I confess I had never read the Abu Muqawama blog, which its author describes as ” dedicated to following issues related to contemporary insurgencies as well as counterinsurgency tactics and strategy. Abu Muqawama aims to be a resource for students, counterinsurgents, academics, and the general public.”
However, it is good to have friends like J Ford Huffman, who lives and works in Washington, D.C., and who has a keen eye for discovering these type of amusing destinations. To quote J Ford’s email:
Mario, the president likes newsPAPERs.
.
I needed to hear that, as I have sat in various focus groups the past two weeks, and there is one undeniable comment echoing in the room, regardless of city, country, or age of the participants: We are reading more and more of this newspaper online.
Those of us sitting behind the large mirror at the focus group site know that this is true, but it is very strong medicine to take when you hear it echoed time and time again. “Yes, we like your newspaper, but now I don’t buy it but two or three times a week, as I read it online the rest of the time.”
Yet, the one question I would love to have asked in these focus groups is still taboo: Would you be willing to pay for some or all of the content of this newspaper online?
Time to get the question on the table, and perhaps the answer will be NO. Why should I pay for something I am now getting free? However, we need to start exploring that option.
For now, I bask in the glow of reading President Obama’s quote during an exchange with The New York Times, which was highlighted in the Abu Muqawama blog:
I like the feel of a newspaper. I read most of the weekly newsmagazines. I may not read them from cover to cover but I’ll thumb through them. You know, I spend most of my time these days reading a lot of briefings.
Yes, Mr. President, like the rest of your generation, you are a scanner, but the fact that you like to read in print gives us hopes. You stimulate us to rethink what we do. Keep on reading those papers.
Entire Obama interview with The New York Times, where his newspaper reading habits are discussed:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/us/politics/08obama-text.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
And then there were 10….
TIME Magazine gives us a list of the Ten Most Endangered Newspapers in America/
Is yours there?
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1883785,00.html
Knowing your audience
Mario Garcia Jr. today writes about Seven Things You Absolutely Need to Know About your Audience.
Here is an excerpt:
Knowing your audience helps you put yourself in their place. Putting yourself in the place of the audience is the best way to approach a communication project. Too many times I’m finding writers writing for writers, editors editing for editors and designers designing for designers, all the while losing sight of the one thing that matters most – the audience.
Only in understanding your audience and what motivates them will you be able to engage them. Understanding them is more than looking at market data and assuming behaviors. It’s taking the time to talk to them and finding the answers to these very important questions. So, what are you waiting for? Ask them.
Go here:
http://tinyurl.com/bg8yht
:
To read TheRodrigoFino blog, in Spanish, go:
https://garciamedia.com/latinamerica/blog/
TheMarioBlog posting #209