Excerpted from Wired article, Future of Newspapers: Profitless? Go Wireless
(Seems to confirm our vision for The inside Scoop)
…But mobile devices can also do one thing that other computers can't — pinpoint their users' location. That means that the wireless news subscribers of the future may be able to get information tailored not just to their interests but to where they're physically standing.
"We're finding that an increasing number of young people are getting their news from smartphones," says Geeta Dayal, a Ford Foundation Fellow who teaches a class on mobile phones and journalism at University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. "And the more people use their phones to access information, the more they want to know what's happening where they are right now."
One possible future of news as a commodity is hyperlocal information — the sort of thing that's already becoming popularized by services like Yelp, whose incarnation as an iPhone app offers directions to nearby restaurants and services, complete with with user reviews.
A subscriber to a location-based news service might, for instance, be able to point a mobile phone at a building and instantly have access to its news history, its architectural background, profiles and political donation records of the people who live or work there. Imagine hearing a jackhammer and being able to determine at the touch of a button what's being built or demolished, who owns the property, and how long the noise is going to go on.
All that information is still going to be free on the Web, of course — but what hyperlocal news subscribers would be paying for is having the information know where they are. Within a few years, the economics of mobile news could mean that you can find out what's happening on the other side of the world for free, but pay to understand what's happening just around the corner.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
The Inside Scoop
1. Who is our target audience? We will target most generally youngish people in the metropolitan Washington, DC, area; that is, people 40 (35?) and younger, as they tend to be more tech-savvy and more “into” the social scene. Washington is one of the most wired cities in the country, so that helps us. More specifically, since our selling point at least at first will be GPS-supported nightlife, our target audience will be GPS-enabled mobile device users in metro DC. We envision this focus to be our entrée, or the leading edge of the wedge, into a much more comprehensive local news and information service, but which will still have GPS as its linchpin.
2. What is the competitive landscape? A cursory Web search indicates Yelp especially, and Urban Spoon less so, will be our main competitors. It was a bit disappointing to see that Yelp covers what we’ll cover – restaurants, bars, live shows, etc. – and with reviews by Joe Schmoes to boot. Hopefully the immediacy we can offer with the GPS platform, combined with blogging, Twitter, etc., will be enough to give us a decisive edge. The same can be said relative to Urban Spoon, and at least there only restaurants are covered.
3. How do we differentiate ourselves? We will highlight that we are GPS-driven, that wherever you find yourself – leaving the office at 6:00 p.m. and looking for a happy hour, leaving a restaurant in Dupont Circle and wanting a nightcap within walking distance, finding a party is lame and wanting to see a band in the neighborhood instead – all you need to do is flip open your GPS-enabled handheld device and you’ll know what’s happening at the moment and how to get there. Also, the addition (as early as possible after the project launches) of user-generated content could make us a destination for creative types, and those who just like to observe, write, tweet, etc., who want to submit video, reviews, etc. Most generally, user interaction with the application and/or Web site will set us apart and sell us.
4. How do we create our site? We will need staff to develop an application that works with GPS technology on all mobile phone operating systems. We will also need several people, at least in the early stages, to generate a comprehensive database of restaurants and bars in metro DC. Once that is achieved, perhaps one person should be dedicated long term to keep tabs on new, emerging venues. Depending on the extent of our plans to seed our Web site with in-house videos of venues, we will also need a videographer(s) and editor(s). Later, as we expand coverage to more newsy items, we’ll need staff to cull area news outlets and aggregate relevant pieces for the site. And somewhere along the way we’ll need to grow an advertising sales staff.
5. How do we get our content? In the beginning we will seed our site with reviews and video of restaurants, bars, etc. that we produce ourselves. Once we reach a critical mass and begin to make a name, we will turn to submissions from patrons of the nightspots, in the form of written reviews; videos; on-the-spot, at-the-moment tweets; etc. As we become more comprehensive and news-oriented, we will largely aggregate items from other outlets and lean heavily on user submissions.
6. How do we market our site? We’ll need to market ourselves to two audiences, the first trickier than the other. We’ll have to get owners of GPS-enabled handhelds to actually avail themselves of our services. How to do that…? Second, more traditionally we’ll have to entice venues to place ads with us, which will depend largely on how many eyeballs we can promise them (that is, how successful our first marketing foray is).
7. How do we sustain the site? The bulk of our money will come from advertising revenue from bars, restaurants, nightclubs, etc., who want to place a static print ad in a corner of our site, submit a video short to be appended to a longer feature, or something else. Lifestyle advertisers will do the same. Ultimately, this application/Web site would link advertisers to specific demographic groups in specific geographic locations in real time. There lies great potential for precision-placed ads.
2. What is the competitive landscape? A cursory Web search indicates Yelp especially, and Urban Spoon less so, will be our main competitors. It was a bit disappointing to see that Yelp covers what we’ll cover – restaurants, bars, live shows, etc. – and with reviews by Joe Schmoes to boot. Hopefully the immediacy we can offer with the GPS platform, combined with blogging, Twitter, etc., will be enough to give us a decisive edge. The same can be said relative to Urban Spoon, and at least there only restaurants are covered.
3. How do we differentiate ourselves? We will highlight that we are GPS-driven, that wherever you find yourself – leaving the office at 6:00 p.m. and looking for a happy hour, leaving a restaurant in Dupont Circle and wanting a nightcap within walking distance, finding a party is lame and wanting to see a band in the neighborhood instead – all you need to do is flip open your GPS-enabled handheld device and you’ll know what’s happening at the moment and how to get there. Also, the addition (as early as possible after the project launches) of user-generated content could make us a destination for creative types, and those who just like to observe, write, tweet, etc., who want to submit video, reviews, etc. Most generally, user interaction with the application and/or Web site will set us apart and sell us.
4. How do we create our site? We will need staff to develop an application that works with GPS technology on all mobile phone operating systems. We will also need several people, at least in the early stages, to generate a comprehensive database of restaurants and bars in metro DC. Once that is achieved, perhaps one person should be dedicated long term to keep tabs on new, emerging venues. Depending on the extent of our plans to seed our Web site with in-house videos of venues, we will also need a videographer(s) and editor(s). Later, as we expand coverage to more newsy items, we’ll need staff to cull area news outlets and aggregate relevant pieces for the site. And somewhere along the way we’ll need to grow an advertising sales staff.
5. How do we get our content? In the beginning we will seed our site with reviews and video of restaurants, bars, etc. that we produce ourselves. Once we reach a critical mass and begin to make a name, we will turn to submissions from patrons of the nightspots, in the form of written reviews; videos; on-the-spot, at-the-moment tweets; etc. As we become more comprehensive and news-oriented, we will largely aggregate items from other outlets and lean heavily on user submissions.
6. How do we market our site? We’ll need to market ourselves to two audiences, the first trickier than the other. We’ll have to get owners of GPS-enabled handhelds to actually avail themselves of our services. How to do that…? Second, more traditionally we’ll have to entice venues to place ads with us, which will depend largely on how many eyeballs we can promise them (that is, how successful our first marketing foray is).
7. How do we sustain the site? The bulk of our money will come from advertising revenue from bars, restaurants, nightclubs, etc., who want to place a static print ad in a corner of our site, submit a video short to be appended to a longer feature, or something else. Lifestyle advertisers will do the same. Ultimately, this application/Web site would link advertisers to specific demographic groups in specific geographic locations in real time. There lies great potential for precision-placed ads.
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