commbasics

Yesterday came the news that UBM is shuttering the venerable Dr. Dobb's Journal as the Brit-based corporation continues its inexorable exit from technology journalism. I know it shouldn't be surprising but this one hits close to home... literally. I was out of J-school for about a year, working part time for a local daily newspaper and desperate for a full time gig.  I heard about this new publication started by some Stanford geeks that was just a short walk from my parents house, so I decided to go down and put my resume in. Of course, I had no idea what computer programming wa so there wasn't a chance in hell of getting a job there, but I walked my resume through the door anyway.  I never did get a call. But through the years, DDJ grew up with me in the world.  I learned alot about technology through its pages, both in print until 2009 and then only online.  When they were acquired by UBM, though, I knew it was only a matter of time. As Andrew B...

Tom Foremski's Silicon Valley Watcher blog took a look at InPowered  (you can read more in the link) this week and it gave me pause to rejoice that someone gets that click bait is a horrible strategy in the 21st century. I'm less than sanguine, however, that the move to engagement as a primary measurement of content success. Sales people get that clicks and unique visits are useless.  That's a good thing.  CEOs and marketing executives still haven't read the memo(s).  That's where the break in the chain is and that's why click-bait companies are still wildly profitable. A company like InPowered has the right approach: charge only for engagement.  But that means the cost per engagement is going to be huge compared to the pennies charged for clicks.  The executives in charge of the online marketing aren't making the case to the CFO that while clicks cost a lot less than engagement, they make a lot less money.  What'...