I was going to start this off with the obligatory “I’m sorry for not blogging for a while…” paragraph but I am a firm believer in blogging when you a) want to and b) when you have something to say. Suffice to say, I’ve been busy beavering away with the team at Mindshare, away [see left] and just generally thinking about where everything is going.

I decided to get away from London for a while – one can only take so much rioting – and went to Paris.  I rode, I walked, I did the tourist thing but generally I people watched like never before.  I just stopped.  I observed how people interacted with the technology and world around them. From tourists to residents, young and old. I just grabbed the iPad, added some dark glasses, un Coke Light and observed.  My gawking was shameless. From the tourists taking holiday photos with their phones rather than a digital camera, the mum using her smartphone to pacify a child at a table, the QR code tour of the Latin district,  to an old couple asking a pair of young people for directions -

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I first found out about Naked Wines at a London Bloggers Meetup.  I’m not a huge wine drinker but I was intrigued by the business model and their ethos.  This was written many moons ago by Rowan – I got a shipment today and I went back to have a look at it and realised I never posted it.  So here it is – an interview with one very savvy man with a remarkable company.  Full disclosure:  I have been a paying Naked Wine member for about nine months.

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At least it will when they roll it out in the UK.  US only for now

Basically there are now two versions:

1) Check-in deals – aka the “old” kind – these are mobile centric and operate like regular coupons – ask for it, get it, numbers can be capped.

2) Social deals are just like Groupon/LivingSocial – these have to be pre-purchased and not based on being in a certain place at a certain time (unless your appointment says so!). The difference is that you can (not forced to) pay for these via Facebook credits.  If you do that’s 30% to Facebook straight away. Smart Facebook. Look out for more credit plays from them – this is a huge part of their future.  This is a big deal as virtual currency can now mean real-world benefit in a scaleable way.
Key point of differentiation – there are no %s with these deals ala Groupon and pals – it’s more about social experiences (natch… this is social remember!). [Screenshots]

Some other interesting bits/bobs:
You can like Deals without buying them.
You can privately select friends to – this is being seen a lot more in their products – a key way of reducing spam/noisy behaviour.
Deals will come through the newsfeed as well as email and ads.
There will be no caps on how many times a deal can be bought – this is a big differentiator from other services.

Examples:

1) 20% of a Mazda by checking-in to a dealership = Check-in deal
2) VIP access to a concert in Los Angeles with the Rolling Stones = Social deal

More info here.

Related articles:

• Facebook Deals Unveiled, Goes Head-on with Groupon (hubspot.com)
• Facebook Deals To Launch Tuesday, Taking On Groupon, LivingSocial (blogs.forbes.com)
• Facebook “Social Deals” Are Indeed ‘Social’. Don’t Expect Typical Groupon Deals (techpluto.com)
• Facebook vs. Groupon and LivingSocial – You Win! (bradsdeals.com)
• Facebook Deals to launch in five cities tomorrow (intomobile.com)

Megan McCarthy currently runs Mediagazer, a news aggregator focusing on stories examining the changes in the media industry and the implementation of technology into mass communications (read: my bible).  Megan helped to launch Mediagazer, a spinoff of technology news aggregator Techmeme, in March, 2010, after being hired as the first human editor of Techmeme in 2008. Prior to joining Techmeme, Megan covered Silicon Valley and startups for Wired.com and Valleywag, a technology blog owned by Gawker Media. She’s ridiculously connected and knowledgeable and by her own admission “spends far too much time thinking about the future of media.”  I grabbed her for 15 to talk aggregation. [Image]

You recently turned one! What have you learned over the last year about the media industry?

My top takeaway is that there’s a lot of change, but also a lot of opportunity. In the past year we’ve had acquisitions, shutdowns, rebirths, personnel shifts, and major upheaval in the way publications are trying to monetize. While some aspects seem to be shrinking, there’s room for more growth in other places. I’m excited to learn about the next big thing.

What makes Mediagazer so successful? (Talk a little about the algorithm / curation process) What does success look like for an aggregator?

Success is a page that shows all of the top media stories of the moment, efficiently and comprehensively. The algorithmic approach gives us breadth, so you see all relevant takes on a story, and the human element helps us curate things a little more quickly and elegantly. My aim is for Mediagazer to be the one site that anyone who wants to make money in media needs to visit every day.

Any plans to change anything? Any other spin offs planned?

Nothing concrete! We’re keeping an eye out for other improvements and topics that might make for good sites. Please let me know if you have any ideas or requests!

You recently added Twitter as a way to cite sources / get tips etc – why did you do this? Has it been successful?

Twitter has become a valuable resource for lots of people in the media industry. It’s just another way to publish information, and there were times when a story would break on Twitter, yet we couldn’t put it on Mediagazer until someone else wrote it up in a proper blog post. That didn’t feel right. News under 140 characters is still news. Incorporating Twitter into the collection of stories we have makes things feel more complete.

What’s next for Mediagazer?

Just aiming to perfect the mix at the moment. We have a few ideas we’re kicking around, but, again, nothing concrete, and feedback is welcome!

How has running Mediagazer changed your view of the media industry?

It hasn’t changed my viewpoint of the industry, but it has sharpened my view. I know a lot more about the patterns of this topic – how things are released, which writers are strongest in which categories – than I did before I started.

What’s the next disruption for the media industry?

The disruption I’m waiting for is the one involving Advertising. Right now, things are segmented – the people who buy TV spots are different from the people who buy magazine pages are different from the people who place mobile ads. Yet, I think that cross-platform content is inevitable – consumers care more about the content than the medium and want to be able to access whatever information is out there from wherever they are. The advertising world cannot keep pretending that different screens are siloed from each other. This will result in more money moving towards digital, but it will have to come from the more traditional media side – and there are years of built-up businesses who are doing quite well with the status quo, so there will be resistance.

How do we make people read more news?

Easiest way is to get them involved in creating it.

What’s the future of news? Aggregation? Curation? Something entirely new?

There will be more interaction, and, because of that, smart publications will realize they need to focus on the display and design of their products and how – physically and intuitively – their users consume their content. Aggregation and curation are aspects of this – they’re both just ways of delivering news.

What advice would you give journalists out there? And grads?

Focus on the execution, not the idea. You could have the greatest idea in the world, but it’s useless if it just lives inside your head. Also, if you can’t find a gig you like, learn how to set up your own website, teach yourself how to blog or podcast, and just start doing it. You don’t need anyone’s permission.

What do you wish you knew ten years ago?

I wish I knew Python and the number to a recruiter at Google.

In all seriousness, though, I didn’t get involved in media until about five years ago, even though I was an avid consumer and an unintentional student of it for most of my life. I didn’t know what skills were necessary to enter this field, so I never knew where to start. I wish I realized how silly that was. Turns out, sometimes you just need some perseverance and boldness and to realize that the door is already open and just waiting for you to walk through.

How do you stem the flow of information coming at you? What tools do you use?

I use a lot of alerts and alarms. Our algorithm is a great help. I have Tweetdeck organized with certain columns for people/publications that I follow on Twitter. And sometimes it’s best to stem the flow by being aggressive and trying to anticipate what the next step will be and seeing if it’s out there.

Related articles:

• Happy Birthday Mediagazer: Congrats to Megan McCarthy, the New Doyenne of the Media Scene (beet.tv)
• Techmeme Opens the Door to Twitter Commentary by Select People (readwriteweb.com)
• Mark Armstrong: What I Read – Technology – The Atlantic Wire (theatlanticwire.com)
• Master Curators (theflack.blogspot.com)
• The Social Media Strategists Power Tools [Consumption] (newcommbiz.com)

Been reading a lot (more) lately (likely to do with the iPad 2 I snagged myself from Curry’s on TC Road – top tip btw!) but a few things stuck out over the past few days that I recommend you read – lots of interesting stuff going on that will have ramifications down the lines…

Facebook sidesteps ‘the great wall’ in China by partnering with Baidu.

Interesting rift on whether the iPad will become the Sunday Paper.  Kind of is already for some…

Augmented Reality makes further steps to becoming really useful.

Analysts lining up to sign the praises of iPad 2 until 2015 it seems.

Facebook is pushing for more and more relevancy - changing page types is now possible.  Better for you, better for users – win!

Trade pubs are merging.

8-18 yos talk about their media habits – some will shock you.

More debate on UGC and copyright – this time it’s Twitpic.

New Photoshop apps could change everything for PR – is it not THE device to own if you’re a pro?