Media

Well, Duh!

Now if we could only go back to the good, old days, when the only sites with pop-ups were pr0n sites:

MSNBC: ‘Pop-up' relief for AOL members? Reducing the number of pop-up ads is a part of the online service company's grand scheme to get back on the growth track... [Tomalak's Realm]

Pop-ups, pop-unders, and pop-offs are annoying as all get out, and drive customers away, or attract inadvertent traffic through deceptive practices. These things do not result in sales for the advertiser. The problem is that advertising is billed for by impressions. It is to the benefit of the medium, the seller of space, to generate as many impressions as possible — thus overloading the space.

Changing the billing to a per click rate would reduce, somewhat, the incentive to overload the space, but wouldn't improve the effectiveness of the advertising. That requires a good hook, and appropriateness to the audience.

5:08:28 PM # Google It!
categories: Industry, Media

Trails of Pennies

The down side as some of you will be quick to point out: thanks to cut and paste capabilities, lots of people were able to read the controversial comments without visiting CableWorld.com. The up side: recognition for the magazine, publicity for the story and the chance to watch the Internet at work.
— "From Acorns to Mighty Oaks," Online Journalism Review via Kellner's Interviewer Speaks Out [ LawMeme]

While her column is a good overview of network effects on a work of journalism, Ms. Kramer doesn't understand 1) that copying is permitted in commentary, particularly criticism, regardless of how she feels about it; 2) that there is no contract, either implied or not, so her downside is not possible to prevent.

Either she doesn't know, or doesn't quite grasp, that broadcast television, and any advertising medium for that matter, is a barker, a shill, the guy on the street trying to get you to come into the store. They just toss pennies on the sidewalk, whether you pick them up or not doesn't matter. If you do, that doesn't matter either. They just happen to be strewn on the sidewalk in a trail leading into the shop.

If no one comes into the store, he's not doing too good a job of convincing people that they should buy something.

As Mulher says: "I don't owe that lady who gives me cheese samples at the grocery store an obligation to buy the whole dairy aisle."

c.f. Wealth Bondage

Jenny, our friendly neighborhood Shifted Librarian, offers Ms. Kramer two good recommendations for an appropriate response to this upswell of indignation.

12:48:00 PM # Google It!
categories: Law, Media, Writing Online