Sexy Widget

Checking in with NewsGator

NewsGator is a company that sort of snuck up on me in the widget space.  One minute I knew them as an RSS Reader, and then seemingly overnight, they have established themselves as a leading player in helping companies leverage widgets to extend the reach of their content.  Curious to learn more about them, I sent them over a few questions about their business.

Walker Fenton, General Manager for NewsGator's Consumer and Media Products, was kind enough to conduct this email interview with me.  Enjoy:

 

What is NewsGator?

There are a lot of moving parts in NewsGator.  It’s probably easiest to distill the three main things we do: first, and probably what we’re best known for, are RSS-solutions and readers (such as NewsGator Online, FeedDemon, Netnewswire, Netnewswire for iPhone etc.); however, we’re also heavily involved with social computing and RSS for the enterprise – in specific, adding significant tools and functionality to Microsoft SharePoint through our NewsGator Social Sites product (which you could think of as Facebook for the enterprise), which is a behind-the-firewall social computing platform.  

The other side of the company is generally referred to as “Media & Consumer” and we focus on ways to help companies extend their brand’s reach, exposure and content, through syndication, in multiple different ways.  We have several products that help companies do this, such as our social widgets, our related content offerings, our custom-built, branded iPhone applications, and something we now terming “NewsGator Publisher Suite,” which includes a host of tools that allow companies to syndicate their content, increase brand exposure, enhance revenue (such as our new “AdBurner” program, which is a pre-packaged, integrated ad placement service that can cover a company’s entire ad inventory in widgets, related content, or iPhone applications.)

What is NewsGator's revenue model?

That, too, depends on what parts of the company you’re talking about, but I’ll focus here on the Media & Consumer side.  The main way we drive revenue is by charging clients monthly fees in exchange for creating widgets for them (most of which are viral), that can contain text, video, audio, pictures, etc., that allow them to spread their reach across the social web.  Some of our revenue also comes from rev-share programs.  For example, our AdBurner platform, designed especially for premium publishers, provides a turnkey advertising-based solution to optimize ad revenue around key web 2.0 technologies with no incremental effort on their part; a portion of this ad revenue is shared with NewsGator.  We also, of course, charge clients when we build custom, branded iPhone apps for them. 

How can companies use NewsGator products?

Our products allow publishers to increase the reach of their content (and visitors’ interaction with it), enhance their branding efforts, and increase visitors’ time spent on site all while monetizing this content.   These products all fall under the large umbrella of “syndication.” In addition, we offer several products around data services, which provide businesses with a scalable, reliable source of RSS content and metadata around the consumption of that content across the entire NewsGator Platform.  Are products are designed to be a win-win scenario for publishers: they spread their content across the viral web, enhance their branding, and make money while doing it.

Can you give us some background on the evolution of your business from enterprise RSS to include enterprise widgets?

Actually, your question is loaded!  Our syndication (widget) and enterprise products grew simultaneously; the widget product didn’t descend from the enterprise product.

NewsGator started with a RSS Reader plug-in for Microsoft Outlook.  Soon, there was an online portal that would sync with the client application, so users could read their feeds in Outlook or on the Web and each would synchronize with the other.  NewsGator’s management noticed that there were many purchases in lots of 10, 20 (or more) and realized there was a need for an enterprise version.

NewsGator’s engineers created a behind-the-firewall RSS management tool that could present secure content to users and enable IT and business administrators to manage and monitor the RSS feeds their employees were reading.

As NGES matured, NewsGator’s management (and its customers) realized that the RSS protocol provided an efficient method to extend the product’s initial purpose (the management and consumption of RSS) to social computing.  This product is now termed NewsGator Social Sites.

During the development and growth of NGES, the user base of the consumer version of the Outlook plug-in and the online reader continued to grow.  In speaking with media clients, it became clear to NewsGator management that some customers wanted a way to enable their own sites’ users to personalize content but under their own brands (kind of like “My Yahoo” but branded by the customers).  To answer this need, NewsGator created a white-labeled version of its online reader and deployed that solution to USA TODAY, the San Francisco Chronicle, Newsweek, the Denver Post and others.  During this time, clients also asked for personalization to extend from this separate experience onto existing pages (like the section fronts of USA TODAY).  During the development of that product (NewsGator Buzz), NewsGator realized that the same technology could be used to export branded content to those places where media users’ eyeballs were migrating (Facebook, iGoogle, etc.)  

That’s how the widget framework and Social Sites came to be.  It was concurrent (and symbiotic) development.  One product did not descend from the other.

What parallels do you see between widget development and iPhone development?  Can you talk a little bit about NewsGator's iPhone efforts?

Whether through an iPhone or a widget, our focus is to deliver products that show content well, maintain brand, and have interaction models that take advantage of the technology/destination (with appropriate monetization). Having said that, widgets and iPhone applications essentially do the same thing -  they promote the latest videos, headlines, images, etc., but in different ways. 

When Apple launched the iTunes App Store last summer, they asked Brent Simmons (the creator of NetNewsWire on the Mac) to create a version of NetNewsWire for the iPhone. They result was fantastic - Time.com named NetNewsWire on the iPhone as one of their top 10 iPhone apps for 2008. NetNewsWire for iPhone is just the right experience for the device; it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles as the desktop application, just those that are most appropriate for showing content on the device while keeping the familiar user experience that you would expect from an iPhone application. The iPhone Media Application Framework continues to build on this premise, not only showing content well, but making it simple and fast as well.

NewsGator counts among its clients a number of newspaper properties.  Can you talk about the challenges and opportunities of working with this embattled sector?  Any tips for startups looking to work with newspaper sites?

Yes, there is no denying that it is a challenging environment right now. What it means for us is that we’re working harder than ever to optimize the eCPMs that our publishing partners get against their content. We recently put together a program called AdBurner, where we’ve partnered with several different Ad Networks to deliver on this goal. As a technical conduit, NewsGator is in a good position to best optimize content that is shown in our widget framework or iPhone apps against advertising. 

What's new in the widget space?  Any new developments that Sexy Widget readers should be aware of?

Typically when people think of widgets they think of portable games or latest broadcasted headlines – but the technology landscape is changing. Now with the integration of social features and the addition of semantic metadata, a publisher’s ability to provide you with content that is relevant to you and your community is quickly approaching. Think, “tell me what I don’t know (that is important to me)”.

Can you share any observations about how the down economy is affecting NewsGator?  Any tips for other entrepreneurs?

The only way to survive a market like this (or any market for that matter) is to continually focus on delivering value. Sounds a bit textbook to say that, but it holds true.

What can we expect to see from NewsGator in 2009?

We’re continuing to innovate, to push boundaries in the changing publishing landscape. We’re big fans of helping companies find new ways to reach audiences, and figuring out ways to learn more about these audiences to better address their needs as well. Happy readers are a good thing

Building Strong Online Communities: SXSW

Liveblogging the Building Strong Online Communities from SXSWi

Panelists:

Ken Fisher, Ars Technica
Alexis Ohanian, Reddit
Drew Curtis, Fark
Erin Kotecki Vest, BlogHer

Panel will look at deliberate acts that foster online community.

Erin: BlogHer is the largest online women's blogging network.  Started as conference.

Drew: added comments to Fark in 2000.  I'm not a fan of online communities, would rather be out in real life.  Very organic.

Alexis: started Reddit out of college in 2005.  Too much to read, not enough time.  Big bump from Paul Graham of Y Combinator.  Got a big initial burst of smart contributors.

Ken: put up comments in 1998 to outsource tech support.  Tried to create a place where people could find answers with a high signal to noise ratio.  Usenet was the place in mid 1990s, but got overrun by trolls.

How do you balance your own vision of your community with your community's vision?  Every admin has to make calls on TOS, direction, etc.  Two aspects: Philosophy and Practical - how do you enable communications with members.

Fark: problem, number of voices.  Have to take feedback with a grain of salt.  Is the feedback representative.  For example, 20 people on site hate when Fark links to Sports By Brooks.  Have to balance complaints with the activity on the links.  20 complaints versus hundreds of participation posts.... can't fall for the tyranny of well organized minorities.

Reddit: started growing out verticals to meet demand, e.g. programming reddit.  But then they decided to let folks create their own.

BlogHer: similar approach.  You can create your own blog.

How on Reddit to users contact you?

Reddit: I was doing all the feedback email until a month ago, but I stopped.  It doesn't scale.  We now use twitter search to find out when people are talking about us, but most communication has been through email.

Ars Technica: Twitter gives insight to folks who are not as active in community.  Public forum is good because it allows users to respond to other users questions.

How does the community influence / police itself and how did you get there?

BlogHer: we have strict community guidelines.  We want women to come here and feel they are not going to be attacked.  Civil discourse.  It's no very well self policed - if you are coming to comment, you need to behave.

Fark: rule, don't be an asshole.  Implemented Nark function - let the community nark each other.  Folks try to game it, nark out rival cliques.  Every time you add a tool, people will abuse it.  Narking a comment throws the comment into a moderator queue.  Stuff out of context can look awful, but sometimes in thread it can be sarcasm.  Occasionally we lock people out.  Because of the lifetime of service, they've had to adjust severity of various discipline stuff.

Reddit: Put out a wiki to create Reddit etiquette page.  Don't link jack.  Don't hawk snake oil.  It was cool, but at some point each reddit creator got moderation priviliges.  Each Reddit has own rules.  We let go.

When you run into problem bits of content, what do you do with them?  Remove them?  Shame them?

BlogHer: We delete the comments, and the offender is emailed.  We had Michelle Obama blogging during the election, and we weren't going to let that nastiness happen in there.

Fark: We delete comments, bu tit can be undone. 

Reddit: Same here.

Ars Technica: we don't delete or modify unless it's spam.  It can be perceived as censorship.

Fark: our system is designed to find the troublemakers early.  There are more than 5K people banned from Fark.

Reddit: what about multiple IP addresses.

Fark: we have a system.

Ars: we created a system of law: a list of cardinal and compulsory rules.  It's striking to new members.  We try and give the impression that we are not capricious.  While we do ban lots of users, we will try and rehabilitate them.  We have increasing time-outs leading to a perma ban.

Fark: i don't like it when folks try and lawyer you with your own TOS.  We end up telling them they're assholes and booting them.

Fark: We are not built like a government.  It's a house party, but it's my house.  And it's my rules.

What are some of the big mistakes you've seen communities make?

BlogHer: they tell rather than ask.  They don't let the community know when change is coming.  They don't involve the community in on decisions.

Fark: Admins who troll their own users.  You don't want to listen to your community too much.  Most online community members are really anal.  IF you redesign the site, they are going to freak out.  Discount this initial freak out.  Our response to freaked out users is "you'll get over it."  You have to discount a certain amount of bitchiness.

Reddit: you mentioned the tyranny of the minority.  But there is a silent majority - the vast majority of Reddit users is not logged in.  You have to reach out to this majority, because they won't tell you how they feel.  But you have to trust your gut and make the call.

Ars: we love surveys.  We always share the results with our surveys.  Also, we started with just three forums.  We're now up to 26 forums.  We added them as needed. A big mistake I see is to open up lots of different topics.  It makes your community look like a ghost town.  Spread too thin.  Important to start small.  Also, when you are managing an online community, you need a thick skin.  It gets personal.  I've had people attack my family.  Don't let your ego get in there, don't get personal.  If you get vindictive, it sends a negative message to the audience, and it can be a big time waste.

Audience Questions:

What do you look for in a community manager?

BlogHer: Level headed and calm.  Someone who can be neutral.  Somehow who can multi task.

How do conferences and offline stuff complement online community?

Coontent at conference is what people want.

Reddit and Ars are part of Conde - have you had experiences with old media influence?

Reddit, nobody tells us what to do.  There are lots of conspiracy theories on the site, but it's been all church and state. 

Ars: we produce content that is critical of our overlords.  It's encouraged.  When were independent, everyone remembers that our TOS were happy and peaceful, but the minute Conde Nast bought Ars, everyone immediately saw stuff as changing, even though it didn't.

Advice on how to attract people and keep their engagement?

Fark: I don't worry about competition.  Cross polination works great.  Can't help you on how to stand out though.

Reddit: Have a niche and passion will show.  It will attract people.

Do you allow anonymous posts?

Fark: no, it's horseshit.  If you can't say something without your name, go to hell.

Fisher: barrier of registration improves signal to noise ratio.

Plans to go to the next level?

Blogher: new features.

Fark: try not to screw it up.

My question: Thoughts on moderating for quality?  Like removing a post just because it sucks?

Fark: we do it.

Reddit: we use the up down arrow tools to let the community bury the bad.

Blogher: there's no harm in letting crap stuff stay up.

Community Management Panel: SXSWi

This is a liveblogging of the "lessons in community management" panel at sxsw.

Panelists:

Heather Champ, Flickr
Mario Anima, Current TV
Matthew Stinchcomb, Etsy
Jessamyn West, MetaFilter
Micah Schaffer, MetaFilter

Changes in community mgmt styles as you grew from small to big communities?

Jessamyn: Metafilter used to be all friends of founder.  Nobody messed with the founder.  Then the site started to grow.  One person couldn't read anything. 

Brought on additional moderator this year.

Then introduced user flagging (last couple of years), community policing.  Fixing broken html. Broken guidelines.  Now have an extra flagging option for "offensive."  As community gets bigger, common norms become more challenging.

Micah: harder to perceive trends as we grew.  Initially external events would have an effect on kinds of comments seen on site.  Once you reach scale, it's tougher to see the signals / trends.  You have to slice traffic and be proactive to reach the community.  Sample different segments.  It's no longer one monolithic user base.  Different groups with different needs.

Matthew, Etsy: challenge, how to grow stay big but stay small.  How can founders still be personally involved with users.  People get less forgiving as site gets bigger.  Also challenge of keeping the company transparent as new employees come on.  Remember the communities drive everything.

Mario, Current.TV: Originally it was strictly video uploads.  As we grew, there were more links in comments, site feedback - people started participating in different ways.  Big shift was to allow different kinds of content submission, stories AND videos.  Current.TV news. 

Common misconception: online communities are like the government.  How do you handle accusations of censorship?  All admins get called crazy names.

Micah: YouTube is a platform for speech.  Our role is to accomodate as much diverse opinion as is safe.  Limitations: as a UGC site there are three restraintst: 1) legal.  Constraints by things that are illegal.  Example, eBay selling Nazi stuff, which is against the law in Germanny and France.  2) User Experience; you may enjoy bikinis.  But it might be a negative user experience to find it when you don't want to.  Some content is hostile to diversity.  Internet is good for sex.  But if you want to preserve diverse and interesting content, you need to find ways to allow counterdiscovery.  3) Brand, advertiser restraint.  You need to pay the bills.

Mario: site cofounded by Al Gore.  People are very sensitive to censorship.  If you post stuff that hurts other people's ability to enjoy site.  I have been called both a nazi and a communist on the same day.  I try to coach on what an acceptable post would have been.

How do you stay sane and non-confrontational?

Matthew, Etsy: I believe everyone who uses Etsy believes in service.   There are other sites that are sort of hateful.  I meet up with local users.  When you meet them face to face, you realize they are sane and normal, and you are appreciated.  Don't let the haters get you down.

Mario: important to go back to happy place, positive feedback.  We host chats for our users to discuss moderation.

Jessamyn, MetaFilter: Important to remember that there's a whole world out there, and nothing that happens on a site should get to you.

Heather: I had to step between George (girl who was at Flickr) and a member at a Christmas party once.

Micah: Don't assume everyone is a crackpot.  This can be hard when the crackpots are loud.  Look for signals with users, and be transparent.  If you are transparent, it reduces the questions about what happened to the content.  When I get down, I think about all the good things on the site.  LIke all the Presidential candidates were responding to comments on the election videos.  But it's hard when people are mean.

Heather: hardest thing to learn is when not to respond.  People who are acting crazy, it's better to just sit back and let them prove themselves as crazy.

What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is thinking about starting a video, or is moderating an existing one?

Mario: helps if you are an insomniac.  Understanding that there is more to this role than just removing content.   Every piece of email gets a response.  Multiple ways of feedback: twitter, hotline, multiple channels.  How do you find people to replace you as an admin?  It's a unique role, and each site has it's own philosophy.

Mathew: Focus on internal communications.  Make sure each team knows what's going on.  When you communicate with users, try and listen.  Be honest, even if it's not what the user wants to hear.

Micah: Have an idea of what community you want build is.  You need to be willing to adapt, in ways you wouldn't anticipate. 

Matthew: People will use your sites in ways you don't expect.

Micah: no way to anticipate what users will do.

Jessamyn: We have goals for the company, and there are some things that aren't happening now because of 1) we don't think it's good for the community, but let's talk about it; 2) things people want, but we're not going to do.  We are straight up with users - that's not going to happen.  Our basic rule is "don't be a jerk."

Muzzling is not a Social Media Strategy

I came across a disturbing little story on Boing Boing today about how some doctors are trying to get patients to sign away their rights to post reviews of their practices on services like Yelp and RateItAll in order to get medical treatment:

Over 2,000 US doctors have joined a service that supplies them with EULAs for their patients to sign, EULAs that forbid the patients from writing bad reviews of their treatment online.

The guy behind this initiative is a neurosurgeon from North Carolina named Doctor Jeffrey Segal.  From Yahoo:

Segal said such postings say nothing about what should really matter to patients — a doctor's medical skills — and privacy laws and medical ethics prevent leave doctors powerless to do anything it.

His company, Medical Justice, is based in Greensboro, N.C. For a fee, it provides doctors with a standardized waiver agreement. Patients who sign agree not to post online comments about the doctor, "his expertise and/or treatment."

"Published comments on Web pages, blogs and/or mass correspondence, however well intended, could severely damage physician's practice," according to suggested wording the company provides.

Segal's company advises doctors to have all patients sign the agreements. If a new patient refuses, the doctor might suggest finding another doctor. Segal said he knows of no cases where longtime patients have been turned away for not signing the waivers.

This is not the first time that we've seen the establishment try and muzzle the social web.  Governments in places like Saudi Arabia, China, Turkey, and Thailand have long tried to silence dissidents by arresting or shutting down dissenting voices.

But this is the first time I've seen access to medical treatment linked to a forfeiture of one's right to post negative reviews.

I don't think this strategy will work, I don't think it scales, and I suspect that there are enough doctors out there happily willing to accept a little feedback in order snap up patients who don't feel like forfeiting their freedom of speech.

If only Dr Segal and his 2,000 physicians would exert the same effort in maximizing the value of online reviews.  Perhaps they could learn a little bit from San Francisco Pizzeria Delfina, who is embracing their negative reviews.

From Ars Tecnica:

Review sites will only continue to increase in popularity—though potential customers should always take what they read online with a grain of salt. Instead of fighting the trend, doctors need to embrace the new reality and maybe even use the reviews as an opportunity to improve themselves.

(also see Futurismic)