Monthly Archives: November 2006

Pope on Global Economic Injustice

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I don’t think the Pope is the best source of inspiration about how to structure the world but I certainly respect the fact that’s he’s sincerely interested in alleviating suffering and is a very sharp fellow.    Here, the Pope has suggested we need major structural changes in the global economy to stem the tide of poverty.

My working assumption has been that globalization is, on balance, a hugely positive force as well as an inevitable one.   In simple terms I believe this because as I travel and look around me it is the highly capitalistic and globalized environments of the USA and western democracies that  provide for their people better than the “anti capitalistic, anti westers globalization” economies of Cuba, North Korea, etc.

Socialists suggest that our higher standards are a result of exploitation of the underdeveloped countries, but if this were true we’d tend to see a LOT more flow of goods and capital from, for example, Africa to the USA.   In fact we see that Canada and Europe, Japan and China are the huge trading and economic partners of the USA rather than the suffering countries.  In fact the striking thing about US interaction with the poor is that it’s non-existent rather than exploitative.

The Pope’s comments notwithstanding, clearly it seems we should be working to bring the poor into the globalization loop, rather than do things that might destabilize the capitalistic global goose that lays so many golden eggs.

We don’t have a crisis of economy, we have a crisis of indifference.

My how the years fly by…

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I think the most disconcerting thing as I age is how fast the time seems to go these days.     Time is an elusive enough thing as it is, I wish it wouldn’t fly by so fast, leaving me to wonder how I can suddenly find myself hanging out the middle ages wishing for the wisdom of age and the vigor of youth.

In fact I think if I had to make the case that we are not even physical beings, rather some form of data construct programmed to interact in complex ways with a mathematical reality, I’d point to how time seems to slip by so unnoticed, yet so ungracefully.
… can’t we just hurry up and make it so we can download our brains?

Webmaster World Las Vegas

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WebmasterWorld is one of the two big conferences with really advanced SEO information and it starts Tuesday.

About 1000 people will gather in Las Vegas for info, conferencing, and interaction with Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and ASK folks. Many of the best internet marketing folks in the world are here, and it’s always a fun time.

I’m looking forward to it!

Let Freedom, and our precious Advertocracy, Ring! Cha-CHING!

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As a general rule I’m optimistic about the intentions of those who govern because I think in general good people go into politics with the sincere intention of making things better. That said, I favor the type of small government intended by the founders, who roll over in their graves which each election, staggered by the scale and sweep of modern governments here and in other “democracies” around the world.

Power was supposed to rest in the hearts and minds of an informed populace, yet we the people have chosen to distance ourselves from government to the degree it’s become an abstraction for most of us at the local, state, and national levels.

The outcome of this election clearly “proves” our system really does allow for significant and peaceful change. Yet it also suggests that our choices are confined to only two — and to my mind somewhat equally inadequate — visions of how we should step into our uncertain American future. Why can’t the pendulum swing sideways for a change rather than back and forth between these two inadequate visions of the right path for America?

Is “democracy” the best word to describe the American political experience? I thought I’d coined the term “Advertocracy” but found a nice Canadian article here about the concept back in 2004.

Clearly our elections, the outcomes of which seem increasingly to depend on razor thin margins, are best described as marketing productions rather than the product of a well-informed citizenry acting on democratic principles.  I’m not as alarmed by this as many “anti-advertising” people who fail to see that we all practice forms of advertising in one way or another whether we are telling a fish story about a life experience, beefing up a resume, talking up our favorite movie, or buying time on TV to say “Vote for Me!”. If you blog for your favorite candidate is that advertising? Of course it is.

Communication categories are breaking down quickly, I hope in favor of transparency. Transparent, full disclosure is a better way to measure integrity than “commercialization”, which we all practice to varying degrees of success.

Yet the fact remains that our election results are largely the product of last minute activity by those least concerned about the outcome based on their perceptions of last minute “sound bites” and largely negative ads. There has GOT to be a better way but in the meantime …

God Bless America, and God Bless Advertising.

Election Math 101

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CNN’s election coverage was, in my opinion, a technological masterpiece combining superb graphics and charts with excellent TV journalism. As I flipped channels last night it was clear that those in charge of the CNN information environment had done an exceptional job of providing lots of information in a good format. Nonetheless it was the quick insights of Democratic strategist Carville who alerted us to importance of the six close senate races and certain congressional districts as key metrics.

One disappointing aspect of CNN TV coverage was the CNN “blog party”. To me it seemed like a good idea gone stupid. The blogger comments were, for the most part, uninspired. TV and blogging don’t really mix which is one reason why blogs are taking over the news space. An active reader can scan many opinions very quickly rather than “waiting” for the TV camera or venue to switch to their items of interest.

I’m not much of a partisan, believing that those in high office are generally sincere and hard working people who differ in ideology rather than virtue. One can only hope that the new composition of American government will bring more innovation to the table while seeking solutions to the pressing problems in Iraq, Sudan, and the world at large.

Blogs vs Mainstream Media. Guess who’s catching up?

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Dave Sifry at Technorati has compiled a wonderful list and report about blogs and mainstream media.   It’s the “State of the Blogosphere” and supports the obvious – blogs are increasing dramatically both in number and in influence.     I think the data supports the notion that we’ll see an information landscape that is driven increasingly by niche interest groups and collaborative online communities.    The traditional models for news and information dissemination — TV, Newspapers, and Magazines — will play roles of decreasing importance.     

At some point in the decline of traditional media there may be a sort of “tipping point” where advertising simply can’t sustain the efforts and we’ll see a mass extinction but I doubt that.  Rather I’d predict (wildly and without a lot of thought) that we’ll see print and TV die very slow, laborious deaths as they struggle to bring online content and online viewers into their spheres of influence and reduce some of the spending patterns (and unfortunately much of the quality, in depth reporting) that has come from the high barriers to entry which kept every Tom, Dick, and Harry news producer out of the space.    Blogs reduce the participation barrier to “literacy” (marginaly literacy at that)  and therefore will change information and news … forever.

Compete.com: Use Caution in providing any personal information or downloading software!?

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One of the most frustrating things “Verification” sites do is make bogus and ridiculous assumptions about websites and offer pathways to remove them if you pony up cash.

When I read about Compete over at Battelle’s I tried it and noted that one of my 10 year old travel sites with a long history and good contact information had a Compete.com “warning”.   Naturally this pissed me off but I assumed a server change last year may have been the problem. 

I felt better when Matt Cutts , whose name appears on no less than the Google Patent documents, pointed out that Compete is questioning his blog’s veracity (see snapshot below).

Adding opportunistic insult to injury, the Compete explanations imply (indirectly) that a legitimate site can get rid of the warning by subscribing to a website service called GeoTrust.     Prices seem to vary depending on the site, but I have a sneaking suspicion that there is a relationship here, making compete look somewhat more like an extortion racket than a good new online resource.

SnapShot
Use caution in providing any personal information or downloading software on mattcutts.com.

The slow death of printed media … continues …

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Numbers coming in from print media circulation numbers are starting to suggest that print media as we’ve come to know it is in trouble. Despite this Google’s about to start selling newspaper advertising. I suspect this is more to increasingly corner the advertising market than because Google is bullish on the future of newspapers.

Despite John Battelle‘s concerns about Google’s algorithms and print ads, I think mathematical analysis of advertising is a very good thing to do all of the time. I may be taking him a bit out of the broader context since he’s always advocated the value of online ads but here’s what he said today that bugged me:

>>> Ads for a specific, community driven audience need to be part of a conversation, not an algorithm >>>

Sheesh! What “need” is John talking about? Although this may be true from the publisher/sales perspective it’s not at all true for a smart advertiser who will want maximum ROI on the advertising dollar.

Historically, advertisers have been too mathematically incompetent and manipulated by sales BS to make good ad decisions. This is all changing (slower than it should, but changing nonetheless) thanks to PPC efficiency plus superior analytical tools, both provided by Google at low cost.

Newspapers and magazines should be very, very worried, because even dense advertisers will finally start to see that most print ad campaigns have negative ROIs* The print media industry has been built on overpriced ads and low paid authors, and things are going to get much, much worse.

* This has been my view for some time based on some of my own studies, but obviously ROI can depend on your definition of “return”. I’m defining it as direct sales rather than some sort of branding “lift” which is a confusing and questionable method for determination of return on advertising investments, but one that is increasingly used because, IMHO, it tends to support the status quo of massive advertising waste on foolish print advertising campaigns run by expensive advertising agencies.

More on this from Dan Blank

The Golden Rule for Grilled Cheese Sandwiches … and Companies?

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As anybody who has ever cooked more than a few grilled cheese sandwiches knows very well, it’s VERY easy to burn them. Yet there is a way to make virtually perfect grilled cheeses every time, and it’s a simple “Golden Rule”. Don’t leave the pan unattended. If you simply stand by your pan and keep tabs on the process for the 4-5 total minutes it will take to complete the process it is very hard to burn the thing – just keep checking every 10 seconds or so until you have a golden brown, gently melted, cheddar or american, taste sensation of a grilled cheese sandwich.

Companies too?   I’ve noted that restaurants often go downhill at the point where the owner stops keeping tabs on the day to day activities, and I noted the comments of Venture Capitalist Rick Segal at Startup Camp suggesting that one of the worst things that can happen to a new company is when the founders start to view themselves as “employees” which can happen as venture money, and the resulting obligations, start to change the company culture.  He also talked about the importance of keeping those founders involved *as founders* so that the intellectual and emotional investment in the success of the venture is not tarnished by the new venture relationship.

Grilled Cheese Virgin Mary

Of course if you follow the Golden Rule of Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Companies AND get a bit lucky you might even create a Mother Mary Grilled Cheese and sell it to GoldenPalace Casino via Ebay for $28,000 as happened with the one pictured above.

Zooomr wins Startup Camp

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Kris Taylor’s Zooomr won the Startup Camp honors and a great high end Sun Microsystems Computer setup.    I learned that commuting in the Bay Area is simply insane, but had a fine time enjoying the great hospitality of my good pals Linda and John.    John’s going to start a blog about health insurance very soon which is great because he’s one of the most knowlegeable and experienced health insurance people in California.