Free For You… At First

Garth Beyer

I first noticed with Facebook, what was once a free service, an incredible platform to build your business, to market, and to gather a tribe, reaching out to the mass has turned into a profiting market for sponsors, advertisers, but specifically, Facebook.

It wasn’t always that way. Or at least, it hasn’t always been done right.

Newspapers companies started out reaching the mass, then they implemented (full-force) advertising in the papers, viewership slowly decreased and now newspapers reach a niche market while advertisers still make money.

The moment when newspapers focused on getting their income from advertising and making it a competition among advertisers for space is what I call Free Fall Out. It was at that moment the newspaper companies profit largely due to advertisers. From there is the critical moment that I believe is a large reason why the newspaper industry is dying.

At their prime, the newspaper industry used the money from advertisers to advertise their newspaper even more. Much like many businesses (even today, gasp!) businesses are taking their advertising revenue to create more advertising for themselves.

This seems to be a slow profit method.

Now let’s look at Facebook. Once a free platform, now has been opened to advertisers. Rather than Facebook using the revenue from advertisers to self-advertise, I see a new Facebook platform change nearly every month.

Facebook, while still funding advertising, has put more of an effort toward improving it’s interface to attract a larger newer audience. I think this is smart for one specific reason. It doesn’t so much matter if they lose their appeal to current veteran Facebook users, because new users are more susceptible to buying into the advertisements that Facebook profits to put on your screen.

By improving the platform, they can make more from letting others advertise rather than the old newspaper age belief that by advertising more, they can make more from letting others advertise.

I look forward to seeing how the newest version of Gmail pans out. Right now promotion emails go into the promotion category. What happens when a wealthy company says to Google that they will pay them X amount of dollars to have their email placed in the primary category?

Alas, every phenomenal service is free for you… at first.

 

Stay Positive & Don’t Forget, You’re The Real Product

Garth E. Beyer

What People Need And Demand: Digging Deeper

Garth Beyer

Obese people demand more chips.

What they need is almost the opposite. Obese people need to be taught how to be healthy. Obese people need to forget chips and cookies and soda and other “bad” foods. Obese people need to get out more, they need a bike, they need walking shoes.

Digging deeper though, I would say what they really need is hope and confidence and belonging. Meal plans sell hope, that’s why they are so popular. Personal trainers sell confidence, that’s why they are in demand. Sketchers GOwalk shoes sell belonging. Once you buy a pair, you notice everyone else who has a pair and you feel part of the tribe, that’s why they are so popular.

At face value, everyone seems to have a lot of needs. My nana always said that our wants are many, our needs are few. I guess I never realized how true that was until I dug a bit deeper.

 

Stay Positive & Sell What People Really Need

Garth E. Beyer

Discovery Melting Hearts, Will Yours?

Garth Beyer

If you haven’t heard by now, a new animal has been discovered. Welcome, the olinguito.

OlinguitoI thought we were at the point when we only discovered new insects or alien species at the bottom of the ocean, yet, here we are, a newly discovered mammal.

It doesn’t take much to melt the hearts of animal lovers. It’s simple. I would argue that it’s simple for lover X, Y, and Z too. All that you need to do is work your magic and combine works of art. Or, in the olinguito’s case, a teddy bear and a house cat.

There’s always room at the top, whether it’s the animal cuteness chart or Forbes Best 100 Companies list. It only requires you to search and craft something outside of the box.

 

Stay Positive & Go Discovery Something

Garth E. Beyer

Krugman, On The Web

Garth Beyer

Krugman does it again. His latest post, The Good Web, is why I always visit his blog.

Sorting out the wonkish for you, here are some of my favorite bits.

“What I want to talk about instead is the effect of the Internet on the quality of reporting, which I believe has been overwhelmingly positive.” Which goes back to my latest post about citizen journalism.

On the pre-internet era, “in fact, there was a sort of bias against having reporters with too much expertise, on the grounds that they wouldn’t be able to relate to the readership.”

More on citizen journalism, “The point is that real journalists, as opposed to the idealized picture of the way things used to be, benefit from the ability of knowledgeable non-journalists to get their knowledge out there, fast.”

“newspapers now have a much better idea of what their readers actually care about.” Can this help the industry? Maybe with its transition to the digital platform, but I still believe, like print books, Newspapers will become a thing of the gift shop.

And while Krugman refers to useful economic analysis, stating, “these are the good old days,” I can’t help but think the same about journalism in its entirety.

Landmarks

Garth Beyer

In the 21st century, we’re more about creating landmarks than we are letting anything of old become one. Good or bad is still to be determined.

Worth mentioning, “a major landmark” has become a buzzword in the business of progress. The overuse has earned itself a lesser meaning.

The following photos are of four real landmarks set in the rural settings of Blackburn, Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale districts of East Lancashire, England.

Panopticons

Artists of all kinds are leaving landmarks for the mass to see. The best part about the 21st century landmarks is that few of the creators sit around gazing at their own work. They are off creating more.

To the 21st century-ers, works of art have become known as landmarks simply by being placed around the world for all to see. Sure, earning recognition, but most of the time artists do so for the pure enjoyment of sharing one’s work rather than credibility, reward, or merit.

Personally, my favorite part about creating a landmark is the moment when you think to yourself onto the next one.

 

Stay Positive & What’s Your Latest Landmark?

Garth E. Beyer… better yet, what’s your next?

Another Day, Another Picasso

Garth Beyer

“At a time when it was cool to bend the rules of art, Picasso smashed every one.”Picasso

Look at the world of design around us. It’s cool to bend the rules of design. Ogle at what Steve Jobs has done. Even after his accomplishments, I still can’t help but wonder, with the world rewarding those who challenge the status quo and bend the rules of design and connection, who will be the next to smash every one of them?

Stay Positive & Jobs Is Just The Start

Garth E. Beyer

We’re All Reporters, Seriously

Garth Beyer

I check Yahoo! news every day and chuckle when I see a story that I already caught on Imgur, an image uploading site. Consider it an Image only version of Reddit.

People from all over the globe can upload images… immediately. Especially, eye witnesses.

The argument has been whether everyone is a journalist or reporter now that we can Tweet, take pictures, and upload videos of what will (when “legitimate” reporters get on the scene) be breaking news.

Now, NBC News is working to purchase Stringwire. A video sharing service that will allow users to stream videos directly to NBC News.

Let the conversation continue. Are we all citizen journalists? Deserving the same respect of a paid journalist?