What’s the Difference Between Realtidbits, Disqus, Livefyre and Facebook Comments?

Posted by & filed under Features, Insights.

Here’s how we compare to the competition. If you see anything that needs to be added or corrections that need to be made, please leave a comment below and we’ll get to it. 

Business Model Differences

Belief Realtidbits Facebook Disqus Livefyre
Who owns your data? The publisher Facebook Disqus Livefyre
Can the publisher create plugins to enhance the functionality? Yes No No No
Can you build new apps on the platform? Yes No No No

 

Product Differences

Products Description Realtidbits Facebook Disqus Livefyre
Comments Users can leave comments on a page Yes Yes Yes Yes
Forums Users can create their own topics and polls Yes No No No
Galleries Users and/or Editors can create image galleries Yes No No No
Pinboard Users can bookmark content or stream photos, videos and comments. Yes No No No
SocialBridge Addition of social media content to “streams” on-site Yes No No No
Analytics Addition of events analytics to your in-house analytics system (i.e. Google Analytics, Coremetrics) Yes No No No

 

Comments Features Differences

Feature Realtidbits Facebook Disqus Livefyre Benefit
Unlimited Comment Threading Yes No Yes Yes Users can reply to users and the comment will show up as a nested comment.
Reply By Email Yes No No No Users can reply to a comment via email therefore turning their in-box into an additional channel for conducing the conversation.
Email notifications Yes No Yes Yes Users can subscribe to updates using their email address.
Social Profiles Yes No No No The system creates a separately embedable user profile for the user’s activity for that domain.
Realtime Moderation dashboard Yes No Yes Yes Comments can be moderated.
Voting/Liking Comments Yes Yes Yes Yes Comments can be voted up with a like gesture.
Voting/Liking Page Yes Yes Yes Yes The page itself can be liked from within the comments stream.
Separate Voting/Liking/Rating Object Yes Yes No No Object that can be placed anywhere on the page that users can use to rate/like the content. Realtidbits also has 5-star rating.
Comment on Twitter Yes No Yes Yes Comment can be cross-posted to Twitter or can be pulled in from Twitter.
Comment on Facebook Yes Yes Yes Yes Comment can be cross-posted to Facebook or can be pulled in from Facebook.
Social Signon Yes No Yes Yes Users can sign in using their linkedin, google, facebook, twitter ID’s, or more.
Social Sharing Yes No Yes Yes Users can share the page or comment on any of: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or email.
RSS Feed Yes No No Yes Users can subscribe to updates via RSS feed reader.
Avatars Yes No No No Users can change their avatars.
Edit Post Yes No Yes Yes Comments can be edited by the user or moderator easily after posting.
Custom skinning Yes No Limited Limited Comments can be skinned to look like my brand.
Includes Vendor’s Branding No Yes Yes Yes Does the system require publishers to display the vendor’s brand. I.e. can “Comment Powered by Livefyre” be removed?
User’s Data is 100% separate from other customer data? Yes No No No Does the system create a userID that will work on other sites and does that vendor track the user’s comments from site to site?
Polls Yes No No No Comments have polling mechanism included. Realtidbits and Intense Debate both have separate polls products that can be displayed elshere on the page, not just in the comments box.
Activity Feeds Yes Yes No No Comments activity site-wide can be displayed in a global “buzz” feed.
Moderation Dashboard Yes No Yes Yes Have a central dashboard to manage users and user generated content.
Anonymity Yes No No No Users can post anonymously.
Upload Images Yes No Yes Yes Users can upload images to posts if enabled by the admin. Realtidbits users can also add images from their social networks.
Record Video Comments Yes No No No Users can record comments via webcam.
Open Graph Rich Media Embed Support Yes Yes No Yes Fetches links in comments and extracts images, audio, video, and site-owner dictated intents required for rich media embedded content.
WYSIWYG Editor Textile None Markup Markup Users can format their posts with rich text.
Open Graph Rich Media Embed Support Yes Yes No Yes Fetches links in comments and extracts images, audio, video, and site-owner dictated intents required for rich media embedded content.
WYSIWYG Editor Textile None Markup Markup Users can format their posts with rich text.
New Comment Bubbles Yes No Yes Yes On-page notification that another user has left a comment (below the fold).
Live listener account No No Yes No Displays how many people are viewing the page at this moment.
Ratings Yes No No No 5-star ratings widget synced with comments stream and user profile.
Mobile UI Yes Yes Yes Yes Mobile-friendly version of product. Realtidbits version is reactive and therefore needs no modification.
Standards-based skinning engine Yes No No No Publisher can “skin” the product using a populare UI platform such as Bootstrap or Foundation. Realtidbits uses Bootstrap.
API Yes Yes Yes Yes Publishers can access data via API.
Follow Yes Yes – on Facebook No No Ability to follow topics and users.
Site ticker Yes No No No Ability to show all use generated actions (not just comments) across the site.
Gamification (points engine) Yes No No No Ability to give users points and badges based on their contributions.
Trending content Yes No No No Abilty to find and display which articles are currently getting the most commenting activity.
Polls and Rating Yes No No No Ability to create your own polls and ratings objects and embed them anywhere on the page. Polls and ratings management system.
Platform as a Service API Yes No No No Can you build your own apps?

wisconsin

This Week in #Journalism: Free Press in Wisconsin

Posted by & filed under This Week in #Journalism.

“A free press is not a privilege but an organic necessity in a great society.” - Walter Lippmann, an early 20th century American newspaper columnist and writer

 

Wisconsin

“This week, a legislative committee approved a measure that would not only evict the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism from its offices on the University of Wisconsin campus, but also bar any university staff from working with the center.”  ”The state legislature’s attack on the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism goes against a long history of public universities playing a role in informing the public”  ”And so the state legislature’s affront on the center is more than a problem of academic freedom and student teaching. The center is one hopeful model of the journalistic institution of the future. But journalism needs to be independent, and the state legislature’s desire — and apparent ability — to reach into the university poses a particularly tricky problem for those who have felt hopeful about this model of doing journalism. It also violates a century of innovation and collaboration between journalism and the university, one that helped form the character of both institutions in this state.”

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/06/journalism-and-democracy-in-wisconsin/

http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/06/on-wisconsin-what-happens-when-you-try-to-kick-a-nonprofit-journalism-center-off-campus/

http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/06/saving-the-wisconsin-idea-how-the-battle-in-madison-threatens-a-century-of-innovation/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/11/wisconsin-journalism-center_n_3417534.html?ir=College&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003 (VIDEO)

 

 

Other stuffs

iOS 7: “Now when you choose to receive updates from a website, your breaking news, sports scores, auction alerts, and more appear as notifications — even when Safari isn’t running.”  ”Is this the move that lets news organizations get the most out of pushing breaking news to users, on their phones and at their desks?”

http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/06/push-notifications-for-news-stories-better-background-downloads-and-more-of-apples-new-promises-to-news-orgs/

 

“Sources of all kinds — including politicians — can become publishers and distribute their own information directly to an audience, without the need for a traditional media outlet. Is that a good thing or a bad thing for journalism?”  this allows journalists of all kinds — both professional and amateur or “citizen” journalists — to move up the value chain, as disruption expert Clay Christensen has described in his recent paper on the evolution of media. If we see the media as providing a service (or “jobs to be done,” as Christensen calls it) then part of that service used to be telling people what politicians said, or what the government wanted them to hear.”  ”Now that this can be accomplished largely (or increasingly) without journalists, it should free up a whole class of reporters to do more value-added journalism that explains what things mean, or questions the statements of politicians.”

http://paidcontent.org/2013/06/04/when-sources-can-go-direct-do-we-need-journalism-less-or-do-we-need-it-more-than-ever/

 

Would you click a “Respect” button more than a “Like” button?: “The finding that makes me the most afraid,” says Stroud, “is the people who are most likely to polarize and look at like-minded media and exhibit some of these behaviors that I don’t think are pro-democratic are those who are most politically knowledgeable.”  ”From a business angle, respondents seeing a “Respect” button clicked on more comments in a comment section. From a democratic angle, respondents seeing a “Respect” button clicked on more comments from another political perspective in comparison to the “Recommend” or “Like” buttons.”  A WordPress plugin for a Respect button is available here.

http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/06/would-you-click-a-respect-button-more-than-a-like-button-experiments-in-tweaking-news-reader-behavior-for-democracy/

 

“People didn’t know Foreign Policy was open for business on the web.”  ”When we set up shop [Susan Glasser on Politico], we just found we had unlocked so much more conversation and discussion, and that people saw us immediately as a different kind of venue. It’s really snowballed from there.”

http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/06/wednesday-qa-susan-glasser-on-heading-to-politico-the-state-of-foreign-reporting-and-balancing-blogs-and-longform/

socialtv_ecosystem

This Week in #SocialTV: The Ecosystem

Posted by & filed under This Week In #SocialTV.

If the second screen is the new first screen, is the first screen now the second screen or just another screen?  Plus Hillary joins the government in doing strange things with social media.

 

The Numbers

The study, “Talking Social TV,” found that only 12 percent of respondents use social media one or more times a day in relation to TV.” But, “37 percent of respondents use social media one or more times per week in relation to TV shows room for growth.”

“Only 1.5% of those in the Nielsen-backed Council for Research Excellence report being lured to existing TV shows by social media. For new shows this is slightly better, at 6%. Reality programming is much stronger with social media when people are watching. On the flip side, comedy has less social media interaction during the program and more interaction afterwards.”

“The Deloitte State of the Media Survey found 78 per cent of people aged 14 to 29 see their smartphones as an entertainment device, a far greater percentage than among Gen-Xers and older generations.”  ”Younger generations are less likely to watch TV, with fewer than half of 14-to-23-year-olds ranking it in their top three.”

  • Six percent of respondents reported being drawn to new TV shows by social media while only 1.5 percent of respondents reported being drawn to existing TV shows by social media

  • Social media use varies by genre. Sci-fi, sports, and talk/news shows have strong overall interactions. Reality TV’s interaction is strongest while people are watching, and comedy shows’ interactions are strongest before and after the program

  • “Super Connectors,” defined by CRE as those most actively involved in social media usage in relation to TV viewing, make up 12 percent of the population, are typically young, and female

  • “Super Connectors” are more likely to be involved with all means of communication about a television program. They are two to three times more likely to be involved with social media in relation to television as the rest of the population.

  • Hispanics are more involved with social media than the general population, but they are less involved than the  ”Super Connectors.”

  • Mobile device ownership increases social media interaction.

  • People use social media to discuss television shows even while others are watching with them.

http://venturebeat.com/2013/06/13/social-medias-impact-on-tv-isnt-that-big-new-study-finds/

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/202156/social-media-has-growing-influence-on-tv-viewing.html#axzz2Vs9LmpXd

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/smartphone-love-has-tv-feeling-threatened-20130613-2o6fo.html

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/06/11/study-social-media-more-effective-at-driving-tv-viewers-to-new-shows-than-to-existing-ones/

 

The Social TV Habits of People (See what kind of TV watcher you are.)

“There was so much excitement—and rightly so—about people trying to interact with television, we wanted to understand who was using it and why.”  ”We know that the CW is going to get a lot more social activity than CBS”  ”Hispanics were 50 percent more likely to interact with social media about television than the average across the survey.”  ”Fifty-four percent of social media usage during TV viewing occurs while you’re watching with someone else.”  “Reality TV’s interaction rate was much stronger while people were watching, less so before or after the program.”  ”Smartphones and tablet users are more likely to interact via social media, especially while watching on-demand or streamed shows.”

http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/social-tv-use-appears-be-growing-150153

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/06/10/tv-viewing-habits-canada-rogers-survey_n_3415721.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-business

http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/2013/6/10/social_media_users_offer_opportunities_for.htm

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1180545/what-type-of-tv-viewer-are-you

http://create.visual.ly/graphic/rogers

 

Second Screen

“To take the premise that TV is the “first screen,” the primary media driver, is to start trying to solve the problem by bridging what is happening on TV over to the secondary device. The results are solutions rooted in the TV experience.”  ”A better way to think about the issue might be to start thinking of the TV as the second screen — a more passive audience experience — and to focus efforts to where the audience has shown the propensity to be most engaged.”

http://www.netnewscheck.com/article/26790/tv-needs-rethink-on-secondscreen-model

 

“Nielsen, Syncbak trial shows measuring online broadcast viewers is possible.”  ”Broadcasters looking to leverage the popularity among consumers of watching television on their favorite Internet-connected device, while maintaining the ad-supported programming model that’s historically propelled the industry, need a reliable, verifiable way to measure viewership on second-screen devices.”  “As consumers access programming in new ways, content creators and providers need viewing on all platforms to be captured.”  “With the success of this trial, we now know we can obtain measureable credit for the in-market mobile viewing of our content and do so in a way that is monetizable.”

http://broadcastengineering.com/mobile-tv/nielsen-syncbak-trial-shows-measuring-online-broadcast-viewers-possible

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jun/13/tv-ratings-measure-online-catch-up?INTCMP=SRCH

http://readwrite.com/2013/05/03/why-innovation-is-moving-outside-the-tv#awesm=~o8FuyFk5criN01

 

Big Brother

“Racking up hundreds of thousands of followers after just one tweet, the former secretary of state launches #tweetsfromhillary.”  ”But beyond the usual applications, governments are also experimenting with using social media in surprising, progressive, and sometimes just plain weird ways.”

  • Picking up the trash
  • Defusing riots
  • Detecting earthquakes before they happen
  • Preparing for the zombie apocalypse
  • Forecasting elections

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57588621-93/hillary-clinton-shows-shes-down-with-tech-and-joins-twitter/?subj=cnet&tag=title

http://blog.hootsuite.com/5-weird-ways-governments-using-social/

 

Update on the Red Wedding

“Following Game of Thrones’ now-infamous Red Wedding episode, people were–what’s the phrase?–crazy pissed. Upset at the shocking end to the season’s penultimate episode, and the deaths of several favorite characters, fans of the show railed on social media with an endless stream of “Thanks for nothing, Game of Thrones” and “I may be completely done with Game of Thrones” tweets. It seemed as the show might be facing a blood-letting of its own, at least in terms of losing fans.”

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/06/game-of-thrones-red-wedding/

 

The Pack

“The social TV market today is still alive and thriving but the pack has definitely thinned. Recently closures and asset sales include BeeTV, Miso, and Philo. And now, Numote, will soon be added to this list.”  ”Twitter remains dominant with Social TV and has secured its position with its acquisition of Bluefin Labs, a Social TV analytics company, in February.” “Twitter’s Amplify program has also started to show some success. Shaw and Bell, Candian broadcasters, have recently signed partnerships to sell ads with Twitter as part of the Amplify program.”  ”Leaders in the social TV space, GetGlue and Viggle, are still very active.”  ”Storytelling Through Fan Involvement” and “The Convergence of TV and The Internet” were a reoccurring themes at SXSW this year and we are seeing digital extensions of shows become more and more popular with supplementary content for viewers to consume 24/7 while their favorite shows aren’t airing.”

http://www.appmarket.tv/social-tv/2178-social-tv-the-pack-is-thinning-but-the-future-is-brighter-than-ever.html

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/493992-Cable_Show_2013_Social_TV_Apps_Ripe_for_Consolidation.php

 

 

 

Screen Shot 2013-06-07 at 10.27.15 PM

This Week in #SocialTV: Game of Social Media Thrones

Posted by & filed under This Week In #SocialTV.

The Grand Dame Lanister (TV) holds court with Twitter Targaryen and Shazam Stark but the social media winter in coming.  Meanwhile House Sklar is sailing the women’s army accross The Narrow Sea to take back their fair share.

The Battlefield

“The domains have extended, the vanguards are in place, the stakes are high — for these strategic advances, social networks have set up defenses to thwart the elusive plans of competing social media platforms. The battles for cyberspace and online domination are at stake.” [Infographic]

http://socialbarrel.com/social-media-winter-is-coming/51752/

 

“All the major social media platforms are moving into the [Social TV] space, but Twitter is in the lead”

http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/The-Rise-of-Social-TV-How-Social-Media-Is-4587216.php

 

The Houses

The Grand Dame Lanister

“If new media is the hot, young neighbor on the block, then television is like the grand dame holding court in the mansion up the street. She’s clearly the richest lady in the county, and eventually everyone comes knocking to pay homage to her.”

http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/05/25/twitter-and-shazam-court-television-broadcasters-with-new-updates/

 

Twitter Targaryen

“The company has slowly but surely put a bear hug around the [Television] industry.”  “The concept is simple: Advertisers run TV ad campaigns and Twitter promoted tweets simultaneously, and then — via Twitter TV Ad Targeting — consumers on Twitter are targeted with promoted tweets.”  ”[Twitter's] video fingerprinting technology detects when and where a brand’s commercials are running on TV.”  ”And Twitter’s got a lot of science behind this thanks to its smart acquisition of Bluefin Labs.”

http://www.digiday.com/brands/behind-twitters-savvy-embrace-of-tv/

http://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-twitters-new-tv-ad-product-2013-5

http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/twitters-tv-ad-targeting-uses-video-fingerprinting-149740

 

Shazam Stark

“As an industry we are all in the very first days of imagining a world of companion experiences that make TV better, and ultimately transform TV viewing.”  ”Until now, every time users wanted to “Shazam” a song or TV show to get more info, they have needed to initiate the audio-based content-recognition sequence. The new iPad app eliminates that step, by constantly listening for media and pulling up the associated tags in a carousel at the top of the screen.”  ”Now Shazam is using [their] technology to help answer entirely new questions around TV, and broadening its view to help people recognise and engage with the world around them.”  ”The simplicity of the Shazam experience means that yes, while it’s not 100% lean-back, you only lean ever so slightly forward to get a world more content.”  ”Shazam currently has more than 300 million global users accessing the app, equating to an astounding ten million queries a day.”  ”There are also certain shows that have partnered with Shazam like “American Idol” and “The Voice” that when tagged, offer exclusive content like behind-the-scenes information, cast details and episode previews.”

http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/shazams-ipad-app-now-listens-for-music-tv-automatically-1200486841/

http://www.iptv-news.com/2013/05/shazams-daniel-danker-this-can-be-a-very-confusing-time-for-tv-viewers/

http://www.coolmomtech.com/2013/06/improved-shazam-app-for-ipad.php

http://mashable.com/2013/05/23/shazam-ipad-app/

 

In the land of Essos

Ye Other Screen

“In Q3 2012 Nielsen reported that they were watching more TV than ever, about 34 hours a week on average. The difference now is that they’re watching not with TV dinners on their laps, but with smartphones and tablets.”

http://www.dmnews.com/using-the-second-screen-to-drive-customer-engagement/article/295381/

 

“GetGlue for Android update brings personal guides, second screen sharing.”

http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/07/getglue-for-android-update/

 

zeebox: “The launch of TV Rooms gives anyone the ability to join and build a range of different communities centered around one or a set of TV shows — a place where they can call the shots, share ideas, conversations and organize affinity groups based on what’s important to them.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130606-904170.html

 

“Ads on Facebook will relate to the ads you see on TV and that kind of magical jump never existed before.”

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/202052/when-the-first-screen-hands-off-to-the-second-scre.html#axzz2VarRWJAW

 

“New Wizards vs Aliens App Offers the First Synchronized Second Screen Experience for a Kids’ TV Show in the U.S.”

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-wizards-vs-aliens-app-offers-the-first-synchronized-second-screen-experience-for-a-kids-tv-show-in-the-us-2013-05-30

 

“The service starts with an alarm when a selected show begins. If the viewer decides to participate, Atresmedia Conecta will offer different possibilities, such as social networks, special links, surveys and rankings. The app is free and has after-show content as well as videos, wallpapers and exclusive pictures.”

http://www.rapidtvnews.com/index.php/2013052427914/atresmedia-launches-new-second-screen-application.html

 

The US Open’s Second Screen on ESPN: “Through the use of the second screen, viewers have choices and they will watch more of the event because they have more control.”

http://washingtonexaminer.com/jim-williams-second-screen-options-draw-u.s.-open-to-espn-deal/article/2529923

 

“Showyou are already thinking ahead by launching creator-focused programs of their own. With the newly minted Showyou Channels, the service is taking a slight cue from sites who are familiar with creating and distributing videos (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.), announcing that the idea is to provide users with a hub where they can make original content and easily share it with the world.”

http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/06/showyou-channels-video-discovery/

 

Ye Social

“Social is not a destination but a process that can serve as connective tissue for multiple services.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tristanlouis/2013/06/01/social-is-not-a-destination/

 

“Twitter is TV’s social soundtrack,”  “Working closely with Bell Media, we will be able to accelerate the development of analytic tools mentioned and we look forward to sharing the findings with clients and industry.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/bell-twitter-strike-partnership-deal-in-latest-social-tv-move/article12377752/

 

Ye who is getting Medieval on your ass.

House to watch: House Sklar

“Ms. Sklar founded [TheLi.st] three years ago to help women in tech help one another.”  ”In the world of Ms. Sklar, all women working in tech (or media, or politics) are winners, even if they have a problem with her. As long as they are succeeding, she can use them as evidence — data points, she might say — that women deserve to be more frequently hired, funded and featured on the supposedly meritocratic tech scene.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/fashion/rachel-sklar-tries-to-become-a-social-media-entrepreneur.html

final-rayne-independent

This Week in #Journalism: The Rise of the Radically Connected

Posted by & filed under This Week in #Journalism.

Goodbye professional photographers and small weekly newspapers, now iPhone wielding online journalists are helping drive civic engagement but is “radical connectivity” and “our reliance for perspective regardless of reputability” causing the death of an industry?  What’s more, is Tweeting even protected by the first amendment?

 

Journalism’s future after the Chicago layoffs: “Are full-time journalists and photographers becoming obsolete? It now seems major daily newspapers are beginning to mimic the model of small-scale magazines: employ a handful of staff editors to manage the content and then rely on stringers to fill the pages.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/05/journalism-chicago-suntimes-photographers

 

“Sun-Times reporters begin mandatory training today on “iPhone photography basics” following elimination of the paper’s entire photography staff.”

http://www.macrumors.com/2013/05/31/chicago-sun-times-fires-photo-staff-will-train-reporters-to-use-iphones-for-photos/

 

“So, if classified information is leaked out on a personal website or [by] some blogger, do they have the same First Amendments rights as somebody who gets paid [in] traditional journalism?”  ”Let’s say that a person regularly shares news stories over Twitter.  He looks for interesting articles, composes a summary and a link, tweets it out. One day, a friend who works for the government sends him a classified document.  The person puts that up on a file sharing site and tweets a link with a description of the file.  Does that person deserve protection as a journalist?”

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/06/value-new-media-shield-law-depends-your-definition-media/65930/

 

“As amateur news hounds gain power and influence through social media, the definition of “journalist” has ripened for philosophical debate. But now it’s becoming a legal issue — one that could hamper efforts to protect the news profession at the very time federal lawmakers are awakening to the need to do so.”

http://www.thereporter.com/opinion/ci_23391749/peter-funt-what-is-journalist

“Big news organizations have seen both news production and advertising revenue disrupted by radical connectivity. The entertainment industry, from publishing to record companies, is in its own death throes.”

http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/06/from-nieman-reports-from-a-few-goliaths-to-a-sea-of-davids/

 

Gary Vaynerchuk is “tripling down” on content – because “doubling down” doesn’t begin to describe how important he thinks it is.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorieclark/2013/06/05/why-gary-vaynerchuks-new-social-media-strategy-should-change-the-way-you-do-business/

 

“Digital advertising is still growing — but not for publishers, many of which are struggling to get past zero growth.”

http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/05/the-newsonomics-of-climbing-the-ad-food-chain/

 

“The problem with social media is a problem that’s becoming very much our own — our reliance for perspective regardless of reputability.”  ”YouTube has created “a complex, symbiotic relationship between citizens and news organizations … a relationship that comes close to the journalistic ‘dialogue’ many observers predicted would become the new journalism online.”

http://thedailycougar.com/2013/06/03/social-media-journalists-call-first-dibs/ 

Local

Citizen journalism 2.0: A new ecosystem [Video]

“The industry’s worst fears haven’t been realized—quite the reverse.” “Newsrooms have been really clever in finding a way to use the content that people are able to produce now en masse because of how common mobile phones have become.”

http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2013/06/citizen-journalism-20

 

“To be sure, advocacy is still a dirty word for legacy journalists, unless it’s an editorial-board crusade. But activating examples are rising from both inside and outside mainstream media. In addition to its before-and-after streets visualization, Urban Milwaukee, for one, has also invited readers to plot new trolley routes.”

http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/06/a-new-kind-of-activist-journalism-when-finding-solutions-are-part-of-journalists-job-too/

 

“The Independent has succeeded not so much as an entity unto itself but as the hub of a civic ecosystem.”

http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/06/tracing-the-links-between-civic-engagement-and-the-revival-of-local-journalism/

 

“There may not be another community of 10,000 people in our country that has published two weekly newspapers for 45 years.”

http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/05/r-i-p-the-rayne-independent/

This Week in #SocialTV: Toilet Times..

Posted by & filed under This Week In #SocialTV.

Yahoo’s $1.8 billion mid-life crisis buys them Tumblr (done) and Hulu (rumored) but is Yahoo too old to wear skinny jeans? I guess that explains why toilet Tweeting is up 20% in 2013. So, bartender, pour me a Fanhattan. That’s Fan.TV with a twist. 

 

Social by the numbers:

  • 46% admit to using their device for instant messaging whilst watching TV
  • 44% used social networks in bed
  • 30% play games on their second-screen
  • 7% in the bathroom
  • 6% in the toilet (up from 5% last year)

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/technology/news/australians-now-using-social-media-in-bedrooms-and-toilet-cubicles/story-fni0bzod-1226650573429

http://www.worldtvpc.com/blog/inmobi-announce-62-of-mobile-web-users-have-tv-second-screen/

 

“ConnecTV goes by the tagline: Sync, Share, Play: Sync automatically with whatever ad or TV show is being watched, share with one-touch integration via Twitter, Facebook and other major social media platforms, and play along.”

http://www.2ndscreensociety.com/blog/2013/05/21/connectv-connects-the-dots-from-ad-sync-to-second-screen-and-social-tv/

 

Moms are sharing.  Parenting and TV takes up one-third of shares.

http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/television/moms-like-sharing-content-about-movies-tv-29828/

 

Start expecting a lot more conversation about socialTV and its impact on various future experiences.

http://socialmediatoday.com/jamesongbrown/1496391/why-socialtv-will-rule-future

 

A new social app will let Dish subscribers interact with Facebook and Twitter feeds related to the show or channel they’re currently watching.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57586641-93/dish-network-dishes-out-social-app-for-its-subscribers/

 

 

Deep Dive: Fan TV

fan-tv-thumb

 

“Built in secret, Fanhattan is finally showing off its Yves Behar-designed device to the world.”  ”Like other over-the-top services that create new interfaces for browsing TV and movies, Fan TV improves on the standard 700-channel cable-TV grid by aggressively sorting your viewing options: by type of show, by movie genre, by actor, and so on.”  ”Ultimately, Fan TV will work only if cable providers agree to partner with the company to provide a live TV stream.”

http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/30/4380108/fantv-set-top-box-fanhattan

 

“The hook: Fan TV helps you quickly and easily find your favorite programs, regardless of their origins. It then delivers the shows via streaming video or live TV, and can even record like a DVR.”  ”The Fan TV hardware runs software that looks like an extension of the Fanhattan app, which famously lets you identify your preferred programs — then shows you where to find them, no matter the online video service or network provider.”  ”To make this work, cable and satellite TV companies must cooperate, because BianRosa says this device won’t be for those who don’t have such services — at least not at first. In other words, it’s not for “cord cutters,” those who use services such as Netflix and Hulu and reject cable TV or satellite TV subscriptions.”  ”We’re thinking Apple is probably working on the same thing, with the stumbling block being negotiating with those who own the content.”

http://mashable.com/2013/05/30/fan-tv/

 

“Before we go any further we should say that as excited as we are about Fan TV, it’s still pie in the sky. The company has ZERO official partners for the service, there’s no price or street date.”

http://gizmodo.com/fan-tv-is-a-set-top-box-organized-around-content-instea-510510115

 

“Most of the attention in this space surrounds streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Instant Video, so it’s interesting to see Fanhattan target cable TV boxes, rather than streaming boxes, specifically. There’s certainly a market for it, but its success will inevitably lie in its price, content offering and overall user experience.”

http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2013/05/30/fanhattan-unveils-fan-tv-a-ridiculously-small-set-top-box-with-on-demand-streaming-live-tv-and-dvr/?fromcat=all

 

“The wall that broadcasters and cable companies have built around their services is not long for this world, according to Barry Diller, chairman of IAC. It’s not clear who will tear it down, and it’s not clear when it will actually happen, but the “centricity” of the video world is going to shift from cable and satellite to the Internet, he said at D11 Wednesday.”

http://paidcontent.org/2013/05/29/barry-diller-the-internet-is-eating-the-cable-company/

 

“Fan TV is based in large parts on the work Fanhattan has been doing in aggregating video content sources on the iPad and on the web.”

http://gigaom.com/2013/05/30/want-to-know-why-there-is-no-apple-tv-yet-then-check-out-fan-tv/

 

 

The rest.

“In Google’s semantic world ‘sentiment mining’ (what is being said about you), engagement (how your content is received), citation (where your website and brand are mentioned) and interaction (how your website is linked to) form the four pillars upon which your new marketing needs to be based on.”

http://socialmediatoday.com/david-amerland/1486521/how-semantic-search-changing-everything

 

“If the last few years have all been about building compelling mobile-first or mobile-only experiences, the latest trend seems to be bringing those experiences back to the web.”

http://earlynerd.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/dijit-brings-its-personalized-social-tv-app-to-pcs-with-the-launch-of-nextguide-web/

 

“Chances are good that users will leave Tumblr in droves, alarmed by the rumored avalanche of advertising and the potential crackdown on content. LiveJournal users didn’t have any qualms about going to Dreamwidth and Tumblr; Flickr users bounced to Instagram and back again; and is there anybody left on MySpace? Anyone?”

http://www.fastcompany.com/3010165/deconstructing-the-doomed-yahoo-tumblr-romance

 

Yahoo could pay $600-$800 million for Hulu.

http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/27/yahoo-could-pony-up-600m-800m-for-hulu-report-says/

 

Twitter Amplify?

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articles/17880/20130528/twitter-amplify-tv-ad-targeting-partnerships-brand.htm

 

“By offering so-called second-screen content synchronized with the broadcast, the networks hope they can persuade viewers to watch programming live, instead of on a digital video recorder several days after their initial broadcasts are recorded.”

http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-243381/

 

 

[Infographics]

Women Collaborating With Social Media More Than Men [Infographic]

http://readwrite.com/2013/05/28/women-collaborating-with-social-media-more-than-men-infographic

 

The Difference Between Paid, Owned and Earned Media [Infograhic]

http://www.business2community.com/infographics/the-noob-guide-to-understanding-the-difference-between-paid-owned-and-earned-media-infographic-0501093

 

 

This Week in #Journalism: Here come the Millenials

Posted by & filed under This Week in #Journalism.

Social media is A) gossip, B) the future of disaster response, C) a driving force behind print or D) all of the above? Twitter’s CEO thinks the crowd will sort it all out while The Financial Times is jumping all in. Traditional Journalism vs the Millennials? Let the games begin.

 

These are the Millennials. They grew up with computers, instant messaging on AIM, using Facebook in school, they’re not afraid to communicate in GIFs or acronyms, and they’re poised to do great things in the future. That’s why they’re worth watching.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-kanalley/rising-stars-future-of-journalism_b_3295203.html 

 

“Rather than laws that protect journalists, which can be hard to define on an individual level, we need laws that protect anyone engaging in the act of journalism.”

http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/05/we-need-to-protect-the-act-of-journalism-no-matter-whos-doing-it/

 

Journalism’s First Obligation Is to Tell the Truth

http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/102541/Journalisms-First-Obligation-Is-to-Tell-the-Truth.aspx

 

If we think our community is going to pay for our services (as many, including Voice of San Diego, The New York Times, and Andrew Sullivan do), then we absolutely have to learn how to serve users.

http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/05/scott-lewis-learning-from-social-platforms-to-build-a-better-news-site/

 

Scott Pelley: “Twitter, Facebook and Reddit? That’s not journalism. That’s gossip. Journalism was invented as an antidote to gossip.”

http://www.lfpress.com/2013/05/24/clark-social-media-no-replacement-for-traditional-news-coverage

 

Twitter CEO: “We are building this global town square . . . the crowd is doing a good job of sorting out what is real and what is rumor.”  ”We think of ourselves as very complementary to news orgs.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/twitter-building-town-square-users-weed-false-information/story?id=19281858#.UabfpGR4a8c

http://allthingsd.com/20130529/next-up-at-d11-its-twitter-ceo-dick-costolo/

 

“The Financial Times launched a new, mobile-friendly news wire today with an emphasis on speed and brevity. It’s called fastFT, and it’s something like a traditional news wire mixed with a Twitter stream, delivered both in a newsfeed on FT.com as well as on a standalone page.”

http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/05/the-financial-times-accelerates-its-news-with-fastft/

 

“Inside and out, [NPR's new national headquarters] is designed to tell the 43-year story of NPR the public-supported multimedia company, from its radio roots to present-day video, apps, and photojournalism.”

http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/05/new-hq-reflects-nprs-shift-into-multimedia/

 

Jess Cagle, Managing Editor of Entertainment Weekly: “So I will very often look at the social media surrounding of a particular show and make the decision based on that.”

http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/details.asp?aID=11840&

 

[Infographics]

The new face of disaster response [infographic]

http://holykaw.alltop.com/social-media-the-new-face-of-disaster-response-infographic?tu4=1

This Week in #SocialTV The Marriage Edition

Posted by & filed under This Week In #SocialTV.

The premature death knell of movie theaters and radio reminds us that TV and SocialTV still have long lives ahead of them. Will Nielsen’s counting help them count again? Yahoo! asks for Tumblr’s hand in marriage and Time Warner starts dating Hulu.

 

Is TV Dead? Not so Fast! “Sitting in 1952 it would have been easy to envision a time when radio would go silent and every movie theater in America would close its doors. That did not come to pass.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-mcdonough/television-ratings-decline_b_3268129.html

 

“TV will change from what we have known for decades – it’s ripe for it – there’s too much visual ritalin, too many commercials, and, as narrative developments show in the Transmedia world, stories are going to get more complex on TV… as they should in the future.”

http://www.wired.com/insights/2013/05/reports-of-social-tvs-death-have-been-greatly-exaggerated/

 

“Broadcast and cable networks say Nielsen is leaving out as much as 12 percent of viewers, because it hasn’t perfected a way to capture those who watch on the Web.”

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-16/twitter-talk-dominates-tv-ad-buying-blitz

 

“ABC will participate in Nielsen’s first trial to incorporate mobile video apps into the firm’s online ratings, as the network tries to get a handle on audiences accessing content across multiple devices.”

http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/abc-to-test-mobile-tv-measurement-with-nielsen-1200481089/

 

“Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt has been talking with other cable-TV providers about making a joint bid for the Web-TV hub Hulu.”

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/high_speed_chase_CBxo8K1pg4Ptq169t8fNKJ

 

“Networks that want a strong position in the future will be great application developers. And the applications will be unique to the content.”

http://www.thestar.com/life/technology/2013/05/15/netflix_ceo_reed_hastings_weighs_on_future_of_internet_tv.html

 

“Only 5% of video-watching households are Zero-TV households, but 23% percent of Netflix subscribers had cancelled their cable or satellite subscriptions.”

http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/columns/2013/05/hdtv-expert-zerotv-households-and-the-secondseason-crunch.php

 

“Just like a regular TV network, Amazon ordered up a bunch of pilot shows this year, and will end up making a series out of some of them.”

http://allthingsd.com/20130517/amazon-kills-zombies-keeps-john-goodman-as-it-plans-first-season-of-web-series/

 

“Increase stickiness by offering exclusive content available only through the second screen.”

http://insights.wired.com/profiles/blogs/three-ways-cbs-at-t-and-viggle-are-leveraging-the-second-screen

 

“Shaw Media unveiled today an innovative way for some movie advertisers to engage viewers with a dramatic new approach to commercial breaks known as a live on screen integration.”

http://www.broadcastermagazine.com/news/shaw-media-introduces-live-on-screen-integration/1002311377/

 

“Just a year ago, when you thought of a TV series, you would probably still look at it in terms of episodes and storylines. Now, you’d be more likely to look at it as a series of moments, each with a social dimension and a continuing narrative in the non-linear world.”

http://blog.mipworld.com/2013/05/kerry-taylor-philip-oferrall-why-multi-peak-shows-like-geordie-shore-are-social-tv-gold/

 

“People are making financial bets, if you will. They’re putting their money to work before knowing anything. The risk is certainly not worth the reward,” says Networked Insights founder and CEO Dan Neely, who equates buying ad time at the upfronts to gambling.”

http://www.fastcocreate.com/1682958/an-analytics-company-ambushes-upfronts-to-point-out-the-inherent-flaws-in-the-model#1

 

 Social

“In tomorrow’s world, we’ll already be living online all the time, so the notion of “sharing” may change.”

http://allthingsd.com/20130503/when-people-live-their-lives-online-the-concept-of-sharing-changes-says-snapchats-evan-spiegel-video/

 

Is Marissa Mayer About to Buy Tumblr for $1 Billion?

http://mashable.com/2013/05/16/yahoo-tumblr/

http://allthingsd.com/20130516/will-yahoo-try-to-get-its-cool-again-by-doing-a-deal-for-tumblr/

 

Second-Screen

“TV will become a totally different experience for consumers in the next couple of years, with integrated and interactive tools and hardware made for optimizing browsing on a TV screen.”

http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/the-diy-website-revolution-will-be-televised

 

“We can stream movies on Netflix. We can buy TV episodes on iTunes. So why, in 2013, can’t we watch live television on our smartphones, tablets and computers without a pricey cable subscription?”

http://business.time.com/2013/05/16/the-fight-for-streaming-tv/

 

“Rather than limiting the streaming distribution of its shows to Apple TV through Netflix or Hulu, the new CW app will offer users direct access to full episodes of the network’s lineup”

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2419121,00.asp

 

“GetGlue’s approach to the second screen has been to create activity feeds for each show. Each feed is a mix of comments, video, pictures, re-caps, gifs, memes and more.”

http://www.iptv-news.com/2013/05/getglue-ceo-people-can-find-second-screen-ads-interesting/

 

Squawka’s european second-screen experience = cash.

http://www.theuksportsnetwork.com/squawkas-second-screen-experience-receives-significant-investor-funding

 

“ABC’s announcement that it’ll allow live streaming of its shows via its iPad and iPhone app.”

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/200405/cable-and-broadcast-in-tv-everywheres-bed-in-str.html#axzz2TaeX866a

 

“SimulTV combines streaming video content, Facebook and Twitter integration and video chat all into one web browser-based interface that you can access anywhere.”

http://mashable.com/2013/05/09/simultv-watch-tv-with-friends/

 

Mobile

“M-commerce sales will account for 15% of total commerce sales in 2013.”

http://holykaw.alltop.com/global-mobile-advertising-statistics-infographic

 

 

This Week in #Journalism: It’s all About the Data

Posted by & filed under This Week in #Journalism.

Mobile, local, amateur. The future of online journalism seems to be fast, atomized and crowdsourced but are the mountains of data we create every day accurate?

Social + mobile = the “dynamite”

“Thorough and reliable sourcing takes time, and while the papers of record focus on assembling traditional articles, less trustworthy sources take to tweeting with the slightest of substantiation.”

http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/05/social-mobile-the-dynamite-combo-itv-news-needed-to-build-reputation-and-audience/

 

“Local broadcast TV viewers are 85% more likely to post photos and videos than users of all media — as compared to radio, newspapers, broadcast and cable television. But local newspapers  are higher than all other media in generating retweets — with a 54% greater likelihood.”

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/200078/local-tv-viewers-crazy-for-social-media-newspaper.html#axzz2TaeX866a

 

“Amateur journalists is an oxymoron. Those gossiping via Twitter and Facebook are not journalists. If news professionals were to put stock in such chatter without verification, they would be wrong, but there is little evidence of that really happening. The wild frontier of social media shouldn’t be conflated with the established world of journalism.”

http://www.montereyherald.com/opinion/ci_23263480/peter-funt-social-media-not-real-threat-journalism

 

“Though many people do still read news online that has been produced by traditional outlets, many users are now expressing that they feel the traditional outlets are ‘too slow’ or that their reporting has ‘too much of an agenda’.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jayson-demers/how-social-media-is-suppo_b_3239076.html

 

Now the New Yorker magazine says it can help journalists, and their sources, cover their tracks. It is rolling out an electronic tip box it says will give leakers and tipsters the ability to cloak their identity when they reach out to the magazine.

http://allthingsd.com/20130515/the-new-yorker-launches-strongbox-an-open-source-anonymous-tip-tool-built-by-aaron-swartz/

 

As the media have become more social and thereby more “networked” — whether they like it or not — smart publishers like The Guardian and ProPublica have taken advantage of this phenomenon to crowdsource knowledge in a variety of ways.

http://paidcontent.org/2013/05/14/crowdsourcing-is-here-to-stay-now-its-about-building-tools-for-networked-journalism/

 

“We live in age where more data is collected than ever and that data will be used for setting policy goals and decision-making. But we also all sit behind computer screens and databases are not rocket science anymore, so if you’re not using data for investigations, you’re missing out.”

http://memeburn.com/2013/05/why-data-driven-documentation-is-the-future-of-online-journalism/

 

Organizations and journalists using sensor technology to create their own real-time data and then report on it. But is sensor journalism feasible or sustainable?

http://paidcontent.org/2013/05/16/is-sensor-journalism-feasible-or-even-ethical-columbias-tow-center-hopes-to-find-out/

 

“Yahoo announced a new partnership with Twitter Thursday that will see select Tweets being folded into the Yahoo newsfeed.”

http://socialmediatoday.com/alex-baker/1471806/yahoo-integrating-tweets-its-newsfeed

 

How Much Data Does the World Create Every Year?

http://www.pinfographics.org/ig/physical-size-of-big-data/

 

How the New York Times can fight BuzzFeed & reinvent its future

“Now, if they can actually overcome their angst — and it hurts me to say this — they can change the conversation in the media business away from the increasingly shallow content and instead bring the focus back to quality and in-depth journalism, which is their stock and trade.”

http://gigaom.com/2013/05/10/how-the-new-york-times-can-fight-buzzfeed-reinvent-its-future/

 

Here it is: In 2012, newspapers lost $16 in print ads for every $1 earned in digital ads. And it’s getting worse, according to a new report by Pew. In 2011, the ratio was just 10-to-1.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/03/this-is-the-scariest-statistic-about-the-newspaper-business-today/274125/

 

Moreover, 59% of Americans age 18-24, the youngest group of adults surveyed, access newspaper content across all platforms during the same time period, the study found.

http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2013/10735/7-in-10-adults-access-content-from-newspaper-media-each-week

 

The web is awash with all kinds of news. With people’s access to internet dramatically increasing in recent times, more and more newspaper readers are switching camp, putting a big question mark on the survival of print media.

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=54487

Planned CDN Migration

Posted by & filed under Announcements.

This is a service announcement for our planned CDN migration. We will be migrating to a new provider Tuesday, May 14 at 6PM PST. There should be no interruption of service. However we will be watching closely to to make sure no customers are affected. Please follow our RTB_Status Twitter account for realtime updates before, during and after.