You Need To See This Video (1981 TV Report On Birth Of Internet News)

Pope launches Vatican on YouTube

The Pope is said to be fond of new technologies

Pope Benedict XVI has launched his own dedicated channel on the popular video sharing website, YouTube.

Video and audio footage of his speeches as well as news of the Holy See will be posted on the site, the Vatican says.

Although the Vatican has its own website, the YouTube venture represents its biggest reach into cyberspace, Vatican officials say it is aimed at everyone from devout Catholics to the casual web user.

But there is a debate within the Catholic Church about the value of the internet as a missionary tool.

The 81-year-old Pope's first YouTube message spoke of a new way to spread hope around the world.

"You must find ways to spread - in a new manner - voices and pictures of hope, through the internet, which wraps all of our planet in an increasingly close-knitted way," he said in Italian.
Working in collaboration with YouTube's owners, Google, the Vatican is to supply a variety of material for its new channel, which was launched on the Church's World Day of Communications.

Featuring text, audio and video initially in English, German, Spanish and Italian, the channel marks the Vatican's latest foray into new media. The Vatican's own website (www.vatican.va) was launched in 1995.

The Catholic Church will retain full control of the content.

The aim of the deal was to "secure the Pope's presence on the web", said the Vatican's Osservatore Romano newspaper. It added that Pope Benedict had always been "fond of new technologies".

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, head of the Vatican's communications department, told the newspaper the Pope hoped to reach out to "the digital generation".

Google & Apple set a new record!

It is no surprise to Webidiotz that Google has announced total revenue was $5.7bn - up 18% compared with the same quarter the previous year. Apple, the technology giant, made a record net profit of $1.61bn (£1.15bn) and posted record revenue of $10.7bn for the final quarter.

What does this mean?

The answer is simple - more and more consumers are turning to the Internet to find better deals and also a better shopping experience. It is not any coincidence that Google & Apple are bucking a trend while many businesses in Q4 2008 suffered negative growth.

If you are a business and unsure of when you should get a website and present your business to the World Wide Web, then wake up! And take a look around you.

To survive the credit crunch and to make sure you come out the other end healthily you need to make those important steps of embracing the Internet. Your customers already have and the message is clear you need to have a website that delivers a good shopping experience and makes you stand out from the crowd.

Don’t be arrogant or foolish to think the last 10 years have been great or that I have done well till now without a website or a website that does not perform for your business that maybe your friend or family member did for you. A website is the most important tool for your business so treat it as such.

Every day millions of new Internet suffers are joining the worldwide web and millions more are buying or researching what they will buy next.

Don’t be left behind and miss out even more - don’t be one of those business owners saying I wish I had got a website, it might have been the difference that helped your business to survive.

It’s a small margin when it comes to failing and being successful and the Internet could just be that margin.

Top 10 for Online Marketing Success in 2009

Still uncertain how to start your online-marketing efforts this year? Here's some practical guidance that will soon have you on your way to success.

10. Borrow and Share

Share your content, borrow others'. This is a really simple concept, but due to decades of a winner-take-all, competitive scarcity-model mentality, it's a hard philosophy for most marketers to embrace.

All of us have some content that's worth getting out, so we should share it with anyone willing to post it on their site. In the same vein, we should borrow content from others who have supporting information that will enhance the experience of our Web-site customers.

Even those whose business is information—publishers—can't cover all things at all times and need to share. If The New York Times is willing to aggregate and share content from other publications, then it should be possible for the rest of us to do the same.

Recommendation: Find the top two or three publishers/bloggers/reporters who cover your industry and grab an RSS feed. Insert it in your news section of your Web site. This may not produce any results, but it will help you get used to—and begin to understand the value of—the shared-content concept.

9. User-Generated Content as a Strategy

With folks out of work and looking for ways to engage, what better time to encourage participation? You might be surprised to find how many of your customers are more than happy to give insight on their experience with a product, service, or solution that you offer. So why not encourage them to share?

Amazon, TripAdvisor, Yelp, and many more sites have become brand leaders over much more established brands simply by embracing a user-generated-content strategy. Now, it's your turn.

Recommendation: Pick a product, service, or area of interest on your site and, with the help of a 30-day trial from one of the many ratings/reviews software vendors, start getting content from your customers. With no additional tech support or manpower hours on your end, you will have expanded your online offerings.

8. Cost-Conscious Search

Recently I heard the folks at Hitwise, a company that monitors online trends, including search (like Nielsen for TV), mention how search patterns predicted the downturn in our economy: low-cost keyword search phrases had a huge spike starting in August.

With Americans looking for savings above all else, your site can tap into budget-conscious searches by inserting low-cost phrases like "best deal," "highly discounted," or "lowest price available." Apply this both to your paid search ads and to your search engine optimization efforts in the copy on your site, and the cost-conscious shopper will find you on the major search engines. Everyone is looking for a deal, so give it to them.

Recommendation: Take your top 15 keyword phrases and build a 30-day mini-campaign for your paid search program around low-cost descriptors. At the end of that 30-day period, evaluate what your CTR is compared with what it was without those low-cost phrases.

7. Email With Purpose

Stop the e-newsletter and start serving the customer. So many of us send our monthly e-newsletter with the fierce discipline of an Olympic athlete. We are dead set on getting that email out at 10 AM on the second Tuesday of every month, and will drop everything to make sure it gets out. But are our customers really waiting with baited breath for this generic e-newsletter to hit their inboxes? Are there going to be a flood of calls to customer service if at 10:01 AM the email has not arrived? Of course not. So why is it such a priority?

Instead of clinging to the e-newsletter habit, what about launching a timely, well-segmented email campaign that has relevant information that will be of the most interest to your customer base?

The day that an e-newsletter becomes the most important tool in your arsenal is the day you become a publisher. Stop spending your time on that low-impact e-newsletter and start spending it on relevancy and segmentation.

Recommendation: In your next e-newsletter, ask your customers what they are interested in, what they'd like to hear more about, and how often... then segment audiences and build campaigns around this information.

6. Analytics for Real

We all have Web analytic tools to measure what is happening on our Web site. And though many of us need to purchase a better software system for more relevant analysis, all of us need to improve what, how, and why we measure what we measure. Therefore, there is no better time than now to improve how we measure online success as it relates to company sales, cost savings, and ROI. And the great thing is that the hard costs are negligible: it's the soft cost of your time that is the real issue, making the analytics conversation a much easier one to have with the powers that be.

Retrench, re-evaluate and read best-practices to build a key performance indicator plan that will help you determine metrics of value to your business and eliminate those that are have little to no value.

Recommendation: Reflect on the major company and departmental goals for the year, then ask yourself, "How can I use my Web metrics to show how our site is improving those goals for the organization?"

5. Plunge Head-First Into Social Networking

Too many of us are still merely dipping our toes into the world of social networking. This time last year, about the same topic I wrote that there is no time for you to wait. This year, the need to jump in is even more pronounced.

Interest groups are being formed, new brand leaders are being established, and thought leaders are constantly emerging in these new social communities. If you are not out there making mistakes, learning the protocol, and getting a feel for how your brand and personal connection play in the bigger business cycle, you will quickly find yourself isolated and on the outside looking in.

How are you going to use Facebook, LinkedIn, and other essential social media to establish brand credibility and your place in that new marketplace?

Recommendation: Build a group in LinkedIn and Facebook and start the invitation process. And if you don't have profile set up in either, start there and begin to get a feel for the what it's like to be a participant in the community.

4. Stop Twittering, Start Working

Twitter has some very useful applications, but 90% of the information on the site has little to no importance to any of us. Unless you have a plan to monetize, stop wasting your time and start doing something productive. Just because you have 2,000 followers, does not mean anyone really cares what you are doing at 7AM Saturday morning!

Recommendation: Stop for 30 days and see if the sky comes crashing down.

3. Budget for Customers

One of the most compelling opportunities during times of economic uncertainty is to question all costs, practices, and budgeting processes. Now more than ever is a great time to get your peers to take a hard look at where your customers are spending their time and money, and then working to align your budgets accordingly. Are they reading the newspaper, are they reading magazines, are they listening to the radio?

Figure it out, and start spending where they are. Chances are, many more of your customers than you realize are online. Do you have the presence necessary to meet them there?

Recommendation: Do some quick research on Forrester, Pew Internet Research Project, or any of the other major research companies that study human behavior on this topic, then take that research to your next budget meeting and ask how this should affect your spend for 2009.

2. Education Is Always the Key

Ask anyone who has spent their life fighting the major epidemics of the world—AIDS, poverty, etc.—and they'll tell you that the key to solving the problem is education. Education on safe sex, education on malnutrition... education is always the first and most important step.

Today, with the enormous shift toward online communication, education of your stakeholders, coworkers, and superiors about the online space is essential to enabling solutions for years to come.

Going to their office and asking for additional resources (again!) for this year's online efforts won't do the trick. Educate yourself to educate them, and it will be smooth sailing for years to come.

Recommendation: Sign up yourself or a key stakeholder for a good webinar, conference, or certification program, or buy a great book on online media, and really get serious about starting the education process.

1. No Fear

Now is not the time to cower in your shell and hope this whole recession thing passes. If you fear the economic change that is upon us, the consequence will be poor results, bad decisions, and, for many, job loss.

On the other hand, if you embrace change, build a plan to capitalize on it, and approach your team with the attitude of becoming stronger as a result, you will find that the bumpy ride ahead can be more enjoyable with the positive focus and aggressive approach to tackling the challenge.

Recommendation: Build a plan that proactively tackles the issues versus reactively "kicks the can" of despair. So, what does "No Fear" actually translate into?

• It's a matter of attitude: "We have an opportunity to kick our competition's butt because we are going to do XYZ to gain market share while they scramble."
• It's functional: "We need to start doing more with less, which means making the existing programs that we keep better, and getting rid of those that we cannot measure."
• It's proactive and goal-driven: "If we can cut marketing cost 20% and increase lead generation 10%, then we'll open up more budget and the marketing team will be bonused."
  

Is Your Web Site as Good as Your Favorite Bistro? A Post-Holiday Recipe for Online Success

Just before the New Year, I was having lunch with my good friend, a restaurateur; I'll call him Chef M. We were eating at one of Chef M's two highly regarded, very successful neighborhood bistros in Portland, OR. My rockfish was a gorgeous plate of buttery, flaky goodness. Across the table, his duck confit looked scary delicious.

We were meeting to discuss some Web site/blog/social media ideas for his soon-to-be-launched third restaurant, scheduled to open this spring. (Yes, notwithstanding the end of capitalism as we know it, he is opening a third restaurant.)

The food was delicious, but the lessons were even better. The choreography of the dining room staff—all alert anticipation—coupled with Chef M's insights into how successful restaurants work, provided invaluable lessons that I thought were applicable elsewhere. The whole vibe was thought-provoking and terrific.

If the walls could talk, they would have said, "We like what we're doing here, we do it well and we like sharing it with our customers."

As I listened to Chef M talk, I became convinced that the fragile nature of the restaurant business has more than a few things in common with the fragile nature of doing business on the Web.

What Is the Menu Telling You?

A restaurant is either clean and bright... or it's not, yes? It is either tastefully laid out, welcoming and warm, or is too slick and clever for its own good or perhaps it's dumpy and stuck in a time warp. It serves fresh food or not. Maybe it serves processed, poorly prepared dreck. Through menu, wine list, service, décor, and value, a restaurant reflects a keen understanding (and respect) of its core customers. Or, it does not.

I'm sure that each of us, from personal experience, can point to any number of examples all along the good-experience/bad-experience continuum in dining. What comes to mind for me is a long-ago disaster in Albuquerque that involved an uncooked cheeseburger. If only I could forget.

One of the morsels of insight from Chef M that day was that any restaurant—most especially those not run by world-famous chefs—has to maximize every possible opportunity to win people over and to persuade them to return. The Gordon Ramsays, Mario Batalis, and Thomas Kellers of the world can afford to make a few mistakes (although they make far fewer than most) because their brand is so strong and they're so widely known. The margin of error for them is just a bit wider.

But that place in your neighborhood? They can't afford mistakes. While they might have less-discerning customers than the big dogs, they still have to treat every customer like gold, because the brand and reputation they own is less powerful and thus more fragile. They are much more dependent on a collection of positive individual experiences, good restaurant reviews... and word-of-mouth: "Hey, have you been to River Bistro? You have to go, it's fabulous."

Your Homepage: An Appealing Appetizer of Possibility

So let's consider the moment when someone lands on your Web site. Just as in the restaurant, your Web site is either clean or cluttered. It is welcoming or not, packed with everything you can think to throw up there... or laid out with just the right information—an appealing appetizer of possibility.

The visitor feels understood and knows what to do because the design and the copy help her understand all of that and more. And, just like a well-regarded, high-functioning restaurant, the site reflects a keen understanding of, and respect for, its core customers. Visitors enjoy their stay and they come back often. They tell their friends. All that is true of course only if your site treats each visitor like gold—as if your entire business depends on each visit... because, in a way, it does.

Restaurant goers and Web site visitors are trying to accomplish something: They want to feel good about their decision, and they want value. Most people don't want to be intimidated. They want to be informed and educated in an informal and respectful way. Who can blame them?

Good restaurants and good Web sites do one thing well—they present clear, organized, and attractive choices. They don't overwhelm you.

A Good Restaurant Is About More Than the Food

One of the more interesting things I learned at lunch that day was that, as a general rule, service trumps food.

The food is important, no question, but the best food in the world is going to have a heck of a time overcoming poor service, poor presentation, and a disorganized dining room. Conversely, decent presentation, good service, and an organized dining room will take at least some of the sting out of sitting down to a mediocre meal. Context is everything.

So how does this translate to your online business?

Good Writing on the Web Is About More Than the Words

In my work as a copywriter, one of the biggest challenges I face with clients has to do with the idea of thinking only about the words. Or maybe it's more precise to say that words and copy are seen in isolation: Too often, the perception of the problem is very narrowly focused—"If we can just get the words right, if we can nail down the language, everything will be good."

That would be great if it were true, but it isn't.

That's the same sort of thinking that says, "If our food is beyond reproach, then all will be well." Well, sure: If you have a restaurant, you have to nail down the food. But can you get the dish to the table hot? Can your staff pair the dish with the right wine? Can you handle complaints? Can you deliver your core product quickly and efficiently again and again, day in and day out? Can you deliver what your client wants even before your client knows what he wants?

When an online business simply focuses on one thing (the words) to the exclusion of all else (design, functionality, layout, and presentation)—it's a recipe for failure.

My Meat-and-Potatoes Advice for 2009

In the same way that good food cannot survive crummy service, the best copy out there cannot survive a poorly designed Web site. Good copy cannot survive poor delivery, lack of styling, low functionality, and lousy execution and presentation. It is a totality of experience that people are craving. Mark my words. Give your customers a full meal and they'll keep coming back for more.

Written by Richard Pelletier

Surge in Chinese internet users

China's online population, already the world's largest, has expanded to 298 million. This marks a 41.9% increase on the previous year and is still growing fast, said the government-linked China Internet Network Information Centre.

The study also showed huge increases in the number of people in China accessing the internet through mobile phones.

The report by Cinic also noted that internet use in the countryside was increasing faster than in the cities.

At the end of 2008, the number of net users in China, which has a population of 1.3 billion, was almost the same as the entire population of the United States.

Users in the countryside surged by 60.8% year-on-year to 84.6 million, compared with much more modest growth of 35.6% in the urban areas, the report said.

The Cinic report said 117.6 million people accessed the internet using their mobile phones last year, up 133% from 2007.

Students are the main strength of mobile internet users, the study said: 43.5% of them use their mobile phones to read online news, download music, check email and perform a variety of other tasks.

3G boom

China, with 633.8 million mobile phone users, last week issued long-awaited licences for third-generation (3G) mobile phones to China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom.

CHINA'S INTERNET USE

• Total users: 298 million
• Year-on-year increase: 41.9%
• Mobile net users: 117.6 million
• Internet penetration: 22.6%

"With the coming of the 3G era, wireless internet will have exponential growth," Cinic said in a statement accompanying the release of its report.

3G phones enable faster data transmission and services such as watching TV, playing online games, wide-area wireless calls and web surfing.

By 2011, the three operators expect to start 3G services all over China, a move which analysts predict will spur further massive growth in mobile internet use.

As the categories of mobile internet services increase, charges have also been dropping fast.
China's internet penetration is still low at just 22.6%, leaving more room for rapid growth, Cinic said.

Constraints

The study said 234 million people surfed the internet to read or watch news by the end of 2008, a much higher estimate than recently made by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

In 2007, 155 million Chinese internet users relied on the web to read news, accounting for 73.6% of the total internet population, according to Cinic.

It also said the number of Chinese bloggers hit 162 million by the end of 2008. China's booming internet use comes despite the government's tight grip on the web.

Certain websites deemed politically sensitive are blocked; these include the BBC's Chinese language news site, Reporters Without Borders and some Hong Kong and Taiwan sites.

Access to sites offering diverse political opinions remains highly restricted, even as Chinese intellectuals and activists regularly brave the constraints to post new statements.

The government is also targeting what it calls unhealthy content on the internet. Earlier this month, it launched a campaign to get rid of vulgar and pornographic content, targeting 19 websites and search engines it said had failed to remove unsuitable material.

Authorities in Beijing, meanwhile, actively use the internet to sway opinion, put across actions and ideas, and promote top leaders.

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Online Retail Booming

Two sets of figures out today confirmed what I'd expected - that amidst all the economic gloom, online retailing continued to boom at Christmas.

One set of statistics came from Nielsen Online, which puts web traffic under the microscope. Its report says that traffic to the top ten UK retail websites was up by 37% in the last quarter of 2008 compared to the previous year. Ready to buy

No surprise that Amazon is at the top of the list with a monthly audience of 15.6 million. But that was a rise of just 18% on the previous year, whereas the figures for some traditional retailers were far more spectacular. Argos saw its audience rise by 32%, Marks and Spencer had a 46% rise and Littlewoods' audience was up 66%.

Earlier the British Retail Consortium had issued its survey for December, and it was packed with gloom and doom. "Worst December in Survey's History," was the headline on the press release, and it's obvious that the high street had a pretty miserable Christmas. But right at the end was this line: "Non-food non-store sales in December were 30.0% higher than a year ago." That means online retailing to you and me, and it's a far better performance than was predicted, even by the online retailing industry.

In the past the BRC, which in the main speaks for the big high street retailers, has been sceptical about the share of total retail sales enjoyed by the online sector. It puts it at under 4%, while the IMRG, which describes itself as "the voice of e-tail", claims it is much higher at around 15%. Whatever the true figure, two things are clear - online spending is growing rapidly, while high street spending is shrinking.

Back in the late 90s the dotcom evangelists told us that online start-ups would crush the dinosaurs of retailing and leave the shopping malls and high streets deserted. That didn't happen - but a decade later the online retail revolution is finally happening. And funnily enough, the dinosaurs are now leading the charge.

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

“Write a blog” he says, “it’s easy”.

Well, okay cyber-readers, here’s my first attempt.

SWITCHING GEARS

Staring down your 40th birthday makes you want to jump off a bridge or make some drastic changes in your life. Well, its affecting me like that. And obviously, I’ve opted for the “drastic change” or I wouldn’t be blogging.

Egads, what have I done?

I’ve left my secure, comfy job and joined WEBIDIOTZ. An idiotz-type maneuver? I think not. From a gal who knew 10% of her cell phone’s potential to selling websites, the transition has been anything but easy. I’m learning every day and can’t thank Neil Patel (Founder of Webidiotz) enough for his guidance, patience and most of all – his contagious enthusiasm.

It is so easy to sell something that you believe in. And the more I learn about the digital marketing age, the more I think - Wahoo! We are on to something here.

VERNON WOMEN IN BUSINESS (VWIB)

Wanting to network and get the WEBIDIOTZ name circulating, I volunteered to make a 3 minute presentation at the VWIB Christmas Luncheon. And were they serious about 3 minutes. They had an egg timer from ToastMasters which was total overkill. I barely know 3 minutes of information. However, the timing of my presentation couldn’t have been better orchestrated.

That day, the feature presenter was, Dr. Annamma Joy, Professor of the Department of Marketing for the University of British Columbia. Dr. Joy’s research interests include: culture, consumption, and marketing – among other things. She has lots of letters behind her name – I think that means she’s pretty smart. She has been published in numerous journals and magazines and is the author of “Ethnicity in Canada”.

Dr. Joy spoke of consumer culture, the Internet, and luxury brands. What stood out was her view on corporate identity – having a corporate identity that was “rebellious” has far more impact. She also confirmed my earlier suspicions……..and that is: In order to remain relevant in the modern consumer world and relate to the younger generation – you must be online.

DIGITAL TRIVIA

In my pursuit of computer knowledge, I have found out some interesting tidbits for you cyber fans. We are living in exponential times. It is estimated that Google, in 1 month, has 31 billion searches. This number in 2006, was 2.7 billion. Crazy! If “My Space” were a country, it would be 5th largest in the world with 200 million + users. (Source: Karl Fisch)

Despite this “economic recession” that we are in – Hewlett Packard reported a 10% increase in the sale of personal computers! (Source: The National Post, November 24, 2008)

Lastly, in case you are wondering (because I was kinda curious)– the Top 5 Most Trafficked Websites are……….

1) Google
2) Yahoo
3) MSN Windows
4) Microsoft
5) AOL Media Network

(Source: Forbes.com)


GOODBYE PRINT MEDIA – YOU ARE SOOOOOOOO 2001

Did you know?

Stunning Corporate America and all us other peeps, the Tribune Company – the biggest print media company in the United States, owners of the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune newspapers, filed for bankruptcy due to loss of revenues to ON-LINE advertising. See the full story click here

And, despite the economic recession – the Internet is growing 15 – 20% every year!

YEAH, BUT WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?

Your business must have a website. And guess what? You are at the right place to buy one!

Thank you for your time in reading my first EVA blog.
Out.
For now……..

Wendy