Tablet Trends

Ever since the release of the iPad, newspapers, magazines and other publications have been pumping out apps and redesigning content and advertising options for the new type of digital content.

But are people reading them? And more importantly, are people buying them?

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism in collaboration with The Economist Group has recently released a study that analyses how people are using their iPad and what they are using them for.

The Good:
- 11 percent of adults in the U.S. own an tablet
- 77 percent of these owners use their tablets everyday
- Consuming news is the most popular activities on the tablet
- three in ten users (of the 77 percent daily users) read more news say they read more news than they did before purchasing the iPad
- 42 percent of the daily users say they regularly read in-depth news articles and analysis on their tablets

The Bad:
- Close to a third of daily users have paid directly or indirectly for news content
- 40 percent of the news users go to the web browser on their tablets instead of using an app
- less than 20% go directly to apps

The Ugly:
- 21 percent of the people who have not paid directly for apps said they would be willing to pay $5 a month for certain publications if that was the only way to receive content
- 83 of the people who use apps for their news said that free or low cost was a factor in their decision to download an app

Even though people are reluctant to pay for apps, the high use of tablets as a news source is promising.

Professor Hollander, associate professor of journalism at The University of Georgia believes that newspaper companies mad the mistake by giving away news content for free. Hollander said that when people pay for an app they feel psychologically obligated to use it. Also, charging, even a small amount, is what begins to push the consumer into a different mindset. A mindset that is willing to pay for news instead of relying on free sites.

The fact that people are using the tablet as a news source is promising. If companies can find a way to change the mindset of the consumer to pay for news, it can be a new source of revenue. It won't make up for the lost advertising dollars or solve all of the industries problems but it could be a start.

Smart & Sexy

Peanut Butter and Jelly
Milk and Cookies
Jack and Jill
Cowboys and Indians
Shrimp and Grits
R2D2 and C3PO...

Somethings just go together. Smart and sexy typically don't.

It's not that being smart isn't sexy, it's just not the first thing you notice. You have to actually take the time to talk to someone (which rarely happens these days) to realize they are smart whereas sexy is usually noticeable at first glance.

So what does this have to do with the media? Today, the Newspaper Association of America launched a new campaign to emphasis the importance of newspapers (print or digital) called "Smart is the New Sexy". Here is what the campaign says:

"News isn’t really news anymore. In fact, news has become something else entirely. Talking heads pass as news. Sound bites pass as news. Opinions pass as news. Snazzy graphics pass as news. It’s time to make a stand for the one place you can still get ‘news news.’ The kind with substance. The kind that makes you feel smarter when you finish reading it. The kind that makes you a more interesting person to talk to, a savvier shopper, a more engaged citizen. That’s the kind of news we’re talking about. The kind that’s written for people who want more than just a headline. The kind you can only find in newspapers – print or digital."

The definition of news has certainly changed. Many people consider tweets from their friends and Facebook statuses a part of their daily news. We no longer have the attention span for long-form journalism and newspapers continue to cut expenses, content and jobs.

Is this new campaign going to change all that? doubtful. First of all, the campaign itself is neither smart nor sexy. Telling people that the newspaper is sexy doesn't make it sexy. Plus, the videos that go along with the campaign are about as sexy as my grandmother's socks.

"I like the homegoods part of it," said one woman. "I actually will keep that circular in the car with me all week."

I find it hard to believe that in this time of digital coupons, iPhones and laptops that someone would be collecting newspaper coupons in their car.

The videos do nothing to show the sexy side of journalism in fact, if anything the videos hurt the campaign. No one that is featured is particularly good looking and all of them state fairly obvious facts.

"Nobody covers local news as a priority more than the newspaper," said one man.

DUH. Obviously a local newspaper's priority is local news. The question is, is it the news that the audience wants to read?

The news is important and I think that most newspapers still have a lot to offer the readers that they serve. This just happens to be a time of change in the journalism industry and this campaign isn't going to change the need for change.

There is nothing sexy about carrying around a newspaper. The ink gets on your hands, you look awkward trying to fold and refold the paper trying to get to the different sections. It doesn't look sexy when it's covering up a homeless guy, it doesn't look sexy rolled up at the end of your driveway and it doesn't look sexy when your kid is making a paper mache mess.

If you want your information to be sexy, get an iPad. It's easy to read, instant, clean. informative and I believe it is the future. Sorry NAA but I don't think smart is going to be the new sexy. Technology has and always will be sexy, just look at James Bond.

Turning Digital into Dollars

On August 21, 2011, Scot Morrissey, publisher of The Athens Banner-Herald announced that the the newspaper would be embracing a "digital first" philosophy and focusing it's efforts on onlineathens.com.

It's no surprise that papers are turning their eyes towards the digital future. Last spring there was a lot of experimentation with digital content. The New York Times initiated a paywall in order to profit from online readers, The Daily was launched by Murdoch, a iPad only news app and Patch.com began to spread across the country to deliver local news.

But is the digital craze paying off? For these new ventures, it is too soon to tell. There are ways to get around the New York Times paywall and it doesn't take a computer hacker to figure it out (just clear your web history). Patch.com needs to work on the quality of content and The Daily is sending mixed messages to it's target market by offering low quality journalism on a high end product. The Daily might be fun, interactive and pretty but you have to have to be able to afford and iPad to read it.

Gannett, however, is making digital turn into dollars. Monday, Gannett Co. posted 10 percent digital revenue gain for the third quarter.

Though these numbers are positive, the majority of this revenue came from their CareerBuilder website, not publication websites.

In spite of this disappointing news, "across the company, USA Today and its local sites served over 1.3 billion mobile page views in the first half of the year -- up 107% from the same time period a year ago," wrote Gavin O'Malley for Online MediaPost News, "The company said its USA Today app has now been downloaded more than 10 million times."

Overall Gannett Co. is doing better than before and as companies experiment with different platforms and develop digital content, we will see this trend in other companies as well.

Now What?

Generation Y

Millennial Generation

Generation Next

Echo Boomers

SAD (Self Absorbed Delusionals)

Digital natives
Screenagers
Generation Me
Generation Why
Wired Generation
MyPod Generation
Generation.com
SAA (Self-Absorbed Assholes)
IWWIW (I Want What I Want)
"I want to be different, just like my friends."



These are all ways to describe my generation but no matter what you want to call us, we are in trouble. We are graduating with degrees, debt and no where to go. About 14 percent of college graduates from the classes of 2006 through 2010 can’t find full-time work.

My management professor spent the first day of class telling 300 hopeful students how they will graduate without job offers. Great way to start your senior year right?

So what do you do when you can't find a job? Do you move back home? Do you head off to grad school to kill time? These are the questions that I am facing as I make my way through the year and step closer to the ominous month of May when these questions will have to be answered.

For journalism majors hoping to work for newspapers, the future is bleak.

I don't need to tell you that the industry is struggling, you can read plenty of articles about that. But when it comes to hiring, one newspaper editor said (in a report based on a ASNE survey), "The biggest obstacle we face as an industry is bringing youngsters into the business...We have a mature and experienced staff. I am lucky that way. But we are not bringing in new and less experienced people. I am concerned for all those college kids out there who cannot find jobs."

In this case, grad school seems like a good option.

Cecil Bentley, Director of Grady College External Relations and my newspaper management professor told me, "If I had the choice to hire someone with an extra degree or someone with experience, I'd hire the experienced person every time."

He recommends that students move home, take on an unpaid internship to build their resume if they find themselves without any opportunities.

Of course the better option is to find those internships early and build your resume before you grab that degree.

Noreen Malone wrote, "Being young is supposed to mean you have the luxury of time."

Unfortunately, time is no longer on our side. Time is money and for students, time is student loans and a pile of debt.

I guess all we can do is build our resume and hope that after graduation we stumble across a job. If you have any other advice, ideas or tips, I would love to know, and so would the thousands of journalism students graduating in May.

The 3 Rs of Journalism

We all know the 3 Rs - reduce, reuse and recycle.

In the world of journalism the R words are bad words. Content must be new, fresh and always updated. You would never re post a status, so why should you republish an article? Been there, read that, on to the next.

That's not what leaders at the New Yorker think.


The iPad allows publications to distribute content at little to no cost. Plus, the labor for the articles is already done, so what have you got to lose? Nothing. The profit can only go up.

That's what's going on at the New Yorker. They are organizing old content into groups and republishing it on the iPad. The project started with "At the Ballpark", a collection of baseball articles dating back to 1929. Now there is also golf and sustainability collections, only available on the iPad.

These collections are especially appealing to advertisers looking to target wealthy readers and associate themselves with specific topics.

Even though online news has created an environment in which people get their news instantly, it has also created an environment in which news and be reused and recycled.

Check out the original article.

Journalism or PR?

Journalism and advertising have always been closely connected but a recent article written by Anthony Ha suggests that the relationship might be closer than we thought.

Companies are using journalism more than ever to promote their products.They are looking for ways to become more credible online and increasing their use of blogs and social media. The article suggests that rising journalist may find themselves working for companies and promoting products rather than working for newspapers and magazines.

Good news for journalism students.

I love anytime someone emphasizes that a degree in journalism doesn't mean you are heading straight to the newsroom. Personally, I love studying newspapers and the industry. I think is is fascinating to see where things are heading but I have no desire to actually cover a beat. But is content marketing too close to a public relations move to be considered journalism?

Here is the example from the article -

"Yaron Galai, CEO of content recommendation startup Outbrain, recalled a campaign that he ran with a hotel chain. At first, the chain promoted a blog post about its iPad app, but when that failed to pique anyone's interest, it refocused on a blog post listing the top hotel apps—the advertiser was on the list, but not at the top. More importantly, it was an article that people actually wanted to read, and it resulted in more downloads for the hotel."

The first blog post was clearly a PR move. It was written about the specific app with the intention of promoting it. The second post is debatable. Is it a PR? It was still attempting to promote the app. Was it journalism because the report was objective? The article featured other apps and the advertiser wasn't even at the top of the list!

What do you think?

Book Review: Basic Black

If you are a woman getting into the world of news, magazines and publishing, I hope you know who Cathie Black is and I hope you pick up her book.

Who wouldn't want to take advice from one of Fortune magazine's "50 Most Powerful Women in American Business"? (By the way, she made that list seven years in a row)

The book is full of personal stories about Black's journey in the publishing industry. You will read about some familiar characters such as Rupert Murdoch, Atoosa Rubenstein and Al Neuharth. She tells stories about success, failure, embarrassment and how to keep your head up no matter what.

Though the book is focused on the professional world, a subject that isn't considered a "fun" read, Black's down to earth voice comes alive to make the subject interesting and exciting. Above all this book is motivating. I have never been so ready to grab my diploma and head out into the world to find my first "real" job.

I want to say so much more about this book but really, you should just read it yourself!