The production was slick, and I’m hard pressed to re-call any other conference in London which can claim the same level of professional delivery. Massive screens and impressive graphics enhanced the content of the presentations in the main conference area, which were, engaging, enlightening and entertaining. Twitter updates came through thick and fast and were quick to add colour, context and a bit of debate around the topics in real time – they also quickly flagged anything sub-standard in a rather brutal way. This event certainly set the bar for events to come.

In my view, the online publisher industry is maturing at speed. Proof of this is in the attitude and openness of experts in the field. A great a example of this is when a bunch of prominent online publishers informally congregated in New York recently, to discuss why publishers are integrating their technologies and how. These were some of the outcomes.

The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive), which comes into force on 26 May 2011 has created much attention and speculation on how it will be implemented, enforced and what its ramifications might be. The issue at stake is the use and abuse of cookies.

Publishers have traditionally not been good at utilising the user data they have at their disposal. Instead advertisers have reaped the benefits that can come from understanding and profiling a site’s users. Consequently publishers have fallen seriously behind the ad guys, missing out on the opportunity to optimise and monetise their websites. How can publishers redress this balance, uncover the true value of their users, realise greater levels of engagement and increase revenue?

I am not sure consumers are aware of this fact, but advertising funds the vast majority of the media they consume.  And as the consumption of this media moves online, the online advertising model is going to struggle to generate sufficient revenue to allow for the continued production of the high quality content we come to expect.  

Once considered a ‘nice to have’ the strategic importance of marketing to an organization’s success is no longer open to question.  Marketers are judged on their ability to be creative and produce stunning media campaigns that support the sales effort. At the same time, they are expected to be au fait with the latest marketing technologies being introduced at an ever-rapid pace, all of which are supposed to make their lives easier.  The life of a marketer is no walk in the park that’s for sure.

Compared to a decade ago, some would argue that the marketers of today have it easy.  There’s a technology solution for pretty much everything from web analytics to ad serving.  But it’s not as straightforward as you might think.
 

Remember 1999?  That rather wonderful moment when the advent of the web made everything possible and shattered the key economic principle that a business needed a revenue model to sustain itself?  And, of course, the promise to all of us that it would deliver fewer working hours, greater information and access to riches.  
 
The future gazing of 1999 confirmed one thing. Predictions are a mugs game and a really special kind of mugs game where technological advancement is driving change so very quickly.
 

In recent months I've been following the rise of content farms , a topic that a few journalists are starting to write about, but one that is already having a huge impact on the web.  These companies are churning out literally thousands of pieces of content every week.  In fact Demand Media - one of the leading companies in this space - is pumping out 4,000 new pieces of content every day -