Tag Archive - Digital media

A Personal Lesson in Online Privacy

May 21, 2011 in Australian Digital, Digital, Media with 0 Comments

Are we ever too old to learn from our parents?

When I started work at AOL more than a decade ago, I often grinned at the common product question which was asked – would your parents be able to use this?  In nearly all cases, mine would, but then my parents have proven to be early adopters of technology even before the internet (except for one small blip when the compact disc was invented which will live on in family lore for a long, long time).  Because of this, I listened attentively when on a recent visit both of my parents asked me a number of probing questions about what they could and could not trust online, including using their email address to subscribe to this blog.

Imagine, my own parents nervous about what kind of mailing list they would end up on as a result of subscribing to their daughter’s blog.  This was startling and mildly alarming to me as someone who relies for my livelihood on people exchanging their information (not just email, but often credit card details to make a purchase) for a product or service that I provide.

So today in my news round up over my morning coffee, I’ve come across this article in the LA Times:

Facebook executive warns senators that restrictive privacy rules could squelch benefits of social Web | Technology | Los Angeles Times.

It is just one of many covering the privacy legislation introduced by Sen. Kerry.  My normal response would be the same as Facebook’s CTO – let the innovators in the industry get on with figuring out a commercial solution.  In effect, “trust us, we won’t abuse our customers“.  Well, I still believe that most of us won’t abuse our customers.  And in fact, I will always be a consumer advocate in any digital business I am involved with.  However, I am not sure that we as an industry have earned the trust of the people, and therefore their government.  This statement is true not just for the US, but also for European and Australia markets where governments are equally concerned with privacy and trying to determine how to legislate protection.

I definitely do not want to push for this legislation because the likelihood of governments to really understand the issue and the ramifications of their laws is low.  Digital privacy is a complex area with some stellar experts working in the space around the world.  My wish is that all businesses could act responsibly and respectfully when using and sharing consumer data.  More laws, more lawsuits, and more compliance is sure to dampen innovation, especially for individual entrepreneurs and small businesses.

On the other hand, something must change so that my parents once again feel comfortable surrendering their email address to me via my blog.  How can we help legislators understand all sides of this issue?

Weekend Reading

May 13, 2011 in Australian Digital, Digital, Media with 0 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve posted to this blog, mainly because I’ve been really busy focussing on getting my new business off the ground.  That makes me less prolific as a blogger, but my comments on my daily digital experiences far more relevant to actually daily experiences in a professional capacity.  (though I must take this moment to say that I enjoyed immensely reflecting on digital as a hobbyist.)

Today I’ve finally gotten around to reading an article which I picked up on Twitter earlier this week and kept open in my browser all week – yes, I know that’s what Instapaper is for.  I want to share this with you …

Evan Williams | evhead: Ten Rules for Web Startups.

It is a great read if you’re involved with a startup, but it is also a great read if you are involved in the fast changing and highly adaptable digital industry in any way.  This is something I would have appreciated and can see applying to the work I did at AOL a decade ago as well as in many jobs since.

So take a minute this weekend, and share Ev’s tips if you agree.

Digital Publishers Will Overcome Apple Subscription Hurdles

March 7, 2011 in Digital with 4 Comments

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We all know that a digital business practice is totally mainstream when it is covered by the New York Times, simply because of the broad nature of the NYT audience.  This weekend, they covered FT’s success in mining customer data from its over 200,000 subscribers as a key to its success – so far uncontroversial, but at the conclusion of the article, finally was raised the role of mobile devices in driving subscription revenue for publishers and the role of Apple in recently attempting to not only tap into the revenue stream, but also deprive publishers of the valuable customer data which enables product improvements, increased advertising yields, and sustains quality journalism.

But the industry will work around practices that stand in the way of long term success. Apple has done a tremendous amount to advance the digital media sector, but the sector will untimely ensure it’s own success with or without Apple.  I am increasingly feeling a sense of deja vu.  We must assume that they have a plan to ensure they avoid a repeat of the 1990s Mac vs PC era decline of the closed proprietary platform, a lesson most certainly learned over in Cupertino.  The question that arises is did they also learn from the mistakes of another once visionary giant – AOL?  Clearly the lesson that trying to control consumer behavior within any type of walled garden or proprietary device is be known to anyone who has been in the digital world for the past two decades.

This industry is resilient and the bold ones with a great consumer vision may choose to sacrifice customer data in the short term to achieve scale using Apple’s platform, but they will reach a point where a greater amount of control of their own business outweighs the distribution provided by iTunes.  We have seen this model before, in fact, it was adopted by Google in their early days.  The device landscape may experience plenty of ‘copycat’ products as Jobs taunted during the iPad 2.0 launch, and no one is disputing that the iPad is a phenomenally transformational device, but for publishers and others pursuing a subscription business model, there will be choice.

The philosophy of working together to increase the size of the pie and then dividing the pie according to value contributed was not invented by the digital industry, though it has been a good predictor of success.  What Google has ultimately provided both on and off of google.com is an advertising platform adhering to this very principle.  The very long tail of publishers provide audience, context and reach; Google supplies advertisers, the technology to serve relevant advertising across a range of formats, and data about performance – a model they are looking to replicate through their One Pass Subscription Platform.  Facebook provides a platform too, but so far offers reach with limited monetization for third parties.  Facebook is already moving to make more of the data they collect more available to third parties so they appear to understand the ecosystem build around them.  The industry will work around the monetisation challenge while Facebook adapts.  In the end, the sharp customer focus that has driven success for the Financial Times in digital will be replicated by other publishers and will allow them to choose how they work with Apple.

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