Revenue strategies
Who’s who?
Jeff Vander Clute, President Jeff is founder of Semesphere, Inc., a Palo Alto, CA-based consulting firm that developed several social media and networking applications. Jeff has known and worked with Bill for 15 years, and provided the technical lead on “The Information Valet Project.” He was the principal developer of the Internet’s first mass-market social … Continued
In new news orgs, a glimpse at journalism founded on value, not mass
A few weeks back, John Thornton invited me to Austin, Tex., to take a look at his news organization in-the-making, a team of powerhouse journalists from all over the state who are assembling the ambitious effort that will be the Texas Tribune. Before coming to RJI, I worked in for-profit newsrooms, where the constant primary … Continued
Bill Densmore: The information valet project research proposal
Are people willing to pay for information online? Do they truly value privacy? What kind of information are consumers looking for online? To sustain an information valet economy — and along with it both participatory democracy and journalism — the next generation Internet needs a user-focused system for sharing identity, exchanging and settling value (including … Continued
Building new ad revenues could start on the obit page
An interview with Stephanie Padgett as she begins her fellowship year. About five years ago, Stephanie Padgett was doing market research to help smaller, Midwestern newspapers and radio stations. It was quite clear that her research on how to reach more consumers would be useless if the media companies didn’t change their old habits. For … Continued
A Look at CircLabs’ plans to track your browsing to serve news (and ads)
Stealth startup CircLabs launched in late May with the goal of “sustaining” the business of journalism by bundling content, social features and ads, while giving readers a single platform for subscriptions and micro-payments to multiple publications. Now, EVP Martin Langeveld offers some details on how the company plans to do it: with a browser add-on … Continued
In his own words: A selection of Matt Thompson’s blog entries Part 2
The W-bomb Sept. 22, 2008 You can’t tell from my blogging, but I’ve gotten rather sensitive about the word “Wikipedia.” Earlier this year, after I’d written my research proposal, I was casting about for a title to communicate the core concept I hoped to pursue. I recalled a whitepaper by Shayne Bowman, Ellen Kampinsky and … Continued
In his own words: A selection of Matt Thompson’s blog entries Part 1
The timing of local news cycles May 13, 2009 Howard Weaver writes a sweet, short paean to the dailyness of the newspaper: I’ve been arguing for years that newspapers — yes, printed, daily newspapers — have a good long horizon on the value curve if they shift their focus to the value they already do … Continued
Info Valet leads to Circulate
An article about the new Circulate created by 2008 Reynolds Fellow Bill Densmore Sorry, wedding planners: happy couples will soon have a faster and cheaper way to find ads for discounted designer duds or a Consumer Reports articles on best honeymoon getaways. It’s called Circulate, a new Internet-based service that will provide consumers a customized … Continued
Newspapers, farms and Bud’s advice
When the Tribune Co. announced bankruptcy in December, I had one immediate thought: I wish they’d really bought the farm. The World’s Greatest Newspaper is broke and an uncomfortable crowd of metros is teetering on the brink. Even the New York Times is hocking its skyscraper to pay the bills. It’s a sad time for … Continued
Wikipedia-ing the news
Matt Thompson’s RJI research proposal Five years ago, blogger Dave Winer and New York Times executive Martin Nisenholtz made a bet. “In a Google search of five keywords or phrases representing the top five news stories of 2007,” Winer wagered, “weblogs will rank higher than the New York Times Web site.” But what fascinates me … Continued