This is a simple, potentially effective technique. But of course you need to know who your visitor is. That’s simple enough if you require your users to register on your site, or you know who they are because they log into your site via Facebook Connect or some other third-party connection.

What my old boss is up to…

“All the News That’s Fit without Print”

"Next a walkie-talkie preamble from the auteur, pacing steadily towards the lens, punctuating every other sentence with a hand gesture…" – superb!

"Its website, launched in December 2009, says that owners GPG UK plan to launch the Manchester Weekly, Liverpool Weekly and Birmingham Weekly by 2012."

"However HTFP understands from other media sources in the West Midlands that yesterday's reports were accurate and that Mr Reeves has already begun selling advertising for the new site. "

"Maybe not giving me a right to respond is totally legal. Maybe not even telling me there was going to be an article is totally legal. Publishing my photograph without my knowledge or consent probably is totally legal. But I don’t know how it could be. I’ve never ever felt this low."

"Grimshaw, who has outlined micropayment plans in the past, said that a day pass model for access to online and mobile content would be the first step for 2010."

Since 2008 Sandhu has been chief information officer and general manager/senior vice president, digital, for Star TV in both India and Hong Kong. He established the digital division for Star, which like News International is owned by News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) in India in 2007.

"People want to see a little humanity behind the corporate mask and respond better to newsletters written by one particular person at a company who they can get to know over time through little personal comments in the emails."

"In terms of getting new messages, the MySpace Shot is the single most effective photo type for women. " (But if you're a man it's better to show off your pet than your abs!)

"I started this list when I spoke to students at a high school journalism conference on how it is possible to do everything you need as a journalist by using free products. Since then, this list continues to grow! It can be helpful for anyone trying to do good journalism on a tight budget."

Associated Northcliffe Digital, the digital media arm of DMGT, has acquired the stake in Globrix for an undisclosed sum. AND intends to move Globrix into its Digital Property Group which includes Findaproperty, Primelocation and Findahome.

"Outsell, a research group, reported this week that only 6 per cent of US online readers say they would pay online news sites if they charged. If we are to take the figure at face value (which I don't think we should), then The Guardian could get 2.1m people to subscribe to it online, making it highly profitable at a stroke. Even 1 per cent would give it a subscription base of 350,000."

In the future, both Twitter and Google hope to improve the relevance of search returns in all contexts by adding geo-location data, which can be added to postings sent from smart phones. In general, real-time search "is evolving," says Dylan Casey, the Google product manager for real-time search. "I talk with the guys at Twitter on a regular basis to learn where the feature is going. We get feedback from them, we give them feedback, and our engineers collaborate. It is truly symbiotic."

"The report said 25 per cent of companies reported a fall in total spending, while 18 per cent reported an increase. The balance of -7 is a marked improvement from the -15 the previous quarter and was "the highest since the first quarter of 2008, and well above the record lows seen in late 2008 and early 2009"."

"Guardian.co.uk says it’s sold 68,979 copies of its premium iPhone app since launching in December. At £2.39 a pop in the UK (and $3.99 in U.S.), that’s £164.859 in income over the month, or, at that rate, £1.97 million (about $3.2 million) a year."

"Caroline Little, chief executive of Guardian America, told Press Gazette the company did not have any specific plans but was exploring possibilities for New York-based PaidContent. She said: "We have thought about the possibility of charging for some of our content on PaidContent.org, but the first thing we wanted to do was hear from our readers.""

"Rusbridger said: "It would be crazy if we were to all jump behind a pay wall and imagine that would solve things." He conceded that, whilst pay walls are unlikely to be erected around Guardian.co.uk, it was good that journalism was "trying different things.""

"Our strategy is to build the metered model while we remain focused on making NYTimes.com more compelling, interactive and entertaining, providing many more reasons for online audiences to visit our site and stay longer. In the weeks ahead, we will be adding resources to achieve these critically important goals. "

"Its not summer yet, but that's a lot of swallows. With respect to the End of FreeConomics, we hate to say we told you so, but…well, we told you so 🙂 Till the next rush of dumb money hits the Tech market, of course…. "

AOP and PPA have announced today that AOP – previously a subsidiary of PPA – has formally become an independent membership organisation, as of 1st January 2010.

The document states that the trade negotiations are a "unique opportunity [for Canada] to upgrade its IPR regime despite local anti-IPR lobbying." It includes an assessment of recent copyright reform efforts, noting that two bills have died due to "political instability." The document adds that the copyright reform process was revived in 2009 with the national copyright consultation, but notes dismissively it may have been a "tactic to confuse."

"We’re very aware that there are more people like you outside of government who have the skills and abilities to make wonderful things out of public data. These are our first steps in building a collaborative relationship with you."

"1. Convince your boss this stuff is for real, and that if you haven't jumped on it, you're late.
2. Profile your customer base, and see what they're ready for, before planning a project to reach out to them. (After all, People is the first step in the POST process.)
3. Segment your audience; build different strategies for different segments. (Social is so prevalent now that a single approach for your company is probably too broad.)"

"Facebook, Twitter etc clearly rapidly will need to accelerate a mobile application strategy will that drive Location based usage.
But the sweet spot will be Location Based gaming, one wonders what Google, Facebook et al will launch in this space. "

"The iTrust creates a locked dummy screen to prevent access to text messages, emails or social networking accounts, and stores a record of every button pressed on the display."

"The pace of change for hyper-local news sites and related businesses is dizzying.
It's hard to keep up, especially if you try to pay attention to business moves made by large players, as well as innovations that bubble up from local, independent news sites."

"For me 'the curation gap' is that, at present, most mainstream media organisations seem lacking in the tools, or the will, or both, to bring the best of the voices in those niches and make them relevant to the mass audience."

Turn Twitter lists to RSS

Amusing breakdown of a Sunday Express article on Twitter.

There are questions about how the internet has already changed the Times, and how the dawning world of niche-reader taxation will change journalists’ ideas about what they do and who they write for. And there are questions about how we ourselves see the “public” we are a part of.

"If an institution is all geared up for a future that is like the past and the future changes radically, then the institution becomes an anachronism, like a Motorola or GM."

"Risk aversion is the number one reason that people and organizations fail to tap the full power of social media. People often tell me that they can't afford to make a mistake online, because any error will be just one Google search away for anyone to see, forever."

"…many organizations don't spend the time and effort to turn their data into dollars. They don't look at their network of relationships as a way to gather new and interesting information about the market and their customers. Those few who do, enjoy higher margins, more agility, and less volatility — because they can react faster and better."

"With each Daily Wave, RedEye connects with their readers and builds a sense of community. The RedEye is also demonstrating that is sees itself as more than a newspaper and more than a blog by embracing innovative technology that encourages a continuous and dynamic discussion about the news."

To survive, newspapers need to rethink radically not only their business models, but also how they manage their businesses; they need to overhaul outdated organisational structures; they need to consider how they relate to all their employees, to third-party providers of content and services, and to individuals with whom they may have no contractual arrangement whatsoever.

Most crucially, they need to rethink how they relate to their communities of readers, subscribers, and users, when they know next to nothing about members of their digital audience. They need to identify their most loyal users and then work harder to meet their individual needs.

Some fantastic pictures, drawn and uploaded live by the @drawnalism team at Journalism.co.uk's News Rewired event.

A common mistake made when first venturing into user generated content is to focus on the technology, rather than the reasons for using it. “We need to have our own social network!” someone shouts. But why? And, indeed, how do you do so successfully?

"View satellite photos from GeoEye that show Port-au-Prince before and after the Jan. 12 earthquake."

"National Geographic rebuilt the site internally using an open-source framework called “Django.” This approach lets the developers plug new modules easily into the site, like upcoming community and social media features. It also allows other developers to work with the company to advance new features. "

"Michael’s title is unimportant, what matters is the food. Undoubtedly, it is possible to learn to be a better cook, just as you can learn to be a better journalist. But I don’t mind whether the writer of a story or the guy with the camera defines themselves as a journalist, a photographer, an eye-witness or what."