ZimmComm – New Media, LLC

This looks like a really good conference to go to if you want to learn the latest in what’s happening with new media. It’s the Blogworld & New Media Expo. The dates are September 20-21 in Las Vegas. I’m thinking about going.

They’ve got these interesting tidbits about blogging on the Expo homepage. You’ll find links in them to where they got the information.

Important Blogging Statistics

* Over 12 million American adults currently maintain a blog.
* More than 147 million Americans use the Internet.
* Over 57 million Americns read blogs.
* 1.7 million American adults list making money as one of the reasons they blog.
* 89% of companies surveyed say they think blogs will be more important in the next five years.
* 9% of internet users say they have created blogs.
* 6% of the entire US adult population has created a blog .
* Technorati is currently tracking over 70 million blogs .
* over 120 thousand blogs are created every day .
* There are over 1.4 million new blog posts every day .
* 22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world are blogs .
* 120,000 new blogs are created every day .
* 37% of blog readers began reading blogs in 2005 or 2006 .
* 51% of blog readers shop online .
* Blog readers average 23 hours online each week .

As I was just catching up on my news feeds I thought I’d offer a few tidbits for you that caught my attention:

1. The Association for Downloadable Media reported on a study done in the UK about podcasting and listening to internet radio. Here’s a couple of findings regarding podcasting:

4.3 million people have downloaded a Podcast and 1.87 million listen to a Podcast each week.

iTunes is the software of choice, used by two thirds of Podcast users to subscribe to Podcasts, while almost a quarter simply download directly from the website via their browser. 80% listen to Podcasts on their home computer and 61% listen via a portable audio / mp3 player.

2. Paul Conley has a post about changing the mindset at a traditional media company regarding the internet. He uses this example to make a point why the corporate recruiter might be the best person to change.

One of them was asked “what would make you throw out a resume?” And she replied that she wouldn’t hire anyone with a resume that said “multimedia reporter.” She went on to say that she was looking for “newspaper people.” But then, a few minutes later, she mentioned that the reporters at her chain were now being trained to carry video cameras.

The other woman, when asked about how she looks through applications, said she doesn’t look at electronic resumes and won’t follow links to Web stories, multimedia packages or other online examples of work. The reason? She said she didn’t have the time, and preferred to look at things on paper.

I wouldn’t want to work for either of the companies these people recruit for!

3. If you’re a budding online journalist you might want to check out Wired Journalists. I’ve got a page started there. Here’s part of their mission statement:

WiredJournalists.com was created with self-motivated, eager-to-learn reporters, editors, executives, students and faculty in mind.

Our goal is to help journalists who have few resources on hand other than their own desire to make a difference and help journalism grow into its new 21st Century role.

I would really loved to have gone to MacWorld this year but it just wasn’t in the cards. Maybe next year. My good friend Steve Mays went though and I’m sure I’ll get to catch up with him sometime to get a personal perspective on this annual Mac lovers event.

He apparently stood in line for 5 hours to see Steve Jobs give his keynote address. I can’t imagine doing that for anyone except the Pope. It did give him some material for a video clip though. The song is one that was played there at another event. You can find it on his blog too.

It’s an icy wonderland in Missouri this weekend and the outlook calls for more.

All day you can hear explosions as trees and branches give under the weight of the ice that’s forming thickly on everything.

The roads aren’t too bad except for the fallen branches and power lines. I went out for a while just to take a look see. I’ve created a little photo album of what it looks like within just a mile or so of ZimmComm world headquarters here in Holts Summit, MO.

The power has flickered but so far so good. I’ve got a feeling I’ll be adding to the photo album this week.

Right now I’m in a session called “Distributing Video in Various Formats: How to Make the Right Choice.” We’re learning a lot about various formats and I hope what some of the best codecs and formatting and compression choices are for making videos.

Before we got into our first session the trade show opened. I did a walk around and will be heading back there later today to check out some services and equipment.

I think I’m going to drop off my computer and backpack at my hotel because I’m tired of carrying it around. This means I’ll be doing some posts later this afternoon.

A recent story on emarketer.com points to some interesting information about how people are using media. In particular it looks like radio needs to figure out how it’s going to play into the media mix in the future. The story is titled, “Will Internet Kill the Radio Star?.”

I think this just verifies what I’ve been preaching and that is that consumers of all kinds have more choices today and you need to really make sure you’re using a mix of media to reach them. It doesn’t mean that radio isn’t a viable medium for an advertiser but it does mean that there are choices and apparently marketers are using them.

“. . . data from a number of researchers indicates that traditional radio is losing its significance in people’s lives. US adults are spending more time each day on the Internet and watching TV than listening to the radio.”

So many of our clients are involved in agribusiness that this was very interesting news. This report from USDA should send a wake up call to any agricultural marketers who still hesitate to place their focus and invest dollars into internet delivered communication strategies targeting farmers.

The latest Farm Computer Usage and Ownership report from USDA’s NASS was posted with very little fanfare but we’re not ignoring it! Here’s a summary of the data from the report with my highlights.

High-speed Internet access methods, such as DSL, cable, satellite, and wireless, have become much more available to Internet users in the farm sector since 2005. The proportion of operators using DSL doubled in 2007, at 27 percent, compared with the 2005 level of 13 percent. Cable, satellite, and wireless were each reported as the primary access methods on 7 percent of those U.S. farms with Internet access; with satellite and wireless methods both at virtually double their 2005 levels. Dialup was again the most common method of accessing the Internet, with nearly half (47 percent) of U.S. farms still using it, down from 69 percent in 2005.

For crop farms, 64 percent have computer access and 37 percent use a computer for their farm business in 2007, up 4 and 3 percentage points from 2005, respectively. Internet access for crop farms has increased to 56 percent in 2007, compared to 52 percent in 2005. For livestock farms, 62 percent have computer access and 55 percent have Internet access. The use of a computer for farm business has increased to 33 percent for livestock farms, up 3 points from 2005.

After the Association for Downloadable Media was announced another group showed up and one I’m interested in. The working name for it for now is the Association of Podcasters & Online Media Producers. The man behind helping get this one going is Scott Bourne, president of Podango Productions.

If you’re interested in joining in then send an email to: info@podcastingtricks.com I’ve already done so and hope to meet Scott and others who are involved in the daily production of podcasts at the upcoming Podcast and New Media Expo.

I’ll be posting here from the show so if you’re not going never fear. I’ll keep you up to date.

I’m a subscriber to Blogger & Podcaster magazine and thought you might be interested as well.

The cool thing about what they’re doing it making it available in an electronic version for free and an audio version for free.

Of course you can purchase the good old printed copy too.

Their website also contains fresh daily news and information about these new media subjects.

So if you want to learn more and keep up with what’s going on they give this one a try.

The current issue has stories on video podcasting and how to become a podcast consultant.