This comes by way of Poynter.org – considering what some people say is the cultural bias of Technorati (which tracks blogs globally). Higher ranking blogs tend to be in English, but as the slide here shows, posts in Japanese are actually outpacing English. And Chinese is growing, as well. Technorati explains that non-English bloggers don’t ping (send updates) as much – and so they are underrepresented. Shanghai-based blogger Sam Fleming started this discussion.
All of this seems to suggest that as digital video and gaming content enter more American living rooms, the PC may not be the silver bullet to drive trial and adoption of these emerging digital forms, particularly among early adopters. Todd Board, Senior Vice President of the Ipsos Insight Technology & Communications practice, says that device and content players need to carefully evaluate how they approach going to market with emerging digital content plays. “While music lovers have adopted the PC as a primary device to tap into the digital medium, to assume the PC will play a similar role for avid fans of video and games may be premature, or at least simplistic. Those who have already adopted the DVR and game console clearly have forged a strong bond with these devices, and have ‘marked’ themselves as avid consumers of higher-engagement multimedia experiences.”
I’ve been using deli.cio.us for a few weeks and I’m impressed by the way it tracks bookmarks – and uses tagging to organize material. Tagging is a simple way to organize the insane amount of content online – and it’s in heavy use on deli.cio.us and flickr, for example. Check out my deli.cio.us bookmarks, and show me yours. Think of it as the Dewey Decimal System for the new web.
Okay, I’m stuck in D.C. but will be following the discussion in London:
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Really interesting piece from BusinessWeek about foundation money from the PC world heading to the poorest parts of India to encourage entreprenuership, financed on a small scale.
While microfinance is not a new concept in development, this is: setting up a new, pervasive and accessible finance system for the poorest of the poor. Excerpt:
The microfinance revolutionaries are now setting their sights on an even more ambitious goal, transforming it from a daring experiment into a Big Idea. The goal is to create a more professional, inclusive financial system that reaches deep into both rural and urban areas. At the same time, microfinance is moving past its small-business base to offer the poor a wide range of financial services, including savings, insurance, money transfers, and a broad array of loan options.
The democratization starts with the tools of creation. They’re widely available — the computer I carry around came off the shelf with media tools that were simply unavailable a few years ago except to a highly skilled and well-paid professionals. These tools are increasingly powerful and decreasingly expensive, thanks to technology’s relentless progress, and getting easier to use all the time.
They’re also connected to a somewhat democratized digital communications system. I say "somewhat" because two of America’s most control-freakish businesses — namely the phone and cable companies — are working hard to hijack the Internet for their own purposes, in ways that are flat-out dangerous to innovation…
What’s happening right now in the media world is changing the way established journalists work – and it is certainly changing the way communications professionals work, too. This goes way beyond multimedia and blogs – and I can’t help but wonder how these trends will play out in countries where internet penetration is still growing.
If memory serves, WSJ.com was the first newspaper site to pay for itself and then make some money, due in large part to the hefty annual fee that it charges. I find the site to be indisensible for my daily routine (and I don’t read the print version, as it turns out). If you don’t subscribe, here’s your chance to check it out (thanks Sree for the head’s up).
Via Poynter.org – suggested step-by-step moves to consider while setting up a newspaper blog.
Actually, Daily Variety reports that Starbucks is going to have more Hollywood people as it signs with the William Morris Agency to help identify future music, movies and books (shall we call it "media"?) to distribute via its stores. It’s not just a cup of coffee, it’s a lifestyle choice. Full disclosure: my employer has a music channel with Starbucks (a darned good one, I might add).
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