Forget SXSW – Come to NXNE!

Yeah, all the hipsters are at SXSW. But forget Austin and come to Boston! LR Friend and Social Media Goddess Rachel Happe (@rhappe, whom you should follow) is putting on NXNE, a Tweetup in nearby Cambridge. If you’re in the area and want to hang with the real cool nerds, sign up. From the invite:

Come enjoy a drink with the cool kids… you know, the ones hanging out in Boston while the social lemmings flee in droves to #SXSW (OK, so we love them and are jealous but really have things to do!)

And no, we don’t eat a lot of BBQ here in New England, so come join us for fried clams, lobster, chowdah, and a few beverages at The Summer Shack.

For extra credit – bring your “Top Ten Reasons I’m not at SXSW” (thanks to @pprlisa for the idea!)

BTW, Rachel used Tweetvite to organize the event. I like it. I’ve made a cheap and bad logo, using some stolen clipart:

SXSW: Social media marketing for business

Chris Winfield (@chriswinfield) kicked off a packed breakout session at the South By Southwest Interactive Conference in Austin by promising to not mention Facebook and Twitter. Easier said than done.

The “T word” and the “F word” (no, not that one) were mentioned numerous times but Winfield and fellow presenter Tony Adam (@tonyadam) did offer some good strategies for businesses looking to enhance their marketing efforts through social media. Local media companies should be doing most, if not all of them.

The key lessons:

- Find out where your customers are: Use traffic reporting tools like Google Analytics to find out where your current visitors are coming from. Set up news alerts on your brand and your competitors to find who’s talking/writing about them.
- Frequently update your blog(s): Winfield said it is “so important to reach out to your customers” this way. He also recommended becoming part of the community on blogs and news sites that frequently write about your topic area.
- Seek new sources: Check Technorati and Alltop to discover new blogs and news sites that are focusing on your topic area, too. instead of technorati to figure out what’s hot in your topic area.

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Avoid cliches like the plague: WGN’s banned words

The list has already gained infamy. A writer for NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Blog Me used them all in one sentence. Now we’ve got it – the list of 119 words and phrases that Tribune CEO (that’s right – CEO) Randy Michaels has banned from the airwaves of WGN-AM. It’s a little troubling that a directive like this would come from the top, but at the same time you have to admire the guy (a forbidden word) for taking a stand against cliches, news-speak and unnecessary adjectives. Blogolo’s Robert Feder has the full list. We’ll just pinch a few here, adding our own parenthetical notes along the way:

AGREE:
“Good” or “bad” news (“There is good news tonight regarding…” Nobody talks this way.)
5 a.m. in the morning (We see it all the time… ditto “5 p.m. in the evening” and “12 pm noon.”)
At this point in time (Why not “Now?”)
Definitely possible (As is everything)
In other news (A very lazy segue)
Lucky to be alive/Untimely death (Who are we to say?)

DISAGREE:
Guys (There is a difference between “men” and “guys.” Just ask any woman.)
Diva (How else to report on Maria, Cher and Tyra?)
Informed sources say… or Sources say… (We don’t love these, but sourcing is tough)
Manhunt (This is what the police call it, and it’s not a cliche. It tells you how serious the search is.)
Torrential rain (It is descriptive in a way that “heavy rain” doesn’t capture.)
Those of you (What about for those of you for whom this is an issue?)

MEH:
Hunnert when you mean hundred (This is a big problem?)
Really (Really?)
Icon (A movie icon is a step above being a movie star. Why is this an issue?)
Dubbaya when you mean double you (Did they hire the former president?)
Bare naked (This comes up a lot, does it?)

HE LEFT OUT:
In a few moments (How many seconds in a moment?)
Cut the mustard (Not hard to do. What is hard is to cut the muster.)
The proof is in the pudding (No, it’s not. The proof of the pudding is in the tasting.)
Every parent’s worst nightmare (My personal #1 peeve. I’m a parent, and my worst nightmare involves being naked in a college classroom taking a test I didn’t study for…)

What else do you agree with/disagree with/think he left out?

Msnbc.com slideshow gets 78 million page views

William Clark

“I like to talk stories through before I write them. As I was collecting photos of the Clarks, I kept showing them in a little slide show to my family, to my mother (81) and my daughters (7 and 10). It really helped tell the story.

“I put the photos online to show our projects team at msnbc.com, and photographer Jim Seida said, why don’t we just publish it as a slide show? I was skeptical at first — would that crimp the writing? — but in the end I was advocating doing it this way when the photo team was skeptical. I thought far more people would read through it this way, and it would be worth an experiment.”

I really like that Dedman was given the opportunity to tell the story the way it wanted to be told. “The Clarks” runs 48 slides long. Many stations are stuck to the linear video format, regardless of whether it’s the best way to tell a story. Would your station consider telling a story solely in slide show format if the story called for it? Clearly, there is great success to be had in this format.

Location-awareness takes SXSW by storm

SXSW is getting underway in Austin, and location-aware apps Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt and Whrrl are engaged in a Texas-sized check-in showdown, launching new app versions, features and partnerships. Not to be forgotten, the original SXSW superstar Twitter has rolled out its geolocation feature on Twitter.com. But that’s just the beginning.

“We’re under embargo on almost all of them, but we can tell you there are at least 25 companies making location-related announcements at SXSW this week. Probably more,” explains ReadWriteWeb. “You’ve got to wonder if and when Location will Jump the Shark.”

Here’s a quick summary of the larger announcements so far:

• Foursquare inks marketing deal with Starbucks, debuts barista badge
• SXSW attendees can earn up to 16 new Foursquare badges, win swag
• Gowalla hides virtual swag at SXSW, will award users with real swag
• Whrll’s new app lets users join “societies” to earn exclusive deals
• Check in at events on Loopt’s new version of its app
• New app Causeworld ties check-ins to karma and charitable donations

Lost Remote blogger Mark Briggs is at SXSW and will be posting reports here on the blog as well as on our Twitter account, @lostremote.

Digital installation sheds light on NYC homelessness

It’s a sad truth that for many of us it’s easier to ignore a homeless person than a digital visualization of one. Such is the construct behind a unique digital installation in New York City that brings attention to the ongoing plight of the homeless.

The interactive display leverages mobile and video projection technology to connect passersby with the homeless, a segment of our population we often choose not to see. Through a text message based call-to-action, people are given the opportunity to witness the impact their outreach could have on a homeless person’s life.

Pathways to Housing, a New York-based nonprofit organization that provides housing and mental health services for the homeless, worked with agency creatives to bring the video installation to life. It is a dynamic example of how digital media can be used to bring us closer to the world around us.

Is it in stock nearby? Check Google on your phone

If you search for a product on Google on your iPhone, Android or Palm — with your location enabled — you’ll start seeing a link to determine if the product is in stock at a nearby store.

Pretty cool concept, assuming Google can attract enough retailers to participate. So far, Google has Best Buy, Sears, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn and West Elm, and it’s actively recruiting more. More details here on Google’s mobile blog.

CNN’s Klein says he fears social networks

At a press event in NY today, CNN chief Jonathan Klein says he fears social networks more than his TV competition. “The competition I’m really afraid of are social networking sites,” he said. “That threatens to pull people away from us. The people you’re friends with on Facebook or the people you follow on Twitter are trusted sources of information. Well, we want to be the most trusted name in news.”

A reasonable fear in a new world of social distribution?

RedBeacon goes social, partners with BigTent

Last September, the local services company RedBeacon took the top award at TechCrunch 50 with an innovative approach to local search. Today, it announced a new set of social features and a partnership with BigTent, an online community.

RedBeacon allows you to post a job request to service providers in your local area. Let’s say, you want a personal trainer who’s available on Saturday mornings. A handful of personal trainers respond to your request with price quotes. You pick the one you want, and schedule the appointment with a click. Think of it as a next-generation yellow pages.

RedBeacon says its focus is on helping users make the best decisions. They currently aggregate reviews from Yelp, Google and Yahoo, and today they’re rolling out a new feature (above) that pings your Facebook friends for their advice. Your friends see the update on their wall, click to RedBeacon, and leave their feedback. They can even suggest a new service provider, which RedBeacon in turn contacts for a quote.

“This is really adding a social layer to RedBeacon,” said CEO Ethan Anderson. “It’s something we haven’t really seen in the local search space.”

RedBeacon has also rolled out the ability for service providers to list endorsements from trusted organizations, like the Better Business Bureau (see at bottom of image above). These endorsements appear as badges on providers’ profile pages. And with a new partnership with BigTent, endorsements from community groups will also appear.

This combination of reviews and endorsements from friends, family, community groups and trusted organizations is a more holistic approach to providing users with as much information as possible to make the right decision. You can imagine how this free approach to not only finding a qualified service provider, but book one on the spot, could be a competitive threat to the paid Angie’s List model.

But as always, RedBeacon faces the tall challenge of scaling outside its pilot market of the tech-savvy Bay Area. Anderson says they’re pursuing more funding, as well as closing more distribution partnerships like BigTent. So stay tuned…

Links and notes: SXSW local edition

Taking a break from packing and preparing for the SXSW Interactive conference and I thought you would find these links interesting. I’ll be blogging and tweeting (@lostremote) from SXSW starting Friday and will be looking for insights and new developments that will have an impact on local media.

Speaking of “South-by” – if you plan to be in Austin this weekend, join us for a journo-meetup Sunday at 5 pm at Opal Divine’s. It would be great to see the LR community come together to exchange ideas and business cards in Austin. (Steve and Cory declined bankrolling a big shindig. There’s always next year.)

On with the links:

• Print’s advertising problem – tying one hand behind its back (Online Journalism Blog)
• Bay Area News Project has high hopes, few employees (LA Times)
• Web ads to get a 10% boost in 2010. For the first time advertisers will spend more on digital than print (Forbes)
• Bicycling Directions, Trails Come to Google Maps (ReadWriteWeb)
• Departures are “a clue of the upheaval and human stress at the epicenters of change in the newspaper business” (Jack Lail)

KSTP to launch hyperlocal network in Minneapolis

KSTP (ABC) in Minneapolis-St. Paul is launching a network of 80 – 90 hyperlocal sites in the region. KSTP, owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, is going to use the DataSphere technology – the same platform that powers the KOMO hyperlocals in Seattle. Paul Gaulke, creative services director of KSTP, tells MinnPost:

“A lot of the news that comes in to a newsroom, like press releases, never gets on the air,” he says. “The true beauty is finding groups of people interested in the area, and small advertisers who are interested in following.”

MinnPost also reports Hubbard will launch hyperlocal networks in Duluth and Rochester. DataSphere has been on a big roll lately, having raised about $11 million in capital earlier this year. Earlier this month, Datasphere announced it will roll out hyperlocal networks for Raycom, as well.

(Disclosures: I consulted for Hubbard and Paul Gaulke on separate occasions.)

Local digital ad revenues to rise higher (and higher…)

Cue the music. Open the floodgates. Strap on the jetpack. Keep your seatbelt tightly fastened as we continue our ascent.

Local digital ad revenues are poised to explode. “Tell me something I don’t know…” is very well the thought that is going through your head. Media prophets have been shepharding stories of giant local digital ad buys for a few years now.  What I bring you to support the foreshadowing is a new research report from BIA/Kelsey that includes some eye-popping numbers.

Yes, these reports do need to be taken with a grain of salt. You could probably exhaust days recounting similar research documents that were proven incorrect over time. So if you want to approach these figures with skepticism, that is fine by me. It never hurts, though, to know what industry analysts are projecting. Who knows, maybe you will come to share some of their optimism.

As detailed in the BIA/Kelsey forecast released on March 9, digital advertising revenue for local TV and radio will outpace overall ad spending for those media between 2009 and 2014. Digital revenue from multiplatform, mobile and Web, will grow at a 17.8 percent compound annual rate to $2 billion compared to total ad revenue, which will grow at a CAGR of 2.8 percent to $34.3 billion.

By 2014, local TV digital ad revenue will reach $1.2 billion and represent 6.5 percent of TV’s total $18.3 billion in revenue, up from 3.1 percent in 2009. Radio digital revenue will reach $0.8 billion representing 5 percent of radio’s $16 billion up from 2.9 percent in 2009.

“Broadcasters must evolve to participate in more areas of the media ecosystem,” said Rick Ducey, chief strategy officer for BIA/Kelsey. “This means developing the right multiplatform and multiple revenue stream strategies which in turn requires new workflow, partnerships, business models and resources.”

Facebook location sharing could impact local advertising

Don’t tell me you couldn’t see this one coming: Facebook will begin allowing location-based status updates as early as next month, according Nick Bilton’s report on the Bits Blog. The plan, apparently, is to unveil the feature at f8, the company’s annual developer’s conference.

While the move will initially be seen as Facebook’s attempt to compete with the growing activity on check-in based services like Foursquare, Loopt and Gowalla, the ultimate motive is more threatening to local media companies. Bilton writes that Facebook “wants to go head-to-head with Google in the fight for small-business advertising.” Facebook has made a steady push during the last year toward attracting small businesses and now  hosts more than 1.5 million local businesses from around the world (according to Facebook).

Will location sharing serve as Facebook’s trump card? It depends on whether its users and developers take advantage.

“It will be interesting to see if Facebook’s users are even interested in sharing this information,” Frederic Lardinois writes on ReadWriteWeb. “While services like Foursquare and Gowalla are slowly but surely gaining new users (in part thanks to offering incentives for checking in at various venues), Twitter, which introduced a geotagging API last year and just introduced some location features on its website today, hasn’t seen a very strong response from users and developers so far.”

MSN: ‘Local is a home run’

The new MSN home page, which has been in beta testing, is beginning to roll out today. One of the core new features is Local Edition, a section of the site that features local news, events, traffic, restaurants and more. “In just a few months, MSN Local Edition has grown to 5 million unique users while still in preview mode, with more than 40% of those users coming back every day,” explains the MSN team. “With the launch of the new MSN home page and local module, that audience is expected to grow exponentially.” Since the beta, they’ve added new features, including geolocated Tweets and local video from partners Hearst TV and NBC Local Media.

“Our internal research shows this is the number one consumer demand for more local content, specifically hyperlocal,” explains Cyrus Krohn, who heads up MSN’s local efforts. “And based upon what are competitors are doing in local, I presume they’re seeing exactly the same research, because everyone is investing in local. It’s going to be a fun couple of years ahead.”

(FULL DISCLOSURE: I work for msnbc.com, which along with our local news partners, powers the news section of Local Edition.)

Foursquare serves up your location history

If you go to Foursquare.com and click on the “history” tab, you can now see a timeline of all the places you’ve checked in as well as your friends who checked in along with you, stretching back to December. For me, I apparently have a penchant for coffee, pizza and Microsoft buildings (I work at msnbc.com on the Redmond campus), and my wife checked in with me about a quarter of the time. (Hmm, you could imagine some relationship analysis springing out of this new feature. But I digress.)

Foursquare says it plans to make this data available in the API, but still only in the context of friends, to preserve the inevitable privacy concerns. By the way, Foursquare plans to roll out a new app version at SXSW, where I’m sure we’ll see lots of activity on the location-awareness and local content front.

Plus: Restaurant says business jumps 110% after throwing Swarm Badge party

Did the iPad’s Oscar performance dazzle or disappoint?

The Internet was buzzing last night, and into this morning, over the iPad commercial that aired during the Oscars. In some circles, primarily those dominated by tech enthusiasts, the 30-second iPad reveal overshadowed the silver screen’s crowning event.

The iPad commercial shared the flare of its iPhone and iPod predecessors. The spot’s pop-rock soundtrack supported its quick visual transitions. It captured the device’s multiple uses. In the span of 30-seconds, the iPad functioned as an e-book reader, a movie viewing device, an interactive photo album,  a digital calendar, and a web browser.

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ABC restored to NYC Cablevision subscribers

A deal has been reached, and ABC is back on in New York City for Cablevision subscribers. As a result, New Yorkers only missed the first 13 minutes of the Oscars (I can inform them they didn’t miss much). Earlier on Sunday, ABC pulled its New York affiliate, WABC-TV from Cablevision in a fight over retransmission fees. Cablevision had been refusing to pay ABC for carriage, saying it was already paying ABC parent company $200 million for other Disney channels, such as ESPN. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed. But differing accounts have Cablevision paying anywhere from 27 to 65 cents per customer per month. (Disney had asked for $1.) Writes today’s LA Times:

“Rebecca Campbell, general manager of Disney’s WABC-TV in New York, said in a statement that the agreement “recognizes the fair value” for carriage of the station on Cablevision’s systems, although “deal points” had yet to be finalized.

“Cablevision executive Charles Schueler said the deal was “fair to our customers” and “in line with our other programming agreements.”

So who’s the winner? You’d have to give this one to Disney, whose gambit left viewers in the cold but earned the company some big added revenue.

IB CEO David Lebow: The Lost Remote Interview

David Lebow

ABC pulls signal from Cablevision in NYC

Just hours before the Oscars are set to begin, ABC has pulled its affiliate, WABC, off Cablevision in New York City. ABC parent company Disney and Cablevision are in a dispute over how much money Cablevision should pay. Three million New Yorkers are affected by the move. Disney wants Cablevision to pay $1 per month for each subscriber, according to an analyst. Both sides are blaming the other. Rebecca Campbell, President and General Manager of WABC issued a statement in which she said:

“Cablevision has once again betrayed its subscribers by losing ABC7, the most popular station in the tri-state area. This follows two years of negotiations, during which we worked diligently, up to the final moments, to reach an agreement. Cablevision pocketed almost $8 billion last year, and now customers aren’t getting what they pay for — again.”

Over on its website, Cablevision says it “… has asked ABC to continue delivering WABC-7 while we negotiate, but instead ABC is holding Cablevision customers hostage by pulling its programming.”

All of this leaves customers in the dark on the eve of one of the highest-rated programs of the year. WABC is still available over-the-air for free, so look to see if there’s a rush on antennas and converter boxes today.

UPDATE: WABC-TV makes new offer to Cablevision

Notes: Iraq election, NYC bloggers, UK Hyperlocal

Noted, while wondering why I wake up earlier on Sundays than any other day of the week…