Point, click, telepresence

I've been sitting poolside this Memorial Day, allegedly finishing up my Moscow presentation while keeping one eye on the kids, but in reality finding new ways to procrastinate. One way was fooling around with Skype, which I rarely actually use. Not only does Skype support free voice chats, but also free video conferencing, and I discovered today that it's offering free dialout on U.S. and Canadian phone networks through the end of the year. I can point, click, and call my wife's phone to request that she bring me a cold drink.

Myspace, brand volatility, and the future of newspapers

Scott Karp asks: Has the Myspace downturn begun? He has charts and graphs, too.

Many of us believe brands are much more volatile today than a generation ago. Great brands are still hard (and expensive) to build, but the amplified word of mouth that's made possible by the Internet allows the almost-overnight creation of Myspace as a $580 million brand. What happens next? Is it a lasting brand? Don't forget that "easy come" is often followed by "easy go."

48 million content creators

The latest from Pew: 48 million Americans have posted content to the Internet. The majority of them are broadband users, and broadband penetration jumped by 40 percent between March 2005 and March 2006. Significantly, broadband penetration in households with income between $40,000 and $50,000 grew by 68 percent.

Editors, please listen. If you're not rethinking your entire content strategy around participative principles, you're placing your future at risk.

Raising the moss curtain on a participative website

Awhile back I mentioned a project that we had in the works. The curtain has been lifted, partially, with the "preview" launch at new.savannahnow.com of an all-new community website associated with the Savannah Morning News. In a matter of weeks, the site will be completed and will replace www.savannahnow.com.