In the last few weeks, there has been a lot of buzz surrounding the phrase “net neutrality.” If you haven’t heard, there has been a heated debate on the true intentions of a recent joint proposal by Google and Verizon about how net neutrality should be enforced. So much has been said and written canvassing this issue that maybe it is a good idea to provide a crash course on net neutrality so you can form your own opinion about this multifaceted debate. (more…)

According to a recent report, investments made in media and communications, especially pertaining to mobile devices and the Internet, will increase faster than the US economy through 2014.

The report, compiled by media-focused private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson, indicates that the media and communications industries are expected to grow to $1.42 trillion by 2014 at an average annual increase of 6.1 percent. This is a 0.3 percent difference from the estimated 5.8 percent increase in US gross domestic product during that same time frame. In 2010 alone, US media and communications are expected to gain 3.5 percent and bounce back from the “recession-induced advertising dip.” (more…)

Ask Craig Newmark to describe what he does, and he’ll respond with the most humble of answers: “I do customer service for a living.” Even his business card lists his title as simply “customer service rep” — oh, and on the same line, given the same level of prominence, “& founder.” (more…)

During the recent mesh10 conference in Toronto, I interviewed Jason Fry, former columnist of The Wall Street Journal Online. As a panelist of the session “How Do Platforms Change Content Consumption?” he and three others discussed the onus put on new high-tech devices to save traditional media and convince the public to pay for content. Afterward, we focused on journalism as it stands today. (more…)

In a world where newspapers are shutting down, laying off staff and making as many cuts necessary to stay alive, two ambitious hyperlocal news sites, TBD.com in Washington, DC and CivilBeat.com in Hawaii are attempting to get seats at the already crowded table of media outlets.  According to Rick Edmonds, author of Poyntner Online’s Biz Blog, they share similar strategies for breaking through online clutter: (more…)

Recently, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company’s new “Open Graph” platform – a move that is guaranteed to change how 400 million (and counting) Facebook subscribers interact with the internet. As the No. 2 site in the world (as of May 6, 2010), Facebook is giving its users the ability to personalize their own web experience through this social-bookmarking-on-steroids approach.  (more…)

As the Hispanic population grows within the United States, many companies develop concerted marketing campaigns that target US Hispanics, but without a full understanding of the demographic. The 2010 Hispanic Marketing Trends Survey, conducted by Los Angeles-based Hispanic advertising agency Orcí, polled 9,300 senior marketing and advertising executives of top-tiered businesses in the US. It revealed that “while the vast majority of respondents recognize the market’s impact on American culture, there is a lack of understanding of the Hispanic market’s power as a driver of business.”

Other revelations included: (more…)

Next time you are riding the bus or train to work in the morning, look around you. How many people are staring down at electronic readers, such as Amazon’s Kindle?  How many people are holding a newspaper, a book or a magazine? According to some, the amount of the former is on the rise, which leads one to believe that the number of the latter is on the decline. (more…)

It’s a well known fact that Marketwire has its own media relations department. But, unlike what most people know “media relations” to be, we do not build relationships with the media in order to garner publicity (that would be our marketing department’s role!).

As a company that provides services for PR, IR, marketing communications and media professionals, we have a different perspective and a different definition of media relations. Perhaps “media liaison” might be a more appropriate name because, essentially, we act as a bridge between the media and Marketwire clients to ensure that journalists, analysts and online communities receive news and information on their areas of interest, in the formats and via the distribution mechanisms they desire. (more…)

Since The Wall Street Journal began charging for access, Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp and a host of other sites have followed suit.  The New York Times has announced a plan to begin a “paywall” structured site in 2011. Similar modifications are under way at abcnews.com and Newsday Publications’ sites to make way for paid-for content.

A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Institute revealed that, if asked to pay for online news access, 82 percent of those surveyed would find their news elsewhere.  That begs the question: Who  belongs to the leftover 18 percent? (more…)