WNYC Radio on “TV”

I’m a big fan of NPR -- not just because I’m in the 40-something, socially liberal, reasonably monied, Manhattanite, intelektual, granola-eating demographic -- but also because in addition to giving quality information and occasional good laughs on humor shows, it’s also been pretty good at making sure its material is available via the Web and podcast, and giving lots of other material to delve deeper. Some of the shows are also quite good at encouraging audience interaction and feedback, via not only phone but also blog or email or comment board.

My local station, WNYC, is great at all the above, and also available on YouTube. Or, rather, pieces of many of the high-quality talk show interviews are. Seeing them this way has a couple of plusses: It’s oddly compelling to watch Alice Walker or Daniel Schorr or Arianna Huffington or one of the other myriad high-quality guests at the the mic, and see how they looked while they were talking, even though it’s a static grainy picture.

It’s also a way to quickly survey who was on the channel organized in a way that’s not available on the WNYC site -- not by show and topic, but rather by guest in either chronological or “favorited” order. Plus the thumbnail photos make the scan easier. Sometimes the eye recognizes John Edwards’ face more quickly than his written name. Wonderful how the cross-referencing and digitization of information leads to new ways of looking at it.

New Primetime(s) - Program for Noon

Magazine Publishers of America writes that the new prime time for Web video is noon. Jim Louderbeck of Revision3 says, via PaidContent, "there are now three primetimes beer-drinking relaxers at 8pm-11pm; bored office workers at 12pm-2pm and now young male geeks at home12am-4am on a Saturday night:"I’ll leave it to you to figure out what they’re looking for."

Noon, we've known about for years. And it moves across the country along with the timezones. Lunchtime, people log on from their fast at-work connections. We've also sometimes seen the uptick in the evening. Saturday late night is a new one.

Twitter and the Zeitgeist

I’ve said (and perhaps blogged -- who can remember) that while I find Twittering for its own sake inane, from a societal perspective utility will come when enough people Tweet that a cloud is created to monitor the zeitgeist. So, let’s say a few hundred, or thousand, people give their thoughts on the Pope from inside his talk at Yankee Stadium. Or a bunch of people from a disaster zone (this is not them asking for help -- which is also valid -- but rather getting an idea of the general tenor of a situation): panicked; need help; all’s fine; more food. And so on. Amalgamate them and we can start to get a sense of what folks think or feel, at least feel enough to Tweet.

Today, BuzzMachine pointed to Twisorti, which parses for emotive words like “love” or “believe” or “wish”. It’s a start of the kinds of intelligence that will become the semantic Web. Imagine if the application were smart enough to not only search for specific words, but look at Tweets in general, and see what trends and thoughts are emerging, in general. Cross-reference that with search or SMS messages ... well, you get it; it becomes a read on “society” -- or at least the society that’s using the technology. (And of course, if we want to put our marketing hats on, a way for brands to monitor messages, at some point.) Even better is if and when the cloud can include not just Tweets, but all the bursts from everywhere. Like, whatever becomes the main competitor to Twitter. (Because, as we noted earlier, Twitter has a problem that may hinder its survival.)

Intel Chief: Don’t Follow My Tips

The fifth of five tips from Intel CEO Paul Otellini in today’s WSJ interview of him: “Be careful about tips: No set of rules meets everyone’s needs.” Nice.



He also indirectly notes how carriers might become competitors of phone manufacturers. Both are inquiring with Intel about chips, he says.

It’s About the Apps, Stupid

Both the CNET “Outside the Lines” blog post on Yahoo working to reinvent itself and the CNET blog Webware, on shortcomings in Twitter apps, are making a larger point that it’s all about developers, coders. Yahoo, the first piece makes clear, is keying itself up to let developers write code to bring various forms of Yahoo! to the masses. “We are rewiring Yahoo from the inside out with a developer platform that will open up the assets of Yahoo in a way never done before, making the consumer experience social throughout and provide hooks to developers,” says Yahoo’s CTO at the Web 2.0 Expo. (One of the apps pictured, showing what customized Yahoo Mail is supposed to look like, looks so much like Facebook.)



Webware’s Rafe Needleman, meanwhile, argues that Twitter won’t ever take off (and make money) unless it better opens up its API (programming interface) to allow third parties to more seamlessly integrate with it. He came across problems when a bunch of applications he let’s interface with his Twitter account shut it down without warning.

Our new creative class is coders. And they’re leading the consumers.

Why Isn't Anyone a Reporter, Anymore?

Doesn't "reporter" sound better than "journalist"? Former sounds like you're digging up info. Latter, like you're just a scrivener.

Where the Mindsets of Journalism and Advertising Converge

Journalism and advertising are in a sometimes uneasy embrace. The latter supports the former, but those who produce the journalism profess to be uninterested in the ads or those who use them to reach their intended audiences.

I can’t help but notice, though, a bit of similarity in the overarching calls of the folks on both sides of the divide, to engage audiences, get their participation and buy-in. We have folks in journalism discussion groups talking about how much the publications need to engage users, get them to participate, break the old top-down, one-to-many mindset. Then we have advertising execs talking about how they need to engage audiences, get them to interact with the brand -- whether it’s widgets with applications, or clickthrough to a website or discussions on their own sites’ comment areas. Now we have a media buy for Kellogg, where the publisher, Kidzworld, is getting paid for “engagement” -- whether people play with the ad. Says Ad Age:

Since Kidzworld doesn't offer the same reach as a Nickelodeon, Disney or Cartoon Network, it needs a different value proposition for marketers. ... ... Though Kidzworld does assume a certain amount of risk with a deal like this, coming up with alternative ways to measure campaigns is becoming increasingly important as marketers grow disenchanted with measures like cost-per-click and cost-per impressions

Aside: The same AdAge email that tells me of the engagement also notes the resignation of David Verklin, who told me that engagement, not reach and freuqency, is the new sine qua non.