Wahoo! Online readership of newspapers is growing at a fraction of the rate of blogs! Before ink-stained editors get too happy about today's news about online readership of newspapers being up 11 over last year according to Nielsen/NetRatings, let's put this in context.

Some of that growth is due to the decrease in subscriptions (2.6 percent) as more people are opting to read articles online for free. So newspapers need to develop online ad models that makeup for the lost print revenue.

A quick scan of citations of recent Nielsen/NetRatings data about other news sources indicates that the newspapers' traffic growth is nothing to shout about. Visitors to Yahoo News increased by 25 percent in October versus last year. That number will likely grow more as Yahoo News recently added five blogs from Gawker Media.

N/N also says blog web traffic is up 31 percent through July over last year, and the DailyKos had its traffic rise by 41 percent. So is 11 percent something to get all excited about when the sites run by non-journalists are fairing much better?

Also, blogs are one of the reasons why the newspapers' traffic is increasing. According to BlogPulse, the Washington Post and The New York Times are the 2nd and 3rd most linked to sites, behind Yahoo News, which is also the most visited news site.

Blogging is the ocean that is raising the boats of all news traffic, helping out old and new media alike. RSS is also increasing news consumption, as Nielsen/NetRatings says that people who use RSS visit three times as many news sites as those who don't.

BlogPulse spokeswoman Sue MacDonald had this to say: "My hunch? The traffic's not ONLY bloggers. I'm a diehard newspaper person who's given up print copies in the last 1-2 years (except for the Sunday NY Times, of course, which I'll read to my dying day). I think even without bloggers, people are turning to more news online, even from traditional papers, and to foreign news sources that they could never access before."

Finally, according to Alexa Internet, the reach of the NYT and WaPO have grown by 10 percent during the past three months, while DailyKos is up 51 percent, and Digg.com is up (albeit from a much smaller base) by 130 percent.

So, congrats newsprint! And rest assured that we'll be addressing this topic again soon with more hard data.

Okay guys, I started using the Yahoo Publisher Beta program over the weekend [cuz I was kicked off AdSense] and I'm about to throw up because every single page on mshift is showing a Vonage ad. Am I the only one getting sick of seeing Vonage ads on here? If you want me to ban them from displaying their ads here on marketing shift then just let me know, I'll get them blocked asap. Nausea and technology are not a winning combination in my book.

There have been rumors floating around the Microsoft is going to start developing small applications and giving them away for free, and even some who say that ALL desktop applications by Microsoft will be free. I don't know about all that but here is the first round of free small applications. These applications are Add-Ins for MSN Search Toolbar but I was able to install and use them without installing the MSN Search Toolbar. The add-ins include; A search assistant (which I hope is slightly more helpful than the Office Paper-Clip-Man), an Outlook Organizer with integrated search (see a common theme here?), a screen saver/RSS Reader/Weather Checker/blog check all in one doohickey, and the coolest of them all a peer-to-peer file sharing client. While the "Watson" search assistant program and outlook organizer are only free for 30 days but the all in one MSN Screen Saver (Beta) and FolderShare programs are free. Although the FolderShare progam is free, the spyware that goes a long with it will eat up some mips of your cpu [only kidding, only kidding].

I know you are wondering what in the world I am blogging about, 'Why would Microsoft
put out a P2P application and what is it?' Well, this nifty little program called
FolderShare and is a product of ByteTaxi Inc. I'm sure its relationship with Microsoft, which I am unsure of, is sure to cause some buzz and probably spark a whole bunch of new debates about the ethics of file sharing and privacy concerns with the program. Let me be the first to say, I can think of many not so law friendly ways to use this program but I do not plan on swapping copies of Windows Vista or the bootleg version of 'Walk the Line', so I won't go into how I believe this program will be abused by many who find it an easy way to share their MP3 collection, among other things, with their friends. I will try to stick to the positive business related uses of this little app.

Basically what this program does is allow you to create, edit and share folders with anyone, as long as you have their email address. You install this program on your computer and it walks you through the simple setup procedure of creating an account, which took no longer then 3 minutes from install start to finish. After the install you are given 3 options; 'Sync My Folders', 'Share My Folders', and 'Access My Files'.

The sharing features of FolderShare is the one that intrigued me the most. Within
minutes I was able to set up a folder, invite a friend and allow him access to my
homemade MP3 (I can rap with the best of'em, ha!). You can give anyone access to any file or folder on your computer, or you can just use it as a remote file server for your own personal use. Log into foldershare.com and you have access to any file on your PC. It sure is a lot faster then GoToMyPC and best of all its free.

One of the benefits of this application is that it will be excellent for working with others no matter where they are. Hypothetically, you are starting a small technology company where your group is all working remotely, FolderShare gives you a simple way to setup a collaboration system, whether its working on a website, research papers, proposals, or whatever else a small company does, instead of emailing files around and checking to see if you everyone has the latest version of a document, it provides a central sharing point for your group. Oh heck maybe you can even pass around your favorite Rod Stewart mp3 to get your team pumped up!

Sure you can setup a complex FTP system and worry if its secure or you could even setup a terminal services situation, if you can figure out your router rules. For me, I am a fan of FolderShare, it allows me a simple, effective and easy way to manage multiple share points between multiple people at a fraction of the time of other options. Best of all, its free! I do not plan on adding any bootlegged copies of Dirty Dancing to any of my shares so I'm not so worried about the RIAA or MPAA.

Just and FYI, if any of you guys own a bootlegged copy of Dirty Dancing, you should be ashamed of yourself. Heck, even owning a legal copy is grounds for losing your man-card. Chances are you own a murse [man purse] and probably own a bro [man bra] as well.

After years of watching their audiences leave primetime for cable and the Internet, the TV networks have woken up to the reality that they need to be more active online. Yesterday I wrote about how CBS' plan to use contextual ads on its local affiliates' websites was misguided, so here's some advice on how the TV networks could increase their audience, make fans happy, and profit in the process.

The two best resources that the networks have are the ability to produce video content and passionate audiences. Turning that into profits requires selling short video ads to support the content. The networks should develop video content similar to that which has helped to sell movie and TV show DVDs, and capitalize on fan sites and the blogosphere to reach willing shoppers.

The WB will soon stream old shows online that include ads, which should pay for itself since the ads can't be skipped, but old reruns will only get you so much. Why not use ads to pay for exclusive content about the current shows? For example, deleted scenes, actor interviews, outtakes, and director's commentaries for shows like CSI or Gilmore Girls would have audiences flocking to their websites. ABC gets it, distributing interviews with the Lost's creator as podcasts.

Blogs written by the actors or show writers (and not like the cheesy blog from How I Met Your Mother would entice fans to go online regularly, where they can be exposed to related merchandise. Since music is prominent in so many of the youth-oriented shows, CDs and music videos are a natural fit.

The networks should develop affiliate programs to provide a multitude of outlets run by fans to rapidly create mini-industries that can surround a successful show. By focusing on video and merchandising, the networks can work with and not against the Internet.

I'd like everyone to put their hands together for the latest addition to the Marketing Shift family of bloggers. The one, the only, Mr. John Gartner.

John is an accomplished writer, editor, blogger and trend spotter. He's currently kicking it at the Wired Magazine Car blog. While all of these are great qualities and accomplishments, that's not why he's been invited to be on the team. He's here cause he fits in with the rest of us. The rest of us being myself and Mark Twain and a few other nameless individuals. John is just getting started down the marketing route but is knee deep in blogs and news sources I'm unable to cover now because of other responsibilities. You WILL find his insight thought provoking and profitable. Yes I said profitable. He'll be delivering info on trends you should watch out for and how you can capitalize on them from a marketing / advertising / branding perspective as well as advice on which ones just ain't right.

Here's a bit more bg on my boy John Gartner
John has been covering technology since 1988. He oversaw the launch of one of Windows Magazine's website in 1995, one of the first magazines to put all of their content online. He has written for Techweb, Wired News, Technology Review, Popular Mechanics, and Revenue Magazine
. He has appeared on CNN and NBC as a technology analyst and currently blogs about automotive technology at the Wired Mag car blog.

Viacom signed a deal to use Kanoodle's ad serving technology to deliver contextual ads to CBS and UPN affiliate websites. For example, a search on "dishwasher" would generate ads from the local appliance store along with any related news stories.

The big media companies like Viacom see Google raking in billions of ad dollars and view this as an opportunity to strike back. However, contextual ads on affiliate stations probably won't work for several reasons.

Who uses a TV affiliate site for search? I can count on one hand the number of times I've used search on a station's website, and never for classifieds or anything product related. They would need to invest in local search services worthy of competing with Google or Yahoo.

But the bigger problem is the content doesn't match up well with contextual search, so an AdSense-like service doesn't match. TV affiliates websites focus on local news, so you get lots of weather, car accidents, crime, transit strikes, local sports, and not much else . How does this contextually tie into furniture shopping, restaurants, or car dealerships?

Because local news is image and not text heavy (even by TV news standards), a better match would be to run short video ads before must-see local stories. TV stations would be better off maximizing the revenue of their exclusive video content (missing persons reports, floodwaters etc.) rather than contextual ads.

I'd love to see how many people signed up for Google analytics yesterday because I've never seen such slow response times from a service Google provided. Well, that is if you don't count their free Google API, that's about the worst api in the industry but hey, it's free so I really can't complain.

I've penned a few thoughts based on some of the comments and feedback offered on yesterday's post regarding Google's forray into the free web stats space.

Rob is concerned about privacy issues and I don't blame him. There are definitely some privacy concerns here and I thought it was funny that just like every other service Google offers they're pointing you to their standard privacy policy and terms of service.

I challenge anyone out there reading this that knows a thing or two about the Date-Modified http header to crawl Google's privacy policy and terms of service and begin comparing that document over time. My guess is that they're changing that privacy policy and terms of service each time they launch a new application. However, if they are not, then kudos to them. That means they're staying true to their original focus and were able to plan their future moves well in advance and their privacy policy has stood the test of time. I kind of doubt that's the case though. And I think a little grass roots techie experiment will show that.

The Information Google's Getting Now
Prior to you cutting and pasting their tracking code on your site, the only thing Google knew about you were as follows.

I.) All information regarding your web site's infrastructure.
a.) ip addy
b.) how often the site is updated
c.) development languages the site supports
d.) where the site is hosted [not just the country, region, state but place of business as well]
e.) all things search related to your site [ pages indexed, backlinks, update frequency, etc...]
f.) all whois info for your domain name
g.) how much traffic you get from their natural results
h.) how much traffic you get from their AdWords [ppc results]
i.) how much traffic you get from AdSense [ppc results on publisher sites]

II.) Google did not have your site stats information unless your site employs one or more of the following:
a.) you're using their free wifi in San Francisco
b.) you're using AdWords conversion tracking
c.) you're using Urchin site stats already
d.) your web site is hosted at blogspot

III.) Now that they offered free site stats via an Enterprise x 1,000,000,000 install of Urchin
a.) They know the traffic you getting to every page on your site that you put their Urchin js code on.
b.) How many people are interested in their web site stats.
c.) How many blogspot blogs are actually monitored by real people [chances are splogs won't install the scripts but you never know]
d.) They now know their brand is rivaling that of Microsoft since they couldn't handle the demand for their new analytics tool yesterday and every site running the script nearly ground to a halt.
e.) How many Google / Gmail accounts are actually active instead of just placeholders for forwarding emails to other gmail accounts.
f.) and thousands of other key pieces of data.

“Introducing Google Analytics.
Sophisticated. Easy. Free.
And Most Importantly,
It's Sloooooooow!

Yes Google is turning into big brother but you know we'll be here breaking it down, one application launch at a time.