Re: MODERATOR NOTE: The Future of this List

From: Cliff Kurtzman <moderator_at_o-a.com>
Date: Thu 02 Sep 2004 18:05:06 -0500

Here are my thoughts with regard to various comments that
have been made on this subject and theories as to why
traffic may be slow:

Some have speculated that traffic was slow because it
was August and people were on vacation. This was true, but
doesn't really explain the observed trends. The periods
from the beginning of August through Labor Day, and the
second half of December, are historically slow periods
for postings. August is particularly slow because many of
our best contributors are in Europe, and much of Europe
virtually shuts down during August. Still, it would be
fair to say that postings have been in decline for a
considerable while, in particular over the past six months.

Some have speculated that traffic is slow because there
are now many lists on which people can contribute, and
many of them are more specialized. It is true that there
are more options available to people for having discussion,
but more competition, per se, does not explain why this
list would be less active. There were lots of search
engines when Google appeared, but Google still captured
that market. The bottom line is that if our list
consistently has good, relevant, and useful discussions,
then it will thrive regardless of what other lists or
boards are out there.

The comment was made that this list has not grown along
with its members needs. This may well be true... and I'd
welcome a greater diversity of ideas on how this list
might grow to be more responsive.

It has been suggested that this list is less active
because of we all suffer from "information overload." I'm
not convinced of this. The responses to my query on the
ADASTRO web site, and the debate on the future of this
list, demonstrate to me very clearly that this list does
in fact have subscribers with significant expertise and
that people are taking the time to read the postings and
they are willing to respond. I believe that if people felt
that posting questions or responding to other posts would
serve their interests, they would take the time to do so.

David Yancey offered some pretty good points regarding
perceived changes between the required effort to
participate and expected paybacks. I think Dave is pretty
much on target here... the question then becomes figuring
out how to change both the reality and perceptions.

Rob Frankel pointed out that the list might benefit from
more active leadership, and I'm sure he is on target with
that insight.

Questions were raised regarding the list's ability to
enroll new members. In fact, new subscription rates remain
pretty decent (go to Google and type in "Online Advertising"
and there we are), and new subscribes continually outpace
explicit unsubscribes. Nonetheless, the total number of
subscribers has dropped, primarily due to the pruning of
addresses that have gone bad -- subscribers that don't
resubscribe after changing companies or closing their email
accounts. We now have about 4200 subscribers, of which 290
receive the list as individual posts, and the rest receive
the daily digest. The vast majority of the postings to the
list are made by the 290 that receive the list as individual
posts.

Another speculation was that the list would pick up again as
we head into the "next boom." I don't think we can ever count
on things every again being like they were in 1999, even
watered down... those days are gone forever. There was a time
when it was all new to all of us, and there was a sense we
were all blazing a trail together. Those days are gone, and
this list will have to change to stay relevant in light of
that fact.

Rob Frankel, bless his heart, asked the question of whether or
not it is profitable to run this list. Well, there are three
kinds of potential benefits that can come from running this
list. The first one is leveraging it to help acquire new
business. It was certainly useful in that regard when I was
running Tenagra. With ADASTRO, while do some media buying
work, the list is not strongly aligned with ADASTRO's
core mission, and I don't count on it being a source of
finding new clients.

The second potential benefit is in terms of actual cash value
brought by list sponsorships. Honestly, it is only because of
the sponsorship generosity of WebTrends and Claria over the
past two years that this list is still in existence. The
dollars they have provided have not been huge... but they have
been enough that it clearly was justifiable to spend the time,
expense and effort of required to run the forum and attend
conferences to provide conference reports. This list DOES
connect very well with a great audience of media buyers and
publishers, and sponsorship is a very reasonable buy for
companies in the online advertising space--if and only if--the
list is active and thriving. Over the past six months, as
activity on the list has dwindled, I've been unable to sell
the ad space.

The third potential benefit of continuing the list is just in
maintaining connections that I value. Each expert that I meet
through this list is someone I can potential draw upon to help
my clients. Each relationship I make is one which may prove to
be of future value in ways I cannot predict. To some extent,
I'm willing to invest time and effort in this list just to
maintain these connections. But only to a point.

I appreciate all the feedback made so far, as well as the
increase in questions submitted over the past week. I will
continue to welcome suggestions as well as look for ways
to improve the value of the list.

--Cliff

Clifford R. Kurtzman
CEO | Moderator
ADASTRO Incorporated | The Online Advertising Discussion List
http://www.adastro.com | http://www.o-a.com










Received on Thu Sep 02 2004 - 18:05:06 CDT