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How to Curate: A Quick Guide

One of the things we do at the MediaThon is provide a weekly roundup of media news for this blog.  We curate information about media creation, business and technology that’s useful and interesting. Here’s a quick view of the process.

When selecting material, ask yourself:

  • Is it indicative of a larger trend?
  • Is there a new and important angle?
  • What could this mean for the our community of content creators, distributors, businesspeople, technologists and others?

In writing it up:

  • Be brief, concise and pithy.
  • Pick out and quickly say the most salient details.
  • Look the for the context, or something from inside to pull out and highlight.
  • Look for the opportunity it presents! It may be a business opportunity, the possibilities for the community, or a potential personal opportunity.

I hope this helps. If you have more ideas on best practices to curate, feel free to let us know.

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Doorknobs as Media

When’s the last time you paid for a song? Could we soon ask the same question for tangible goods?

For years, I’ve been saying that every company is a media company. 3D printing could make that more true than ever.

Media makers have to deal with people getting their creations via illicit copies without paying. Soon, 3D printing of objects will get to the point where someone can take pictures of something they like, and print them out for themselves. No muss, no fuss. No purchase!

Tweet from Ad Age, Lowes' DoorKnob Printing

Like your friend’s silverware set? No need to ask where they bought it. Just take some pix and print the knives, forks and spoons out at home. Or, maybe we’ll ask, “Mind if I copy and print out your dress (shoes, handbag)?”

Lowe’s lets customers print parts in multiple materials. That means the home improvement chain could confront  some of the same challenges media companies have for years: Who is taking their “content”? How much money will they lose when someone hacks the design and lets people print the parts at home?

Traditional music companies like Sony and EMI have lost billions of dollars in value due to music fans’ reticence to pay for songs and albums. Many media companies now consider some level of bleed simply a cost of doing business, though some like Netflix are fighting the theft. It’s now unusual for artists to make a real living from music sales. Even the likes of Taylor Swift, in her recent tiff with Apple over the attempt to give her music away, referred to her ability to make a living from performing, not music sales.

And if retailers are letting people print parts, how long is it until people can get those parts — and lot of other items — without going to the store, or ordering from any retailer? How much lost revenue will that mean? Yes, there are plenty of technical hurdles today, and 3D printing is hardly the norm. But long-term (and maybe not as long term as we think), companies that have never had to worry about protecting intellectual property will confront the  same kinds of loss as media companies have for years.

We’ll be confronting a whole new level of “social sharing.”

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Media News Roundup: ESPN Declines; Facebook Ads Best YouTube; Do Twitter Cards Help Publishers?

ESPN logo  Here is this week’s roundup of media news, with a touch of our take.

 

ESPN “Nears a Tipping Point

  • Even ESPN isn’t protected from the decline in cable TV. The network lost 3.2 million cable subscribers in about a year.
  • GoogleVentures’ M.G. Siegler notes challenges for the sports powerhouse, said to contribute 25% of Disney’s operating profits.
  • Signer predicts they will go it alone with a service outside any traditional network “sooner than many people think.” SportsCenter viewership is declining with consumers getting sports news via apps.

Facebook Beats YouTube in Ad Clicks, Engagement

  • Facebook is growing as an ad platform as their ads get more targeted and relevant to users, AdWeek reports.
  • Though they’ve decreased the number of ads per page, they’ve seen an increase in engagement. Clicks of Facebook ads are up 12% in a year, while impressions dropped 47%.
  • An Adobe survey found 51% of people find Facebook ads relevant, compared to 17% for YouTube.

Twitter’s New Article Preview Cards a Boost for Publishers

  • The new Twitter cards allow for each link to have an expanded summary and image to been seen from the newsfeed without actually clicking on it.
  • There is a image and quick summary shown in the expanded space, which is another part of the company’s attempt to bring more media into the newsfeed instead of text.
  • The more time users keep scrolling through their newsfeeds, the more revenue Twitter will make. However, will these article preview cards lead to more traffic on the actual article page, or will users read the quick summary and keep scrolling, leaving the original content page with even less clicks and viewers?
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