How Modern News Unfurls

Original Image: winnond / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

With the outbreak of yesterday's terribly tragedy that unfolded on the campus of Virginia Tech, it wasn't the regular news outlets that broke the story - it was the internet. The Twitter-verse was all ablaze, constantly firing off latest happenings, image updates from students and faculty on campus, and hoards of people weighing in with their thoughts and prayers. Facebook was buzzing with people's reactions and people sharing as much information as they could. It was really stunning to see such an event unfold. Mashable had a wonderful compendium of what the reactions were like across Twitter and other social networking sites.

I had to actually think really hard about what it was like before the advent of the internet and instantaneous information. You'd have to turn on the television and actually watch a news report. If the story was huge enough, you'd see that same anchors on for hours on end, just to keep you up-to-date. Or if you think back further, you'd crowd around a radio to hear the newscaster's reports on what was going on at that moment in time.

In these increasingly digital and social days, everyone is essentially a news reporter - to a certain extent. While most people weigh in with their opinions and simple observations, there are few who are actually reporting what's going on. Whether it's people who are within close-range of the event taking place, or someone who dug up a hidden document online and decided to share it, these people are getting the stories out to hundreds, perhaps thousands of people way faster than any news outlet can. The magic lies in the sheer size of the social networks. As everyone can probably imagine, words travels fast on the internet; it's like a wildfire. On several occasions I've meandered onto a traditional website (we'll call it "Yipee!") and looked at their news stories for the day. Majority of the time, half of the stories they have featured on the front page I've already heard or read about it; sometimes up to a day or two prior.

The point is, modern news outlets should embrace social media more-so than they already are to accompany people's expectations of faster and more concise results. I, for one, couldn't imagine picking up a newspaper to read yesterday's news when I'm already familiar with most of what they're featuring. Instant gratification is the name of the game, and that's where we're headed.

Be well,

The Death of the QR Code

Well it seems the QR code phenomenon has died just as quickly as it rose to popularity this year. It seemed that everywhere you turned on the web over the course of 2011, you'd be hard pressed not to easily find an article or stat or random finding about the ever-ambiguous QR code. For a while there, those little buggers seemed to be all the rage. It looked as though they were poised to be the next big marketing thing. Even I imagined that they would be almost everywhere soon earlier this year. It appears as though I was wrong. The QR code has fallen in popularity so fast it's making my head spin.

This infographic I found via PSI's Twitter feed this morning solidified that even the most technologically savvy people on the planet, young people (18-25) really don't give a crap about QR codes. If you look at past trends and other various fads of the past, this group was the driving force behind them. So when a solid chunk of the young society thinks scanning a QR code is a waste of time, you'd better believe that it's going to die off sooner than you think.

It's a shame really, because I honestly thought that the QR code was going to explode onto the masses. it's a novel concept and lends itself well to various marketing campaigns, but that certain "magic" or "spark" just was not there to get the ball rolling. The QR scanner apps were also great in theory, just too bulky and just plain got in the way and took too much time to scan a so called "Quick-Response" barcode. I mean seriously, it takes about 15-20 seconds just to complete the task, which while it may not seem like a long time, it's just not quick enough. Unlock the phone. Navigate to the app. Launch said app. Wait for it load. Focus and steady camera. Snap picture. Wait for network to load content. That's an eternity. Shame.

Maybe someday they'll make a comeback. Apps could develop further to be faster. Or phone manufacturers would implement the technology inherently into the phone's camera system to automatically recognize a QR code. Or even maybe the youth will stand behind it and make it explode like marketing folks thought it would. Who knows? But most likely you'll never even remember what a QR code was by the end of next year. Augmented Reality has come a long way, but that still has a ways to go. The point is that technology is always moving ahead, ever-changing, and ever-evolving. You gotta crack a few eggs if you wanna make an omelet.

Be well.

P.S.
Here's another great article I found on the failure of the QR code. 



Original Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It's Been a While

I know, I know...my bad.

I must say, the social media department (me) here at Printed Specialties has sure been slacking lately. Only one post in the past two months?! Time to get it together.

Admittedly, Printed Specialties has been abuzz recently. We've seen an incredible amount of work come through the doors this past quarter. Giant jobs with multiple forms and quantities in the hundreds of thousands, new equipment rolling in, old equipment rolling out, and just good old-fashioned American hard work going on. With all this going on, everyone has had to help pick up the slack with the added workload, and with that our social media presence has suffered, and for that I apologize. But no more, I say!

This machine is amazing. Period.

Yes, we have two platesetters...for now.

In our prepress department, we have been acting like giddy children getting a shiny new toy, because frankly, we just got a shiny new toy - a new Kodak platesetting device. We are mighty stoked about it, and have been learning a lot. We've updated our workflows, maximized our available space, and have soaked up as much knowledge we could with this new machine to make it run it's best. It's greatest advantage? Speed. This thing easily pumps out twice as many plates per hour as we were with our previous device. Our platemaking guy is struggling to keep up with the thing! Definitely a great investment for PSI!

So for now we have two machines in there, but the old one will soon make it's departure because it needs to make room for our new digital press! We'll tackle all those details once that bad boy gets in there! Sure to be a great remainder of the year for us.

I promise you, 2 months will not go by again without hearing from us!

Be well,

Top Image: Michal Marcol / FreeDigitalPhotos.net