Weekend Wrap Up–Bad Moves Edition

It has been a busy week, at least if your job is spinning jaw-dropping stupid stunts.

Bad Move Number One.  I think that people have a right to talk about “conflict of interest” in an honest way when you approve one of the largest mergers in US history, then four months later go to work for the company you approved the merger for.  Meredith Attwell Baker, one of the two Republican Commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission decided to take a lobbying position at Comcast. But, as we all know, one did not have anything to do with the other. 

Bad Move Number Two.  You know it’s a bad move to plant smears on your corporate opponent when the PR company you hired to do so suddenly says “Wait a minute, this isn’t right”.  But Facebook went ahead and did it anyway.  Really, Zuck?  Do you really feel that people are going to leave Facebook for whatever the flavor of the month Google is pitching to be relevant in the social market? 

Bad Move Number Three.  Rupert Murdoch decided to create his own version of Wikileaks, called “Safehouse”.  Yeah, I know, it took me a while to stop laughing on this one.  Of course, unlike Wikileaks, if the heat gets to be too much (you know like someone asks “who sent you this?”), they will sell you down the river to the authorities.  Really, the man is known for spreading lies concerning just about everyone on the planet and we are supposed to believe that if it is posted in “Safehouse” then it must be true?  They say that two positives don’t make a negative.  Yeah.  Right.

Bad move Number Four.  Something that really has something to do with technology, although it doesn’t look like it on the surface.  The political season is once again upon us and unfortunately, we are going to have to put up with political ads.  So far, we have a tie for what are the worst political ads ever, and we have only just begun, so the only place you’ll see them is either on “Web Soup” or the internet.  Really, Newt Gingrich has no reason to be turning out this cheese.  He has been in the game too long to think that this pile of excrement is actually good for him.  But Dan Adler’s ads are starting off by being, well, different.  And by Different, I mean just WTF?  I mean, Patty Duke, in the Muscle Beach weight lifting area telling constituents “Dan Adler gets sh*t done.” and a second ad that makes as much sense as the first.  I don’t know whether the guy is serious or is trolling the southern half of California. BTW, his campaign manager is Sean Astin, he of LOTR fame and Patty Duke’s son.  So there is no excuse for these either.

Just remember, folks, technology is a tool.  Unfortunately, so are many people. 

I Can Quit The Google Anytime

That is, according to Rupert Murdoch.  You see, a few days ago, good ‘ole Rooper-boy told the Australian press (well, SkyNews Australia) that he will remove stories from Google’s search index as a way to encourage people to pay for content online.

Of course this caused a great disturbance in the blogosphere, who really didn’t seem to want to remember that the man who controls the less-than-accurate-media empire has said this before.  The Associated Press has said it (and has yet to pull the trigger).  Google was sanguine about the matter, saying in essence “Go for it”. 

So how does Rupert Murdoch plan to quit teh Google?   Making a deal with Bing?  Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land thinks otherwise:

The reality is that the Wall Street Journal execs seem to be leading a charge against Google without really knowing where they are going or what they want. They already get lots of traffic plus get to have a paywall, thanks to First Click Free at Google. And yet, Murdoch doesn’t seem to know exactly how that operates or how Google indexes his paper. His managing editor Robert Thomson gets confused about font sizes and how Google News works. I get the impression both of them are good at talking but don’t know the actual realities of their traffic situation in relation to Google. Or they know it well but are happy to ignore it.

Oh, Snap. You see, right now, news has a relationship with Google much like Billie Holiday did with heroin.  While it is possible to quit, it won’t be easy.  It will be a long, painful process, that may not even need to happen.  Especially when it is estimated that Google brings about twenty-five percent of Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal traffic.  That kind of pain stockholders may want to think twice about before going cold turkey.

But there is an ugly truth out there that Murdoch may have sensed out that many do not see.  Twitter.  Twitter is surpassing Google as a destination for finding information on breaking and recent news of all types.  Twitter and Facebook are platforms that allow the news sources to post breaking news and gain value from their brand. Google does not.  In other words, if I trust a newspaper, TV or any  brand, I can follow it on twitter and expect the news to come to me.  The concept  of “If the news is important, it will find me” works better by the day.  If it matters to me, chances are very good its in one of the twitter feeds I follow on real time feed. Users will continue to source news through Google.  Now don’t get me wrong, Google ain’t going away any time soon.  But for Real-Time news, Google is not in the equation. 

But all of this ignores a very simple question that no one is really wanting to ask-Do you really want to pay for opinutainment Fox News?

Now Playing: Missing Persons – Spring Session M – Words

WordPress Tags: Murdoch, NewsCorp, Google

And For Rupert’s Next Trick…

Amazon sells the Kindle, an e-reader that up until recently, I was thinking of buying.  I had been leery because the Kindle uses DRM.  DRM and I always seem to have this problem-I like to use media the way I have always used media growing up.  DRM on the other hand tells me that I can only use media the way someone else wants me to use media.  So it goes. 

Then came the Orwell fiasco, where Amazon deleted copies of “Animal Farm” and “1984” without so much as a by-your-leave from their customers.  That really put me off.  And now, enter Rupert Murdoch.

Kindle sells subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal, now one of the crown jewels in the tawdry crown that sits upon Mr. Murdoch’s head.  During recent negotiations with Amazon, Rupert demanded both more money from Amazon and more information on the Kindle users.  OK, I can see him wanting more money, as the media empire that is known as RumourAndFlatOutLiesCorp News Corp has lost money recently (I guess the recession has hit everyone, but I doubt old Rup’ is eating just mac and cheese for dinner).  But he now wants information on Kindle users.  While I can see Murdoch rightfully wanting more information about his subscribers (and what business wouldn’t want that), the news is unclear as to whether he wants merely information on WSJ subscribers or all Kindle subscribers.  You can never tell with him, you know? 

The benefits of knowing the names of any Kindle user are obvious if you’re a company which sells Kindle subscriptions. News Corp would have the knowledge required to send targeted advertisements. And where Murdoch goes, then expect every company that sells subscriptions to Kindle to follow.  After a while, a Kindle may wind up to be nothing more than an overpriced black and white TV with the sound off. 

Which beings us back to Amazon, who is all ready skating on some pretty thin ice after the Orwell deletions.  My solution to all of this is really quite simple-ask your customers.  Send a message over the Kindle to all WSJ subscribers, asking them if they want to give the information that Amazon has over to News Corp.  If the customer says sure, then give Rupert what he wants.  If the customer says “Hell to the No!”,  then don’t.  All others accounts should not apply.  Simple as that. 

Murdoch may not like it, then again, I stay away from all of his products anyway.  Something about truth in advertising.  I’m funny that way.  BTW, I think I just talked myself out of buying a Kindle.  Maybe tablets really do have a place in the electronic eco-system. 

Now Playing: Simple Minds – Glittering Prize: Simple Minds 81/92 – Don’t You (Forget About Me)

Oh, Irony – You’re Not Dead Yet

When you’re a multi-billion dollar media mogul who has watched his empire take a dive as of late, you start thinking of ways to, well, make more money.  And so, Rupert Murdoch, King of fake news and rumour-monger extraordinaire has pledged to shake up the newspaper industry by introducing charges for access to all his news websites, including the Times, the Sun and the News of the World, by next summer.

His reason?  "Quality journalism is not cheap."

Indeed Rupert, indeed. 

Now Playing: Fleetwood Mac – Tango in the Night – Little Lies