Pretty Pictures Tell a Story
As more organizations focus on database journalism, the ability to make complex information visually pleasing yet easy to understand is going to become more important.
If you haven’t already, check out Infosthetics, one of the coolest collections of online infographics I’ve seen yet.
Online TV Ads Work
Not only that but they work better than offline TV ads — with and the added benefit that online TV viewers are more engaged in the shows themselves. Diego Vasquez at MediaLife has the details.
Report of the Simmons research study follows a Financial Times article that says the big 4 TV networks are poised to make $120 million in online ads appearing in free Web streams.
Facebook May Dims Beacon
Late Thursday night, Facebook finally caved and said they’d turn Beacon into an opt-in rather than opt-out program, though you have to opt-in on a site-by-site basis.
Despite the change, one concern raised by many remains: Beacon still appears to collect your information and send it to Facebook, even if you don’t opt in.
The question then, as Nate Weiner points out, is what does Facebook do with that info?
Seems to me you have a few choices if you want to stay on Facebook:
- You could just accept that Beacon exists and not worry about it.
- You could be vigilant and use the Firefox BlockSite plugin and block
http://www.facebook.com/beacon/*. (Nate has visual instructions.) - You could avoid the companies that have signed up with Beacon, if you can figure out just who those companies are.
At launch, there were 44 partners. I haven’t found all of them, but from the FAQ, they include AllPosters.com, Blockbuster, Bluefly.com, CBSSports.com and Dotspotter (both part of CBS Interactive), eBay, ExpoTV, Fandango, Gamefly, Hotwire, IAC brands (CollegeHumor, Busted Tees, iWon, Citysearch, Pronto.com and echomusic), Joost, Kiva, Kongregate, LiveJournal, Live Nation, Mercantila, National Basketball Association, NYTimes.com, Overstock.com, (RED), Redlight, SeamlessWeb, Sony Online Entertainment LLC, Sony Pictures, STA Travel, The Knot, TripAdvisor, Travel Ticker, Travelocity, TypePad, viagogo, Vox, Yelp, WeddingChannel.com and Zappos.com.
Earlier:
Business Week and the Financial Times are reporting that Facebook may modify its social ad platform Beacon.
But as Business Week points out, that could put the company in a difficult position. Advertisers who signed on were expecting a boon from Beacon, if not in profit, then at least in goodwill. Facebook was also counting on Beacon to bolster its valuation. But users have threatened to abandon the service and smear the company name — this isn’t the first time members have accused the site of invading individual privacy.
Executives can huff all they want about privacy being an illusion in a digital age. But this latest backlash seems to be more fodder for public claims that big business is out of touch with real-world expectations.
Keep Your Priorities Straight
As more media organizations plot strategies to overwhelm their markets, tech teams are probably getting swamped.
Matt Kinsman at Folio has some good advice for those trying to manage their “must do” lists:
Prioritize online projects according to the return, not what’s become someone’s pet project. Dave Newcorn, vice president of e-media at Summit Publishing, uses three factors to organize his workload: 1) is there real ROI attached; 2) Will it enable the editors to create multimedia content; and 3) Will it attract more subscribers either to the print magazine or newsletters, boosting audience development efforts? “If the answer is yes to any of those, it goes to the top of my list,†says Newcorn.
NPR Wants Your Questions For Candidates
If you enjoyed last night’s CNN/YouTube Republican candidates’ debate but feel you didn’t get the answers you were looking for, you might want to tune in to the Dems’ debate in Iowa on Dec. 4.
NPR is asking the public to ask questions ahead of the Democratic showdown.
Many news anchors and GOP participants raved about how they enjoyed the format. Some members of the media said the public’s questions were better than what the pros normally ask. It’s a black eye, but it’s true.
