Day 1 of the Publishing Executive Conference

I’m here in New York at the Publishing Exeutive conference. I’ll be speaking later today, but am writing a couple posts live from the show on my BlackBerry during the sessions. Right now I’m in the opening session listening to Jeff Cole from the USC Annenberg School (Center for the Digital Future), giving some insight on people’s use of the Internet. I thorougly enjoyed his presentation and meeting Jeff. Here are some of the key points, but you can get the full study at http://www.digitalcenter.org/

In 2006, 21% of Internet users under age 18 maintain generate their own content on the web. (13% ages 18-34)

Research shows that almost nobody reads blogs. Why are they so big then? Media finds something interesting in them and publicizes it. And they provide an outlet for people to express themselves.

Audiences want a relationship with you as a publisher. They want to contribute positive/negative feedback and their own knowledge. But they still like having you as a catalyst for the conversations.

In 2005 we are finally seeing some willingness to pay for GOOD digital content.

Audiences want a sense of empowerment and belonging to a community. 46% say their online relationship are just as important as their offline relationships. Only 7% of communnity participants are “lurkers” — 93% contribute content to some degree or another.

The Internet has NOT had much impact on reading books or watching movies in the theater or at home. It HAS had significant impact on reading newspapers, listening to the radio, and especially watching TV. Good for news organizations, people are going to the same brands online that they know offline … not for generic news, but for content they can uniquely provide. The same is true for non-news magazines. They will survive both offline and online.

“On the Internet, no one knows you’re a magazine or a TV station” (Eric’s note: IMHO it also doesn’t matter if you’re a newspaper, radio station, or online-only regional publisher)

Reading books online is still not popular for older audiences, but not a barrier for younger audiences.

Very interesting resarch showing magazine reading offline is still very strong. (Eric’s note: But I believe this will change as technologies like ePaper and TFT become a reality … see my next post)

12-24 Year Old Trends
- Never read a newspaper, but will sub to some mags
- Trust unknown peers more than experts
- First time in 2005 willing to pay for digital content
- Community at center of entire online experience
- Think they are not influenced by advertising (but they’re wrong)
- Everything will move to mobile
- Use IM (email is for their parents)

25-54 Year Old Trends
- Read offline newspaper and magazines
- Mobile is for voice, not data
- Community for important tasks, less for social
- Trust experts, but rely on peers for reviews / comments
- Content they share online is professional, not personal
- Heavy into email