New Report Finds More African Americans Using Self-Created Blogs & Digital Content, Social Networking For News & Information

Higher Percentage Of Blacks Rely on Television News

"African Americans are more likely to have created their own web content — by blogging, microblogging and social networking — than whites or Hispanics," according to the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism's State of the News Media 2011 report.

As sites like The Grio, MediaTakeOut, Black Report, EUR Web and Field Negro have demonstrated, "Almost a quarter (22%) of blacks created or worked on their own online journal or blog, compared to 14% for whites and 13% for Hispanics. African Americans also use social or professional online networking sites in greater proportions than whites. In May 2010, some 71% of African Americans said they used online networking sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, compared with 58% of whites."

In another finding, "An overwhelming 86% of African Americans turn to TV for most of their news, compared to 64% of white respondents and 66% of Hispanics. Most African American media outlets either began or planned to upgrade their digital enterprises in an effort to reach new audiences. But beyond that, it was a mixed year for the sector," the report said.

Among other findings:

• The digital divide between whites and other ethnic groups is narrowing. A number of different indicators show African Americans and Hispanics turning to the internet in higher percentages than in years past.

• Despite its popularity, most African Americans do not use radio to receive news. Only 9% of African Americans used radio to get most of their news, according to a December 2010 Pew Research Center for the People & the Press survey. Twice as many whites (18%) got most of their news from the radio and 12% of Hispanics did the same."

• "An estimated 71% of African Americans use the internet, according to a Pew Internet & American Life survey conducted in May 2010. This still trails whites (80%) and Hispanics (82%), but closes the gap more. . . . data show young African Americans’ time spent on the internet has almost caught up to time watching television."

Source

Not Happy With Traditonal Radio? You're Not Alone!

Radio Via The Net, Now That's What's Up!

Internet radio is burgeoning, according to a new report from SNL Kagan, which predicts more rapid revenue growth. But the big question, as far as media buyers are concerned, is how much of this future growth will come from advertising sales.

The report is being circulated just as, coincidentally, new Web based radio players hit stores July 1.

Looking at the top Internet radio operations, SNL identified CBS Interactive as the revenue leader, with total revenues of $550 million in 2009, thanks in part to its ownership of Last.fm and ad sales partnerships with AOL Radio and Yahoo. It also has a large number of station Web sites.

Verizon Fios To Carry Youtube, Internet Radio

Counting other partnerships with CNET, Radio.com and TV.com, CBS Interactive boasted an average 226 million unique users per month in 209. Competitor Clear Channel posted total revenues of $175 million in 2009 -- virtually all from advertising -- with an average monthly base of 100 million unique users.

Among pure-play Internet radio operations, MySpace led the way with $490 million in revenue and an average 70 million unique users per month -- boosted "by leveraging Fox's music-focused TV shows 'Glee' and 'American Idol,' according to SNL Kagan.

2008 Business Week - Can Blogtalkradio Make Money?

In 2009, Pandora had about $50 million in revenue -- also mostly from advertising -- and 50 million registered users, about half of whom are actually active.

Adding up the top players, Internet radio delivered over $1.25 billion in revenue in 2009 -- but comparing this figure with separate numbers from the Radio Advertising Bureau, it's clear that online advertising is still playing second fiddle to subscription and download fees. And don't think Sirius XM satellite radio is going to take the threat of continued online radio growth lying down.

The RAB reported total digital ad revenues in 2009 of $480 million -- or 38% of total online radio revenues.

Source

Black Blogging Rockstars Provide Insight At The March 2010 SXSW

The Net Neutrality Arguement - Where Do You Stand?

Are Open Internet Policies Essential to Minorities?

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn told a minority media conference audience Jan. 22 that network neutrality is not a threat to minority advancement but smart regulation that will help avoid the "damage" done to diversity by radio and TV deregulation. But is that actually true?

The FCC's Democratic majority is backing a proposal to expand and codify the FCC's Internet openness principles. Since the Democrats have a 3-2 edge, some version of that proposal is likely to pass.

The minority community has been divided over the issue of network neutrality, with a number of groups cautioning the FCC, and more recently the White House and Congress, that network neutrality rules could widen the digital divide by discouraging the private investment necessary to get broadband to the poorer and minority communities that are currently unserved and underserved.

Clyburn made it clear she sided with those who saw the rules instead as a way to prevent "[ceding] control of the most significant communications advancement in our lifetimes."

"Together we must ensure that people of color--and all Americans--can 'participate as owners, employees, and suppliers' on-line," she said. "That cannot happen, however, if we passively permit a new set of gatekeepers to erect yet another set of barriers to entry."

Of course, there are many who disagree with Clyburn, arguing that net neutrality is not all proponents are making it out to be. And given the White House push for a National Broadband Plan, economic realities may trump the impassioned pleas of those sitting on the FCC.

While broadband adoption has been the focus of much attention in terms of enfranchising the minority community, Clyburn said closing the digital divide was about more than that.

"[W]hen it comes to communities of color--and other traditionally underrepresented groups--the broadband story does not and cannot end with adoption. Broadband is not simply a one-way challenge limited to finding ways in which individuals can obtain meaningful high-speed Internet access."

While network neutrality proponents like Clyburn want a fairly narrow definition of acceptable network management, others are arguing just the opposite.

Comcast, fresh off a strong performance challenging the FCC's network management finding against it in Federal Court (the BitTorrent case), echoed its arguments there by telling the FCC late Thursday that it must compile evidence and establish statutory authority before it adopts any rules.

While Comcast maintained it shares the goal of an open Internet and applauds a fact-based approach to the rulemaking, it also said that evidence collected by the FCC for its broadband plan raises "serious concerns" that the network neutrality regulations as currently constituted "would put at risk the continued investment and innovation in broadband networks needed to meet those goals."

The nation's largest cable operator noted that rules should only be adopted based on real "not conjectural" harms and benefits, and only if addressing both outweighs the risks to innovation and investment. Comcast added: "To date, there is no such record."

Comcast also said that since there is no express grant of Congressional authority the FCC is relying on the ancillary authority it says must be tied to specific statutory provisions, with a justification for why it is "reasonably ancillary" to that authority.

Taking a far more proactive regulatory stance was the American Cable Association, which represents over 900 smaller and medium-sized cable operators. "The proposed regulations do not go far enough."

ACA asked the FCC to extend the open Internet regs to "all providers" of broadband content, applications, services and devices." ACA said that all those play a key role in either shaping or distorting "the internet experience." ACA took the opportunity to continue its campaign against ESPN360, saying it was one of those content providers blocking access.

As the debates rages on over the extremely important issue, we'll keep you informed!

Hollywood Adds Money & Talent To Web Shows, Time For Blacks To Get With The Program

Web sites that buy original video clips often pay so little that "The Bannen Way," a flashy crime thriller debuting online, looked destined to be made poorly if it could be made at all.

Yet budding filmmakers Jesse Warren and Mark Gantt managed to hire 40-odd staff, including a boom operator, camerapeople — yes, more than one — and even production assistants on hand to offer sunscreen and sandwiches. And the production had actors familiar to some TV and movie audiences, including Michael Ironside, Robert Forster and Vanessa Marcil.

The secret to their success? Treat the Internet run like a TV or movie release, which often loses money on its on-screen debut, but can make healthy profits when issued on DVD or Blu-ray and later sold for reruns on cable or overseas.

With that in mind, major movie studios are now getting behind such productions, giving them a lift in budgets and quality — a far cry from the shaky camerawork and dubious special effects prevalent when Web video became a new phenomenon a few years ago.

For Warren and Gantt, who wrapped up shooting in October, a snazzy trailer they produced helped snag Sony Pictures Television as a partner.

"We came up with this idea," said Warren, 31. "There's no limit to how many episodes there can be in a Web series. So why don't we design it as a (feature-length movie) so we can sell it as a DVD feature at the end?"

Sony executives, it turns out, had the same idea.

The studio picked up the project in April and gave it a budget of around $1 million. That's nowhere near the $30 million-plus budgets of many Hollywood movies, but more than the producers were told they could sell it for. Web sites typically pay up to $5,000 for a short clip of original video; with 16 episodes, other Web sites might have paid around $100,000 for "The Bannen Way."

"This money buys more lights and more production value," said Gantt, 40.

Warren appeared to bask in the fullness of his crew: "We can afford extras rather than having our friends come in."

One quirk of the Web is that each episode must have a cliffhanger to keep online viewers coming back. In one scene, the audience learns for the first time that Neal Bannen, the title character, had been working for his mob boss uncle. Bannen's father is the chief of police, and viewers realize the son is about to be entangled in a cops-and-robbers struggle between father and uncle.

"It moves pretty well," Warren says, snapping his fingers. "We had breaks that would naturally lend itself to the Web."

Sony Pictures Television hopes the release will gain buzz and a few advertising dollars when it begins to debut in increments in January on the Sony-owned Crackle.com, a site targeted at males aged 18-34. Then, it will stop running for free online and get repackaged for sale to TV outlets, on iTunes and elsewhere.

Editing finished this month on the feature-length project. There's no substantial difference between the whole or spliced versions — just that the Web version has episodic breaks at certain climaxes.

Although the main goal is to drive traffic to Crackle.com, which Sony Corp. acquired when it was called Grouper for nearly $60 million in 2006, made-for-Web productions are expected to make a profit by themselves.

Thus, studios scrutinize projects before approving them and committing funding — green-lighting in industry speak. In this case, studio input during the production was also part of the process.

"We go through a very similar green-light process as we would for any piece of content in the studio," said Eric Berger, senior vice president of digital networks for Sony Pictures Television, which is planning to make 15 Web productions annually. "How and why we make them and where we will make money is conceived with every project."

Paramount Pictures's digital arm is also backing made-for-Web productions that can make additional money in other formats. Paramount spent $1 million to $3 million making a horror movie, "Circle of Ei8ht," which began showing on MySpace in installments in October in an initial run through Dec. 8. The series had generated nearly 5 million views online — which would rank it among the most-watched shows if it were on cable TV.

To help pay for production, Viacom Inc.'s Paramount lined up a key product-integration deal with PepsiCo Inc.'s Mountain Dew and sold rental and on-demand rights for one month exclusively to Blockbuster Inc. MySpace, which is owned by News Corp., kicked in marketing support.

"I don't think there's been a more expensive piece of content made for the Web," said Thomas Lesinski, president of Paramount Digital Entertainment, which has two other Web projects in the works.

He added that hiring professional talent and crew and paying for an original score will help sell "Circle of Ei8ht" when it makes it onto other platforms such as iTunes, DVD and video-on-demand.

"The stuff that we're creating could easily play on television," he said.

Brady Brim-DeForest, the co-founder of research and news site Tubefilter.tv, calls the renewed activity "the second coming of original programming online."

He cited the recent success of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," which "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon made during the writers strike last year.

He estimates "Dr. Horrible" cost $220,000 to make but brought in about $2.4 million within a year, after sharing advertising revenue on Hulu.com and selling the movie and soundtrack on iTunes, as well as DVDs and merchandise. It went on to win an Emmy.

Internet shows have also made the transition to television. After a one-episode flirtation on NBC, "quarterlife" found a home on the NBC Universal-owned Bravo network last year. Sci-fi Web series "Sanctuary" made it on Syfy, and "Secret Girlfriend" ran on Comedy Central this fall.

Yet for every Web series that is made with a modest budget and high-profile directors such as "The O.C." creator Josh Schwartz — who made "Rockville CA" for The WB's site — there are about 20 made independently on a shoestring, Brim-DeForest said.

"What's so spectacular is they are all drawing an audience, finding a niche," he said. "That's the power of the Internet as a distribution medium. It's very compelling."

In October, Michael Eisner's Web production startup Vuguru got a multimillion-dollar capital injection from a unit of Canada's Rogers Communications Inc. in a deal that gives Rogers the right to use Vuguru content on television, the Web or even its rental video stores in Canada.

Vuguru had already made several sales internationally. Its "Prom Queen" hit from 2007 was translated, recast and reshot for the Web in Japan. A dubbed version ran on cable TV in France and it ran as-is on Yahoo's Australian site.

Rogers' minority investment will ensure Vuguru can ramp up its production to some 15 projects a year, compared with a half dozen over the last two years combined, said Andy Redman, chief operating officer of The Tornante Company LLC, which owns a majority of Vuguru. The plan is to boost the staff to 30 in a few years, up from two people who currently work on Web projects full-time, he said.

Redman compared the growth of the new platform to cable television in the 1980s, when networks like ESPN, CNN and MTV were just getting going, reaching focused audiences at first and then growing.

Today, cable networks like AMC put on some of the most critically acclaimed series on TV, such as its Emmy-winning "Mad Men," and have largely cast off their reputation as being a receptacle for reruns or shows that failed on broadcast TV.

"It was the platform to be joked about," he said. "Five years later, they've realized this whole new medium passed me by."

By RYAN NAKASHIMA (AP)

On the Net:

The Bannen Way: http://bit.ly/8pI4Ky

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: http://bit.ly/8D6Wjm

Rockville CA: http://bit.ly/6HRmCk

Vuguru: http://bit.ly/7IE3Ee

Use Of Internet By African Americans Goes Up

The percentage of African-Americans who use the Internet increased to 64% as of December 2008, up from 56% in December 2007, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. In comparison, Internet users represented 74% of the total US population in December 2008, dipping slightly from 75% in December 2007.

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White Artists That Black Folks Love: Brit Sensation Rick Astley

The Internet is amazing. How else can a once skinnyy, red-head, pop 80's singer who everyone thought was Black suddenly be all the rage with this notion of being Rick Rolled?

If you don't know what that means, you're obviously riding with the late freight. In the meantime, enjoy Rick Astley in the catchy tune I can't stop singing now "Never Gonna Give You Up."

New York Times' Revenue Losses Demonstrate That People Are Flocking Online To Get Their News Fix

When was the last time you actually bought a newspaper? And have you actually seen the Los Angeles Times lately? I don't want to be Chicken Little but the sky is in fact falling when it comes to traditional (i.e. dated) forms of obtaining news and information.

Exhibit A: The New York Times Company posted a $335,000 loss in the first quarter — one of the worst periods the company and the newspaper industry have EVER seen.

The number has fallen far short of both analysts’ expectations and its $23.9 million profit in the quarter a year earlier.

The company did break even on a per-share basis, compared with the average analyst forecast of earnings of 14 cents, down from 17 cents in the first quarter of 2007.

The main source of the company’s revenue, newspaper advertising in print and online, fell 10.6 percent, the sharpest drop in memory, as the industry suffers the twin blows of an economic downturn and the continuing long-term shift of readers and advertisers to the Internet.

In a conference call with analysts, Janet L. Robinson, president and chief executive on the New York Times Company, said it was “a challenging quarter, one that showed the effects of a weaker economy,” compounded by “a marketplace that has been reconfigured technologically, economically and geographically.”

Looking ahead, she said, “We see continued challenges for print advertising in a faltering economy.”

The company recorded an operating profit of $6.2 million on revenue of $748 million, down from $54.5 million in operating income on revenue of $786 million a year earlier.

The poor showing stemmed from The Times Company’s core news media group, which includes The Times, The Boston Globe and The International Herald Tribune, as well as several regional newspapers.

The Times Company’s declining fortunes have sowed shareholder discontent, and the weak first-quarter results could intensify calls for a shift in strategy. A pair of hedge funds, Harbinger Capital Partners and Firebrand Partners, acquired a large stake in the company early this year, demanding that it sell assets and invest aggressively in Internet operations.

Across the industry, newspaper ad revenue — print and online, combined — fell almost 8 percent last year, the second-worst decline in more than half a century, according to the Newspaper Association of America. The Times Company’s ad revenue dropped 4.7 percent last year, when adjusted for a change in the length of its fiscal year.

Over the last year, classified ads continued a decadelong flight to the Web, and display ads for real estate and cars fell sharply as those industries contracted.

Black Print & Electronic Media Will Soon Be Extinct!

We need to wake-up family. Because you know when White folks have a cold, Black folks have pneumonia. Translation, is that how can newspapers, magazines, radio and small local cable stations owned by African Americans possibly compete?

They can't, which means they're going to be folding up and getting out of dodge unless they recognize that the Internent is where the action is. [Source]

China Restricts Internet Access During the Olympics

Am I the only one getting nervous about this summer's Olympic Games in China?

First we have the repression and killing going on by the Chinese Government in Tibet. Now we find out that the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is having to fight just to get Internet access for the journalist and athletes attending this summers Olympic Games. Voice of America's (VOA) Internet site is not allowed in China and they have more on this story, read on.

As Semantic Web Technology Slowly Makes It Way To The Forefront, Soon We'll Be Saying "Google Who?"

Google may eventually be displaced as the pre-eminent brand on the internet by a company that harnesses the power of next-generation web technology, the inventor of the World Wide Web has said.

The search giant had developed an extremely effective way of searching for pages on the internet, Tim Berners-Lee said, but that ability paled in comparison to what could be achieved on the "web of the future", which he said would allow any piece of information — such as a photo or a bank statement — to be linked to any other.

Mr Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web in 1989 while a fellow at CERN, the European Organsation for Nuclear Research in Switzerland, believes the next generation of web technology is likely to be far more powerful than the current crop.

What we will experience is similar to the "current craze" for social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. The difference being that eventually, even these sites will be superseded by networks that connected all types of things — not just people — thanks to a ground-breaking technology known as the "semantic web".

The semantic web is the term used by the computer and internet industry to describe the next phase of the web's development, and essentially involves building web-based connectivity into any piece of data — not just a web page — so that it can "communicate" with other information.

Whereas the existing web is a collection of pages with links between them that Google and other search engines help the user to navigate, the "semantic web" will enable direct connectivity between much more low-level pieces of information — a written street address and a map, for instance — which in turn will give rise to new services.

"Using the semantic web, you can build applications that are much more powerful than anything on the regular web," Mr Berners-Lee said. "Imagine if two completely separate things — your bank statements and your calendar — spoke the same language and could share information with one another. You could drag one on top of the other and a whole bunch of dots would appear showing you when you spent your money.

"If you still weren't sure of where you were when you made a particular transaction, you could then drag your photo album on top of the calendar, and be reminded that you used your credit card at the same time you were taking pictures of your kids at a theme park. So you wouldd know not to claim it as a tax deduction.

"At the moment, people are very excited about all these connections being made between people — for obvious reasons, because people are important — but I think after a while people will realize that there are many other things you can connect to via the web."

This is fascinating stuff family. The details continue here.

With Business Hurting, Now Starbucks Is Willing To Give Free WiFi To Coffee Drinking Internet Addicts

Starbucks, which for years rejected giving away free Internet service at its stores, has reversed course and said Monday that it will begin offering limited, free Wi-Fi at more than 7,000 company-owned U.S. stores. You know Britney Spears is excited about this news, poor thing.

The switch to AT&T Inc. from T-Mobile will allow customers to receive up to two hours of free Internet service starting this spring. However, to access the Wi-Fi, customers must have a cash balance on an active Starbucks card, which is used to buy drinks, CDs or other items. Cards start at $5.

Seattle-based Starbucks Corp. said it has not worked out all the details as to how much of a cash balance must be on a card, and it has not set firm dates when the free Wi-Fi will begin. But its hometown likely will be among the first large cities to get the service as it is rolled out this year, said Chris Bruzzo, the company's chief technology officer. Full Starbucks Story

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Is The Internet Taking Over The Planet? If You're Reading This, You Already Know The Answer!

It's Not TV, Its Digital!

In the latest sign of television’s decline as the primary media device, Stereohyped is reporting that 19% of respondents said they spend six hours or more each day on personal Internet usage.

That compares with 8% who said so about the TV. One to four hours of TV usage was reported by 66%, compared with 60% for the Web.

“The Internet is becoming consumers’ primary entertainment source,” said Saul Berman, IBN Media & Entertainment Strategy and Change practice leader. “The TV is increasingly taking a back seat to the cell phone and the personal computer among consumers age 18-34.”

Looks like we're not the only ones swapping Internet for television. What is disturbing, however, is that one in four U.S. adults didn’t read a single book last year. I better grab that Harry Potter book from my fourth grader!

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25 THINGS THAT HAVE CHANGED THE INTERNET

Bloggers - #22

The more than 75 million Web logs have changed how the world gets its news. Bloggers have challenged the traditional media, lobbied for and against wars, started debates, and posted far too many pictures of their pets.

Catch ther other 24 here.