• The Anti-Social, Social Network
    In a great twist of irony, social networks have not only made us less social, they have made us more socially awkward. We no longer need to pick up the phone and call someone, because we can read about their exploits on Facebook. We don't need them to regale us with stories of their last great adventure because we already saw the photos on Instragram and saw it exaggerated courtesy of Hipstamatic. Is this what we want our relationships to be: news snippets?
  • Invest (Indirectly) For Success
    In today's hypercompetitive media world, it's much harder to get appointments with media purchase decision-makers in part because there are so many alternative media forms calling on them. The value of these hard-to-get appointments has risen due to scarcity, and due to the scale of the opportunity being greater; a bigger sale can be made than before. But in general, publishers have not invested in the skills and resources of their sales teams. They have tended to leave the learning to the salespeople, hoping that they'd adapt to the new world.
  • Woe The Digital Sale: International
    Question from a seller: Does it help when you are selling to show a buyer examples of what their client has done with a site in other countries? I'm about to have a meeting with a team I've been chasing for months. We have several successful case studies from outside the U.S., and management expects it to be a slam dunk since we're already on the plans in other places. Should I make the global deals a focus of the pitch?
  • You Can't Spell Privacy Without Piracy
    Privacy is a word representing all of us in the court of humankind. What is rightfully ours is for no others without our consent. That's why little kids cry when forced to share their toys, and why adults don't dare open a letter or an email addressed to someone else. The online advertising industry treats privacy like a word that can be redefined. From day one, we snubbed consumers by placing our needs above theirs -- requiring them to opt out of our private data collection practices, versus inviting them to opt in to experience the unique benefits we can …
  • Getting Your Ass Kicked By A Really, Really Nice Guy
    I have always imagined that I would one day get my ass kicked by a tattooed brute with a shaved head in a dark alley I accidentally wandered into. I don't know who the folks at Autotrader.com thought would kick their ass, but it turns out it's a sweet, goateed man with a penchant for berets and sweater vests Craig Newmark, creator of Craigslist, puts the capital D in Disintermediation. He is a bold reminder of the greatest fear every company needs to have: someone who thinks completely differently. He didn't just kick Autotrader's ass, though. He left them for …
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