And the winner is…
Congratulations to Robert Keenan VP of Online Media with Edgell Communications . He won a 40’ Toshiba HD TV/Monitor at the Publishing Business Conference and Expo in NYC from our Moreover Technologies raffle this week.
Thanks to all the publishers and authors who stopped by our booth as well as those who visit Paul Farrell’s presentation “Complementing and Monitoring Your Content on the Web” . Still interested in a FREE Assessment but just didn’t have the time? Click here to set up your Free Assessment Today!
Add comment March 11, 2010
Eyeing up real-time search
Real-time search has become an increasingly popular web trend over the past twelve months, one we’ve covered a number of times here on the blog, so it was of little surprise when the major search engines started integrating Twitter and the likes into their search results. What is a little surprising however though is the impact, or lack of, these real-time results are so far having on our searching habits.
Oneupweb have carried out an eye-opening eye-tracking study into the effectiveness of real-time web search results. The study split a group of users into “consumers” searching for products you would consider buying or “foragers” looking for current news and information on a topic. The results were mixed to say the least:
73% had never heard of real-time results before participating this study.
Only a quarter of the consumers cared for the real-time results compared to 47% of the information foragers.
The report also showed the users took more than ten seconds to to settle their gaze on the real-time results, but the foragers were more willing to spend time on the page which could be indicative of their willingness to consider more options before clicking and hence their increased likelihood to test the real-time results.
So the results perhaps don’t show real-time search to be quite as popular as the buzz may suggest – not yet anyway, but as users adapt the social aspect of search will become ever more relevant as real-time becomes a reality.
Add comment March 10, 2010
IntraTeam 2010 and Newsdesk
IntraTeam 2010 has been taking place over in the Danish capital Copenhagen this past week, a global conference on how to create more effective and valuable intranet tools. The event featured many influential speakers and thinkers in the intranet sphere, including former Shell Enterprise Portal Manager Rossen Roussev who touched upon the successful relationship between Royal Dutch Shell and Moreover.
Wheat & Chaff blog has a good summary of the event as a whole, summing up the benefits Newsdesk provided for Shell nicely by illustrating how the supermajor managed to save millions of dollars by consolidating overlapping media monitoring contracts into the one solution.
The IntraTeam Event 2010 is rounding off today, so catch the latest #IE10 tweets to stay in touch with the latest thoughts and comments while you can!
Add comment March 4, 2010
Outsell ponders pay plans
Information industry research firm Outsell have weighed in on the hot topic currently buzzing around the industry, that of content paywalls.
Outsell picks up on the recent Nielsen blog post Changing Model: A Global Perspective on Paying for Online Content, which investigates whether consumers will be willing to pay for online news content. This study matches previous findings from Forrester and Outsell’s own research, essentially that when it comes to media content consumers seem less willing to pay for news than other types of media.
Such findings lead Outsell to conclude that consumers have been conditioned to spend on particular content at particular price points, and that household budgets are pretty fixed. Would you be prepared to cancel that ESPN TV subscription to pay for access to your local newspaper online? So rather than expecting a change in business models to be the next big thing, Outsell suggests publishers place more focus on “serious product design, user engagement, and the things that delight and differentiate”.
Certainly food for thought, as the recession eases and ad spending looks to be slowly bouncing back will the trend toward paywalls lose some momentum?
differentiate
Add comment March 3, 2010
BBC on news and social media
The BBC World Service director, Peter Horrocks, has spoken on how social media and news are becoming ever inter-linked and how the two forms of media can compliment each other. This comes after the Beeb has told journalists to make use of social media, holding the view that the new forms of technology are changing the way journalism operates.
Horrocks describes social media as a vital source of a opinions and voices, along with the credibility that audience driven content brings with it. And with that brings a new understanding and appreciation of social media for the BBC, who just last year remained cautious over its use.
It is great to see a leading news outlet as the BBC embrace social media in such a way, following in the footsteps of CNN who during a recent site redesign have also tightly integrated user-generated content into their news content.
Add comment February 11, 2010
Online news in rude health
Pew Research Center have produced a survey looking at the online habits of teens and young adults, in particular their use of social media and news consumption online. While the survey seems to suggest blogging has plateaued out to become a more niche pursuit, social networking and online news show no signs of waning.
Sixty two percent of teenagers online are currently getting their news-fix over the Internet, a stat that peaks at 77% during major news events. This compares favorably with the 72% of online adults who access the Web for news or political information.
While blogging (15% of youngsters) and Tweeting (8% of teens) don’t look to be capturing the imagination of the young, social networking certainly has. A whopping 73% of wired American teens now use social networking sites (up from 55% three years ago), similarly 72% of online young adults also such sites, both being significantly higher than the 40% of adults who do so.
Overall the survey produces an interesting snapshot of web usage among the young, and it’ll be interesting to see how these trends continue to shift in the future especially as sites like Facebook continue to integrate online news.
Add comment February 5, 2010
On paywalls and iPads..
(image credit skpy)
It seems a week can’t go by at the moment without the debate around newspaper paywalls generating more column inches. ReadWriteWeb picked up on an interesting story concerning Newsday and the apparent lack of success seen by its recent subscription revenue model. Having spent $4 million on redesigning the site anticipating the introduction of a paywall but the subsequent return of only 35 subscribers in a three-month period doesn’t look good. However, by digging a little deeper the figures aren’t quite so clear-cut, as subscribers to the local cable company also enjoy free access to the Newsday site, so it is probably unfair to draw too many conclusions on this example alone. The Guardian’s Alan Rusbridger also spoke out on paywalls this week, paidContent gives an excellent write-up on the speech here.
As we mentioned previously the much vaunted Apple iPad was announced this week and the potential for media does look attractive. The sharp, display, ability to embed videos into articles and the New York Times app already being demoed it looks like an exciting mix of the more traditional paper form and the digital future, although whether the device takes off and publishers create the dynamic content necessary remains to be seen.
Add comment January 29, 2010
Social media monitoring on the up
Integrated Marketing Solutions provider Alterian have released a pertinent study into the approaches and investments that marketers are presently utilising to work with their clients.
The CEO gives an interesting quote, stating “2010 marks the start of the digital decade for marketing” with the study going on to show that 66% of all those surveyed are planning to invest in social media marketing in the coming 12 months. The report also touches upon the growth of social media monitoring, with almost 40% of respondents intending to spend on social media tracking tools as we enter the new decade.
Alterian reflects upon the growing understanding that a forward thinking marketing strategy now has to listen to potential customers, especially if a ROI in social media is to be realised, with marketers now being required to appeal to customers at a one-to-one level. A growing power shift that is seeing more control in the hands of the consumer as networks of friends and influence continue to evolve over social networks.
For a full breakdown and details of the survey, sign up here.
Add comment January 22, 2010
Apple eyes publishers?
We blogged towards the end of last year about the prototype for an Sports Illustrated tablet and with ever increasing anticipation surrounding Apple’s entry to this market, the possibilities for digital publishing look interesting.
The Guardian considers the prospect of iTunes becoming a global gateway for online micropayments to allow a fast and simple way for users to access online content. Could the business model that has proved so successful for music lend itself to publishing?
1 comment January 21, 2010
Want breaking sport news? There’s an app for that..
Exciting news from the team here at Moreover, we’ve released our first iPhone app into the wild and are eager to hear what you think of it!
The app allows users to keep up-to-date with breaking sport headlines from global news sources across 25 different sport news feeds including football (soccer and American), baseball, basketball, Formula 1, golf, tennis and many more. You can also browse through the top sports stories of the day or search the news for the latest views and scores on your favourite team or athlete.
Behind the scenes the app is constantly checking the Web’s news sites for breaking headlines and links back to them whenever you click a headline. The Moreover Sport News app covers sport-specific and local news sites, along with the familiar sites such as the BBC and ESPN we all know, so whatever your sport we’ve got it covered.
Other features include a “more stories like this” functionality, email this article and post to Facebook.
Download the app here and be sure to leave us any feedback you have in the comments section below!
1 comment January 14, 2010
