Are We Really Still Talking About the Merits of Linking in 2008?

It was all I could do not to write a headline laced with profanity, such is the depth of my frustration. (My colleagues talked me down.)

Brijit has enjoyed a great run of mainstream media visibility over the past couple of months, by pretty much any standard. We were on the cover of the Life section of USA Today, the lead example in a piece titled “Services cater to our speeded-up lives.” We got a nice mention on MSNBC in a story called “How to dig out from the information avalanche.” And last week we appeared in the April issue of Wired, which identified Brijit as a prime example of “The Human Touch,” one of “nine trends driving business in 2008.” Great stuff for any company, especially a startup like ours. Just one problem: none of these actually linked to www.brijit.com!

Now, I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but these particular masters of mainstream media are killing me. According to Comscore, MSNBC had 28 million unique visitors in January. USA Today’s sites had more than 8 million, and Wired 2 million. These are big brands with big audiences, the kind of audiences that entrepreneurs like me would ordinarily salivate over. If some small fraction of these audiences finds its way to one of these articles, and some small fraction of that fraction clicks through to visit Brijit, and some small fraction of that fraction likes what they see, sticks around, and shares Brijit with their friends, well, that’s a big deal for a site like ours. Which is why it’s so enraging to be written about but NOT linked to.

When we launched late last year, it was a piece by Frank Ahrens in the The Washington Post that brought us to the world’s attention. More than four months later, we continue to see a trickle of referrals from this story. Why? Because on first reference, there’s a link to Brijit. Now, The Washington Post is about as mainstream as mainstream media gets, but they get it. This isn’t complex neuroscience. This is common courtesy. Hell, this is the Golden Rule we’re talking about: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

If you’re a publisher, you want other publishers linking to you. If you’re a reader, you want easy access to whatever it is you want to read, listen to, or watch. It’s pretty simple. So what, exactly, is wrong with USA Today, MSNBC, Wired, and the host of other outlets that still haven’t instituted link-friendly standards? Are they so desperate to keep people on their sites that they’re willing to treat their readers with such disrespect? Do they think not linking is the key to consumer satisfaction? Really?

I know this is well-worn ground. It’s pretty common knowledge at this point that the link is the coin of the realm online. The blog as a medium is built on a foundation that linking is good. So is Google. So is Yahoo!. And so is Brijit. And when Tom Rosenstiel, who supervised The State of the News Media 2008 report for the Project for Excellence in Journalism, goes on Bob Garfield’s On the Media and declares that “your website should be a way-station, a place that can help me get to where I want to go. If it were a dead-end street, a cul-de-sac, it would be less useful to me,” you’d think that everyone was on board.

They’re not.

Eastern Promise

When the 26 members of NATO meet in Bucharest this week, they’ll discuss a number of pressing issues, including the group’s ongoing expansion into Eastern Europe. Writing in The Washington Post, Jim Hoagland looked at the behind-the-scenes political maneuvering. Germany wants to block Georgia and Ukraine from joining, and Hoagland argues it’s a move that inadvertently helps both Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush: The two leaders can keep their positions — Bush for expansion, Putin against — without having to do anything about it for the rest of their terms. Elsewhere, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld took to the pages of The Wall Street Journal to argue for the NATO expansion — discussing full membership for Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia, as well as touching on the Georgia/Ukraine issue. Meanwhile, foreign policy expert Ronald Asmus penned a think piece suggesting that the organization needs to overhaul its rationale for expanding, particularly in the face of a more dominant Russia.

Absolutely Flabulous

Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. were down-on-their-luck, regional fast food chains until they discovered “balls out postmodern gluttony.” The 1,400-calorie Monster Thickburger — which sports two 1/3 pound slabs of Angus beef, four strips of bacon, three slices of American cheese, mayonnaise, and a buttered, sesame seed bun — has helped boost the company’s stock price from $2 to $22. It isn’t just the drive-thru, either: Ballparks are increasingly looking at all-you-can-eat seats, where patrons can eat until they puke, in addition to ostensibly watching a baseball game. Dodger fan and funnyman Neal Pollack headed over to Dodger Stadium with an NPR press credential to explain how this is a rip-off for fans, in addition to taking a few years off of their lives. But living large is even extending to supposedly sophisticated food bloggers: The New York Times takes a look at a not-that-surprising development — food writers getting fat.

Less Money, Mo’ Problems

Wired editor Chris Anderson continues making the rounds to promote his free-stuff-online thesis, echoing the message from his March cover story. From photo storage to email addresses, it seems you can get nearly anything for free online — but many of these sites can afford the cheap goods by taking close notes about your surfing habits, info that advertisers prize. Facebook in particular has drawn criticism for its shopper-spying Beacon, which it has since amended (and added additional privacy features), Talk of the Nation reported. Alas, it seems the best things in life are not actually free; in a unique piece, The Believer prints “condensed copy” of an indie-film budget — and $3,000 of its $6 million goes to photocopies of the script.

Stay on Target

Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be the biggest. While Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has been struggling of late, Target has been humming along in second place. Letting the big guys take the flak for everything that is bad about big-box retailing, Target has been signing up hip designers, keeping prices low, and establishing itself as a go-to brand for everything from trail mix to sundresses. The retailer even found itself playing a bit part in a scandal during the GOP primary race: While governor Mike Huckabee and his wife were on their way out of the Little Rock governor’s mansion, they were listed on the store’s wedding registry in an attempt to furnish their new home. (Wedding gifts are exempt from ethics laws in Arkansas. The Huckabees have been married for three decades.)

The decidedly un-hip former governor of Arkansas notwithstanding, working with designers like Alice Temperley and Erin Fetherston has certainly brought cachet to the retailer, particularly among the younger, suburban set — something that could eventually be reflected in the retailer’s still-struggling stock price.

Regulators, Mount Up

The Bear Stearns bailout is prompting the chattering classes to ponder exactly what, if anything, should be done to fix structural issues in the financial system (or even if they do, in fact, exist). Paul Krugman, who’s been hammering away at deregulation, argues that the current financial mess is the fault of the erosion of oversight of our financial institutions. On “Fox News Sunday,” Glenn Hubbard (former Bush adviser) and Lawrence Summers (former Clinton cabinet member) duked it out from the right and left, respectively, while Newsweek spent its week asking everyone from Robert Rubin to General Motors’ Bob Lutz what to do about it all (a McCain advisor seems nervous: “Hopefully the stimulus package will help pick things up late in the second quarter or early in the third.”) Meanwhile, BusinessWeek is wondering if Hillary Clinton can spin political gold from the dross of the credit crunch.

On a more optimistic note, Charles Duhigg, writing in the New York Times this weekend, reassures everyone that there will be no second Great Depression. Or could it be that our economic system has become so complex that we’re going to be vulnerable to these crises for the foreseeable future?

Brijit in Wired!

The April issue of Wired magazine is online, with a big piece on their 9 big trends for 2008. Number 9? “The Human Touch,” featuring Brijit as the lead example of “ventures that are using people, rather than algorithms, to filter the Internet’s wealth of information.”

Sprouting Fingers

Sunday Morning scored some gross-out points this weekend with its story about Lee Spievack, who regrew his severed fingertip using a “magic” powder made from pig bladders. But it gets better (or worse), as the program actually shows some less-than-appetizing footage of the regenerated finger. However, the story is several months old — we prefer Esquire’s more colorful report from October.

In other Frankensteinian news, a little while back University of Minnesota scientists grew a rat heart in a lab. And if all this weird science is too much for you, check out this piece about PatientsLikeMe, a social networking site for those coping with disease.

Breaking China in Tibet

With violence erupting in Tibet this week, the stars aligned to make China look especially naughty, and as the summer Olympics draw near, everyone’s favorite Communist giant is getting a thorough grilling from the press. The Economist examined the Dalai Lama’s role in the mess, arguing that the bespectacled holy man might be China’s only hope for compromise. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal took note of the tightrope that Olympic sponsors walk as complaints grow about China’s involvement in the Darfur conflict.

And then, of course, there’s the whole censorship thing, which everybody weighed in on. The Los Angeles Times provided a near-comic report on China’s latest PR campaign, in which the country plays victim to Tibetan aggression. The Journal and TechCrunch also looked at the Internet blackout (a world without Google or YouTube? Inconceivable!) — and how Google might respond.

So what do the Tibetans have to say for themselves? The Journal had a great piece about fired-up youth creating their own “Free Tibet” movement — sans the Dalai Lama. And there’s more trouble brewing: The New York Times ran a thoughtful piece about class strife between the wealthier Han Chinese and poorer Tibetans.

But if this week’s violent imagery has you feeling sorry for the Tibetans, take comfort in Saveur’s recent piece on the tea made from yak butter that sustains them in these cold, hard times.

War, What is it Good For?

Yesterday marked the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, and the nation’s media have been flooding the zone. Ouside of the predictable “it’s been a success!” and “it’s been a failure!” op-eds, there were some more interesting angles. “Talk of the Nation” spoke with the producer for the New York Times’ Iraq-based blog, which includes man-on-the-street interviews with actual Iraqis. Tavis Smiley interviewed Rep. Patrick Murphy, the first Iraq vet elected to Congress, while BusinessWeek ran a feature on vets heading to business school. Salon took a look at the impact of the war on Iraq’s cultural and archaeological heritage, and Dana Milbank of the Washington Post attended an anti-war rally outside, of all places, IRS headquarters. (There’s plenty more if you still haven’t gotten your fix.)

For a truly moving assessment of the war’s impact at home, though, take a look at Esquire’s brilliant piece from late last year about an Iraq vet using pot to treat his post-traumatic stress disorder.

Oh, That’s Rich!

Is it becoming harder to join the true elite in the US? According to recent statistics from the IRS, one needed to report $104 million in adjusted gross income to be among the top 400 income-earners in 2002. By 2005, that number more than doubled to $214 million. Still, the upward shift among the already-wealthy has allowed Barron’s to report (with a straight face, apparently) that more and more people making millions would like to be considered “middle class” — those making $25 million to $50 million per year, for example, are merely “beer and pretzels” rich. (Tough break.)

So things are going swimmingly for Wall Street Journal and Barron’s readers, but what about those other countries with sky-high GDPs? Lest we become envious of wealth in other parts of the world, Ben Stein assures us that, despite growing wealth around the world, America is, and will remain, the richest country on earth. Of course, there is also some evidence of a trickle-down effect: According to The Atlantic (the one with Britney Spears on the cover), the slums and sidewalks of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) are becoming a mere stopover on an otherwise upward trajectory as the city becomes more cosmopolitan.

Everyone Into the (Office) Pool!

Wondering how to fill out that NCAA tournament bracket? ESPN has some sardonic tips — pick schools that have tough mascots, celebrity alums, and that don’t graduate their players. Esquire has some general tips on sports betting, including “just fill the thing out” — no one likes the guy who says he doesn’t know anything about basketball.

If you’re actually looking for depth, there are plenty of player profiles out there to give you your fix. North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough leads the list of frontcourt players to watch; others include Luke Harangody of Notre Dame, Stanford’s Lopez twins, and Wisconsin’s Brian Butch, one of the more inspiring players in the tourney this year. If you like guards, look for Russel Westbrook of UCLA, OJ Mayo of USC, and, on defense, Xavier’s Stanley Burrell (ESPN the Magazine has plenty more). Not taking the court this year is rapper Lil Romeo — he won’t be handling the ball for USC until 2009.

At What Point Does News Break Too Fast?

Scott Karp has an interesting and thoughtful post up on the coverage of the Bear Stearns collapse. He uses the fast-moving story (breaking on a Sunday, no less!) to highlight the advantages of the Web versus print for breaking news. But while I agree with most of what Scott has to say in his post, he loses me here:

“The problem with following the Bear Stearns story on the web is that traditional news brand sites are too conflicted between serving print readers and serving web readers…”

Really? The New York Times homepage was updated throughout the day on Sunday and into Monday. And the paper, well, the paper published the most up to date stories it could given the realities deadlines of the daily miracle that is the big-city newspaper. What’s the problem exactly? Those of us who get our news on the Web got a constantly updated story, well reported and well told. And the folks for whom the paper remains a primary resource got EXACTLY what they expect to get.

According to Karp: “News … has a narrative, a story arc that it is often very instructive to follow. The New York Times has a wealth of reporting that covers a story as it unfolds — but the homepage is useless for looking at the story arc.”

Not to put too fine a point on it, but (and I mean this literally) who cares?

We’re all familiar by now with the advantages of the Web versus print on a fast-moving story like this. Karp seems to be arguing that the traditional press — nastier folks than Scott would sneer derisively at the mainstream media — can’t get us there. But for the vast majority of people, the old-school media brands most certainly can, and do, get us there. To be clear, I’m certainly not suggesting that there isn’t a place for bloggers and crowdsourcing and all of the other terrific resources we have at our disposal for the gathering and disseminating information. Of course there is. But I believe that for most people, on the day, the volume, presentation, and speed of coverage of a story like Bear Stearns provided by the Times or the Wall Street Journal is ample. Anything more seems like drinking from a fire hose.

Of course, some people are really, really thirsty when it comes to news. I’d posit that there are basically two groups looking for more/better/faster: industry-types with some sort of direct vested interest in the outcome of the story, and information junkies. Now, are these groups worth catering to on news? You bet. Look no further than the mayor of New York City to know how lucrative it can be: Michael Bloomberg became a multi-billionaire on the back of providing breaking news on a specific topic (bond prices) to a specific audience (traders).

But for most of us, the minute-to-minute details of bond prices, or the Bear Stearns debacle for that matter, are more than we need. In the end, we want to know what’s happening, we want to trust the source, and we want to move on with our lives.

A Mauling on Wall Street

Bear Stearns didn’t have Jimmy Stewart to keep its clients and shareholders from bolting last week, but the US government and JP Morgan have come galloping to the bank’s rescue. The Federal Reserve has effectively promised not to let the bank fail, while JP Morgan, relatively unscathed from the subprime mess, has agreed to acquire the troubled Bear Stearns for $2 per share — a price that is, amazingly, one tenth of Stearns’ valuation just three days ago. Paul Krugman weighs in on the situation, suggesting the Fed should have let Bear Stearns fail: The bank gambled on risky subprime investments, and allowing the institution to slip beneath the waves would “teach Wall Street not to expect someone else to clean up its messes.” Writing in the Washington Post this weekend, James Grant suggested that the Fed is a little too interested in Bear Stearns’ share price and not interested enough in global inflation — his smart piece analyzes how the US government’s bailout will affect the greenback. But we have yet to see any word on how billionaire investor Joseph Lewis feels about the flurry of weekend deal-making — the largest investor in Bear Stearns, he upped his stake in the bank last year to roughly 10 percent.

George Clooney Kisses and Tells, and Tells, and Tells …

We get it — George Clooney is a handsome devil. Every lady’s favorite piece of eye candy has been making the rounds. The New York Times Magazine put a rather bizarre photo on the cover of its special issue last week of Clooney spattered with mud (sadly, the story had far less dirt). Clooney apparently also had dinner with Time’s Joel Stein, who found him not only handsome, but charming. Esquire has Clooney googling himself, while Radar dug for gossip from Hollywood sources and came up with all sorts of anecdotes about Clooney’s temper.

If you’re looking for other cover candy, though, this week there’s a sensitive Brett Favre weeping on the cover of Sports Illustrated, a New Yorker featuring Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama getting friendly, and a new Vanity Fair featuring a frisky Amy Poehler getting personal with Tina Fey (hey, it’s more action than Playboy got from its interview with Fey).

So Many Zeroes

Three trillion dollars. That’s also how much the Iraq War will end up costing, according to The Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict, a new book by Joseph Sitglitz and Linda Blimes. The authors estimate that future operating expenses, interest on the money borrowed to pay for the war, proper care for veterans, and the war’s impact on the overall economy will actually cost $2.8 trillion to $4.5 trillion. Compare that to the Bush administration’s pre-war projection that it would cost $50 to $60 billion – whoops. (Even then-Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill’s off-the-reservation estimate that the war would cost $200 billion seems tiny.) And that doesn’t even count the $9 billion to $12 billion that has gone missing from the Coalition Provisional Authority.

The authors have gone on an impressive publicity tour: Stiglitz and Blimes have talked to Fresh Air about the book, had an excerpt published in Vanity Fair, and penned an op-ed for the influential Washington Post Outlook section. But they didn’t have to do the all the work themselves: Arianna Huffington and Bob Herbert also used the book and its conclusions for recent columns. And that’s the kind of publicity you just can’t buy…

The Tug of the Cape

Tired of defending your love of comic books to your naysaying friends? AV Club gives you all the ammunition you need with its exhaustive primer on V for Vendetta novelist Alan Moore. For serious doubters, Michael Chabon’s New Yorker essay may be the best starting point, as he strips the proto-hero down to his Spandex and comes up with some nifty symbolism. Some readers might even prefer a nostalgic testimonial, though we have to admit the real-life urban ninja is even more exciting.

The Consummate Professional

Just when the Democratic primary race had started to feel stale, politicos got some red meat in the form of the Eliot Spitzer sex scandal. For people living under a rock for the past 24 hours, the New York governor is alleged to have frolicked last month in a Washington, DC, hotel room with “Kristen,” a high-priced escort who is reportedly a “very pretty brunette, 5 feet 5 inches, and 105 pounds. ” Dana Milbank puts the event into the perspective of DC history — Franklin Delano Roosevelt used a room on a nearby floor to pen some of his best-known speeches — while Daniel Gross compares Spitzer’s transgressions to the crimes of the Wall Street crooks he made his name putting away. Slate uses the imbroglio to ask why prostitution is illegal in the first place. It’s humiliating, to be sure, but still not quite as bad as falling into a coma after being hooked up to “The Wheel” in a S&M fetish club.

A Cornucopia in the Arctic

With fears over the impact of climate change growing, Talk of the Nation last Friday hosted Cary Fowler of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, who discussed Norway’s Valhalla of crop diversity, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The conversation is mostly about the efforts of the world’s largest seed bank, which holds 100 million seeds. Back in August the New Yorker first picked up on Svalbard’s importance in preserving the world’s flora; while they offer great analysis, the New York Times’ piece just two weeks ago included the most astonishing pictures we’ve seen of the ultra-secure center. Of course, as important as biodiversity is, all those veggies we’re preserving would probably taste even better with a little butter.

Missing the Marx

With the Republican nomination wrapped up and Democrats pitting two highly popular, historically significant candidates against one another, the Beltway press is desperate for a provocative story to tell. In the wake of SNL’s much-discussed roast of the Democratic debate, the press gamely returned to their old standby: conflict. Hence Linda Hershman, for whom the whole race boils down to class struggle. Then again, it could very well be a question of race. Or gender. Maureen Dowd splits the difference, saying it’s about both race and gender, making it the “ultimate nightmare of liberal identity politics.” The Nation’s Katha Pollitt begs to differ, however, claiming that the real nightmare scenario facing the Democrats wears sensible shoes — and answers to the name Nader.

The International Language of Laughter

Comedy’s making news these days, and not just in the US. In Burma three-man stand-up comedy team the Moustache Brothers has gotten away with taking shots at the military junta, but two of the brothers have landed in jail for their jokes, and locals aren’t even allowed to watch the act — which is performed in a living room. Less political is 91-year-old Dr. Tangalanga, a beloved Argentinian funnyman who has been making prank phone calls for more than 40 years; he’s so popular that a third of his victims now recognizes him when he calls. Closer to the US, viral videos have brought stardom to Anita Renfroe, who offers up observational jokes about the foibles of life as a Christian soccer mom, while veteran Saturday Night Live comedy writer James Downey has recently found himself in the spotlight following his high-profile political sketches about the 2008 election. Replayed and discussed ad nauseum by the cable-television crowd, the SNL sketches have brought Downey some increased notoriety (but, as yet, no jail time).

A Scentsible Selection

If the results of Tuesday’s primaries left you looking for something to take your mind off politics, there’s plenty to fill your senses in the nation’s media outlets. The New Yorker’s olfactory article about perfumes will have you feeling like a kid again as you learn about the five senses. Audiences in Pyongyang were similarly stimulated last week when the New York Philharmonic took the stage, and Time was there to capture it in photos. Meanwhile, 3-D chalk artist Julian Beever showed off some of his dazzling sights on Sunday Morning. But yes, we’re leaving touch out of this one — we’re too distracted by that lingering taste of those bacon mints.

Super Tuesday! Again!

Today’s primaries in Texas and Ohio might — emphasis on “might” — determine the Democratic nominee. The chattering classes are saying that the economic situation in Ohio (which isn’t the greatest right now) could end up deciding the race in the Buckeye State. Steve Kroft from 60 Minutes, no doubt enduring multiple layovers, heads to the small town of Chillicothe to get the locals’ take on the election, while BusinessWeek looks at how the grim economic news could help the Dems (though it’s not clear which one). Buckeye Gail Collins posits that her home state might find Obama a bit “show-offy,” while her colleague David Brooks observes that Obama’s campaign themes are ringing true with the kids, what with their YouTubes and Facebooks and open-source software. Seemingly flying about it all is Michelle Obama, who is getting a lot of love these days — especially at The New Yorker, judging from its unreservedly positive profile.

All Bets Are On

With a recession looming, we’ve got to admit that putting a little money on the occasional sporting event is starting to sound like an appealing way to invest. According to GQ, you can’t lose with their advice (Rule 17: Losers bet alone). ESPN has a nice primer to help you clean up in your fantasy baseball draft, but if that’s too much effort, you could always bet on fishing — there might be a million bucks in it for you. And if leaving the couch still sounds like too much to do, you can always win some cash playing Nintendo Wii.

They Love Us In Canada!

Jonathan Kay of The National Post wrote a killer piece on Brijit today. He’s coined the word “Brijiteer,” which I absolutely love, to describe a Brijit writer. And he and his colleagues in Toronto are apparently engaged in a three-way “Brijit Summary Smackdown,” another phrase I plan to adopt with all due speed, as we’d love to see friends challenging friends to these little semi-intellectual contests across the Web. Good stuff.

As the CEO of a startup, I can’t help but smile at the comparison to YouTube and Facebook:

“…every once and a while, a new web site comes along and changes my life. It happened with Youtube in 2005, and then again with Facebook last year. And now I’m going through the same throes of electronic passion with a new love, Brijit.”

And in another sign that we’re moving in the right direction, Kay’s also using Brijit as a verb:

“I am hooked on Brijit like electronic crack. I no longer Facebook, or Blackberry, or IM. Instead, I Brijit.”

In all, they love us in Canada!