The search continues for universal metrics that will define new-media success. Meanwhile, there has been a noticeable trend in digital media buying towards something that doesn't work; I like to call it The Frankenstein Plan, and it's a monster.

Around the new year, most of us endeavor to summarize things. It's tricky. We speak of dog years and all that goes on in our industry within a single year, often practically bursting at the seams with activity. I have a few things to share with you regarding my own dog year(s) of 2010. I put myself out there in business, in shared ventures and in love -- and I almost cannot believe how much has transpired. May the snapshot provide some light and even some entertainment.

Consider the laugh track: we see it for what it is, we know it exists solely to provide artificial social proof that the content we're watching is funny, and yet we laugh anyway. We laugh because we are human -- and our humanity explains why the following three rules drive success in online campaigns:

Newspaper ad revenues continue to decline. Local broadcast and local cable finished the year strong, thanks in large part to an unprecedented political spend. Groupon, the two-year-old social couponing service, apparently turned down a $6 billion dollar offer and is rumored to be talking to bankers about an initial public offering that could value the company at $10 billion to $15 billion. Has the local media scene ever been crazier?

I recently read a report that broke down the trends in venture capital investments from 2010. I was most intrigued by the fact that venture capitalists appear to be laying off early-stage investments and focusing their efforts on later-stage companies, leaving the early stage and seed investments to the ever-expanding world of the Angels and Super Angels.

Quora is all the buzz with the digital early-adopter crowd. At first glance, Quora doesn't appear all that different from other question and answer services the Internet has spawned, and yet there is a seeming groundswell around its usage. The largest appeal of Quora early on has been the unparalleled quality and qualifications of those industry leaders taking the time to answer others' questions. The value of insights like this seem to be without question. But the question everyone who has used Quora -- well, how about instead of me answering it, I just offer up the second answer on …

Like many of the phrases and bits of poetry I toss around, the title refers to the work of Van Morrison. I found myself dwelling on the guru, method and teacher references over the weekend, while pondering self-appointed industry experts. I'm talking about those among us industrious enough to go out on a limb and position themselves as thought leaders and educators. Once again as we launch a new year with seasonal vigor, I have been on the receiving end of marketing or missives from these folk that just make me cringe, laugh and cry in equal parts.

The purveyors of eReaders have forgotten an essential element: specifically, that books are social objects, that a successful replacement of a physical book will not only look and feel like a real book, but will allow you to lend it to your friends, to swap it out at an honesty library, or to donate it to your local community center. Jeff Bezos, I hope you are listening, because I'm not suggesting that the Kindle can never replace books; I'm offering you an opportunity to take your current commanding lead of the eReader market and blow it out of the water, …

During Gridley & Company's IDEA conference, Kevin Ryan, CEO of Gilt Groupe, declared that Apple could be the world's first trillion-dollar company I think Kevin is right. Here's why:

Wow! Every day I read through my Twitter feed and see another posting that "so-and-so" predicts 2011 will be a year of continued growth for online advertising. I love reading this news, but the thing I find funny is that after 17 years of building the business, it's still difficult to predict what the business will look like in 10 years!