| When my father was drafted during World War II and | | | | attract the kind of prospect they desire, as well as PR |
| dumped in Belgium just in time for the Battle of the | | | | releases and the cultivation of go to guy status in |
| Bulge, my mother and his first two kids (I wasn't a | | | | online communities that thrive on -- yes -- breaking |
| glimmer in his eye yet) waited days for even a hint of | | | | news. So it's probably time for savvy entrepreneurs |
| news about the war... and waited months for letters | | | | and marketers to start paying closer attention to |
| from Pop himself. The news came in painfully slow | | | | where people-with-money are going for decent-length |
| trickles. First rumors, then snatches of broadcast | | | | visits and multiple page-views. One of the strongest |
| bulletins on the radio, then a newspaper story that may | | | | players in the NEW news game was also one of the |
| or not have been accurate...and in none of this was | | | | first on the scene. I don't think much of Drudge, the |
| even a prayer for specific news from or about Pop. | | | | man (his radio show is incoherent, and his obsession |
| That kind of no-news existence is just hard to imagine | | | | with Walter Winchell is creepy)... but his newsy bulletin |
| now. Online, I can watch stories develop just by | | | | board site, has ruled the roost for years. With the |
| refreshing my Google homepage -- really hot news is | | | | same college-dorm quickie design format he pioneered |
| updated constantly, within minutes of dramatic fresh | | | | in the late 90s. It looks awful. But it gets the hits. As a |
| input. Heck, I can see minutes-old footage of events on | | | | news junkie, I visit Drudge everyday... mostly to get the |
| YouTube, and read real-time blogs from every corner | | | | right-wing spin on developing stories. I'm an independent |
| of the English-speaking world. The delivery, | | | | who likes to watch the wing-nut fights... I get my |
| consumption, and digesting of news has done changed | | | | left-wing spin from and then check the somewhat |
| in radical ways. | | | | middle-of-the-road Wall Street Journal subscription site |
| We all knew the Web was gonna morph our reality | | | | (one publication that seems to have discovered how |
| into something new... but even a year or so ago, most | | | | to be profitable online), the MSN daily e-mag Slate.com, |
| prognosticators believed we had some inkling of what | | | | and then a bunch of newspapers across the world. |
| the brave new world might look like. Forget about it, | | | | But Drudge is always the first stop. He doesn't write |
| now. All bets are off, all predictions inoperable. No one | | | | anything for the site... except to rehash the headlines of |
| knows what's in store. Least of all the news | | | | certain stories he's pitching. He has a staff that combs |
| organizations we call mainstream media. The fate of | | | | the world's media centers for print and broadcast |
| newspapers is interesting to me... both because I grew | | | | news, and offers up simple links to those sites. That's it. |
| up loving my daily dose of whatever local rag served | | | | He's a bulletin board. And yet he has earned |
| the town I was living in... and because the culture of the | | | | front-page stories in the Washington Post and New |
| news junkie was well-defined. (And I have been a | | | | York Times, and been called the future of journalism. |
| news junkie since I was old enough to read.) We | | | | Why? Because, as simple as his site is, he gets |
| knew what was going on in the world, and we read | | | | something like 15million visits a day. While the Post sells |
| enough varied takes on events to form an | | | | 5 million tree-killing newspapers a day, and pretty much |
| independent opinion. It's one thing to embrace the world | | | | has no clue how many people really read its Website. |
| and enjoy adventures... but it's another thing to seek to | | | | So it's more likely that mainstream media will begin to |
| also know the world while you plow through the | | | | look more like Drudge, than the other way around. |
| decades. Like the guys selling horse-drawn buggies | | | | Never visited the site? This is why I'm writing about it: I |
| 100 years ago, refusing to realize the exploding market | | | | don't care if you visit it, or if you like it or hate it. As a |
| share the automobile was gobbling up... mainstream | | | | marketer and copywriter, you've got to pay attention |
| newspapers have been slow to give the Internet | | | | to the way it's morphing the Zeitgeist of our culture. |
| credibility for news dispersal. I think local papers will | | | | Drudge covers newsy stories almost reluctantly. Like |
| survive in some form (probably mostly online, though)... | | | | most of the talking-head cable TV shows, he really got |
| because communities need a central clearing house | | | | a boost from the never-ending trials and tribulations of |
| for local news. But it's gonna be a painful transition. | | | | the current political fiascos. It's the New York Times |
| Because newspapers are owned by techno-phobes | | | | meets the Hollywood Reporter meets the National |
| who regard online existence as some unknowable | | | | Enquirer. And you know what? It's truly fascinating. |
| alien universe... and they just cannot, for the life of | | | | Here's a sample of the headlines for stories Drudge |
| them, figure out how to make it profitable. Please. | | | | has served up (while the Washington Post was thick |
| The shake-out will produce a good alternative to the | | | | of it...with more serious news on more serious |
| daily tree-killing newspaper... but not until the old die-hard | | | | subjects): |
| newsmen wander away, and news-dispensing | | | | Dog Performs Heimlich Maneuver On Owner. |
| organizations learn how to incorporate what | | | | Private Rocket Lost Shortly After Launch. |
| entrepreneurs, marketers and copywriters already | | | | Dating Site Courts Only The Good Looking. |
| know about making money online. Right now, most | | | | Judge Pulls Gun In Florida Courtroom. |
| newspapers see their online versions as newspapers | | | | Wolfgang Puck Bans Foie Gras. |
| without paper... but the old model of selling classifieds | | | | Mystery Rash Closes Ohio School. |
| and department store inserts for profit don't work | | | | And yeah, I read 'em all. Me, a busy, busy, busy |
| online. The guy selling his 1998 Honda Accord is now | | | | professional (and hot prospect for many online |
| on eBay and Craigslist, and the department stores that | | | | marketers) with not much spare time to surf the Net. |
| are surviving have gotten hip to email blasts and list | | | | We've all got to start exploring new ways to find our |
| building. Oops. However, no one knows exactly what | | | | target audiences online, in situations where they aren't |
| the newspaper will look like in the very near future. | | | | zipping by in a panic. Drudge doesn't take much |
| This matters to marketers, very much. As the affiliate | | | | advertising (not sure why), and I'm not convinced his |
| world grows ever more incestuous, and competition | | | | banner ads are efficient (because they change so |
| for pay-per-click gets nasty not to mention the | | | | frequently). Still... the ancient desire of humans to want |
| gruesome, unpredictable and never-ending | | | | to hear more than rumors on breaking news (and |
| rule-changes by the Google Gods, the old ways of | | | | gossip) will never fade. Just tuck this fact away |
| reaching prospects (by finding out where the eyeballs | | | | somewhere as you ponder future marketing moves |
| gather) will start to look attractive again. Soon, too. | | | | (and while your email delivery rates continue to slide)... |
| I know of several top marketers who aren't using PPC | | | | Heimlich Maneuver, indeed. |
| at all anymore. They use banner ads on sites that | | | | |