This analysis of AOL’s financial numbers got me thinking about advertising and online advertising networks. There was a time when top technology companies had to succeed by building products that people wanted to buy. Today, many of them are running after ad dollars.
What’s wrong with this? Nothing, but here’s a point. Ads, lets remember, is only a good thing for advertisers and publishers. Users don’t like ads. In fact, it’s fair to say that other than during the Super Bowl and other exceptional circumstances, most people hate ads and avoid them at all costs. Ads don’t lead to customer loyalty and don’t get people to line up for hours to buy a hot new product.
Let’s look at AOL. Ten years ago, AOL’s revenue was coming from people paying for access to its network. Today, AOL hopes to become a leading ad network and fatten its bank account with ad money. Back in the day, people were paying for an AOL product that they themselves used. Today, AOL’s success is highly dependent on the health of an industry it doesn’t have much control over.
I have a feeling that a lot of companies like AOL are really going to feel the pinch once the current wave of excitement around online advertising dissipates. Unless you can translate ad money into something that people can use and derive value from, you are toast. Google is what it is because it managed to navigate these rough waters very successfully. I would not bet my lunch that AOL can succeed at this game.
Call it a spoof or a video to energize the troops. No matter how you describe or justify this Microsoft video, it’s pretty ridiculous. Take a look:
Reading comments about this video over at TechCrunch, which uncovered this jewel, was quite amusing. Someone is even reconsidering a full-time job offer at Microsoft after watching this. I don’t blame him. Yahoo! employees must be scared after watching this too.
US Airways is advertising a cool system where you can find out information about your connecting flight by sending them a txt message from your mobile phone.
I didn’t have to use it, so I don’t know if it really works. But it’s certainly a good idea, a nice SMS application.
Lee Gomes is possibly my favorite writer over at The Wall Street Journal. He’s got more of a tech focus than other writers, so I tend to read his articles more than others.
A while back he reported on a study conducted by neuroscientists at the University of Southern California interested in the evolutionary and biological basis of the human need for information.
The bottom line is that “new and richly interpretable information triggers a chemical reaction that makes us feel good, which in turn causes us to seek out even more of it”. According to researchers, “when you find new information, you get an opioid hit, and we are junkies for those. You might call us ‘infovores.’”
Fascinating research. Definitely explains why I keep refreshing those web sites about Formula 1 every few minutes! That has to stop. Maybe the new Slife 2.0 will help me with this.
Click here for the whole story. Should be on the free side of the fence at the WSJ.
Walkscore is a cool little site I found the other day that assigns a “walking” score to your home. The score indicates how “walkable” your neighborhood is, in other words, whether it’s possible to go to restaurants, parks, movie theatres, stores, etc without having to get into your car and drive.
Our previous home in Someville, MA is highly walkable, scoring 94 out of 100. You can really do a lot of stuff just by walking around over there.
Next time you move or if you are buying a new home, it might be worth checking Walkscore. This is especially true if you are looking for a more “urban” lifestyle.
