AnswerLinks launches on Wordpress.com blogs
Two weeks ago, a project I began exploring in late 2006 launched. A partnership between Answers.com and Wordpress, AnswerLinks is a tool that scans an article’s content prior to publishing and suggests words, terms and people, that may require additional detail, to link back to Answers.com definitions, explanations, bios, etc. It’s the first 3d party tool integrated into the Wordpress publishing interface, which makes it somewhat innovative and exciting. It’s also the first distributed application of Answers.com auto-linking technology, an area that we believed has significant growth potential. From what I hear, response from Wordpress bloggers has been positive so far and the partnership format has been noticed by others. AnswerLinks is also available as a plug-in for Wordpress.org bloggers.
London – why is everyone so uptight?
I got back from London last night, after a 4-day trip evaluating a business that a colleague and I are considering launching. We had eight interesting and informative meetings with various prospective partners, and I ended the trip with an impromptu get together with Yahoo folks to discuss local media/blog concepts (they were interested in Bergen Carroll), but for most of the trip, I found myself in a slightly irritable mood. At first, I couldn’t figure out exactly why. I thought it could be the rain and perpetual cloudy weather in London, but having visited a few times, I already expected this. I found the subway tube kind of annoying (and inferior to NYC), from the slanted octagonal design that creates a cramped and claustrophobic feel to the escalating, three-toned, mechanical kitten purr that the train makes when it leaves each station, but this wasn’t enough to change my mood either. By the end of the trip, I’m pretty sure I figured out what was causing my ill mood. I realized it was the mood that pervades every person and thing in London. There is a certain buttoned up, prim and proper, uptight sense of self-importance that I perceive of most Brits. It’s the opposite of the laid back, casual, nonchalant attitude in San Francisco, an approach I much prefer. The fact that I was wearing a suit for our meetings, trying to fit into the London style probably didn’t help either. From this trip and previous encounters with Brits, some of whom I consider good friends, I sense souls screaming "let me out!"; pent up emotion that’s been suppressed far too long. This brings me to Shalom Auslander’s recent article in the NY Times where he calls for the world to go casual in 2008. I couldn’t agree more. It’s time we let personal comfort dictate our dress and therefore, express ourselves freely. London will be a far less stuffy place when this day arrives.
Radiohead’s direct sales experiment and test of their fans
By now, many music fans have read Eduardo Porter’s op-ed piece in last Sunday’s New York Times about Radiohead’s experiment distributing their most recent album, "In Rainbows", independently. The band posted the album for download on their website and are allowing fans to pay whatever price they choose to type in the box before checkout. In an era when a lot of music is being obtained illegally, downloaded for free through P2P services or shared amongst friends and record labels are scrambling for solutions, this was a brilliant test to see how fans of a band really feel about paying for music. As it turns out, while many did download it for free, many others paid $20+ and the average price paid was $8, less than a CD would sell at retail, but more than a band would get from a typical unit sale of an album distributed with a record label. Porter takes an economic perspective in analyzing this phenomenon, comparing it to the phenomenon of tipping, but I think it simply shows that music fans do appreciate artists’ work and are willing to pay for it, particularly when they feel close to the band as Radiohead accomplishes in this case by communicating directly with their fanbase. My biggest takeaway here is that this is just one more reason why record labels should be fearful of their future in the artist-production-distribution equation. With this exercise, I think Radiohead has proven they can be a more profitable enterprise while connecting more effectively with their fans by leaving the record labels out. Scary stuff for Sony/BMG, Universal, EMI and the rest…..
Apple does it again – iDo campaign on Houston/6th Ave
I spotted this ad at Houston and 6th Ave last week and, ever the romantic, had to snap a shot. An obvious and brilliant marketing extension of the “i” branding for which people know Apple. Plus, they made a couple very happy and won points in the mushy department with other New Yorkers.
