The London Times’ Pay Wall and Future Impacts on Online Publishing
The London Times is one of the first major global newspapers to begin implementing an internet pay wall for access to its news and editorial content. This bold move by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is part of an overall strategy to move toward a paid online content distribution system, and is aimed at helping to turn a profit for the flailing newspaper publishing industry. Before the launch of this pay wall, The London Times had the 40th largest newspaper circulation in the world, and the results of the profit-driven wall could be indicative of what the rest of the newspaper industry can expect to undergo in the coming years.
The paywall restriction went into full effect in early July 2010, and first reported subscriber figures look disappointing. Numbers of readers is down across the board, despite the newspaper’s effort to reach out to new readers. Access to the site currently costs 2£ per week – which is a substantial discount from the paper subscription price. However, for the week ending July 10th, reports indicate that overall traffic fell to only 33% of its pr-pay wall level. The Times supports both standard operating systems and the iPad OS, allowing readers with WiFi connections to read content on the go.
In an August 2006 research reports, The Bivings Group looked at the use of internet by America’s newspapers, and a great deal has changed in the four years since the findings were released.
What this means for The Future of Pay Walls
The pay wall is generating profit, but if page views exponentially decline, then the Times’ online ad revenue will undoubtedly suffer. A market leader in the United States, the Wall Street Journal runs a fiscally profitable pay wall, due in part to the fact that its site content is highly valued across the globe. The London Times may be encountering problems due to having no-cost substitutes Issues with low initial readership may be overcome if the newspaper’s other competitors institute similar pay walls and leave the reader no choice than to pay 2£ per week to read their favorite newspapers.
Harnessing the Power of Social Media at Digital Capital Week- Interview with Gary Bivings
On July 13th, Gary Bivings, the President and founder of Bivings Group, appeared live on WS Radio with host Karen Jagoda of the E Voter Institute. This was Gary’s second turn as contributing editor on the Digital Politics radio show, and he discussed our firm’s engagement with social media and participation in DC Digital Capital Week 2010. The show’s theme centered on harnessing the mapping power of crowds to glean valuable data and spread information. Gary and Karen discussed how to best make sense of data points in a world where it becomes difficult to sort out important content from internet clutter and how visualization of data adds to our understanding of patterns and can reveal new solutions to old problems. Gary will be a regular contributor on the Digital Politics Internet radio show every other Tuesday. Listen live on Tuesday,July 27th at 3:00 pm EST.
DC Digital Capital Week lasted from June 11 to June 20th, 2010, and Gary and Karen touched upon the use of Twitter and the aggregating power of TwitterSlurp to disseminate seminar and presentation information quickly and effectively. The ten-day social media conference had over 5,800 registered participants and Gary spoke about the positive outcomes it had for the Bivings Group.
This is Gary’s second appearance on the show, and below is an excerpt on a discussion about Twitter’s power to transmit information at a conference like DC Digital Capital Week.
Gary: When people are talking about content, or particular authors and what they are saying. If the [tweets] are useful facts, then they have a higher probability to being re-tweeted. But it’s really hard to say what really makes someone re-tweetable, and what doesn’t.
Karen: With only 140 characters, there is not that much space to be creative. There are ways to enhance your tweets. Essentially what you’re talking about is being relevant and being authentic. Making it so that someone would want to continue to continue the dialogue with you — to tell their friends about you.
Gary: I think that’s exactly right. If you have something to say that adds to the conversation or that adds to what you are looking for at the moment; Or says something that is witty, different, fits right there, and fits into what is going on at the moment[ – then people will listen.]
New Team Member: Alla Goldman
Today at the Bivings Group we are happy to welcome Alla Goldman to the firm as our new Social Media & Client Services intern. Thank you again to all the other excellent applicants who applied. Below is a short note from Alla, who will soon be a frequent contributor to this blog.
-Tyler Gray,
Greetings Readers of the Bivings Report!
My name is Alla and I am the new Social Media intern here at The Bivings Group. My job will be to help clients with online social media interfacing as well as work on internet analysis projects. I will be working closely with Tyler Gray and will continue writing for this blog as well as other online media outlets. Originally from Phoenix, I have a bachelor’s degree in Russian and Political Science from the University of Arizona. I am also a fan of cupcakes, the band Weezer, blogging, and chick-lit.
Like many of my peers, I’ve been on the internet for as long as I can remember, and have been designing and coding websites since the sixth grade. My recent social media and marketing experience comes from serving on the board of directors of NACURH Inc, running a personal Tumblr blog, as well as working in legal PR at a law firm in the Phoenix area. I’m a lover of all things internet and social media: so you can often find me checking in on Foursquare, using Twitter, updating my Facebook status, writing a review for Yelp, or taking outfit pictures for Weardrobe. Having grown up online, I understand first-hand the impact that social media and online marketing can have on customers across the globe.
I could not be more excited to begin working as part of the Bivings team. If you have any questions find me on Twitter @allagoldman!
MTV Twitter Jockey Endorsement: @LivitLuvit
To some, Washington D.C. is “the problem” that needs to be “fixed.” For those of us who live or work in or around the District, the fact that whatever is happening at the White House or in Congress tends to overshadow everything else that is going on in or around can be somewhat frustrating. Regardless of whether or not you believe that Washington D.C. has an ‘image’ problem, when it comes to the work of local individuals, businesses and organizations in the realm of online communications and social media- D.C. is does not always getting the respect or recognition that many deserve.
Momentarily leaving aside the fact that LiLu has the most compelling blog, and is far more engaged with her fans and followers on Twitter and Facebook, during lunch yesterday afternoon I was surprised to learn that most of our local media outlets, blogs and influential personalities have not (as of yet) show our local candidate much love in regards to voting her up to the top of MTV’s list or helping her complete MTV’s various challenges! Thankfully, it is not too late- but it is crunch time!
Please consider taking a few minutes and voting for @LivitLuvit on Facebook, then invite your friends to do the same! Although it is obviously a drag to allow American Express access to your info, you can of course revoke access at the end of the contest. If you have already done, or don’t want to do that, you can still help by simply re-tweeting @LivitLuvit ! MTV and Edelman have set up an interesting system to calculate the candidate’s reach and impact on Twitter called “TweetLevel.” (Although some clown I have never heard of called “Justin Bieber” has a lock on the overall #1 spot.)
Also right now for her 4th challenge, LiLu needs our help persuading celebrities to follow her on Twitter. (I am hoping the District’s own Wale Folarin will take up the cause!.)
Again, besides being the best candidate with an excellent understanding of online communications and social media tools, I think it is pretty obvious that having the first MTV Twitter Jockey hail from D.C. would be good for all of us in the area.
We’re Hiring: Social Media Internship
7/15/10 Updated: Thanks to all the applicants who have sent in resumes. We have received applications from several hundred candidates and this position is currently closed to new applicants. We will be finalizing our applicant pool and conducting follow up interviews this and next week. Continue reading “We’re Hiring: Social Media Internship” »