Google, Yahoo, MSN search and the viral qualities of the blogosphere content producers should drive traffic and page views to the excess of indexed content. As more content becomes available online, there is now more virtual real estate available to sell and display advertisements. By making content evergreen, or permanent, a publishing company will have enormous amounts of content available in search engine results, thus, increasing their traffic. Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines should just be brokering visitor eyeballs to this content and the content producers should truly be King.
*SEO logo thanks to funponsel.com
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Somewhat Frank Tribune Exit
I finally returned from Los Angeles late last night after a quick trip where I trained the LATimes.com team on the various Tribune systems that run the LA Times website and over fifty other Tribune owned sites. It was one of my final Tribune assignments since today is my last day working for Tribune Interactive.
I have accepted a position as the Product Manager for Apartments.com. Departing is never easy however, I am very excited about my new role which focuses on the strategy for the consumer website. It has been a pleasure working at the Tribune Tower and I will cherish it forever.
Friday, December 30, 2005
Somewhat Frank: 2005 Year In Review
Two-thousand five, was a year of big expectations for me and for the most part it lived up to its billing. I felt it was in some ways a year I could do no wrong. Maybe it is because I am the fifth Frank and the five at the end of 2005 was going to align and somehow bring great fortune. Call it arrogance or maybe it was just pure ignorance for other years. Nonetheless, I used the following catch phrase far too many times then I would like to repeat at this time:
"2005 is my year!"
However here is a very quick month-by-month overview of some of the happenings in my life and the Somewhat Frank blog.
January 2005 :
- I took a new position with Tribune Interactive in the national Business Development department.
- I met and started dating my extraordinary girlfriend. She has been wonderful and has added lots of sunshine to my year.
February 2005:
- It must have been a cold month in Chicago and I must have been studying a lot for my Masters program because I do not remember much of February. I do recall doing some skiing and celebrating Valentine's Day, that's about it.
March 2005:
- Completed a Master of Science in CIS from Northwestern University.
April 2005:
- Another cold Chicago Cubs opening day lose at Wrigley field.
May 2005:
- Trip to Florida for some sunshine, call it a late spring break.
- As explained in my SwF post, my Google Gmail account was hacked.
June 2005:
- Took my first steps on Wrigley Field for a charity event.
- Attended Webmaster World's SEO conference in New Orleans where Ian Turner went missing but then was found.
- Somewhat Frank the blog is born with this post.
July 2005:
- Who will be #1 in Blog Search?
- Google Maps API is released and the mash-ups begin to emerge.
- Google Earth and MSN Virtual Earth do battle.
- Tribune Interactive Producer training in Chicago.
- McCormick Tribune Foundation's Freedom Museum art competition winners announced.
August 2005:
- Splog Reporter is born as a grassroots movement to combat spam blogs and quickly improved.
- Somewhat Frank gets an updated look.
- Took a weekend trip to historic Galena, Illinois.
- A visit to an Alpaca farm ... if all else fails I could raise Alpacas!?
- Tried to answer the question, what is emotional cheating?
- Attended Ryne Sandberg Day at Wrigley Field.
September 2005:
- I got mono! September was a long very month.
- Katrina devastated New Orleans. Keith Oberman and Kanye West sound off and Google Maps give us satellite images.
October 2005:
- WSJ highlights Splog and Splog Reporter.
- Wired News highlights Splog Reporter.
- The Chicago White Sox baseball team make Chicago proud.
- A trip to Georgia for some rest and relaxation.
- A quick trip to my Alma mater Purdue University to watch some Big Ten football.
November 2005:
- Somewhat Frank gets blogged by Pluck.
- Tribune Interactive launches two new Metromix entertainment sites of which I was on the strategic planning committee.
- Attended a Chicago Bears football game on a windy Sunday ... little did I know the Bears would make the playoffs and get a bye!
- Nominated as one of Chicago's Finest and helped fund-raise for a Cystic Fibrosis Foundation event.
December 2005:
- Attended the Syndicate Conference in San Francisco.
- Gave the Gift of Blogging to my brother Jack.
With a year like 2005, what's in store for 2006? In 2006 on Somewhat Frank, I plan to stay more focused on business and technology and how it affects life.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Somewhat Frank del.icio.us Bookmarks (11.15.05)
del.icio.us bookmarks for 11-15-2005 by Somewhat Frank (a.k.a) Frank Gruber
- The $100 Laptop Moves Closer to Reality : WSJ.com
- I wrote a post called Are $100 Laptops A Reality back in September so it's nice to see it in the news again.
- Microsoft Launches Search for Businesses : Yahoo! News
- Businesses can search their desktop, e-mail, network with Microsoft's search.
- Why Your School Has Hope : WSJ.com
- This article highlights a trend in college football and how this years lousy college football team could be the next to win!
- The Google Story -- An Excerpt From David A. Vise's Book
- I just added this book to my Amazon Wish List and Shoposphere pick list...I think it is worth a read.
- A Boy, His Site and His Civil Liberties Lawsuit
- A High School student set up a site ripping his school and thus he was suspended, now he is cashing in on lawsuits since his rights were violated.
- Tribune Taking MetroMix Brand National : PaidContent.org
- A little more info on the "new" Metromix sites.
- Pajamas Media Closes $3.5 Million Venture Round
- Another blog network gets some VC money.
- Backpack Blackberry Hack : Signal vs. Noise
- A "how to" on enabling your Crackberry to use the 37Signals Backpack application.
- Google Integrates Free Analytics Service With AdWords, Offers Some Free Tools To Non-Partners
- Google just keeps pumping out new products and services...it is simply amazing!
Monday, November 14, 2005
New Hip National Entertainment Site With Local Flavor Launched
The Tribune has launched a new "edgy" national entertainment site under the Metromix brand. Metromix is a well known Chicago entertainment website brand but now its going "national" with local flavor and a sharper edge and voice with the launch of site for Baltimore and Orlando site.
I was fortunate enough to be on the strategic planning committee for this project at Tribune Interactive which has been going on since November of 2004. I worked primarily on the music strategy as well as lent my technology expertise in every possible way I could throughout the duration of the project. So I am happy to finally be able mention the project publicly.
The site offers a number of entertainment categories which include music, movies, bars & clubs, restaurants, and TV. Additionally, the new entertainment site offers downloads of ringtones, mp3's and movies. The site also offers user posted comments and commentary on just about every article. I am hopeful the site is a success since it was such a magnificent team effort at Tribune. So what do you think about the new edgy entertainment site?
Somewhat Frank del.icio.us Bookmarks (11.14.05)
del.icio.us bookmarks for 11-14-2005 by Somewhat Frank (a.k.a) Frank Gruber
- It's showtime for Trib's quiet CEO
- More talk of Tribune taking action.
- A Breakthrough Few Months for Portable TV
- A good recap of the feats of television in the last few months. Geez, times are a changin'.
- Blogpulse Top List Spammed
- Sounds like Blogpulse could use the services of Splog Reporter to assist in cleaning up their directory of blogs.
- Tagging By Bloggers, A Small Study : Napsterization
- This is an interesting post on tagging by Mary Hodder.
- Press Release for Syntagma Media Launch : SYNTAGMA
- New blog network recent launched by John Evans.
- AOL to Have Reruns on Demand
- Old TV favorites on demand via AOL.
- Crack Down On Prostitutes Using Website
- Is Craigslist acting as an online pimp?
- Attack of the Blogs : Forbes.com
- This is a thorough overview on blogging and the influential powers of the blogosphere.
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