More Mortgage Meltdown: Noteworthy Nuggets from a Talk by Whitney Tilson

I've just attended a very interesting lunchtime talk at the New York Society for Security Analysts (NYSSA) and found the speaker not only smart, knowledgeable, informative and interesting but also a source for a number of pithy statements worth sharing. Below are some of my key takeaways and notations:

- The average annual income is currently in the low $40Ks, up from the low $30Ks in the 1990s (I had thought it was $55,000 back in 2005).

- At the peak of the housing bubble, a consumer could borrow 9 times his or her income, so long as the money was going to buy a house (or home), of course. (I included "home" because condos and coops were the first to default.)

- At the peak of the housing bubble, the requirement to demonstrate your income went away. "Literally, if you had a pulse, you could get a mortgage of several hundred thousand dollars."

- Prior to the bubble, 2% a year was the worst increase in home values. The change is now SIGNIFICANTLY negative.

- Mortgage resets are what started the surge of defaults. Following the first few years of "teaser" interest rates, mortgage payments reset to much higher rates. If a home owner couldn't refinance anymore, he or she would default. As home values fell, consumers had trouble refinancing.

- An audience-member from Britain reported that 40% of Americans "in this non-socialist country" do not pay taxes - as part of a question to Whitney during Q&A.

- "Wells Fargo is the Walmart of Banking..."

- "If Wells Fargo is the Walmart of Banking, Citibank is the K-Mart of Banking."

- Wells Fargo securities are likely to double in 4-5 years. (Don't quote me, i.e., Karen, on this.)

- The Borders Group hit 35 cents at its low and reached $3.53 today - a ten-fold increase. (What does that say about the outlook of traditional booksellers and/or Borders' preparation for the digital world - there, I got my allusion to new media in.)

- Mortgages were the largest debt market at the peak of the bubble. Everyone (bankers) wanted in.

- The housing bubble was much bigger than the Internet bubble.

- High end investment bankers, e.g., Merrill Lynch - and particularly CEOs and those in Fixed Income (i.e., securitized loans) were making multi-multi-million dollar salaries and bonuses. 2,000 people were sharing an enormous bonus pool. The average was $5MM, and I-Bank CEOs were earning $35MM a year. There was no way they were going to point out the dangers (and lack of sustainability) of what was going on: "They're gonna ride this horse until it keels over!" (That was one of my FAVORITE quotes from the talk.)

- California accounts for 10% of homes, 33% of foreclosures and 43% of home value. (43%!!! Seriously? Did I hear him correctly? That's out of control.)

- GDP is made up of Consumer Spending, Corporate (Business) Spending and Government Spending. (Wow, I remember those macro-economic equations - good old friends). The ratio is 70:10:20. That is the logic behind the stimulus spending, to make up in some way for the lack of consumer and corporate spending. Saving rates are way up. (As Jeff Sachs said when he spoke at the Harvard Club, we want people to spend - need it now - but we want people to save - personal debt, i.e., over-spending or deficit spending, is what fueled the fire.)

- Sales of new homes were up last quarter - that's because home builders were cutting prices on new homes to get rid of inventory: "Home builders dumping homes are not a green shoot in my opinion." (I like the "green shoot" terminology."

- "Jim Cramer [who says we have hit bottom] is right, but about a year too early." We are halfway through total losses. (Oy Vey.)


And so it goes. Excellent talk.

With All Due Respect...

With all due respect and in my humble opinion, this is something I would advise against including in a dating profile:

"...I love making out, have a passion for running, cooking, baking & movies."

It seems to me that a person should "love" making out with a particular person, not as a independent concept - with all due respect.


Somehow, however this works:

"...I like sex, pizza with real olives, dogs, enough money for a good coffee, accordions, handmade things, good art, bad art that is better than good art, books..."

Women are desperate for men with a sense of humor - that and a good golden parachute.


I must say, I really like turn of phrase at the end of this self-description:

"I am bright, creative, grounded and realistically idealistic."


On the other hand, when a 55 year old man (seeking a woman 35-50) uses the pseudoynm "YoungAtHeart," it doesn't make him seem youthful - in my humble opinion.


It seems that there are some men who feel that there are some women who have misled them through their online dating profiles:

"So I've been on a few dates with women that say they are petite... Being 5'2" or under doesn't constitute petite. Then there are the athletic/lean/fit types. Again...ladies....that means present not 10 yrs ago. And speaking of 10 yrs ago....even if you look younger than you appear... please use today's age not the one represented in your old picture. Now please understand, I'm not perfect nor do I represent perfection...however... what you see is what you get....visually and on paper."

Hmmmm... I wonder what kind of success he's having with that siren's song?

Are these sites spreading love or fueling the jadedness of the local NYC population? Have these online personas become their own bad will ambassadors?

In my case, I seem to benefit from this mass misrepresentation as the men I meet in person profess stunned amazement that I resemble my photos and physical description. One wonders but must be optimistic in the face of such sad, sad tales. On the other side, there are the increasing number of happy couples who are rumored to have met online. Are they the exception or the possibiity?

Spot the Placement, Place the Spot

As promised in a previous blog posting, I have created a repository for potential product placement spottings:

(1) My Name Is Earl - a few weeks ago -- QVC open heart necklace

(2) The Wrestler - no obvious product placement; possibly Tylenol or RAM trucks

(3) Sierra Mist on Colbert, Jan 8, 2009 (as you may know, he makes his placements "humorously" obvious)

(4) Elle Magazine on Ugly Betty. This is an ongoing plot element. Is it possible that HFM is paying for this? - Jan 8, 2009

(5) in Zohan: Sony Erickson phone, possibly Moishe's moving (local brand?), possibly Sony, itself. - Jan 6, 2009

(6) In "Taken:" Audi automobiles. Somewhat subtle in that the cars were moving so fast that the grill was a little fuzzy, but still obvious to those of us sensitive to this kind of thing. Confirmed in the credits. Positioning consistent with Super Bowl ad, and cars looked good in silver. Audi and Hyundai are two brands taking advantage of the reduced clutter in automotive TV advertising. It will be interesting to see how it plays out., February 27, 2009

(7) Stephen Colbert, March 11, 2009 - Sierra Mist

(8) Frito Lay on The Daily Show - March 2009 - Jon Stewart suggests sponsored medals of honor. Frito Lay is owned by Pepsi; there seems to be a bundled purchase incorporating brand mentions on both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert shows. I remember when sales executives could not fathom the idea of value added packages a la the magazine world. It was 2003.

(9) Stephen Colbert, first week in April -- mention of Sierra Mist during interview with head NAA (Newspaper Association of America) - suggested that newspapers incorporate product placement, e.g., "Obama, while enjoying a refreshing Siera Mist..." (Note that, like Doritos, Sierra Mist is owned by Pepsi. Doritos officially sponsored the "Hail to the Cheese Stephen Colbert's Nacho Cheese Doritos 2008 Presidential Campaign Coverage.)

(10) "United States of Tara," April 5, 2009 -- Gene Stuart (Nathan Corddry) asks Kate (Brie Larson) for a Sierra Mist - is it coincidental that Sierra Mist is showing up on Colbert and Tara -- do they have a brand placement strategy, or is it coincidental? Or does Sierra Mist suggest a particular type of personality for Gene -- different than a Coke kind of guy?

(11) "ER," April 2009: In exchange for an undisclosed amount of money from the Gates Foundation, ER's producers agreed to a plot line centering on a kidney transplant for one of the leading characters. Promoting organ donation is one of the Gates Foundation's causes.

(12) Viacom, April 2009 -- The Gates Foundation struck a deal called "Get Schooled" with Viacom (MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, etc.) in which the networks will incorporate messaging that promotes education and healthy living.

(13) Jon Stewart, April 15, 2009 -- uses Tostitos and Buick as hypothetical brand sponsorship. (The Tostitos brand is owned by Frito Lay, which is owned by Pepsi; Colbert's Pepsi chip of choice is Doritos.)

(14) Procter & Gamble - in-school sexual education programs and materials: Old Spice, Always, Secret brands.

(15) Stephen Colbert - Pepsi (I think this mystery has been unlocked long ago.)

(16) Hasbro has upcoming films based on its Transformers and G.I. Joe brands set for release this summer, and Monopoly, Clue and even Stretch Armstrong films are in development. In addition, Hasbro will pay Discovery $300 million for a 50% stake in a new network which will replace the existing Discovery Kids (60MM homes), making Hasbro the first kids' marketer to create a branded cable network. (Ad Age)

(17) KFC Grilled Chicken - "Gary Unmarried" - May 6, 2009 -- not even a little bit subtle. 2 bags, one bucket - huge branding/logos. 60 seconds of dialog about the chicken and the "herbs and spices" including, "doesn't taste like KFC." "It's the new Grilled KFC." The KFC thread follows us throughout the episode including a follow up discussion about the new grilled chicken between Gary and his brother on the floor of a Las Vegas casino.

(18) Stephen Colbert -- Sierra Mist, Sierra Mist, Sierra Mist - consumed 5+ cans over the course of the hour and even offered it to his guest - an expert on healthful eating... That said, Colbert does not sell out as he makes fun of the beverage industry's objection to the currently proposed soda tax.

(19) The Chinese Ugly Betty is evidently out of control with Unilever brand placement of its Dove products. Because the show is set in an ad agency rather than a fashion magazine, there are extensive opportunities for brand integration - much along the lines of our "Mad Men."

(20) Starbucks sponsorship of MSNBC "The Morning Joe" for $10MM (June 5, 2009)

(21) G-Force film in Gary Unmarried episode July 2009 - Gary given the nickname "G-Force" followed within minutes by an ad for the film in the next pod of commercials.

(22) Desperate Housewives - Sprint (Edie's shopping bag) and Lexus (nearly an infomercial by Bree)

(23) During season 6 (Jan. 16 May 23, 2007), American Idol featured 4,349 product placement occurrences. As of March 31, 2008, the number of placements featured during season 7 was surgingAmerican Idol had already racked up 3,291 occurrence (Product Placement News)

(24) Product integration/media buy for final episode - $3MM for 2 minute integration and 30 second spot (iMedia podcast - but I'm blanking on the brand at the moment)

(25) When an athlete, e.g., Tiger Woods in U.S. Open, wears a sportswear brand, the manufacturer enjoys a 10% bump in sales. (July 20, 2009)

Who's Tweeting Now?

This is a Twitter-like blog post about who's doing interesting things with Twitter:

- A program called TweetDeck purports to integrate social net platforms. (Jed Dineen, April 16th, 2009)

- Love this video created for Sprint Now network (4G) http://tinyurl.com/db26ho - cool stats, visuals - "233,267 people just twittered. 26% of you have no idea what that means." (April 7th, 2009)

- Twitter founder interviewed by Stephen Colbert: http://tinyurl.com/cmbqoz (April 3rd, 2009)

- Caldwell and Banker paintings have facebook pages, blogs and twitter feeds (April 1st, 2009)

- Met someone who is creating a twitter-based dating service (April 1st, 2009)

- 100 Twitter tools: http://tinyurl.com/bbkxtb (via @addthis) (March 11th, 2009)

- Evidently Twitter traffic jam was due to Skittles making its home page its Twitter site (March 3rd, 2009, Facebook salesperson)

- I'm told that "tweeting" is the term used for posting a Twitter entry, while "twittering" is the term for reading posts - Cathy Smith, May 2009

- Ian Williams (Twitter co-founder) talking about Twitter's origins and evolution, which has been driven by the way users have adopted and adapted the technology - TED conference, February 2009


- Twitter Value application puts a value on on a Twitter-er based on the quality of the person's network of followers - very interesting BusinessWeek cover story: What Are Friend's Worth. (I've listened to the podcast with journalist Stephen Baker and editor-in-chief John Byrne.) Interesting observation: Yahoo! found that people who IM with each other (via Yahoo) are four times as likely to click through on the same ad as someone outside this circle.

- Dennis Leary asks us to use our "Tweety Pages" (as well as our 'Facey Spaces" and "Bliggidy Blogs") to tell our "book wormy anti- boob-tubey" friends about Hulu so they can watch free TV on the "one screen you drag around with you everywhere." Well written, well executed, thought provoking campaign with a variety of star-driven executions.

- On May 30th, I tweeted the following: "Recently discovered & love this website/podcast series/service: http://www.yogadownload.com/ 20 mins of yoga when I don't have 2 hrs for gym." Almost immediately, the following Twitterers started following my tweets: "Everything Yoga" and "Snack Sound." I, in turn, checked out what they had been tweeting, found it of interest, and started following them. Pinpoint targeting based on behavior and proclaimed interest. Clearly, these other Tweeters have filters in place that notify them when someone uses a relevant key word. And that's how it works.

- 10% of Twitter users create 90% of Twitter activity (Harvard Business Review, June 1, 2009 )

- Onion Web Editor and Huffington Post Blogger Baratunde Thurston created a satirical Twitter Feed called @The Swine Flu and executed an integrated campaign that included FaceBook, which he said is more viral. I have embedded the video "Everything I Needed To Know About Social Media, I Learned from Being @The_Swine_Flu" from InternetWeek; however, I should warn you that it has explicit language:



- Twitter.com had 17.6MM unique visitors in May 2009, up from 600,000 in 2008. This compares to 70.3MM unique visitors for Facebook and for MySpace (17.28MM and 17.25MM respectively). (ComScore, June 15, 2009)

- Putting Twitter into Banner Ads: "Volkswagen banners include a Twitter evaluator that will match users to a VW model based on the content of their Tweets. After you enter your Twitter name, the banner trolls through your recent updates, even floating recent keywords in the banner before arriving at a car." Crispin Porter campaign - summarized by Brian Morrissey, Ad Age, June 18, 2009

- Determined to change the negative perceptions about the plastics industry created by its critics and opponents, the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. is getting ready to launch its social media-based Internet campaign aimed at the 50 million people in the millennial generation. The major thrust of the multifaceted educational and outreach campaign will be Internet-based and social media venues like YouTube, flickr, myspace.com, reddit, dig, friendfeed, twitter and blogs to provide information and create conversations among 18-28 year olds. (June 22, 2009 - PlasticNews.com, July 7, 2009 - Ad Age 3 Minute Podcast)

- A Twitter conversation between Coke and Pepsi... (more later - heard about it from a colleague at Razorfish)


This post was originated April 16th, 2009 and is being continuously updated.

The First Nerd President of the Modern Era

As those of you who follow my blog regularly - and I know there are at least five of you... well, at least two... gee, it could be as many as eight-five... but I digress.

Those of you who follow my blog know that one of my favorite means of consuming information and news is the podcast - a medium I enjoy as I travel around the city via subway, bus, and foot - saving me from doing no fewer than two things at a time.

I partake of all kinds of podcasts: AdAge 3 minute casts, Cynthia Turner In Your Ear Cynopses, NYT Front Page, etc. It's like the Cliff Notes of news, except that I don't have to know how to read.

Well, one of the podcasts on my top-ten lineup is "Green 960 - Rachel Maddow," and this afternoon, I had the good fortune of having a business meeting on the east side of Central Park, which compelled me to walk home through the Park. And, hence, I had the opportunity to hear Maddow's rebroadcast of John Hodgman's talk at the Radio and TV Correspondent's Dinner last week.

Barack Obama, with a photo of himself in front of a Superman statue, and a deep knowledge of Star Trek salutes and facts, seems to be the first nerd president. A nerd president being to a jock president what a blogger is to a radio talk show host, gravitating toward "complexity and bookish rumination" rather than "gut instinct, intense confidence and surety." But yet, he plays sports. And not just bowling, but basketball - making Mr. Hodgman's assessment of the president somewhat more complicated. After spending four days in deeply red country as a supremely ill-qualified defender of liberal politics, this was a refreshing return to the familiar territory of satirical blue humor - not to mention a quite comfortable temperature in the 80s rather than the high 90s.

But let's get back to safer territory - for example, Hodgman's direct allusion to social media. Within his overview of the nerd culture, he notes that it has come to pass that "the state of Iran is somehow deeply entwined with the sleep schedule of the programmers of Twitter and Youtube." Phew.

And with that, I hereby share with you Hodgman's quite smart, quite witty, dare I say thought provoking talk at the TV and Radio Correspondent's Dinner. Live long, live hands-free, and prosper:

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Making the Big Time at OMMA Social

It seems that one of my early morning questions at the OMMA Social conference yesterday prompted advice that merited a mention by MediaPost. As a business and marketing strategy consultant, I work with clients that range in size from $1MM in revenue to multi-billions. From "Not for Tourists," Campfire and ning to Time Inc., Pillsbury and Scripps Networks. And I work with organizations that are completely immersed in the newest, most bleeding edge innovations to those who are thinking about developing their first digital strategy or figuring out how to translate their print assets to an online environment.

When I attend conferences such as those sponsored by OMMA, CEA and iBreakfast, I am in a world where Twitter, Facebook, iPhone, hash marks, retweeting, and hyper-localization are part of every day discussion. Then I meet with a client in the financial services industry who reminds me that employees of large financial institutions can not access any of these tools while at work due to compliance regulations and Blackberry servers. And I work with another client who feels strongly that the people using these tools and websites are not her core Baby Boomer consumers.

So, how do you bridge that gap? To what extent should we recommend that marketers and publishers who are new to the Internet, let alone social media, focus on these high-impact but low-penetration tools. Twitter has 18MM monthly uniques - with 10% of users creating 90% of content, and there are 17-18MM iPhones worldwide (each is about 6% of the U.S. population) with relatively low median ages - though not as low as you might think.

Well, I've had success with some of my own approaches, but I was interested to ask panelists at the OMMA Social conference this question. And my early morning question to the participants of the panel "Creating an Authentic Brand Dialogue Using Social Media" warranted coverage by MediaPost's Joe Mandese (which I discovered via my daily Google Alert):

"How To Convince Clients To Embrace Social Media: Try Search.

That was the advice Ro Choy, Chief Revenue Officer, RockYou , gave Karen Levine of Triple Play Consulting, when she asked the OMMA authentic panel how she could convince some traditional clients to embrace social media.

Another way to drive that is to do a search for Twitter on your product, Choy said, noting that those clients would see plenty of conversations about their brand taking place on Twitter, and then they could decide for themselves whether they need to be proactive about it or not.

Choy said he recently conducted exercises like that for the Snickers brand, and for the term cat food, and found plenty of discussions taking place that were ripe for social media marketing and sponsorships."

Well, after I heard this very powerful response, I proceeded to Twitter and ran a search on "Harvard Club," which I then forwarded to the head of the Program Committee of the club. Why? Because I wanted him to know that Twitter is not only relevant to Iranian politics but to the members (especially the young members) of the club.

This evening I will have more than 100 members coming to hear Shelly Palmer speak about social media. Some of those members needed to call the Program office to learn how to log onto the new website to make a reservation. Others were born squarely into the digital generation. In fact, this particular program is prompting members to bring their 20-something children to the event, which will lower the median age significantly. I am very curious to see how Shelly addresses this broad set of skills, understanding and objectives, but have little doubt that he will do so successfully.

Can You Summate in 140? Top OMMA Social Takeaways

I've just emerged - well 3 hours ago - from 9 hours of live immersion in social media at OMMA Social - the Online Media, Marketing and Advertising social media conference. Ah, the bliss and the exhaustion. I feel compelled to share my joy with those of you I met today - physically and virtually - and others in the blogosphere. So, I have set myself to creating a list of key takeaways. It will not be easy, I know. But nothing worth doing ever is - or so they say.

I am going to post this blog as a work in progress. And I invite those who were there with me in the Crowne Plaza ballroom - or have watched the video stream - to chime in. You can also relive the live conversation at #OMMASocial on Twitter.

WHAT'S NEXT:

1) The big next thing is hyper-local targeting - particularly via mobile.

SOCIAL MEDIA, IN GENERAL:

2) You have to "have your brand out there" because conversations are going to happen, and if you're not a part of them, "you're going to get left out."

3) Authenticity is crucial. If you don't have it, they will know it.

4) Need to define your personality as a brand in the social media ecosystem - especially important for Twitter.

5) Executive (C-Level) buy-in is essential - need resources to have an effective social media presence.

6) Enroll your entire organization in your social media initiative - strength in numbers.


TWITTER

7) Run a search of your brand or category on Twitter to demonstrate to management that your brand is already part of the conversation.

8) Use Twitter to track comments about your brand and then reach out directly and personally to those who have tweeted, particularly those with problems and complaints.

9) Twitter is a better tool for brands than is Facebook - you can't search "Updates" on Facebook.


FACEBOOK

10) Use Facebook Connect to get information in not out.





Twitter is a better tool for brands than is Facebook:

You can't search personal updates on Facebook.

Twitter more dynamic - what's happening NOW, and it's less of a build it, and they will come. Once consumers have signed up to be your friend or fan, it is hard to keep them engaged.

While Twitter has 18MM unique users to Facebook's 70MM, it is growing fast. While 10% of Twitter users create 90% of Twitter content, they are influential and passionate.

Facebook users are coming to Facebook to socialize...



"You have to have your brand out there because conversations are going to happen, and if you're not a part of them, you're going to get left out."

In so doing, know that you have to be comfortable being part of the tone of the conversation, "snarkiness rules the day, so you have to be comfortable being part of a snark." (Andy Mitchell, CNN)

This reminds me of an recent cover story interview by BusinessWeek - "The Risk Takers: Hunting for Growth." The author being interviewed compared navigating the economic crisis to driving on ice. The worst thing you can do is slam on your brakes. You have to be willing to give up some control and go with the flow, as it were - hmmm... perhaps I should not attempt to be articulate after 11pm. In any case, I wrote about a related topic in a previous blog about the value of advertising during an economic downturn - based on work I did in 2001.


Authenticity is crucial

Walmart's claim to be green was immediately questioned by the "Mom" blogging community. Just didn't resonate.

Now, this may not be new to you. In fact, Robert Scobel and Shel Israel spoke about this in their 2006 book "Naked Conversations." However, it is crucial.


A powerful way to utilize Twitter is to track your brand and then reach out directly and personally to those who comment, particularly those with problems and complaints.

Craig Engler (Sci Fi Channel - soon to be ScyFy) told a story of Craig Newmark contacting him directly when he posted a tweet about a craigslist problem.

Comcast is the poster child for this practice with their Comcast Cares program - a far cry from the YouTube video of the serviceman sleeping on a customer's sofa. Later in the day, we got to hear from Frank Eliason, Director of Digital Care at Comcast, directly.

It kind of makes you feel that every brand should do this - as a consumer.



Run a search of your brand or category on Twitter to demonstrate that your brand is already part of the conversation.

As Steve Wax of Campfire said on a different occasion - understand what is being said about your brand and then insert yourself into the conversation.

All that said, we need to always keep in mind the self selectivity of Twitter. These are opinion leaders and influencers, yes. But they are also a younger, tech savvy slice of the population, and 10% of those who tweet create 90% of content. For example, when I search for "Harvard Club," I find tweets from recent grads complaining about the dress code. Definitely good insight for those planning for the future of the club, but a biased sample.



Use Facebook Connect to get information in not out.

One of the most powerful uses of social media is research. The listening post application. This reminds me of the days when, as a brand manager, I would periodically listen in on calls to consumer service. You don't want to know the kinds of usage questions that consumers asked about Vaseline skin care products!


...more later

How Do I Monetize Thee? Let Me Count the Ways.

A sneak peak at what's to come...

I Want My Allman B - And I'm Willing To Pay!

How unreasonable is the idea of getting paid for your digital content or services? Let's see who's doing it:

Moogis: Video streaming of Allman Brothers concerts - $125 annual subscription, $15 for individual concerts. Moogis offers subscribers streaming video access to entire live concerts, both in real time and on-demand from its archives. Moogis.com provides a gathering place for subscribers, a social website where fans can create their own profiles, join discussion groups, hang out with like-minded folks and "share the communal experience that music inspires." Quote from one subscriber: "I was able to get an early bird discount of $100 when it first came out. It was the best $100 I've spent." Clearly, people will pay for value and for things about which they are passionate. (June 2009)

Flat World Knowledge: Offers free online college text books and charges for premium options and services. Students can review the books for free or pay as little as $20 to print out a tome or $30 to download an iPod-ready audio file. Other paid services include open source student-generated study aids fueled by creative-commons licensing. Teachers can also customize text books for a fee. As of October, the company had signed contracts with 29 authors to write some 20 books. It recently raised $8MM in venture capital funding. Keep your eye on this. It's extremely exciting and disruptive. (June 2009)

ESPN Magazine: Put everything behind a paid wall as explained here - "ESPNTheMag.com and ESPN Insider Merge: ESPNTheMag.com has hooked up with the folks at Insider to create a sports content supergroup, where Insider's traditional next-level analysis is paired with ESPN The Magazine's unique storytelling and insight. As of Friday June 5, ESPNTheMag.com ceased to exist as we know it, but the site's signature pieces and voice continue to live on the Insider page." Existing Magazine subscribers can upgrade to ESPN Insider at no extra charge. Non-Magazine subscribers are invited to, "See what you're missing at ESPN Insider." (June 2009)

Guide to Trekking Locations in the U.S. (Gorp?): $50 per year - I am told that a printed guide book turned out to be more helpful (e.g., finding hiking trails that are dog-friendly). Only benefit to online subscription is being able to print out a few pages rather than carrying or photocopying book. Also, info about other regions of the country, but that was not relevant because the hiker I spoke to only hikes locally. Net, net, it wasn't worth it for her. It's all about execution. (June 2009)

20 Minute Yoga Download Podcasts: Voluntary micro-payments via paypal go to charity (May 2009)

Weight Watchers: Weight Watchers Online is a customized online weight loss plan that you follow step-by-stop completely online. You manage your results at your own pace, on your own time. It (a) includes a set of interactive tools to help its members stay on track, (b) manages weight loss daily and (c) provides customized sites for men & women to meet individual needs. There is a sign up fee of $29.95 and a monthly fee of $16.95. (June 2009)

Teri's List and Grocery Game: Teri’s list provides “rock bottom” prices on a range of grocery products each week and matches them with the manufacturer coupons to help the user get the best savings at the user’s local supermarket. The Grocery Game utilizes databases that track manufacturers’ coupons along with weekly sales and specials, both advertised and unadvertised. It then presents this analysis in a quick reference format on the Internet each week. Members log in to access and print the info and offers. Here's an explanatory video. (June 2009)

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

My high school Latin teacher, Mr. Fiorella, used to say that a day in which you don't learn something new is a day wasted. Thanks to the my continued addiction to audio podcasts, I am continuously learning. These are a few of my favorite pods:

INDISPENSABLE

Advertising Age's Daily "Three Minute Ad Age" and other audio reports
- I fall in love with these a little more each day.
- Recommend "Inside the Mommy Blogger Business," which includes a discussion of the Walmart Eleven Moms blogging hub.

Cynopsis Digital:
Alas, this was discontinued making it "Can't Have."

20 min. Yoga Sessions from YogaDownload.com
LOVE it. Can actually find 20 minutes for a yoga session - as opposed to the 2 hours required to take a 90 minute class at the gym.

New York Times Front Page:
GREAT way to stay on top of top news stories in the five minutes it takes to go from the doors of my elevator to the doors of the 1-2-3 subway line.


IMPORTANT

MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer - New Media News - Audio:
Be sure to adjust your volume level for this enthusiastic daily report


CABLE TV

Cynopsis In Your Ear:
Crucial daily update if you're in the cable TV space. If I had not listened today, I might have canceled my HBO subscription, not realizing the Bill Maher is coming back on air this week.

Satellite Guys.US - Satellite Guys Podcast:
Long and rambling. Essential when I was working on a pricing strategy for a cable TV network. Not highly relevant at the moment.


HELPFUL

Apple Quick Tips:
Very helpful - video - short & sweet


A LITTLE LONG... BUT IF YOU HAVE THE TIME

BusinessWeek -- Cover Stories:
LOVED "What's a Friend Worth?" story that puts a dollar value on an individual's social network (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
"The Risk-Takers" is worth a listen
"Could Google Fix Detroit" is a very interesting interview with "What Would Google Do?" author Jeff Jarvis

Today's Business:
Useful.

On the Media:
Many of these are about journalism rather than the business side of media; however, there was a very interesting piece about Twitter last summer. Bob Garfield is always entertaining and interesting - and super nice in person.

Weekend Business:
Long, in depth.


IF YOU HAVE THE TIME - LIFE

The Economist:
Always good to get a non-American perspective

Green 960 - Rachel Maddow:
Long but interesting

The Kelly Morris Yoga Podcast

President Obama's Weekly Radio Address:
Often captures key addresses

Real Time with Bill Maher:
Loses something without the video

The Tudors:
Good to have when you're waiting to be served at the Time Warner Cable office - video version. iTouch has incredible video quality. Not as visually explicit at the TV version, however. (Tudors is a little like soft porn.)

60 Minutes Podcast - The Full Broadcast:
A little difficult without the video.

Really???

A few more tidbits from the digital dating ecosystem:

Ok, gentleman, humility and even self-effacement can be nice, but I advise leading with something stronger than this:

"If you're a single woman who wants to have children and isn't looking for the perfect guy, I may be exactly what you need!"


And this - an e-mail received by a colleague of mine - is not a good tactic - though it is a good example of a phenomenon in which people feel comfortable writing something in an e-mail that they would not say in person (or so I hope):

"Greetings - So - how goes it? It's me... the tall, slim gentleman who was blatantly hitting on you yesterday evening as we both exited Cafe Luxembourg. Yes, I thought you looked quite sexy and enticing in your hat and halter top (or was that a kind of semi-halter top?) Anyway, your face, your hat, and your boobs all looked quite appealing (ha ha ha). I hope to God you've got a sense of humor.

At any rate, I certainly enjoyed our brief flutter of conversation, and, speaking for myself at least, I'm sure I would enjoy making acquaintance with your face, your hat, and your...um...halter top sometime soon. Coffee at a coffee shop that appeals to you perhaps? Un verre du vin rouge over at Luxembourg perhaps? Whatever suits your fancy - and I look forward to hearing more about [your job]. Please feel free to e-mail me at the above Columbia University address, or, better yet, feel free to ring me.... Many thanks for being relaxed and, perhaps, receptive et cetera..."

*As a minor point, my colleague was wearing a plain old tank top - no halter involved.

Dear Senator...

I was recently invited by the Fibrous Dysplasia/McCune Albright Syndrome Association to contact my Congressmen as well as those on the Appropriations Committee to encourage economic support of research related to these physical maladies. I must admit, other than a "Friend of the Court" brief I submitted to the Supreme Court in high school, I do not recall participating in this kind of effort.

My mother took the request very seriously. She spent a day and a decent amount of money on postage writing these letters, printing them out and mailing them. Another recipient of the request agreed to write the notes, e-mailed them to my mother and asked that she submit them. There must be an easier way, I thought. And so there was.

When I scrolled down to the bottom of the request, I found links to the websites of each of the relevant Congressmen. These took me to a form in which I could cut and paste my note. (I later took this opportunity to teach my mother how to cut and paste.) Some of the Senators asked me to categorize or tag my note according to a pre-set or fill-in-the-blank set of topics. All in all, it was somewhat enlightening.

This is what I wrote:

FY10 Appropriations for National Institutes of Health & NIDCR

Dear Senator/Representative __________:

I’m writing to thank you for your service to me and your other constituents and to ask for your support and for your recommendation that the NIH expand research on fibrous dysplasia and McCune-Albright syndrome (FD/MAS) within the NIDCR, as well as, through trans-NIH initiatives.

Fibrous Dysplasia/McCune Albright Syndrome is a rare genetic non-inherited syndrome caused by a chance mutation in GNAS coding for the protein Gs alpha. FD/MAS is characterized by fibrous dysplasia (fragile bones), endocrine and other problems and café-au-laits. It’s progressive and has no cure. Practically speaking for bones there is no treatment outside of surgery that in severe cases oftentimes fails.

My nephew, Dylan Levine, was diagnosed with Fibrous Dysplasia at the age of three. He had been suffering with it for years but was too young to communicate with us about the pain he was in. We realized at that young age that he had a break in his bone that was almost impossible to detect. It was the first of many broken bones as this disease spreads within his bones and makes them fragile - they can break due to physical stress or for no apparent reason at all.

At the age of 16, Dylan has had more than 30 major surgeries. Often, he is confined to a full or partial body cast during the period of excruciatingly painful recovery. The last time he had surgery, the metal rod that was prepared to be inserted into his leg to strengthen it was the wrong length, and within a year, the surgeons had to break his leg again and reinsert a new rod. I am told that Dylan is in extreme pain nearly every minute of every day, something that I cannot imagine, and something, which, he somehow hides from me when I see him.

Despite all of this, Dylan has become an incredible wheelchair athlete and an inspiration to able bodied and disabled children and athletes around the world. Still, it saddens me every day to know that he is in a wheelchair, that the disease may spread or get worse at any moment, that he is in ongoing pain and that at any point, he may need to go in for another major operation and recovery. It grieves me further to know that we know so little about this disease - how it came about and what can be done to control or cure it. Because it is such a specific disease, it is not profitable for the private sector to invest in its research. That's why your support is so important.

I seek you help for all children and adults living with FD/MAS. Equity of care and better treatments will only happen with research, symposiums and greater medical awareness and collaboration – and who knows what opportunities and new possibilities for discovery might come about.

Specifically, I ask that you
(1) Increase sustained funding for NIH beginning with a 10 percent increase for FY10 to ensure that the medical research supported by the $10 billion in stimulus aid is as far-reaching and life-changing as possible,
(2) Recognize and thank the scientists, researchers and scholars of NIDCR for their significant work on FD/MAS,
(3) Request that the NIDCR continue and expand their intramural and extramural research on FD/MAS, and
(4) Request that the NIH continue and expand trans-NIH initiatives on FD/MAS. I appreciate so much what you’ve done for FD/MAS in the past, please continue your support and fight for these children and adults.


Should you feel so motivated, I invite you to submit your own letter - feel free to cut and paste as much as you like from my own - to members of the Appropriations Committee and/or your own Senators and Representatives. (I would be happy to provide you with the links.)

I hope you will help.

The Future of Print and Other Ponderous Questions

I recently spoke with a senior editor at a top business magazine that is just now co-locating digital and print editorial staff. (Something the NYT found to be of great value several years ago.) He commented that he did not find this integration necessary, digital is for daily news reporting, and magazines are for deeper analysis and insight. He explained that writers should work their way up from digital to print in the same way they graduate from news reporting to feature stories.

Steeped in tradition as that sounds, I think that online writers should learn to be more insightful in their writing, bringing something more to the medium than reporting, which makes their site easily substitutable. The challenge becomes how to offer added value online without "stepping on" the deeper, more sophisticated content of the magazine. After all, we do want a reason for people to continue buying magazines. It's good to have a stronghold in both media; at the very least, this allows for multiple touch points and mutual cross-promotion.

Tina Brown is the founder and editor-in-chief of "The Daily Beast" and an industry veteran who has made a stupendous transition from print to digital. Tina spoke with me recently about the importance of preventing magazine content from leaking before the publications hit newsstands - and the difficulty of accomplishing this. This is an important consideration for magazines that invest heavily in newsbreaking stories. I think, for example about Vanity Fair's unveiling of "Deep Throat." This is challenging because of the extraordinary lead time of magazines, one element of which includes the week or so it takes to print and distribute the "books." I recall a controversy a few years ago in which a woman gained access to BusinessWeek stock picks before they became public and made quite a bit of money leveraging this information.

So, how do we protect the unique value of the printed journal - recall Conde Nast's positioning of "Portfolio Magazine," a daring introduction to the Business Magazine space a few years ago - while also providing differentiated online content - differentiated from the magazine and from other online news sources? This remains one of several "ultimate" questions that face us in the 21st century:

"How will we turn the tremendous value of the Internet into tangible value for its (initial) creators?"
"Do we need professional journalists - of the kind that win Pulitzer prizes - and, if so, how will we be able to afford them?"
"What is the meaning of life?"
and
"What is the right media mix for an advertiser?" - hmmm... I digress

Returning to one of my earlier posts, the question is currently facing us regarding the possibility of consumer-supported content. iTunes has succeeded with "micro-payments." However, will people be willing to pay for "disposable" content? They might pay for a song or musical collection (formerly called "CDs") that will bring them continued enjoyment, often for decades. And they will pay (at least up until now...) for books, which offer hours of enjoyment and may be written in, passed along and reread. Will they pay for an article they might prefer skimming and that has an ephemeral value?

Publishers like The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and Advertising Age have demonstrated that it is possible. As have information providers like Hoover's, Consumer Reports, eMarketer, Forrester, Lexis Nexis, etc. What differentiates these publishers from The New York Times, which has struggled with this question for years? The answer is, indeed, differentiation - at least part of the answer. The Wall Street Journal and The Economist have differentiated themselves enough that if they put the content behind a walled garden, their readers will feel a loss that can not be substituted for by another publisher.

This is similar to the loss I have felt since Cynthia Turner discontinued her daily digital news podcasts. I have attempted to replace this news source with Shelly Palmer's broadcasts, with NYT podcasts, with Ad Age Three Minute reports, but I continue to be less informed and less satisfied than I was. It seems that Cynthia tried to support this content/investment through an advertising model but was not successful. Personally, I would have paid for it. But are there enough Karen Levines to have supported it. Perhaps not. Perhaps the content is too targeted. Perhaps it was not promoted to enough people that share my need for it.

In any case, the WSJ, the Financial Times (I believe) and The Economist offer something to a loyal reader base that they cannot find elsewhere. Another factor that comes into play here is the relative investment required. I believe that all three of these come for free with a print subscription. Perhaps the subscription line of revenue for these publications is larger than newsstand. I would certainly find this easy to believe for The Economist as all the Economist subscribers I know watch their mailboxes longingly a day or few before the magazine is scheduled to arrive. (One actually bought an issue at newsstand on an occasion when it was available there first.)

So, in those cases, there is no incremental cost to those who subscribe. And those who pay the money to subscribe do so because the relative expenditure is low given the value. For example, many of these readers are affluent or are able to expense or write off this expenditure.

Now the New York Times does not have this luxury. If it puts its massive amount of content behind a wall, readers will find substitutes. And although some elements of the paper cannot be substituted for, e.g., Frank Rich's column, which can often be accessed via unauthorized sources such as blogs - something pointed out to me by Frank Rich. (Of course, this can be addresses via the right technology, a lengthy and expensive investment that accounts for the success of some of the publishers mentioned above.)

And there you have my thoughts for the day on just one aspect of the ponderous question of the ages: "How will print publishers adapt and survive?"

In my Semi-Professional TV Watcher Opinion

A few thoughts:

"Surviving Suburbia" is hard to survive - just painful

"Better Off Ted" is quite good - quirky, good ensemble

The stalker wanna-be boyfriend in "United States of Tara" is getting a little corny

"The Tudors" is verging on soft porn. It's getting a bit repetitive - marry, celebrate, behead, invite to court, ban from court, invite back to court, sleep with Lady in Waiting, behead someone else - but it's still FANTASTIC - oh, and educational - all that English history and such

I believe that "In the Motherhood" originated as a webisode series on MSN - shame it's already been canceled; though it was good, not great; if the woman from "Curb your Enthusiasm" has a a teenage child, why doesn't she know how to take care of a baby?

I am repeatedly shocked at the sexual allusions on "Two and a Half Men." I don't think this would have existed on primetime 5-10 years ago. Do younger people get the jokes, or is it one of those things where the dirty jokes can go over the head of the highly impressionable? Why is it that we never see Charlie Sheen's bare feet? All that said, GREAT show. Terrific ensemble.

Why has Bill Maher reduced the number of people on his panel? Does he have trouble getting guests? I really "admire" conservatives who have the nerve to go on the show.

Waiting for "Californication," "Dexter," "Diary of a Call Girl" and "Weeds" to return. Showtime has developed quite a lineup. Not sure what's getting me to keep my "HBO" subscription. Just Bill Maher for the moment. The series with Edie Falco (Showtime?) looks like it will be a lot of fun.

"The New Adventures of Old Christine" is wonderful. Glad to see one of the Seinfeld team making it work. Great ensemble. Lots of warmth and humor.

"Gary Unmarried" is really cute. Good chemistry and timing. And the daughter is quite beautiful.

"The Mentalist" is super. As is "Life on Mars." The only crime shows I watch. Both lead actors are worth the time spent watching. Another talented actor who masters an American accent ("Mentalist" and "House").

I'm afraid I ODed on "House" during the endless marathons over the last six months. I hear I missed quite a dramatic plot twist last week. I see that the actress who died last season has been reincarnated on "Big Love" - one of HBO shows I watch.

Hmmm... might I be watching too much TV?

The Cat's Meow

I met a beautiful, smart, single woman today while eating dinner at one of my favorite places. I mentioned that I am single, and she asked what type of man I am looking for. I gave her a few high level thoughts, and she encouraged me to develop and write down a more specific list of what's important. How can you achieve something that you haven't defined? she asked. I asked to see her list, she had it on her Blackberry, and this is what it said:

35-45 6'0" 175lb Well-built 'David' type Dark hair Athletic
Brilliant Sweet Funny Caring
Responsible/accountable
Wonderful Generous Spontaneous
Loving Passionate
Loyal Faithful
In love with me/my fam
Wants children now
Successful Wealthy Business-oriented Self-sufficient Self-made
Can help me with my ambitions
Great/aggressive in bed
Talented Loves music
Good family Good b/g/education
Interesting job/life
Euro-friendly
Masculine with a sensitive side
Extroverted
Makes me feel laugh
Doesn't hold grudges
No emotional or psychological issues

Thinks I'm the cat's meow


-- An interesting approach. Maybe I'll give it a try.

On My Lap or by My Side

I have increasingly become a person who cannot watch television without my Macbook on my lap or closely by my side. Last night, I was watching "Better off Ted," or perhaps it was "The Mentalist," when I glimpsed in less than a second of footage what looked like a Diane Von Furstenberg dress that I own. After reviewing the spot on my DVR, I went immediately to the internet. Searching on "AT&T" and the name of the song used in the ad, I immediately found the AT&T "Brewery" ad on both YouTube and an advertising commentary website. I paused the video on the moment when you would see the dress, saved a screen grab to my desktop and uploaded the photo to a little fashion gallery I maintain on my Facebook profile.

A few weeks ago, I did the same thing with an Ikea ad in which the woman in the ad was wearing a DVF wrap dress I had just purchased in December. It was really quite fun to see the dress play a prominent role throughout the thirty-second spot as the leading lady slammed cabinets and drawers in her kitchen taking out her frustration with her "idiot" boss. I guess the dress I had purchased represented what a career woman would wear to work. I noted how she adjusted the sleeves to make them seem three-quarter length, assessed whether the actress (or wardrobe-ist) had pinned the front of the dress to keep it closed - I will never fully understand the logistics of a wrap dress, and considered whether the blousiness I had experienced with the top of the dress seemed to be part of the design. In this case, I uploaded a link to the video to my Facebook Wall.

A few months ago, I heard a wonderful song at the very end of an "Ugly Betty" episode. I quickly went to YouTube in an effort to find the song. Alas, it did not come up in my search based on the key phrases, so I went to Google. Already, I found several chats and Yahoo! Answers exchanges in which co-fans asked each other for help in identifying this song and shared what they remembered of the lyrics. Alas, no luck - a terrible missed opportunity on the part of the musical artists and their managers/promoters. (I did circle back and find the song several months later after letting these other zealots continue their investigations.)

More recently, I heard a song on 'Grey's Anatomy" that I quite liked. In this case, I shortly discovered websites - hosted by ABC, I believe, that provided all the pertinent information for individual episodes, including the song titles associated with particular parts of the show, e.g., "the montage when..." After realizing that I had confused two episodes - as I was catching up on several weeks of drama at once, I found the song - quite easily - went to iTunes and purchased it. I then looked for other songs by the same artist, but found little available.

I attended a panel the other night organized by Bill Sobel's NY:MIEG that featured panelists involved in fashion and music. They discussed why it was that musical artists today are so quick to "sell out" by making their music available for commercial use -- TV shows and commercials -- when it was so taboo years ago. My answer, the artists today are up and coming and still being "discovered" by the general population. The television producers are using the songs to set the mood for their shows, but the musicians are gaining just as much, if not more, benefit by (a) being associated with "cool" programming or products - think about Feist and Apple (b) getting exposure to millions of viewers in one fell swoop - not only for free (I believe) or, more likely, with compensation.

Years ago (and still today), musicians paid and wrangled to get their music aired on the radio. The radio is no longer the medium. In this case it is television - and yes, mass, multi-million viewer, broadcast television. However, it is a terrible missed opportunity if the music is not immediately available online and easy to find. I personally am always on the prowl for something new to add to my iPod lineup.

When Viagra was first introduced, the demand was so unprecedented and unexpected that there was a shortage of product. In fact, it was unfortunate that media plans could not be changed in time to hold off on advertising until new product could be manufactured. In any case, the age old lesson is that product needs to be available at the time that it is promoted. In the case of Viagra and of the Ragu Pasta Sauce I used to market, this is much more complicated to do as there is physical demand to forecast and physical product to manufacture and distribute. In the case of the Internet and music, the product must be easy to find and easy to obtain.

When I worked for NBC at the "turn of the century," I used to call or e-mail my friend in the traffic department - who was always at the office until very late at night - to comment on what was happening or what clothing was being worn on the currently aired episode of "Friends" or "Seinfeld." In the age of TiVO and the DVR, I can no longer expect that others are watching TV shows at the same time I am - alas. There are, however, chat rooms and Twitter exchanges I can go to afterwards - as I have usually watched the program after that fact - to see whether others agreed that a twist of the plot seemed very strange.

And so it is that I have become not only addicted to my TV and my DVR but to my laptop - as an inseparable entertainment combination.

The Facebook Page Lives On

I just ran into a friend and former colleague at the gym. She broke the news that one of the most beloved executives at McCann Relationship Marketing had died suddenly this weekend, just two days ago. She told me there was a group on Facebook with the plans for a memorial service, and so I logged on to see what I could learn.

By rote, I searched for him in "people" and visited his page. Wow. His Wall was overflowing with testimonials and messages. The first from his niece this weekend. The most recent just a few minutes before I logged on.

It is something to see the kind of digital testament to a man's life and legacy that can exist on a website that has been in existence only a few years. My colleague is gone, but his Facebook page continues to evolve. It's a place where his friends, colleagues and family are writing to him and about him.

His profile photo is joyful and poignant and uniquely him. And his latest posts... In his second to last post, he wrote, "I had one last chance this past weekend, but the weather gods rained on his parade. Killington sucked." His final entry reads, "I wonder what life will be like in three years."

I wish I could write on his Wall, but I had not friended him yet on Facebook - only on LinkedIn, where his photo seems hardly the same person. Perhaps it is a new lesson in life to "friend" more people we care about while we have the chance - even those who are "professional" contacts.

User-generated... revenue???

"At midnight The New York Times stopped charging for its content online. It’s even handing out refunds to any online subscribers who paid for it in advance… strongly repudiating the idea that newspapers can earn big profits by hiding their online content behind a "pay wall" which can only be accessed by web surfers who pay a subscription fee." (September 17, 2007 - Tech.Blorge)

"The New York Times is ... looking at the possibility of charging for some of its online content, whether that would mean the news that most people read or special select content is unclear." (March 15, 2009 - Tech.Blorge)

Over the past few years, the general consensus has been that a paid content business model is untenable, that advertising dollars are what make the world go round, more eyeballs mean more money, and walled gardens mean fewer eyeballs.

However in an era in which Netflix was the one shining star in the last round of investor reports, Apple's iTunes maintains a highly profitable electronic-sell-through (EST) model, and overall advertising revenue is expected to fall 13% in 2009 (including a 1.2% decline in display ads and 7.5% drop in auctions and other non-search/lead generation digital advertising), there is renewed interest in the online subscription model.

In recent days, Newsday announced plans to end distribution of free online content, Disney's Bob Iger discussed a possible subscription-based online video club, and MLB and ESPN entered into a partnership to offer premium web services for $130 per year via a co-branded package. The package includes live streaming of every regular season MLB game and exclusive ESPN text and video content.

In addition, both Time Warner Cable and Comcast, announced plans to create (or recreate) walled gardens (now called user authentication programs), through which television programs will be available via broadband to the cable operators' respective subscribers.

More commentary to come...

Riding Crimson Coat-tails

One of the advantages of going to an elite Ivy institution is that you get to study with world-famous professors, and, in my case, that included Professor Jeffrey Sachs. As a fearless freshman, I went to the office hours of Professor Sachs, the youngest tenured professor at the university, and asked to be his research assistant.

Professor Sachs explained that his RAs were all graduate students but finally conceded to let me check in periodically to see if he had a need for my skills. After months of persistence, I wore him down and became his undergraduate research assistant.

This meant that I had an excuse for one-on-one meetings with Professor Sachs throughout my four years at Harvard. I remember coming into his office one day, with its wall-to-wall books and well-worn Turkish rug, to hear the end of a phone conversation in which he mentioned that he had fixed Bolivia's hyperinflation. Surely he was exaggerating, I thought. But he was not.

My work turned to tracking Latin American bond prices as he helped the governments of several developing countries sort out their out of control inflation or solve other massive economic problems. And as a senior, I had the honor of having Professor Sachs grade my thesis - in language that sounded like he was critiquing a colleague's book - and giving it an overall positive review!

When I graduated from college and moved to New York, I would often open the New York Times to see a picture of Professor Sachs, who was now being called upon by the leaders of Russia and Poland to help them transition from socialist to capitalist economies upon the break up of the Soviet block. Once again, I boldly called upon Professor Sachs to help me get involved in this historic period, and he generously referred me to a colleague leading a team of business consultants to Warsaw to work for the Ministry of Finance!

Since then, Professor Sachs has become the Director of Earth Institute at Columbia University, where has has the simple charter of ending world poverty. I now see and hear Professor Sachs being interviewed by Bill Maher (who thought “Dr. Sachs” was a medical doctor), Jon Stewart, Jay Leno, NPR and Good Morning America - sometimes along with Angelina Jolie or Bono - while also serving as advisor to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Anan.

This time I e-mailed Professor Sachs and invited him to speak at the Harvard Club of New York. In preparation for the event, I downloaded and viewed a number of podcasts of prior lectures, taking note of how others introduced him. I then streamed MTV footage of Jeff and Angelina in Africa (on my iTouch) and watched interviews of him on various MSNBC shows on my laptop.

The event which was entitled, "Where Do We Go From Here," drew a record-breaking 409 people - what Jeff might term an "overpopulation" of Harvard Hall. Over dinner, Dr. Sachs consulted me (!) on how LinkedIn and Facebook could be of value to him in his work. (He is already an extensive user of Skype for multi-national lecture series.) How far we have come.

Who's the Enemy? Who's the Friend?

Cable operators and TV affiliates complain when programmers put content online. Programmers put content online because that is where viewers are going. Music producers ignored this "where I want it, when I want it" trend, seeking to protect their business model, and were leapfrogged into impending demise by iTunes. NBC Universal cites Hulu as a huge success story, but CEO Jeff Zucker fears that the web will turn "analog dollars" into "digital pennies." Online ads may garner high CPMs and may be growing at rapid rates, but they are still dwarfed by broadcast.

Viacom, owner of MTV Networks, has for years sought to create a "360 degree" media presence that hinges upon the Internet. They now have a huge army of digital employees. Cable operators complain that hits like "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" are available in long form on Hulu. But who is benefiting now?

Viacom is asking for a 25 cent increase in monthly subscriber fees (25 cents more per subscriber per month) from Time Warner Cable across 18 Viacom networks. Yesterday, a crawler at the bottom of the screen for each of these networks warned of an impending blackout at midnight. (I rushed home at 1:20am to see the blank screens, but alas no MTV Armageddon.)

Now I watch Comedy Central more consistently than any other non-premium cable network (I love my Showtime - twisted as it may be), and my loyalty to the two programs above is on par with that for broadcast network programming such as "60 Minutes" - most other programming ("Eli Stone," "Grey's Anatomy," "Ugly Betty") comes and goes. I am proud and embarrassed to say that I get most of my news from Mr. Stewart and, to some extent, Mr. Colbert. So, what will I do if Viacom goes dark? I don't envision doing much.

First, I don't watch any of the other MTVN networks. I used to admire Viacom for its segmentation strategy, i.e., different networks for different age demos, but now what that means -- for me as a single New Yorker, at least -- is that I watch only one of their networks. And, as mentioned above, the two programs I count on are available on Hulu. In fact, Time Warner Cable is promoting to its subscribers where they can access Viacom programming online should it go dark on TWC. So, to whose advantage is the online platform now? Ironically, Viacom has made itself less indispensable to TWC - at least in the short term.

It reminds me a bit of our strategies in the middle east. We train the enemy of our enemy, even though that force was or could become our direct enemy. A bit of an extreme comparison, perhaps. But the question remains - to whom is the Internet a greater threat and for whom is it a greater advantage? Programmers? Distributors? Both? Neither?

Business minds around the world have not yet come up with a way to turn the enormous value of the Internet into a tangible, substantial monetary value. True, digital broadcasts of the Olympics, of SNL (Tina Fey) and of prime time programming do drive stronger TV viewing of these programs -- something that was not necessarily anticipated. But, what is the long term business model? How can the television industry identify and transition to a new business paradigm? And, how will they accomplish this in light of existing carriage contracts and - even more specifically -- Most Favored Nation (MFN) clauses that make change even more cumbersome?