After Google announced its bid to provide free WiFi in San Francisco last Friday (see, for example, this article), there has been some discussion about what that means to telecom firms and internet service providers. That Google's move could actually be a threat to local newspapers is an interesting perspective, brought in by Preston Gralla, former editor-in-chief of a local newspaper chain, on networkingpipeline. He writes, "the key to local newspapers' survival is their ability to get money from small local advertisers... Local classified ads are a sizable source of revenue as well ... Papers get those ads because the papers cover local news, and so attract local readers. Advertisers don't have to spend money trying to reach people who can't buy their goods. But Google's WiFi service can make that kind of local targeting look crude. It will be able to deliver ads literally on a block-by-block basis... It could deliver localized classified ads, as well, which are the financial mainstay of many local papers."
After Google announced its bid to provide free WiFi in San Francisco last Friday (see, for example, this article), there has been some discussion about what that means to telecom firms and internet service providers. That Google's move could actually be a threat to local newspapers is an interesting perspective, brought in by Preston Gralla, former editor-in-chief of a local newspaper chain, on networkingpipeline. He writes, "the key to local newspapers' survival is their ability to get money from small local advertisers... Local classified ads are a sizable source of revenue as well ... Papers get those ads because the papers cover local news, and so attract local readers. Advertisers don't have to spend money trying to reach people who can't buy their goods. But Google's WiFi service can make that kind of local targeting look crude. It will be able to deliver ads literally on a block-by-block basis... It could deliver localized classified ads, as well, which are the financial mainstay of many local papers."
After Google announced its bid to provide free WiFi in San Francisco last Friday (see, for example, this article), there has been some discussion about what that means to telecom firms and internet service providers. That Google's move could actually be a threat to local newspapers is an interesting perspective, brought in by Preston Gralla, former editor-in-chief of a local newspaper chain, on networkingpipeline. He writes, "the key to local newspapers' survival is their ability to get money from small local advertisers... Local classified ads are a sizable source of revenue as well ... Papers get those ads because the papers cover local news, and so attract local readers. Advertisers don't have to spend money trying to reach people who can't buy their goods. But Google's WiFi service can make that kind of local targeting look crude. It will be able to deliver ads literally on a block-by-block basis... It could deliver localized classified ads, as well, which are the financial mainstay of many local papers."
