Has Social Media Made Search-Driven Publishing Less Relevant?

The growing importance of social media, coupled with the powerful wrath of Google, have shaken the once-hot world of cheap search-driven publishing. About.com recently dumped its CEO. Yahoo’s $100 million acquisition of Associated Content (now Yahoo Voices) has yielded a network of 700,000 freelancers who produce secondary content on sites like Yahoo Sports and OMG, but advertisers say they haven’t heard about it in more than a year. Meanwhile, AOL’s Seed project is essentially in limbo. In fact, visitors to Seed.com are currently greeted with the message "We are in the process of reformatting Seed.com and new assignments are currently on hold." In a statement, AOL said it has reduced the number of Seed freelancers “as we evaluate how best to integrate its strengths within [the company].” And then there’s Demand Media, which pioneered the practice of churning out thousands of articles based on Google search data. Last week, three of Demand’s founders exited, a year after its underwhelming IPO. Its signature property, eHow.com, is still massive (around 50 million unique users) but has lost about 10 million users since Google adjusted its algorithm to weed out low-quality content. Demand has very publicly pivoted to celebrity-centric content and splashier design to attract advertisers. Typef.com, a site built around Tyra Banks, is just building its audience, while Livestrong.com, a health site backed by Lance Armstrong, has seen traffic climb by 19 percent over the past... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'

[ AdWeek | 2012-02-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #necessarily viewed #selling point #horizon media #founders left #team monitors #fans react #specific characters #smart strategy

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[ PC World | 2011-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers express support for Gardners Hive

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Social networking 'will be the death of us', says Jacobson

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Media Decoder: Random House Adopts New Model for Selling E-Books

Beginning Tuesday, Random House will join other major book publishers in selling its ebooks using the so-called agency model, setting its own prices for ebooks while the retailer takes a commission. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Media Decoder: A Limit on Lending E-Books

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[ The New York Times | 2011-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers Look Beyond Bookstores

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[ The New York Times | 2011-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hearst Magazines Digital Media Announces Staff Changes

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[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PPA chief warns of looming 'penalty tax on magazine publishers'

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[ Media Week | 2011-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The New York Times | 2011-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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CUP publishing staff reject 2% pay increase

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lure of IPad Subscriptions May Outweigh Pain for Publishers

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[ PC World | 2011-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Access Intelligence Acquires Red 7 Media

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[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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