It's no secret to anyone checking my profile that I work for media company emap (and please note the following are simply the perceptions and views of an employee - not the official company line). So you'd be more than a little surprised if I didn't say a word or two about the 'restructuring' the company is widely reported to be going through - labelled Magazines 2010 internally.
Personally, I find it a very exciting time. For me this is the moment that a magazine publisher that did a bit of digital decided it was going to become a digital business, which also does magazine publishing.
It's a radical shift and one which all traditional media companies are going to have to go through. emap just happens to have been savvy enough and brave enough to do it first and to do it openly.
I don't want to reveal too much more at the moment (not that I'm privy to the whole picture) for business sensitive reasons - but I absolutely think we're on the right course with this - and I'm a digital immigrant so completely immersed I can teach the language to newer arrivals.
I expect the city (if it 'gets' it) to react very positively, too.
Even before this, one internationally renowned technology and media consultant told me: "I can say with complete confidence, from speaking with many senior managers in UK and international print media, that emap is way ahead of the curve. "
However, Magazines 2010 means human casualties - job losses and all the pain that is inevitably associated with that. And it's interesting that, even when we're trying to be honest, we continue to spin internally (and externally). We talk about restructuring rather than job cuts, we don't talk about numbers because we want to talk to those affected first - though we must have a target figure in mind. We have lessons to learn about internal engagement which we must crack if we are to crack external engagement (marketing) thoroughly.
We should remember this is about people, and people (read it over and over again on this blog and everywhere else) hate spin and respect honesty - even if it ain't what they wanted to hear.
No wonder then that those trying to report the 'facts' of this get it so wildly wrong.
Take this report on last night's Guardian Online for example. It focuses on emap's automotive business in Peterborough (oddly enough, where I'm based). It describes a central 'design factory' which will 'make' all the magazines.
Er, no. Not even close. There will be eight businesses across the Peterborough businesses (which, for the benefit of Guardian readers, also includes Active's titles). Each will have its own publishing team - which will include designers - but also many other multi-skilled staff who will be trained to deliver across platforms. And that's a publishing team per new business. Indeed the motorcycling business (in which emap is dominant) will have two publishing teams - one for weekly print publication and major website MCN and one for the rest of the motorcycle business.
It also missed the fact that meetings on the outcome of 2010 were taking place across Emap Consumer Media yesterday - not just in Peterborough.
It's also not just about production of magazines, this a far deeper restructing involving editorial, advertising and marketing.
The Guardian does a great job online but this case reveals how inaccurate/off the pace they (and let's be fair - many other news agencies) must be on a hour-by-hour basis. You realise this most graphically when you know the facts of the story intimately yourself.
It's another great example of why 2-way flow is so important, where being able to display your user's corrections and comments alongside their 'expert view' may have more value for all parties.
AND YOU can correct, challenge, rubbish or even support anything I've written above, by clicking comments below - and you can do it anonymously if you prefer.
The further ahead you look - the faster you go | davidpcushman AT gmail.com | These are my views and my views only.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Services and the death of the website
There are some fairly obvious conclusions to be drawn for anyone making use of widgets, rss feeds and the rest of the web2.0 toolkit.
One of those is the death of the website as we know it. By which I mean a website that doesn't travel with you on your browser, doesn't respond by delivering different content to different users, serves the same ads to every visitor etc etc.
Media companies can't rely on creating a site filled with great content and expect people to come. The Mountains must go to Mohammad.
Users want that great content to be targeted to them, and not just via the gift of search. Services that know you and respond to what you teach them is what is required (think Last.fm, yahoo radio etc).
Web2.0 makes the internet about people, not information. The user wants to be able to dictate what content is drawn to them through self-selection (think google personalised home).
Google personalised home demonstrates the widget-as-services model quite nicely as well.
Traditional Media companies have, thus far, been committed to delivering or aggregating content. They must learn to deliver services, too. Make the right services available and users will interact with you.
And if you think in service terms, then part of that is delivering the service to the person at the place it's most useful to them - and that is always, always mobile.
And so, the rush to mobile internet gets a little faster. In the rush, do not expect to simply 'optimise for the mobile browser'. The mobile internet requires a different experience from that offered by most fixed line sites. It pretty much means build another digital experience.
See Tomi Ahonen's piece (linked below)
One of those is the death of the website as we know it. By which I mean a website that doesn't travel with you on your browser, doesn't respond by delivering different content to different users, serves the same ads to every visitor etc etc.
Media companies can't rely on creating a site filled with great content and expect people to come. The Mountains must go to Mohammad.
Users want that great content to be targeted to them, and not just via the gift of search. Services that know you and respond to what you teach them is what is required (think Last.fm, yahoo radio etc).
Web2.0 makes the internet about people, not information. The user wants to be able to dictate what content is drawn to them through self-selection (think google personalised home).
Google personalised home demonstrates the widget-as-services model quite nicely as well.
Traditional Media companies have, thus far, been committed to delivering or aggregating content. They must learn to deliver services, too. Make the right services available and users will interact with you.
And if you think in service terms, then part of that is delivering the service to the person at the place it's most useful to them - and that is always, always mobile.
And so, the rush to mobile internet gets a little faster. In the rush, do not expect to simply 'optimise for the mobile browser'. The mobile internet requires a different experience from that offered by most fixed line sites. It pretty much means build another digital experience.
See Tomi Ahonen's piece (linked below)
Mobile: The 7th mass media - and the best yet
Tomi Ahonen (Co-author Communities Dominate Brands)writes a brilliant and compelling argument for the mobile as an inherently BETTER medium than the fixed line lap-top focused world of the web.
It's a message FasterFuture has been banging on about for some time on a series of post. But this is a great summary of why the digital future is mobile. And why you should make it your digital present.
Do yourself a giant favour and read it HERE
If you'd like to get a pdf of Tomi's thought piece in full; email him here: tomi@tomiahonen.com
I'd like to think the CEO of at least one major 'traditional' media company has already 'got' this.
It's a message FasterFuture has been banging on about for some time on a series of post. But this is a great summary of why the digital future is mobile. And why you should make it your digital present.
Do yourself a giant favour and read it HERE
If you'd like to get a pdf of Tomi's thought piece in full; email him here: tomi@tomiahonen.com
I'd like to think the CEO of at least one major 'traditional' media company has already 'got' this.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Bye Bye interface - hello intuition
This was debuted in Feb 2006 - but I've never seen it before, so I just loved it: Jeff Han presents his multi-touch-screen tech - making the machine a very literal hands-on experience.
Watch the video you'll find here:
http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=j_han
Watch the video you'll find here:
http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=j_han
Apple gets to call its mobile the iPhone
Looks like Apple and Cisco have resolved their dispute over the 'iPhone' name. Seems they've areed to agree - they can both call their respective products that.
Be careful what you buy on eBay!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6384875.stm
Be careful what you buy on eBay!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6384875.stm
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The rate of change is so rapid it's difficult for one person to keep up to speed. Let's pool our thoughts, share our reactions and, who knows, even reach some shared conclusions worth arriving at?
