Jared Polis and Politics 2.0

One of the coolest piece of junkmail I've ever received.
Originally uploaded by pachecod

I think I may have just encountered the 2008 version of a politician shaking hands at a campaign event, but it happened online instead of at a high school cafeteria. It says a lot about the changing nature of political campaigns in the Web 2.0 world, and how, just like all media, political advertising is becoming less of a one-way broadcast and more of a conversation. And it's also an example of how print and online media can work together in advertising.

My story begins at my mailbox, which just like every day was overflowing with junk mail I didn't ask for. As usual I sifted out the bills and prepared to drop the rest in the recycling bin. But this time, something caught my eye.

Jared Polis, the Boulder entrepreneur famous for Blue Mountain Arts (sold to Excite for $780 million) who's now running for congress, sent me a laptop!

Well, not exactly. But the card looked like a laptop, and the techie in me just had to open it. The inside of the card spoke straight to my geek heart, sporting a miniature MacBook Pro keyboard with Jared Polis on the screen above. I thought this was one of the more creative mailings I'd seen, so I pulled out my iPhone, snapped a picture and e-mailed it to my Flickr account (something I do at least once a day). You can see it here, or in this post.

A few days later I got an e-mail from Flickr saying someone had commented on my photo. I was tickled to see that Jared Polis himself had found the photo and posted a comment thanking me.

Before I continue, I just want to be clear that I have absolutely no relationship with the Jared Polis campaign, and when it comes to congressional elections I haven't made any decisions about who I'm going to vote for (which ironically is exactly what I told a Jared Polis caller the other day). And when I do, I'm certainly not going to blog about it.

But as an online media person, I do want to comment on how much more interesting and, yes, even FUN this was for me as a voter. It's the kind of experience politicians and marketers of all types should strive for. Compare it to endless robo-calls at dinner, sticky notes on doors and windshields, duffel-bag-carrying doorbell ringers, and of course the mass of mostly uninteresting political mailings. This was the complete opposite of all that.

Whoever came up with the idea of a card-as-laptop mailing is a genius (given Polis' greeting card background, I wouldn't be surprised if it was him). And Polis is very smart to not only search social media sites for content that people are posting about him, but also publicly interact with the content owners. After all, it got me to blog about him, didn't it?

In the context of a presidential election year where the Republican and Democratic candidates both have their own social networking sites -- McCainSpace and MyBarackObama.com -- I think we're seeing a very new kind of politics that's driven not just by the messages politicians send out, but also the degree to which they connect with potential supporters and help them connect with each other.

My story doesn't end there, by the way. My kids, 2 and 5, have since found the mailing and they refuse to let us recycle it. They consider it one of their toys: a play computer. Yesterday a neighbor kid came over and she started playing with it too, and when it was time to go home she refused to let go. To keep the peace, I had to promise her that she could play with it the next time she came over.

So lest you think print is dead as an advertising medium, or that print is something only old people care about, take a look at my kids. I wonder how many other kids are fishing this mailing out of the recycle bin and taking it to mom and dad, who then open it and read the message.

jaredpolis, social networking, politics

Could print have saved Backfence and The Enthusiast Group?

I've been an early proponent of both citizen media and social networking for newspapers. For that reason, I have very unintentionally ended up with the label of "expert" on these topics.

While that's flattering, the truth is that everyone in the social media space is playing a game of intelligent darts, and we all have a litany of success and failures that can more accurately be referred to as "knowledge" and "wisdom" -- often with associated scars. There are no silver bullets when you're working on the edge, and nobody -- not even Google -- knows the future. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.

I have a lot of respect for anyone who has the guts to try to do things in new ways, so I was personally saddened this year when two separate individuals with newspaper backgrounds were forced to shut down their social media businesses: Mark Potts' Backfence.com, and Steve Outing's Enthusiast Group. The demise of the Enthusiasts hits home especially hard, as I know Outing, who lives about 15 miles west of me in Boulder, Colorado. You can read his insights about his experience via his personal blog, and most recently his column in Editor and Publisher.

A lot of people have been asking me for my thoughts about these events. Implicit in that is whether it changes how I feel about what we're doing in Bakersfield, and I'm sure some of them want to know if we're next (that whole "celebrity death watch" journalist's mentality).

The answer to that is an emphatic "no." Our social media initiatives in Bakersfield continue to do well, and next year we plan to add more interest-focused brands to our current repertoire of nine. And we also continue to bring what we learn with the new brands into our core newspaper brand. The most recent example of that is Snap! high school football photos, which quickly paid for itself for the season through lucrative local sponsorships.

While it's an uphill climb (always the case when building something from scratch), audience and revenue continue to increase for most of our initiatives. And for those that aren't, dedicated people continue to try new things until they find what works. We have a multiple-brand, audience-based strategy, and what works for one audience doesn't automatically work for another. From a network level, all indications point to continued growth, engagement and advertising.

I don't know if this explains everything, but there is one major difference between our approach, and that of the Enthusiasts and Backfence. We don't have a pure-play Internet-only strategy, and print is still a big part of what we do. That's especially true on the revenue side.

The vast majority of revenue for our social networking brands comes from associated print publications that roll up the best user-contributed content, augmented by some top-notch staff content. The content isn't just "shoveled" into print, either. It's edited by a real person who often goes back and forth with the contributor, helping him or her get ideas across more succinctly. While there's a lot of activity on the Web sites, core contributors cherish that interaction with the editor and they get a kick out of seeing their story on the cover in print. That "psychic income" has a lot to do with why they contribute a second, third or fourth time or get all giddy when Matt Munoz posts something on their guestbook.

But that kind of back-and-forth could happen even without print (and maybe it did with Enthusiast and Backfence sites -- I don't know), so let's talk brass tacks about the business side.

Last Spring, Bakotopia -- which began as a free Classifieds provider and evolved into a local music social networking hub -- started producing a magazine (download a few in PDF form here). It comes out every two weeks, and they're now on to Issue #15. The magazine debuted more than two years after Bakotopia started, partly in response to the site's hip users, who have been craving a downtown-scene magazine for years. But more importantly, it was at the request of advertisers.

In an irony that I will never fully understand, even the clubs that used Bakotopia profiles on a daily basis to promote gigs and interact with customers said they really wanted a printed magazine. You could talk to them until they were blue in the face about buying an ad on the home page, and some of them did, but once a magazine was available the dynamics changed and they all had to be in it. They'd see their competitor down the street in there and they couldn't resist.

What is it about print that makes local advertisers salivate? And what does this mean for the supposedly missing business model for social media? What does it mean about how we meet the needs of niche audiences and communities?

I have thought about this a lot, and here are my conclusions so far. I reserve the right to change my mind over time, because that's the nature of innovation.

First, I think so much emphasis has been placed on the mechanics of social media -- for example, using social networking and web forms and comments to solicit stories -- that people have forgotten about what we're trying to accomplish. The whole reason we started developing and deploying social networking tools was to engage audiences that weren't gravitating toward the newspaper brand, and in a way that is scalable. At a high level, The Northwest Voice isn't about so-called "citizen journalism." It's about listening to readers of a specific geographical part of town and giving them a voice. Bakotopia was about turning control over to a distrusting community and finally giving them the spotlight they deserved.

All of our separate brands have their unique value propositions. Because their brand identities were established so early, the brands have legs and can move between mediums and form factors. Bakotopia is the most recent example of that. And I'm not saying that we should have just created a magazine instead of a Web site, either. It's the interactive nature of the Web site that created a brand that could extend into print in the first place. If you took the Web site away, Bakotopia as a brand would falter. If you stopped the magazine, its revenue would falter. The two are married at the hip.

Second, we have a tendency in the newspaper industry to read too much into the troubles of our core products. Print circulation is falling at most daily newspapers around the world, and I think a lot of industry people assume that this means print is disappearing. But if you look at things from a higher level, even in your own life, this isn't necessarily true.

More and more stuff is crammed into my U.S. Postal Service mailbox every day, and I see more little magazines and newsletters and flyers around town than I did in the past (and increasingly, also in my mailbox!) Most of that content is full of paid ads, but it differs from newspaper advertising in significant ways. It's more targeted, and thus less expensive for the advertiser (although more expensive per target reader, which shows they're willing to pay more for targeting). And it's more focused and relevant to specific interests or needs -- for example, buying a house, finding a car or getting deals at nearby establishments.

Sometimes I think those of us in the "new media" realm tend to get caught up in our own manifestos about what people want, and in the process of doing that we miss the bigger picture. Our experience in Bakersfield suggests that people don't necessarily want more web and less print. They want more relevance, convenience and control in every aspect of media, which includes both print, online, mobile and who knows what else in the future.

With small local advertisers there is a bit of a disconnect. Right now, they primarily want to see their messages out on the street where they do business, and print is still the best vehicle for that. Do they also want online? Some of them do, but they also seem to be hesitant for reasons that I'm not sure are fully grounded in reality. If an online ad fits their budget and it reaches the right people, they buy, but they expect immediate results that aren't as easy to track as when someone walks in the door with a clipped coupon. So maybe we have some work to do around online ad trackability. I also think there are some opportunities to make local self-serve easier and more effective at reaching local audiences than Google AdWords (let's face it -- a donut shop is never going to sell 100 more donuts to locals by placing an AdWord).

Would Backfence and The Enthusiast Group have succeeded with print publications? I don't know for sure, but I think it would have helped. It also would have cost a heck of a lot more, which is difficult for any startup.

So my final thought is that there are still some significant advantages that existing media companies have over startups. They have more resources and capacity and -- assuming their publishers are as forward-looking as ours is -- time than a typical venture-backed company. The question is whether they focus those resources more on innovation, especially as the economy appears to be on the verge of recession.

I have faith in the Californian to do that, but I'm not convinced about the rest of the industry. I'm really looking forward to having others prove me wrong there.
LATER: Steve Outing responded to this post. You can read his response here. And Mark Potts has some comments below this post.

I can appreciate the concerns around cost. Even for an exsiting media company like the Californian that has its own presses, the startup costs for printing and distributing a new printed product -- even one with 10,000 - 20,000 copies that comes out every two weeks -- is daunting. Those costs require a longer "runway" than most small startups probably have. Don't assume that you need your own printing presses to do this, though. Many of the niche publications I mention that are managed by Mercado Nuevo are now printed outside of the Californian because it's cheaper for them, based on the number of copies and type of print stock that they require.

I have thought for some time that there must be a way to let anyone publish a printed publication using online content, starting with PDFs and then moving to home printers, Kinko's and -- for the right type of content -- a larger press run. We submitted a concept to the Knight News Challenge for this, and have been invited to gointo the next round. If we win (a longshot given the number of entries), maybe the next citizen media startup will have more options when it comes to print. And if we don't, I think this idea is so compelling that we'll keep looking for a way to make it happen. I think the only reason it hasn't happened yet at a local level is that nobody has tried. All of the technology to create instant print publications exists, muchof it open source.

Technorati Tags: Enthusiast Group, Backfence, Newspapers, Social Networking


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Social Networking, Moms and Niche Products

A few years ago when our New Products Group at The Bakersfield Californian started throwing around terms like "social networking" and "online persona," we were met with a lot of blank stares from our colleagues. It must have all sounded so theoretical and foreign. But fortunately they trusted that we knew what we were talking about. We went on to be one of the first newspapers to show how social networking is the perfect tool for serving local audiences, and we created a technical foundation to help others do the same.

It's funny how quickly things can change. Now it's rare that a week goes by when I don't read a press release about a new newspaper-run social network. And I'm increasingly hearing about separately-branded niche sites, which is something we tried early on with sites like The Northwest Voice, Bakotopia and others. Some of these, like Pioneer Newspaper's The JHub, use our technology, while others like Dan Wheeler's BigLickU (don't worry, it's safe to click that link!) or Morris Communications' Savannahnow use other technology and, increasingly, open source solutions such as Drupal.

A few months ago, it really struck me how far this industry has come. I was speaking at an event along with Jennifer Carrol, vice president for new media content at Gannett. She talked about some of Gannett's efforts to reach out to underserved audiences, including pet owners and moms. Their Indymoms.com site was particularly interesting to me because I've been telling people for years about how my wife (a mom of two) has little time to read the newspaper, but rushes to the Boulder RocknMoms Yahoo Group whenever we need a recommendation for a plumber, information on food allergies and a variety of other subjects.

Now, Editorsweblog cites a report that Gannett's niche Web sites, of which Indymoms is only one, are set to bring in $3 million per year. And this is is happening during a year when mainstream newspapers are seeing massive declines in circulation and revenues.

There are many ways to interpret this data, but my personal view is that less time and more choices push people toward niche products. And they stay with them because they solve problems in ways that are more in tune with the changing rythms of their daily lives. This is the gist of a presentation I just gave to members of the Georgia Associated Press News Council.

There's no way to buck the niche trend because it's being driven by forces that are outside of the control of media companies and the advertisers they depend on. For this reason, I believe the future of the newspaper industry lies in giving every niche audience possible a little place of their own, while still maintaining the ability to aggregate and segment audiences for advertising, and to deliver vital news and information that's relevant to everyone.

The implications of this are staggering if you take it to its logical conclusion: we must operate more like Yahoo Groups or Ning than a traditional newspaper. Instead of relying on one portal for everyone, we must have literally thousands of local hubs that focus on niche interests and micro communities. We're just now starting to get our minds around this and how to really make it work. Check in with me in another 6 months and maybe I'll have a solution.

I realize this may sound a little nutty, so let's take this out of theory and back down to earth. In my wife's case, it's clearly much more efficient to post a note on the moms' Yahoo group in the morning asking for plumber recommendations, knowing that her mailbox will contain 3-5 trusted choices that night, than it is to spend a little more time fishing various Web sites, newspapers and directories for leads. We've had so much success with this "Mom Knowledge Network" that I now ask her to post questions on my behalf -- for example, when I was looking for someone to build a deck, and again for someone to finish our basement. In both cases, we found very good, dependable contractors who were vetted from other moms. And those scrutinizing moms don't lie!

Gannett didn't stop with Indianapolis and Cincinnati. It's now rolling out 39 moms sites across the country, potentially turning a few local niches into a national vertical with local hubs.

Just so nobody mistakes this post as a big ad for Gannett, there is a tangential tie-in to another company -- The Sacramento Bee, owned by McClatchy -- and The Bakersfield Californian. Not long ago the Bee came to us asking if they could use our Bakomatic software (the technology behind Bakotopia and our 9 social hubs in Bakersfield), and they secured the rights via our licensing arm, Participata LLC.

And what's the first site they launched with it? You guessed it: a moms site! SacMomsClub.com launched late last week and is already experiencing good early growth. According to the Bee's Rick Rodriguez, SacMomsClub is ...

... a place where mothers can connect with one another online, share experiences and communicate on issues important to them and their families. The site includes calendars, forums, blogs, photo galleries, contests, links to helpful information and news stories.

And from development manager Blaine Wasylkiw:

Visitors to the site will play a pivotal role in creating, guiding and shaping the content and direction of the site, and it will continue to evolve to meet the needs and wants of our audience.

But that's not where the niche story ends. Gannett's own Arizona Republic earlier this year launched Amp.az, a youth-oriented social networking hub in Phoenix modeled after our Bakotopia.com. Also powered by the Bakomatic software, it's evolving into Phoenix's underground entertainment hub.

AZCentral.com also gives every user the right to a profile and blog using Bakomatic. And on top of that, they've created an Arizona Moms hub inside AZCentral that reskins profiles and blogs on AZCentral so that moms can connect with each other.

With all the focus lately on dismal financial numbers and print circulation trends, I think it's important to keep the big picture in mind. While some see a world where newspapers cease to exist and sites like Slashdot serve as primary news sources, I'm seeing a very different trend.

Yes, many (but not all) people are ditching print and turning to all-digital news, sometimes from traditional news companies and sometimes not. At the same time, more and more niche web sites and print publications are appearing and thriving. More time is being spent on one-to-one and many-to-many communication, versus the one-to-many model of traditional media.

But simultaneously, more and more traditional media companies -- like Gannett, McClatchy, Morris Communications, Pioneer Newspapers and The Bakersfield Californian -- are getting into the many-to-many game. And they're doing this while still finding ways to make their flagship Web sites more dynamic and participatory in nature for the people who identify most with those brands. In a way, they're "superserving" the people who love their newspaper brands and increasingly treating them like just another niche segment. While this may mean removing certain types of general-interest content and focusing more on content that their communities find most valuable, that's OK. Niche products have taught us that it's good to give each audience more of what they want most, because if don't do that they just find it elsewhere.

So to the Prophets of Doom out there, I offer this. For those traditional companies that are open to changing with the rest of the world, it's a new day that's full of exciting possibilities, and we should feel fortunate that we're part of a rising tide that will take journalism into its next incarnation. Whatever happens to the traditional model should have no bearing on that, as long as the companies that operate them see where things are going and continue to invest in community and participation.

bakomatic, social networking, mcclatchy, gannett, participata