January 25th, 2006
News 2.0 My Mother Can Use
I’ve made the point many times that the bloggerati and Web 2.0 fan club are complete outliers when it comes to media consumption habits. To illustrate this point, I conducted a little informal survey, taking aim at the latest hype over News 2.0. The survey was partly inspired by Om Malik’s quip that “News 2.0 doesn’t mean anything,” and Peter Cashmore’s observation that “we’re going to see a massive crossover between their offerings.”
My theory is that none of these features that Paul Montgomery at Tinfinger so painstakingly charted actually matter at all to the average person. My research is admittedly biased and only n=1: my mother is the only respondent. But I’m willing to bet all my News 2.0 stock that if you try this with your mother you’re likely to get similar results.
I asked my mother to try all of the News 2.0 apps on Paul’s list (Associated Content, Backfence, Bayosphere, Digg,Findory, Gather.com, Google News, Inform.com, Memeorandum, MSN Newsbot, Newsvine, Pegasus News, Reddit, TailRank, Topix.net, Tinfinger) and pick the one that she personally would want to use on a regular basis. (I gave her my login for the Newsvine beta.)
As background, my mother is a Baby Boomer who has been a technology project management consultant for 20 years, so she’s not shy about technology and she’s not shy about media. She’s been online since the days of Prodigy and is probably more tech-savvy than most people’s mothers.
So can you guess whose News 2.0 application she choose? That’s right — Microsoft. Here’s what she said (verbatim):
MSN Newsbot suited me the best. I don’t think it was that strong on the features in the chart, but those are not features that I am that attracted to at the moment. Maybe as I understand more about all this new technology my choice will change.
I did like Bayosphere, but I think that was more from the clarity of the writing. Also, the site is simple and easy to follow.
I had a problem with the design of most of the web pages. The content may be good, but I don’t know where to focus. There is so much going on my eyes glaze over.
I would not be interested in news that was sent to me based on what I clicked on. I often just read the teaser, and if I have more time or have not already read it in the newspaper or a magazine, I might click.
I still like the “trusted” old media editors organizing the news for me. I listen to alternative news sources and get input from [your father] who reads everything on the Net and is very well informed. I look to places like Huffington Post, Alternet, and Salon for in-depth coverage of things. People’s opinions are interesting, but I was raised with authority, and although I know it can’t be trusted anymore, it is a hard habit for me to break. So I am drawn to read things written by writers — people who are paid to communicate.
Go ahead and argue that she’s not representative, or that she’ll learn to like it, or that only the younger generation matters. (Hello! Business model! The Boomers have all the money and will for many years to come.) But ask yourself this — am I just rationalizing?
How many AJAX developers do you think have ever done user focus groups with average people to figure out what their needs actually are?
So keep drinking that Koolaid — but your mother still thinks it’s bad for you.
Topics: Digg | New Media | Publishing 2.0 | Technology | Web 2.0
Powered by 
Design by 
I know my little ‘ol effort doesn’t have mindshare (http://www.phillyfuture.org) - but I would love to know what she would think of it.
Great test idea. More should do it.
My friends - outside of the industry - scratch their heads at all this.
Tough call. But yes, the older you get the tougher it is to keep up with change. Of course your mother likes best what she already knows. Now when it comes to business models: On the net, you shouldn’t aim for the biggest purse but for the biggest group. The baby boomers are without any doubt a big group, but a tough one to satisfy with new technology or to get introduced with a new brand (probably a very important point you missed: I think your mother liked MSNBC because she new it - I wonder what happens if you put the MSN brand on top of the memeorandum site and ask her again).
Building websites for old guys basically means building what already exists using old brands. This doesn’t sound like a good business model to me either.
You make another more interesting case though: Is what power users like suitable for the masses? For us web 2.0 is easy to use, but my mother… she already panics when she has to sign up for something.
Bottom line though is: What produces numbers works, and memeorandum works really really well.
And that doesn’t even take into account the number of people across ALL online generations and demographics who favor, by far, using the Internet for interpersonal communication rather than information retrieval. All the “News 2.0″ methods in the universe won’t matter to them if they never have “news” as a purpose for their online time.
We in the “traditional” media seem fond of taking every online communications fad and trying to shove The Same Old Information into its pipes. Why do teens use SMS? To talk to each other. Why do young stay-at-home parents use e-mail? To stay in touch with family. So how do we respond? By trying to send headlines to SMS addresses and opinion columns to e-mail addresses.
If we want to offer information services for any group of people, we should start by figuring out what needs they have that we can reasonably address with the information we can reasonably offer.
I tried a similar experiment with a friend of mine, and he didn’t like any of the sites.
He’s 35, casual internet user, creative director at a medium-sized ad firm.
He told me, what he wants is an Amazon.com of news. Welcome, Bob– here’s some news you’ll be interested in.
His main complaint about these sites is exactly the same as your mothers’– way too confusing. Make it simple.
I’m guessing, like Information Architect Tokyo, that brand was just about the only determinant for Ma Publishing 2.0’s decision. No offence, especially since the test was for one sitting only - a more accurate survey would last at least a week.
I hear there is virtually no one working on Newsbot these days since Microsoft has thrown every able body onto the search team in an effort to fight Google. Even zombie services can get traction if they have a MSM brand. Also, maybe it’s just today, but around half of the stories are taken from MSNBC… a hint of favouritism?
My Mom responds:
Karl -
Philly Future http://www.phillyfuture.org is a very nice site. Easy on the eyes and very easy to understand. Good labels. Keep going. I have added it my Bloglines Feed so people won’t accuse me of having favorites. What’s a mother to do?
Information Architect Tokyo -
Even though we have only just met you seem to know an awful lot about me. Blogger Mom reads the Washington Post, New York Times, Boston Glove and sometimes the LA Times on-line on a daily basis.
It is not harder to keep up with change it is just that one has seen so much technology come and go very quickly that something has to really peak your interest. When you are young it is all so new and exciting.
Just like any age group us old guys come in many different sizes and shapes. Many businesses have old guys as decision makers.
Scott responds:
Information Architect Tokyo -
I agree that you should go after big audiences online — but Boomers ARE a big audience online. Why let the Old Media brands keep them without any competition?
Paul -
That’s why I keep pounding the table about brands. Right now, the Old Media brands dominate — but that doesn’t mean new brands can’t rise up to take their place. There’s an opportunity for different brands to go after different age groups with different offerings, since there is such a stark difference in their media habits and preferences.
Web 2.0 companies should be careful of one-size-fits-all solutions.
That point about focus was the subject of my follow-up, Scott, so I’m with you on that one.
Hi Scott, tell your mom I said thanks
We’re doing what we’re doing with just $20 a month (soon to be $75 - the cost of hosting) and a group of passionate volunteers. Any feedback is always appreciated.
I believe reddit is the only site that could actually boast having their mothers as members, but I think this entire blog post misses the point, so lay off the strawman.
The same “average people” that you believe ought to be using these next generation news/content sites are the same people who still open Internet Explorer to the MSN homepage every morning and still insist on searching with an inferior engine.
Media consumption patterns are still changing, but talk to anyone under the age of 30 and see how often they get their fingers stained with newspaper ink or how often they sit down to watch the 6 o’clock news. 24hour cable news channels consistently fail this disenchanted and disgruntled generation, so I would not be surprised to see them turning to the internet (as many of them already have).
Then it will become a matter of who best caters to them and some sites are doing this better than others. In a few months, try asking them if they’ve reddit.
Karl, so you think the wisest move for Web 2.0 is to ignore everyone over thirty and let Microsoft and other Old brands have them without a fight? Why does it have to be a one-size-fits-all solution? Why can’t there be one set of solution providers for my mother and another set for my 20-year-old cousin? One group is actively “disgruntled†with Old Media while the other group has spent too much of their life with it to give it up so easily.
Your comment here demonstrates that my post is not a straw man (one of the most widely misused terms in the blogosphere) but in fact the position you and many others hold – you’re completely dismissing the notion that some Web 2.0 companies ought to focus on the needs of non-tech-savvy, non-digital demographics. There’s a huge branding opportunity for someone to woo the MSN, Web 1.0 crowd, but it’s still a completely green field.
It’s going to take a generation for those who grew up with digital media to become the majority of the media consuming population. Are you willing to wait that long?
Back in October, BusinessWeek did an entire piece on how important the ageing boomers are to the economy. They are living longer, are in better health, and are alot quicker than the generation that preceeded them.
And I think it’s going to take two generations, the boomers and gen X, to pass before we see what the new generation is going to do. And, as I said on another post, when people age, a lot of habits and tastes change. Some companies are banking on young people keeping the same social media habits–but, hey, once you get that first real job, many things change, including social media use.
Let me make it a bit more clear as to how you are misrepresenting my position (hence the straw man).
With the exception of a few of them, I don’t think any of those websites are actively trying to appeal to “the average person” as a top priority — it’d be foolish to assume that any new technology would be first adopted by this crowd.
So here’s the problem, you advocate targeting the Joe Sixpacks and technophobes, salivating over the allure of a ‘green field’ that hasn’t been sown for an obvious reason that you yourself admit: it would require a dramatic change in consumer behavior. It would mean asking baby-boomers to turn off the 6 o’clock news, fold up their newspapers, and go online to a website devoid of the comforting media brands they’ve grown up with and grown accustomed to.
I was not making the claim the news 2.0 will revolutionize the way everyone will find information, but there’s a few million people who are looking for an alternative right now, why not serve them first? I believe this is what the product diffusion curve is all about.
Am I willing to wait that long? Sure. I’m just enjoying a bunch of great innovation.
Karl, first a response from my Mom:
“Does Karl know the baby boomers have already turned off the 6:00 news and if he ever rode in the subway he would realize people do not read the newspaper any more either. How about all the activists who learned to use all the neat web tools the campaigns used. A lot of them were baby boomers.”
Your straw man is to lump everybody into one two categories — either a “a few million people who are looking for an alternative” or “Joe Sixpacks and technophobes.” Isn’t there anyone in the middle who is being underserved by both Old Media and Web 2.0?
My Mother, for example, is not a technophobe, but might be very interested in an alternative that doesn’t push the envelope quite as much as News 2.0 is trying to right now. She like both Bayosphere and Phillyfuture.
The Baby Boom generation IS online. So if I was a VC, I would be salivating over how to steal them away from MSN and AOL.
I think simplicity is virtue that all generations are attracted to.
One word: iPod.
The balance between how you present information in a manner that is usable - really usable - and quantity of information - is difficult and the subject of a few IA books.
The work of Jesse James Garret comes to mind:
http://www.adaptivepath.com/team/jjg.php
http://www.jjg.net/ia/
In particular, his elements of user experience:
http://www.jjg.net/elements/
IA rules of thumb apply in many, many different contexts, and I find them especially applicable to Media 2.0 or whatever we are calling it.
I lumped everyone into two different categories? Funny, I thought you had already done that when you identified (1)”average people” as the group ignored in lieu of (2)the tech-savvy.
I’m sorry for getting fancy with “Joe Sixpacks and technophobes†when what I was really just reiterating your “average people” comment.
As for your mom, she must not ride the same subway as I do every morning, because I’m surrounded by grey-hairs reading WSJs and NYTimes. That’s the danger of extrapolating from such a small sample, I guess. She’s also terribly misguided if she thinks that they’ve also turned off the 6 o’clock news – there are over 27 million viewers who would disagree with her.
Sure, plenty of baby boomers are ‘online’ now (that means they are capable of checking their email), but if you were a VC, you’d realize how much money it would take in advertising to get enough mindshare to convince them to replace those old habits with new ones. There may be too much money chasing too few good ideas right now, but there isn’t that much money or that much lunacy.
Karl, you’re right about the dangers of extrapolating from our own experience — but we’re all representative of some group — trick is knowing which one and how big it is.
I feel like we’re missing a nuance here — maybe it’s that there’s three groups:
1. People who are deeply entrenched in Old Media and won’t change unless all of it goes out of business.
2. People who either grew up on digital media and/or are thirsty for alternatives (like you), who will adopt early and often.
3. People like my mother, who are somewhat on the fence — she can be shaken loose from Old Media, but it requires some effort.
I think perhaps you may not know enough Boomers if you think being on “online” is still just limited to checking email. Where do you think these sites are getting all their unique visitors from?
As to VS investment, how much did Google have to advertise to convince everyone and their dog to change how they search online? If you build a solution the REALLY solves people’s problems, it will sell itself.
The funniest part about your post was that you managed to contradict yourself in your own piece of evidence.
Again, since we’re being so precise, I’ll concede that when I said “that means they are capable of checking their email” I should have also included “perform basic searches.”
What got me LOLing in your comment was that you’ve fallen victim to what is perhaps the most common fallacy I see online — “websites don’t need marketing budgets. why? google didn’t.” And yet you still managed to prove yourself wrong — in the very link you provided to support your point.
Take a look at those websites, I won’t even venture a guess as to how many of those MSN/AOL hits are just from users who don’t know how to set their homepage, but look at those numbers: 3 inferior search engines (Yahoo, MSN, AOL) and google has less than a quarter of the market… I hardly think they’ve convinced “everyone” or their dog, for that matter (sure, they’ve convinced the savvy, but I think you may need to get out a bit more before making such sweeping generalizations)
Scott-
After having spent only a semester in the print world, and only 20 years in the real world, I think you’re dead on. Simplicity matters. Features do not. Brand recognition matters, democracy of ideas less. I talk with my father (tech-savvy compared to some of my friends’ parents, but still hasn’t taken the time to figure out AIM [he just emails me links instead]) and my mother (new to the tech land, but she knows what she likes) about Web standards and Web 2.0, and my father just retorted by saying “I’m not about to switch my web browser from Explorer to Safari or Mozilla: I use one on a regular basis on my work PC, because it’s there and the government makes me use it. When I go to the Mac, I’m still comfortable with the program I know. It doesn’t matter if it hasn’t been updated in 5 years.” And I mention RSS or feeds to my mother (for whom a component of her job is compiling news articles related to the circumpolar region into a weekly email digest) and her eyes glaze over. And from my friend’s perspective, I’m an outlier. My best friend came over to work on a design project(he’s on the opposite side of the political aisle from me) and first thing out of his mouth is, “You’re always reading the news, why don’t you take a break and watch Miss America.”
To disregard baby boomers is a silly notion. First: they are the largest demographic in America, thanks (or no thanks) to better living through chemistry. Second: they do adapt technology fairly quickly compared to the generation before them. If they don’t adapt quickly to something, it’s best to assume it’s just a buggy product or not simple enough (not that everything has to be simple, but over-complicated doesn’t equal quick adaptation). Third: the rest of the world isn’t ready for a constant stream of other people’s bullshit. Nor are they quite ready for a participatory media: if the US’ voter turnout percentages are any indication people only participate in this country if they think their life depends on it.
People do however like to comment within a framework, I’ve noticed. E.g. letters to the editor, viewer talkback on the 6 o’ clock, picking celeb favorites a la Idol or Dancing With The Stars. Give them something with authority, and they’ll be happy to tell you they could’ve done a better job (in the art world we call this “My 3-year-old could’ve done that” or Chip Kidd: “The Granny Litmus”). Something that I hope pays off when I start a local art web zine.
Sorry for ranting, just going along with my last stereotype.
just wave a magic wand and re-invent the last 10 years of browser HTML parsing. You are constrained forever by what browsers do now.” News 2.0 My Mother Can Use found: 02:01am January 26, 2006 “I still like the “trusted” old media editors organizing the news for me. … I look to places
[…] News 2.0 My Mother Can Use Too Much Media Scott Karp – February 22nd, 2006 | Email | Print | Link Article Tags: Media, Web 2.0, Media 2.0, KillerApp […]
[…] Inform.com has wisely gotten out of the Web 2.0 news aggregator business and into the publisher services business. Erick Schonfeld at the Business 2.0 Blog has the scoop: As readership declines for newspapers and online readership grows, every publisher faces the threat coming from the edge of the network. Sites like Google News, Yahoo News, and Digg are becoming the new destination sites because of the mere fact that they point to where the news is, no matter where on the Web it may be. But on Monday, news Websites ranging from the Washingtonpost.com and The Oklahoman’s NewsOK.com to the Huffington Post will have a new way to counter that threat. New York-based startup Inform, which last year launched it’s own consumer news aggregation site, is rebooting as a search utility for mainstream news sites (yes, HuffingtonPost, welcome to the club). Inform is offering to replace the sub-par search on most news sites, and add in results not just from their own articles and archives, but from the Web as well (including blogs, video, and audio). […]
Media landscape REDESIGN: Journal & Courier - Lafayette, Indiana L.A. Times now selling ads for section fronts Men Not Working, and Not Wanting Just Any Job Newspaper Web sites searching for a better ’search’ News 2.0 My Mother Can Use » More headlines