

A new way to access quality content online - seregine
http://googlenewsblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/new-way-to-access-quality-content.html

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TheFuture
I've been saying this is what magazine publishers should be doing for digital
issues for years. At least mainstream popular mags.

For their print editions they mail surveys to a subset of readers, use those
results to show advertisers what their subscriber base is made of. The
advertisers create a one-size-fits-all print ad for all those people.

And then for digital... they continuing doing the same thing and wonder why no
one wants to pay for their ads!

Deliver a digital issue for free each month with a 3 to 5 question survey
before download. BUILD ON the results each month, so you get a personalized ad
profile for that reader. And then DELIVER appropriate targeted ads in the
issue to that reader.

I realize I'm not revealing anything new or ground-breaking, but I've worked
in the publishing industry and you wouldn't believe how many high-level people
don't understand this at all.

Not only are the digital magazine products right now terrible themselves, the
ad model is completely broken, and I've seen almost no progress on either
front. Time is running out for these guys.

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geoffw8
This is totally genius. The lesser of two evils I admit when compared to pay-
for-content, but a pretty good gimmick. I think the model of paying for things
in essentially data is totally revolutionary. Its been implicitly done for so
long, and we've become desensitised to it - if its as simple as me lending a
click with no further disruptions I see that a fair trade, and its a currency
I'd be happy to pay with.

In the same breath I hope its implemented sparingly, and future iterations
don't fall too far from the tree, its one of the few things I've seen that
could also seriously disrupt the flow of the net. Having to click one of
those, and fill out a CAPTCHA would seriously get on my nerves and stem the
smoothness of browsing IMO.

There's definitely a startup or two to come out of this space.

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Strilanc
I'm not sure how well this will work. Users care about accessing content, not
answering surveys.

A user can achieve their goal faster by clicking the top result instead of
reading the question. Browser extensions like AdBlock can make the process
even 'better' by auto-completing the surveys.

Correcting for these biases is problematic, especially if the user's true
answer to the question correlates with things like AdBlock usage or patience.

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AndrewHampton
It's been too long since I've taken statistics to be sure, but I wonder if you
could account for this by randomly placing the options in the top position
then comparing the results of when A is on top versus when B is on top?

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Strilanc
Yes, that's a very good idea (and actually the one I had in mind when I talked
about correcting the bias). The real problem is when avoidance of surveys
correlates with one of the survey answers, like "Should we start using micro
surveys?".

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camiller
Three days before April first. Google wouldn't drop their annual gag this
early would they?

