The Future is Now

A Case Study on the New York Times as it embraces Web 2.0 technology

CEOs everywhere are faking it. The median age of a CEO is 52. Most are number smart, business savvy visionaries, but their kids probably know more than they do about the Internet. Corporate officers are attempting to use the correct lingo to convince investors they are taking adequate measures to stay relevant in the Web 2.0 era. They have turned to the nerd community for answers.

Many top companies initially ignored Facebook, passing it off as some fad. Now they are scrambling to effectively harness its potential. Take the New York Times. In early 2009, there was an internal push to integrate Facebook with TimesPeople, its lackluster online community which enables users to follow what other readers are recommending and commenting on. The bosses scrapped the idea - considered too low-brow at the time. 

Now The Times' SVP of Digital Operations delivered a keynote address at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, heralding the wonders of social media. Even the number one newspaper in the world knows it cannot afford to hang on to the coattails of a reputation built over one hundred years.

During his speech, Martin Nisenholtz took the opportunity to discuss his aspirations for nytimes.com. He stated: "We’re beginning to experiment with badging, by including user photos and other identity-based design cues."

Tell me if I am wrong, but that is not badging, basing this more on my experience in the Girl Scouts than my budding tech savvy. Badging, if its even a verb now, is when someone is awarded a specific badge icon for performing a certain action or earning a certain amount of points. For instance, FourSquare users can receive the Mayor badge for checking into a certain location more than anyone else and even unlock the Douchebag badge if they frequent trendy locations. 

He also used the term "adaptive routing," which he explains "picks the best people in a given network and forwards just the right questions for them to answer." Aardvark, which was acquired by Google in February, attempts to do exactly that by tapping into your social network. The Times believes the quality of answers and conversation from its readers will be superior, and the secret of this is real identity (which Facebook Connect enables). *TimesPeople Suggestions*

Fact: Full page print ads in the Times go for $250,000. However, online ads are sold for as little as $5 a pop. The stuff that is printed on trees is paying everyone's salaries. While newspapers continue to rely on revenue from print ads, they are hoping to expand revenue streams for digital content.

New York Times Digital is in the process of building up a restaurant review section, part of their masterplan to create a high-caliber, reputable city guide. New York City's Subway CEO recently fed NYT web developers tacos, expressing their desire to integrate an app into the online newspaper. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), in fact, is looking for anyone to build them an app that could get more people to ride the subway. If there was a show or restaurant review in the New York Times, the reader could ideally identify the best subway route to get them there.

As every successful conversion is $2 more in their pockets and tomorrow's financial forecast unknown, free tacos seems like a reasonable gamble.

In the mean time, entrepreneurs are building products that bring print media to the digital space. Japan has already integrated 2D bar codes into its print media, which can be scanned by mobile devices and can redirect users to a certain website. QR (quick response) code readers are available for free in the Apps store for all mobile devices. In the future, a person reading a play review could scan the QR code embedded next to the article with their mobile device, be directed to a ticket website, determine the best public transportation route to get there, or share the information on Facebook.

Though it is important to facilitate consumer conversions, businesses must also seek to engage users on the digital forum to keep them coming back for more.  Fortune 100 companies are desperate to figure out how to use social media to keep a leading edge and should look outside for answers.  The Huffington Post has recently integrated gaming dynamics into its online community to engage readers, with avatars, points, and badges. Software companies like Bunchball are able to transform such websites into dynamic user experiences.

The business savvy CEO must reach out to the tech geeks to keep in pace with Gen Y.  Today's companies need nimble digital product managers who can take a vision and best translate it to the engineers on how to execute it. Companies ideally want someone who can do it all (drive product, build the database, improve UI), but these superhumans are rare. The CEO of the future may not know how to make a website or app themselves, but he or she should be familiar with the technology, or at least know who is.

NYT could better follow the live music scene (noting their Arts section largely focuses on Broadway and symphonies, with an occasional shout-out to Jay-Z.)