Free local magazines Contd

After posting my previous post, i did the mail all the columnists mentioned there.
It was quite good and indeed was very happy to receive replies from all.
Balakumar of Talkmedia did reply a detailed mail which not only opened my eyes but also my thoughts.

It was very candid.

The highlights of the mail are

• As mentioned in the update of previous post, the columns are available online.
• Online advertising is not that successful in India as it is to be reported in India.
• Revenue model of Online Ads
• ROI for the media organizations to keep the net editions alive is neglible.
• Our customer is happy with the reach provided from print media.
• Lack of internet penetration

Look at yahoo and AOL, they are not profitable. May be you could call them dying dinasours. Still Microsoft wants to buy it. that too for $45 billion dollars. possibly even hike the offer.
At the same time google is still raking in money.(Will they be tomorrow's yahoo and AOL is altogether another interesting topic) Google does face controversies about its revenue from ads as well as ad click frauds

oh are we talking about India?
Local Commerce portal sulekha will enter capital market when they clock revenue of $30 million

So i feel it is all about the way the business is run, rather than the business model. May be the online advertising is not successful due to the lack of internet penetration.

ROI is neglible. Well this was the one that surprised me the most. Why i was having an understanding that it is possible to reduce the intermediate costs or make them disappear.

Reg the customer point of view, my point is mostly the customer never knows what he/she wants. ( did we ever ask for a walk man, or ipod?)

A strong word of caution, the above are my theoritical standpoints, possibly an illusionary one hallucinating with a myopic vision. When a person who goes through the grind day in and day out facing the an myriad of practical problems, it is better to listen to him

P.S
learnt a very big lesson, that i should do my research before i write! As well as i should learn to make a stand!

Free local magazines

On a sunday afernoon, having lots of things to do and doing nothing , was reading local free magazines like mambalam times and pillar talk. The train of thoughts were as follows:

Good Business Model:
Paper is for free. So nobody is gonna tell , i dont want this. ( we tamilians are fond of freebies, i guess the reality is all human beings are fond of freebies). For sure there is assured circulation.

This assured circulation helps in getting ads, which is the source of revenue for the paper.

Even for advertisers it is more of a focused marketing and can be very sure it reaches the right customers, or atleast the customers.

I was also very sure it is a very successful business venture, if not I wont be seeing it week after week.

Good Articles.
It also features good articles, quite hilarious. say the point blank by t r jawahar (trjawahar@vsnl.net), cranks corner by k balakumar (balakumarkb@gmail.com) in pillar talk
No holds barred by m.a sadanand , tamasha varigal by j.s raghavan(rankamala@yahoo.co.in)

Now the question for the good business model is,

Why aren't you online? Why is your magazine not available online?
You could make your magazine available online too.
You could charge your advertisers a fraction of money for being available online too.
apart from your regular advertisers, you could have lots of online ads too

The cost of running a website and the generated revenue from ads could be an extra source of revenue.

The question for the good writers,

Again,Why are these guys not online? i.e i mean on blogs or website( ahem agreed it is not necessary that all should have a website or write blogs, still why shouldnt they ? the technology is within the reach and is available for them.

Blogs or online media is just another way of reaching out to people, or just another ego trip mentioned by jawahar in this week's point blank column.

Guys, online media has arrived and is here to stay. The day is not faraway it could be a main stream media. at least for now, you should supplement your main stream media with this online media.
p.s
I ended up with this blog post, thinking to write a blog post about tamil writers and their blog posts. Hope that will follow through shortly :)

Update:
jawahar's and balakumar's column are available @ http://newstodaynet.com/ and J.S raghavan's column @ http://70.87.196.226/annanagartimes/

இரகசிய சினேகிதிக்காக

அவள் மொழி
அமுத மொழி
தேனாக பாயும்
ஆயினும் அனலாக
தகிக்கும் காதுகள்
காலத்தை கடந்த
கைப்பேசி கலந்துரையாடல்கள்!

Friend Or Girl Friend

Ever been in a confusion , whether a girl you know is "just a friend who is a girl" or the so called "Girl Friend."

Here we go with ten differences between them( not necessarily in this order)

Friend is somebody who says "Hi" to you.
Girl Friend is somebody who expects you to say a "HHHiiiii"

Friend will feel glad,if you say, "hey you look cool ya"
Girl Friend will feel bad, if you don't say "hey you look cool ya"

Friend will feel bad, if you ogle or drool at her.
Girl Friend will pretend to feel bad, if you ogle or drool at her.

Friend will pull your legs,if you ogle, drool at other girls.
Girl friend will break your legs, even if you look at a girl.

Friend is the one, who laughs at your wisecracks and shows face to your dumb dialogues.
Girl Friend is the one, who expects you to laugh even for the most dumbest dialogues by her and shows face to your wisecracks.

Friend is the one, who gives you the liberty to cut her off in the middle of the conversation.
Girl Friend is the one, who cuts you off in the middle of the conversation.

Friend wont worry to spend some money for you as well as when you spend money for your girl friend.
Girl Friend is the one who worries when she spends money for you as well as when you spend for your friends.

Friend is the one who lets you to brag about your culinary skills.
Girl Friend is the one who expects you to brag about her culinary skills.

Friend wont mind, you sitting behind her in a two wheeler.
Girl Friend is the one sneers at you for your inability to drive a two wheeler.

Friend is the one, who reads this and says either "Very good" or "very bad".
Girl Friend is the one, who shouts, "How dare you write such stuff about girls?"

Disclaimer:The above one is completely fictional and not the true experience of the author as he is still successfully staying single. For further disclaimers check out here and here
P.S
Even Girls, who are in a self doubt about your relationship with another guy can make use of this checklist.!

Law Of Singles

If you are still staying Single, Either You are smart or all the members of opposite sex that you know are much more smarter than you!
(Applicable to guys as well as girls)
p.s
I am still successfully single. You are free to draw your very own interpretations :)

Indian IT Professionals

C, C++ Java என
ஆய கணிணி மொழிகள்
அனைத்தையும் கற்று முடிப்பார்கள்

English, French, German, Japanese
உலக மொழிகளில் எல்லாம்
உள்ளே புகுந்து விளையாடுவார்கள்

தாய்த் மொழியில் மட்டும்
தவறும் தகராறும் தடுமாற்றமும்
Indian IT Professionalகளுக்கு!

Law of Friends

Girl Friends come and go
Good Friends come and stay

Zen Of Zeno

If you treat your employee, royally like a king
The employee shall work sincerely like a dog.

If you treat your employee, like a dog
The employee shall work like a king

நமக்கு வேலை பாக்க்குறவங்களை
ராஜா மாதிரி நடத்தினா
நாய் மாதிரி வேலை பாப்பாங்க
நாய் மாதிரி நடத்தினா
ராஜா மாதிரி வேலை பாப்பாங்க

Zen Of Zeno

குடிக்கறது கூழ்
கொப்பளிக்கறதுக்கு பன்னீரா

என்ன தப்பு இதில்?

பன்னீரை குடிக்க முடியுமா?
கூழை கொப்பளிக்க முடியுமா?

Zen Of Zeno

The Desire to be Desireless is the biggest desire of all ages!

Law of Ages

வயசு கம்மியா இருக்கும் போது,அழகான பெண்களை பார்க்கத் தோணும்
வயசு அதிகம் ஆகும் போது, பார்க்கும் பெண்கள் எல்லாம் அழகா தோணும்

When you are young, you tend to look at all beautiful girls.
When you grow old, all girls you look, tend to be beautiful

Law Of Happiness and Sadness

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!
-Rudyard Kipling

Similarly
The happiness that you get when you make fun of others
The sadness that you get when others make fun of you,
Both are impostors, treat them the same :)


நாம மத்தவங்கள வச்சு Comedy பண்றப்ப வர்ற சந்தோசம்
மத்தவங்க நம்மள வச்சு Comedyபண்றப்ப வர்ற சோகம்
ரெண்டும் மாயை!

Zen Of Zeno

There is no social service with out self service.

P.S
People who do social service also do it for their self satisfaction.

Zen Of Zeno

If the Client is GOD,
Then, the Client's Location is the Temple !