Björn Jeffery

Over at Vassa Eggen (Swedish only) I find an interesting article about newspapers, other than The Guardian, starting to look at PDF-editions:

One might think a newspaper in PDF format would have only slight appeal, but publishers see real potential. For one, the PDF is highly portable, fit for printing out on short notice, which makes it ideal for people heading into meetings, for example.

And the printed version, at 8.5 by 11 inches, fits easily into briefcases for reading on the train on the way home or folders for filing. And if a printout is lost, another can be done up quickly.

For publishers, there’s no real added cost for PDF editions, in terms of paper and ink and distribution, since it is delivered by email. And it offers yet another means of reaching readers and providing advertisers exposure.

Using the time spent in transit is important. And when newspapers deliver the right material the right way, people want it. Get with the programme old timers.

tags bloggar.se: tidningar, dagstidningar, media, transit, trend, pdf

Read this!

Myron, 27, is a reporter for the Fort Myers News-Press and one of its fleet of mobile journalists, or “mojos.” The mojos have high-tech tools — ThinkPads, digital audio recorders, digital still and video cameras — but no desk, no chair, no nameplate, no land line, no office. They spend their time on the road looking for stories, filing several a day for the newspaper’s Web site, and often for the print edition, too. Their guiding principle: A constantly updated stream of intensely local, fresh Web content — regardless of its traditional news value — is key to building online and newspaper readership.

Finally! A newsroom that realizes that the only way to cover hyperlocal stories, is to participate in the hyperlocal. Start conversations, remember? It works IRL too. And it works with news (even if it was a long time ago journalists left their desks and actually covered news where it happens).

tags bloggar.se: tidningar, dagstidningar, media, hyperlokalt

The last few days I’ve been thinking a lot about people in transit and what we do while while we’re in it. Commuting is a necessary evil to get from home to work, and back again. While in transit between these two places you might as well do something, like read a free newspaper for instance. They are very common here in Sweden.

I believe this behaviour will move into other arenas as well. People will want to use all the time in between appointments more efficiently. They will turn the time in transit, into a pleasurable event in itself.

This poses a challenge for any company that involves some sort of waiting for their customers. An example: in Sweden it’s big business helping people to switch to winter tyres. If you go to a garage, the process might take you about half an hour. Usually, this is half an hour down the drain as there is nothing but a few worn out car magazines to read. If the garage instead had a wireless internet connection you could continue working as if nothing had happened, more or less. Or a bit more extreme – why not have a spa section that offers half an hours massage while you wait? A lot of stressed out people would greatly appreciate both maximising their day, and at the same time getting a soothing massage. This could be seen as good promotion, or an alternate source of income.

Another example would be phone cues. I absolutely hate waiting for ages on the phone in order to get the simplest of answers. Apart from having all the information available online (which is the obvious solution), having people in a phone cue could actually be good thing for both parties. How about adding a game to the service? A simple number based game that you can pay for through the phone bill. Entertaining, and something that everyone can do, understand and enjoy.

Personally, I’ve found that I love being in between two places. I absolutely love airports and I work really efficiently while I am on a train. The whole momentum of going somewhere really appeals to me. But give me a meaningful way of taking care of the time I’m in transit – new experiences or offers that I don’t usually get – and you’ll make me even happier.

tags bloggar.se: trender transit

So Google News finally launched in Sweden and the blogosphere is going nuts about it. Quite a few papers as well I think, even if they aren’t planning to take the Belgian approach to them.

Personally, I’m neither worried, impressed or excited. The functionality in itself tags along with the first post I wrote in this blog – it’s a simple news aggregator. No more, no less. Used correctly this will increase the amount of visitors rather than the opposite.

If the newspapers spent half as much time worrying about their content, or lack of (relevant) content, as they seem to be doing about Google News a lot of heartache could be avoided. The newspaper that has managed to build the best brand loyalty through quality of articles or other projects is winner in this race. If you, as a newspaper, feel that you haven’t done this – well, then you should be worried about the future of your paper in general. Google News won’t kill you, but if you haven’t done your homework it won’t help you considerably either.

So what to do? In my opinion there are a few things that still aren’t being done enough in the media. Get close to your readers, invite them to a conversation, start asking “why” instead of just telling “what” just happened. Guidelines that applied long before the launch of Google News.

(an interesting bonus is how papers that are late the news benefit through getting the top position)

tags bloggar.se: google news, google news sverige, media, tidningar

One of the more weird presentations I’ve held in my life. I was filmed by Mats and Kristian at WM Data in Malmö, the film was sent at a conference in Arvidsjaur and then I answered questions through Skype from Stockholm. Odd, but fun at the same time. Especially since there was 150 energy(!) companies on the other end listening to what I had to say about the future of the internet.

(the picture shows a part of Kristians head while he’s trying the out camera)

Regarding what I wrote earlier, this is the sort of thing I was talking about. Plugins to browsers are an excellent way to go. As our web browsers more and more become carriers of both commerce and applications, a way to simplify the choices that you make within them – from whatever perspective you may prefer – will become big business.

Shorten the time spent to make concious decisions and you’re on to something.

tags bloggar.se: miljö, plugins, trender, trend, webbläsare

Tonight I’ll be discussing how the youth of today will affect the workplace of tomorrow. You get the picture. The debate is hosted by SNS and starts 18.00 at Malmö Högskola. Swing by if you want to have a chat about that, or anything else for that matter.

The latest buzz in amongst the Swedish internet enthusiasts is the Read/Write Web lists of national web apps. There have been a few complaints (here and here for instance) about Sweden being a disgrace as we apparently haven’t thought of enough stuff ourselves. Apart from that not being true, it also raises the issue of cloning vs innovation.

In my opinion, the critical point is the execution of the idea – not the idea itself. At least when it comes to comparing “top sites” of any sort. There were plenty of video options before YouTube, there were social networks before MySpace and so forth. The interesting point is not that their idea was fresh out of the box, but that they tweaked so successfully into becoming a success. Take a look at Startup Reviews study on MySpace for a few good pointers on why it exploded, and others didn’t.

There are many factors that decide the success of a website. Firstly, it is a matter of expectation and measurement of course. Are we looking at revenue streams? Unique visitors? Potential? Reach in the target group? And what was the purpose of the site? Not all sites aim to become the largest player in the field. Depending on what perspective to use, all the apps on the list would rate differently.

So even though it’s a really good idea for a series (I wish I thought of it first!), it’s not a good foundation to start ranting over Sweden being a useless country when it comes to web success.

tags bloggar.se: web2.0, kloner, myspace, youtube + Ping Intressant.se

Just a few newsworthy links from the blogs I went through today. Not all new, but still worth a look.

Revenue sharing entering the video market for real – it’s been there before, but this seems a bit more serious.

Another brand in Second Life – Nissan this time. But everytime it happens the site gains in credibility.

Newspapers are doing badly as usual – apart from The Financial Times.
Vox launches for all of us – and I think they are on point with the structure. Going from hiding everything about yourself to publishing everything about yourself online, the obvious step is to publish some stuff to some chosen people.

It’s always interesting when Sequoia hands out cash – this time it’s to a celeb blog with 20 million monthly page views.

Help with medicine research – by simply leaving your computer on, SETI-style.

Google acquires Jotspot – nuff said!

Interview with a hyperlocal blogger – from this blog. There’s a lot to hyperlocal.

I know there are a million other examples of this, but it’s always more fun when it happens to you personally. Yesterday, Rolling Stone magazine used Discobelle.net (a blog that I contribute to) as the source for their piece of news. Read the original post here.

tags bloggar.se: rolling stone magazine, bloggar