Sacramento, Calif. April 24, 2012 — The revolution has begun. Last week Macer Media’s technology team successfully deployed AdGlue on The Sacramento Press for live testing with select advertisers. In less than a week, advertisers filled up AdGlue’s early beta and started gluing ads for the first time. They are the first advertisers in the world to hand-choose content and instantly glue their ads for a full 30 days.

Online advertisers are excited because AdGlue solves their number one complaint: “Where is my ad?” Research shows that this is a universal problem with advertisers both large and small. A recent survey conducted by Macer Media determined that 92 percent of advertisers prefer placing their ads next to hand-chosen content.

“AdGlue is a unique and effective tool for businesses,” said Emily Griggs, business development director at The Sacramento Press. “AdGlue has an affordable price point and various tools to help businesses manage their own ad campaigns without using a cumbersome dashboard. I am excited because AdGlue sells itself — the positive response has been overwhelming!”

AdGlue was built to engage advertisers as a solution for the broken online advertising model. AdGlue advertisers follow these three “dead-simple” steps: Create an ad using their effortless ad builder tool, choose where the ads will be seen and next to what content, and the ad will stay in that spot 100 percent of the time for 30 days.

“While most online advertising solutions offer low-value propositions at low prices, AdGlue takes a different approach”, said Ben Ilfeld, co-founder and chief operating officer of Macer Media. “Our large ad format finally treats online advertising as content, and the act of gluing ads brings meaning to the partnership between publishers, advertisers and audiences.”

Macer Media founders have extensive expansion plans for this summer. AdGlue will have its second deployment across several SLOAN partners (Sacramento Local Online Advertising Network). Subsequently, it will launch in a secondary market with a regional publisher partner. Following will be a national rollout.

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Sacramento, Calif. — Macer Media, dedicated to elevating local and hyperlocal media ecosystems, announced the Advisory Board for its emerging technology, AdGlue. AdGlue is a revolutionary advertising platform that allows advertisers to instantly glue, or place their advertisements directly next to hand-chosen content. AdGlue founders thoughtfully appointed innovative members to the Advisory Board based on their unique contributions and advancements in business and technology, as well as their deep media domain knowledge.

The Advisory Board consists of:

• Jim Brady, editor-in-chief of Digital First Media. In the past, Jim has held over four years of leadership roles at AOL, served as executive editor of Washingtonpost.com, general manager of TBD, and is currently overseeing the launch of Project Thunderdome for the second-largest circulation media conglomerate in the United States, Digital First.
• Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab, served 22 years at the Philadelphia Inquirer, directed the Pew Center for Civic Journalism – a $14 million initiative, is a Pulitzer Prize winner and a thought leader in the journalism transformation movement. J-Lab is a catalyst that funds new approaches to journalism, rewards innovations, researches what works and shares practical insights with news creators and news gatherers.
• Amy Webb, CEO of Webbmedia Group, has 18 years’ experience in digital media, is a Knight News Challenge Judge and co-founder of Spark Camp. Webbmedia Group spots early trends in emerging technology, develops the innovative digital ideas and solves organizational and workforce problems with creative digital solutions. She is a Delegate on the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission and one of the Knight News Challenge judges. Amy is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (Interactive Media Peer Group) and serves as a judge for the Emmy awards.

"As someone who pays very close attention to emerging technology and media, I'm very excited about the launch of AdGlue," says Webb. "We haven't seen anything that so closely aligns with publishers' needs and the desire of brands to unshackle themselves from traditional banner ads."

Ben Ilfeld, co-founder and chief operating officer of Macer Media, expressed his thoughts on AdGlue’s Advisory Board: “We have always been an organization that believes there is more innovation going on outside our walls than within them. Our advisory board is made up of the brightest and most experienced people in online publishing. They help us stay connected in this fast-paced industry.”

Macer Media presented AdGlue at the fourth annual SXSW (South by Southwest) Interactive as an Accelerator finalist in the News Related Technologies category. Their compelling presentation launched them from the first round of the competition into the final round, naming AdGlue as one of the top three news-related finalists out of 670 companies. The SXSW Interactive conference is known as one of the most prestigious incubator of cutting-edge technologies. Companies such as Twitter and Foursquare leveraged the power of SXSW to grow to where they are today; accelerator winners like Siri have become household names.

-XXX-

About Macer Media
Located at 431 I St., Suite 107 in Downtown Sacramento, Calif. Macer Media LLC provides technical and operational support for locally owned online news sites to help increase revenue and efficiency. Macer Media is dedicated to elevating local and hyperlocal media ecosystems. Macer Media practices innovative approaches and is passionate about the new media landscape. The pillars of Macer Media are The Sacramento Press, Agency M, Ad Glue and SLOAN, Sacramento Local Online Advertising Network.

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Now let's dance!!! Press release below:

Sacramento, Calif. Jan. 31, 2012 — On Jan. 30, SXSW (South by Southwest) Interactive announced that Sacramento-based Macer Media was selected as an Accelerator finalist in the News Related Technologies category. According to SXSW, more than 670 companies nationwide submitted their innovation to the Accelerator competition. Macer Media was one of eight finalists nationwide and one of two from California selected to present their innovation, AdGlue, at the fourth annual SXSW Accelerator held in Austin, Texas. The SXSW Interactive conference is known as one of the most prestigious incubator of cutting-edge technologies.

Only the brightest minds in emerging technology receive the honor of presenting their ideas and products to the top venture capitalists in the world. Companies such as Twitter and Foursquare leveraged the power of SXSW to grow to where they are today; accelerator winners like Siri have become household names.

Macer Media will showcase a compelling and innovative presentation of AdGlue at SXSW Accelerator for a chance to win the competition. As passionately described by Macer Media representatives, AdGlue is a revolutionary advertising platform that allows advertisers to instantly glue, or place their advertisements directly next to the content they choose. It is an elegant and simple solution that will change the way businesses buy online advertising. Unlike any solution before it, AdGlue engages advertisers.

Ben Ilfeld, co-founder and chief operating officer of Macer Media, the company behind The Sacramento Press, Agency M and the Sacramento Local Online Advertising Network, expressed his thoughts on AdGlue’s selection as an Accelerator finalist: "When I heard the news, I was floored. The entire AdGlue team deserves a ton of credit, and we appreciate this incredible opportunity."

He added: "AdGlue addresses a critical problem for both advertisers and publishers. The concept is so simple and intuitive that I think people will wonder why online advertising hasn't always worked like this."

The fourth annual SXSW Accelerator will take place March 12 - 14 at the 2012 SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. A live audience as well as a panel of expert judges will be discovering advancements in social media, mobile applications, web entertainment and more. Innovators will battle for taste-making, trend-setting attention, leading to a fireworks display of innovation.

To learn more about SXSW and SXSW Accelerator, follow these links.

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Local restaurants are participating in Eat to Feed The Hungry to benefit Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services and so should you! Seriously, we're champing at the bit for this week of good will and good eats.

Eat to Feed The Hungry is a way for us Sacramentans to show our beloved Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services some well deserved support. It's also an excuse to nosh your way through some of our city's best eateries.

How do you get involved!? Just follow Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/sfbfs) and join the Facebook event (http://www.facebook.com/events/227633957319693/). You can also follow SFBFS on Twitter @SacFoodBank for the latest news on new venues and special discounts.

Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services (SFBFS), which organizes the famed Thanksgiving Run to Feed The Hungry, partnered with The Sacramento Press to host the inaugural Eat to Feed The Hungry. During Feb. 20 - 26, Eat to Feed The Hungry encourages members of the community to participate in a good cause by simply checking-in via social media at participating local restaurants while enjoying a meal. Sacramento restaurants, bars, and cafes have pledged a donation to SFBFS for every guest check-in - the event will be promoted and executed solely through social media.

Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services Communications Director Kelly Siefkin stated, "We are hopeful that community members find this a fun and easy way to support Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services – enjoy a delicious meal and help provide food for someone less fortunate."

She added: "Sacramentans turn out in full force on Thanksgiving Day to support Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services' Run to Feed the Hungry, and they are often looking for other ways to show that support year-round. This is a great opportunity for community members to give back outside of the holiday season, recognizing hunger is an issue all year."

More than 15 local restaurants have pledged to donate $1 for every check-in made by guests during the seven-day timeframe, with a cap of $500 per business. Guests will be able to double their $1 donation if they wear their Run to Feed The Hungry T-shirt upon check-in, take a photograph of themselves and add it to their check-in or post it on the business' Facebook wall. Donations from Eat to Feed The Hungry will help SFBFS purchase fresh, seasonal produce for seniors, healthy snacks for children, learning materials for adults and parent education resources.

The Golden Bear owner Kimio Bazett stated, "It's very important to be aware of what is happening in our community- we always hear about world hunger on a large scale, but the fact is that people are going hungry right here in our city. As business owners, we feel it is our duty to give back and help the community."

He added: "SFBFS has such a positive effect on the community, and we are happy to be part of a great cause- we hope that our involvement will help support their overall goal." During Eat to Feed The Hungry, The Golden Bear plans on offering participants a new food special and to promote a canned food drive for those who are not able to participate in the event.

Eat to Feed The Hungry locations include but are not limited to Sacramento hot-spots such as Zócalo, Ella, The Golden Bear, Ink Eats & Drinks, Thai Basil, Level Up Lounge, River City Brewing Co., Sandra Dee's Bar-B-Que & Seafood, Dive Bar, Pizza Rock, Gogi's Korean BBQ, Cafeteria 15L, MIX, and Red Rabbit (opening Feb. 1). All locations in Eat to Feed The Hungry are also event sponsors – they have committed a $500 pledge to SFBFS regardless of the amount of check-ins they receive. For those who are not able to make it to a location during the event but still want to be a supporter, text in a $10 donation by texting SACFOOD to 20222.

As an added benefit for taking part in Eat to Feed The Hungry, Agency M, a full-service digital media agency that values a longstanding digital media partnership with SFBFS, will be providing participating businesses a one-hour social media consulting session with a focus on how to promote Eat to Feed The Hungry through their social media platforms. Eat to Feed The Hungry businesses will be highlighted in social promotion via The Sacramento Press, SacMix.com, and SFBFS Facebook and Twitter profiles.

About Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services

Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services is a local nonprofit organization serving families and individuals in need. With a staff of 40 and a volunteer force of more than 4,000, Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services provides free emergency goods and services to nearly 15,000 unique men, women and children each month. For more information, visit sacramentofoodbank.org.

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The Sacramento Press is seeking a dynamic editor-in-chief to oversee the day-to-day operations of the newsroom. This position will play a key role in expanding the presence and reach of The Sacramento Press into the surrounding media market.

Please email colleen[at]sacramentopress.com for more information

We’re looking for someone who is ambitious, confident in their ability to learn quickly, and focused on creating compelling content for the local communities. Excellent writing and reporting skills and good editorial judgment are essential.

The ideal candidate will bring lots of ideas for new ways to present stories online, through text, photos, or videos.

Experience in using a content management system is a plus, as is experience in podcasts, editing video, conducting and moderating panels. Experience working with technology teams is also preferred. Ability to edit HTML and other light coding would be outstanding.

Ideal candidate will have:

• Passion for journalism and an understanding of how it can transform a community
• At least three years previous newspaper and/or other publication experience
• A bachelor’s degree from a four-year college or university
• At least two years editing experience
• Experience with online publications
• A deep understanding of the demands of 24/7 websites
• Experience leading a team
• Ability to edit copy quickly and always improve stories
• Understanding of how to promote stories via social media
• Ability to speak confidently when appearing on TV and radio
• Enthusiasm to create and sustain relationships with stakeholders and neighborhood leaders
• Excellent news and editorial judgment
• Strong diplomatic skills and ability to interact with journalists at all levels of the newsroom
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to work under pressure
• Proven ability to break news and generate outstanding story ideas
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Enthusiasm for working with a technology team to envision the future of news
• Light coding skills and competence at HTML manipulation

Your job responsibilities will include (but are not limited to):

• Make Sacramento a better place to live
• Maintain engaging and relevant splash pages that are refreshed daily
• Seek out ways to incorporate graphics such as surveys, charts, video, etc. in content
• Write editorials
• Will help maintain site and produce weekly electronic newsletters
• Track daily and weekly deadlines
• Compile monthly analytics and reports
• Adapt to changing organizational forms and help other department heads meet goals
• Supervise, train and develop a staff of two reporters, an intern coordinator and up to six unpaid interns
• Plan scope and content of all editorial content and assign stories
• Ensure content is factually accurate, and does not violate copyright laws or contain libel
• Identify and pursue ways the Sacramento Press can increase editorial outreach into local communities
• Responsible for quality of online content and layouts
• Curates journalism workshops

The Sacramento Press offers a competitive compensation and benefits package including medical, dental and vision plans.

This is a fast-paced role in a high potential growing company. This is a unique opportunity to be a critical piece of our growth. This position is located in Sacramento, CA.

Compensation:
This is a full-time contract-to-hire position.
Upon hire, it is a full-time salaried position.

The Sacramento Press (www.sacramentopress.com) is a comprehensive, online local news and information media for the Sacramento Metropolitan Area. We are a strictly online newspaper that combines paid journalism with community contributions. In addition to The Sacramento Press, the successful candidate will work with our other properties: SLOAN - the Sacramento Local Online Advertising Network (www.sacad.net), SacMix (www.sacmix.com) and Deal Ticket (www.sacramentopress.com/deals). All properties are digital.

Life At The Company
We value our employees and want the office to reflect that. We will outfit you with all the new tools you need to be successful in the technology realm. People love our office, and comfortable happy employees make the day worthwhile.

We Thrive On Collaboration
You'll be building something big and new here at The Sacramento Press. Not only will your contribution make a difference, you will be building contacts and relationships that will be critical to our success.

Work With Benefits
To enhance your life, The Sacramento Press provides employee benefit premiums, including Health, Dental, and Vision benefits. This position is eligible for benefits after your first 90 days of employment.

Vacation, Sick Time and Holidays
Producing high quality results and high impact work deserves some balance. The Sacramento Press offers the most competitive and rewarding time-off package available.

Ready to apply? Submit your resume, portfolio or clips and any other helpful information to colleen[at]sacramentopress.com.

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The Sacramento Press Journalism Open is back! Below is the press release with key details:

Sacramento, Calif. January 3, 2012 — Cutting-edge hyperlocal online newspaper The Sacramento Press announces the launch of its 2012 Journalism Open. Unlike many other local news sources, The Sacramento Press enables members of the community to tell stories about their neighborhoods. By holding the third annual Journalism Open, The Sacramento Press encourages journalists, community contributors and aspiring writers to share their neighborhood stories for a chance to win cash prizes.

More than 50 community contributors participated in the 2011 Journalism Open, and 134 entries were submitted. Cash prizes were awarded to 12 individuals, with the grand prize of $700 to Isaac Gonzalez for his story titled “A Towering Challenge.” This year, The Sacramento Press will give away $2,000 in prizes to selected winners: first prize $600, second $400, third $200, three $100 prizes for honorable mentions, and $500 in prizes awarded to best photos.

Holding true to its strong belief in community engagement, The Sacramento Press accepts writers of all skill levels to enter the Journalism Open. This pro-am approach allows the community to report on a wide range of issues that are most important to and affect local neighborhoods. Stories can range from insight on an upcoming City Council election to a favorite landmark in the Sacramento region. The Journalism Open encourages participants to report on stories that they are passionate about – reiterating that no story is too small.

The Sacramento Press Editor-in-Chief Colleen Belcher noted that “The Journalism Open is one way The Sacramento Press gives back to the community.

“There are so many voices that don't get heard in the media, and it's wonderful to be able to reward people for sharing what they know or why they have an opinion about a certain issue,” she said. “Many of our regular community contributors have won prizes in previous years for doing what they normally do all year – writing articles and taking photos.”

Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m., The Sacramento Press will hold a workshop dedicated to the Journalism Open. Participants can propose story ideas and receive feedback on how to develop those ideas and/or how to present them in way that is appropriate for The Sacramento Press. On Feb. 13, 2012, The Sacramento Press will announce the winners on the site.

For further details on story guidelines, judging criteria and rules, please visit Journalism Open 2012 Official Rules. For further details or questions regarding signing up to publish a story or enter the Journalism Open, please email: support@sacramentopress.com.

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Deal Ticket has relaunched on a new platform.

Like its distinctively independent, hyperlocal approach to news coverage and commentary on the Sacramento area, The Sacramento Press delivers Deal Ticket, its version of the national trend in online deals, which is a weekly deal program that offers consumers 51-90% off on Sacramento’s top businesses every Tuesday through Friday.

Deal Ticket sales representatives are able to partner face to face with local businesses to produce effective offers for local consumers.

“Deal Ticket worked out really well for my business,” said Abraham Sanchez, owner of Article Consignment Boutique. “It was a great opportunity to have not only new people, it worked out for my existing clients to get some good deals and bring back recurring business.”

He added that it was very easy and well-organized and the deal process went exactly as it was explained to him.

“It was successful and profitable for me,” he said. “It allowed new people to come in and, of course, those people referred others. I would consider it a great success for me and my business.”

Deal Ticket has featured local greats such as Tuli Bistro, Article Consignment Boutique, Scrub Boys, Squeeze Inn and Asha Yoga. Deals have ranged from local restaurants, hair salons, yoga, photography, tanning, car washes, massages and much more.

The Deal Ticket team works hard to tailor every offer specifically for the local Sacramento market, even in the face of competitive national daily discount behemoths such as Groupon and Living Social. Deal Tickets local edge comes from their customer service – a real person is available to speak to businesses and customers that participate in the deal program.

“We’re trying to make Deal Ticket fun, affordable, easy to buy and, most of all, credible,” said Ben Ilfeld, co-founder of The Sacramento Press and Macer Media. “Our emphasis with The Sacramento Press and SLOAN has always been ‘hyperlocal’ for news, commentary and advertising. Deal Ticket is about taking branding to a ‘hyperlocal’ level for area businesses that participate.”

Deal Ticket is continually looking for ways to improve – The Sacramento Press recently relaunched its weekly deal program on a brand-new platform built from the ground up with all-new features.

Deal Ticket still provides consumers with a fantastic weekly deal program, but on a much-improved platform. With this new system, several changes have been made to benefit consumers and make the process of purchasing and redeeming Deal Tickets easier. They know that there are many daily deal options to choose from, but consumers can trust that every Deal Ticket is hand-selected.

Features on the new platform include:

- Manage and print purchased deal vouchers through Deal Ticket’s website.
- Access to personal accounts 24/7.
- Track purchased vouchers, both used and available to be redeemed.
- Sign up and log in with your Facebook account for more convenient access.
- Credit card information is securely saved to provide a smoother checkout process, and all credit/debit cards are accepted, making for easy, quick and secure checkouts.
- Share a $5 invitation bonus on featured deals (Each friend who signs up gets a $5 credit, and you get a $5 credit after your friend's first purchase).
- And much more!

Don’t miss this week’s deal! The Lodi Chamber presents the School Street Rock & Roll Wine Stroll. Ride the train round-trip from Sacramento to charming downtown Lodi for an evening of wine, food, music and classic cars. Purchase your ticket to the Lodi Rock & Roll Wine Stroll, just $19 for $40!

If you would like to sign up for Deal Ticket, go to: https://deals.sacramentopress.com

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The Hon. Julius Genachowski Chairman

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As of today The Sacramento Press has an official mobile site. The great thing about this mobile site is that it can be found at the same location as our regular site, it's way more readable on your average smartphone. Our great development team optimized most of the pages on our site for the mobile browsing experience and those pages include:

• Sign-up
• Log in
• Front Page and Tag Pages
• User Profiles
• Search

A screen capture of the new mobile front page of The Sacramento Press. (Image by: Joel Rosenberg)

API or Application Programming Interface is a way for someone to interact with our site programatically. So if someone wanted to make an application for a phone or the Web that used our publicly available data, now they can do so easily. You can sign up for an API key at the following location: http://www.sacramentopress.com/usertools/apisignup.

Beyond that, as usual, we have fixed many minor issues and implemented many new tools for our support staff – tools to help our site function better and more effeciently. And though you may not see those tools directly, you will see their results through increased coverage and quality on our site.

I hope you enjoy the new mobile site and API.

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Maybe enterprise solutions just aren't that important inside the googleplex these days, but they ought to be.
 
Why? Because cloud-based enterprise software is not just for big corporations, it's for power users who like to work collaboratively. We're all using tools like Basecamp and Posterous and Tumblr … and many of us are using Google apps.
 
There is a lot to like about the service. Gmail is a powerful tool. Calendaring is awesome. Everything works so well on Android – and iOS for that matter.

But there there are two matters Google needs to address right now or face losing me and many of the people with whom I work.

The first is highlighted by two new email products from the big G. One is Gmail for Honeycomb. It's amazing! It may be the best email experience I have ever had on any platform. Clean and dynamic, it’s able to handle my work and personal accounts. The second is offline Gmail. Clearly Google is ready to play with other offline clients like Apple Mail and Entourage. Good for Google and good for me.

But the problem is Google treats my identities as logins like everybody else. I cannot be simultaneously logged in to my personal Gmail and my Google Apps Gmail at the same time or even on the same browser. Worse yet, there are products that are central to Google's strategy that were not at the time available for Google Apps customers, such as Google Voice, which is tied to my personal account.

So if I want to use Google Voice and my business email account, I have to have at least two browsers open. In some ways, this shouldn't be a big problem. However, these days browsers have to be very capable things to handle all the nifty HTML5 tricks that make web-based apps like the ones I need work. The problem is that browsers are now serious resource hogs. Two at once plus iTunes is enough to choke up my 1-year-old, top-of-the-line MacBook Pro. Really.

To make matters worse, I run a company with multiple brands and small groups of collaborative workers. I have ben -at- macermedia.com and ben -at- sacramentopress.com and my personal account. So if I want all my email, all my calendaring, all my Google Voice functionality and Google+ (I'll get to that in a minute), I have to have THREE browsers open.

I wouldn't really mind. I get it, I'm the exception. It's just that it works so well in Android Honeycomb! Google seems to want to be my mail client, not just my ESP. It seems to want to be the hub I turn to.

So I propose that Google Apps undergo a change of vision. The new enterprise version of something is about being able to sign onto multiple "accounts" within one login to the system.

What makes something enterprise is not the ability to have a vanity URL, but rather the ability to join multiple working groups under defined identities. Gmail should be a client that allows me to get at the very least all my Google mail in one place. At best, it should be a client on par with the Android Honeycomb app that allows me to get all my email regardless of ESP.

This brings me to serious problem No. 2. I understand that when you buy Grand Central and try to integrate it as Google Voice you want to roll out to personal Google accounts because it's less work for a larger user base. Tough integration project, OK.

But exclude Google Apps users when you roll out Google+!? You see, we Google Apps users are often your very best users. Some of us pay money to use the service. We're your fans. We're junkies! We're rabidly awaiting the next best thing. If anything, roll out a new service with us first. At the very least don't keep us waiting to get it last.

Why don't I use Google+? Simple. My main browser for sharing and interacting is the one I use for my work email, calendar and docs. That means I am logged into my work account and thus NOT logged into Google+. I can share on Twitter. I can share on Facebook. I can do it any which way – buttons on sites, copy and paste URLs, use third-party web apps like timely.is. What I can't do is share or get notified via Google+.

But this is not really about Google+. That is just the most obscene example. What this is about is consistently having Google Apps stand for "Google six months ago." I don't want less than the average user – I want more!

What strings these two issues together is simple. Google must recognize that Google Apps is not a traditional enterprise product. But that is a great thing because work environments are changing. Therefore, to be useful in emerging work environments, companies should not be paying for special logins, but accounts within logins that have access to the right new features to help them work as a team.

Users need access to different identities and workspace applications like docs, Google+ and maybe even waves. Users need to be able to easily do this from one browser and on one mobile browser on their smartphones. Web applications must allow multiple identities and accounts to be accessed by one simple login.

So get on this Google! Either do that or let Google Apps wither on the vine if you don't recognize the changing work environments and focus on the needs of stodgy operations that really don't like you anyway.

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Take a good look at these screenshots from 2 different neighborhoods - nay cities - in the Sacramento region. Same layout? Check. But also . . . Same content.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Now read this quote from Gary Cowan of Datasphere in Street Fight today:

People throw out the word, “cookie cutter,” but what does that actually mean? Does it mean you have a website laid out in a way that makes sense and you use that layout across the board? Tell me why a New York website needs a different layout than a Los Angeles? What is so fundamentally different between those two markets that you would want a layout that’s completely different? That’s the only thing I can draw from the cookie cutter comment, and it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

Problem 1: lots of reused and frankly bad content is spoiling the experience. For one, using the same everything, including content, is disingenuous to your readership and advertisers who believe they are supporting their neighborhood when they are actually only supporting your bottom line. It is cookie cutter for sure, but maybe even worse than that.

Problem 2: Let's talk about layout for a second. Let's face it, Starbucks works. It is efficient. It serves coffee at a local level and lots of people love it. But there are other people who prefer locally owned and run shops. When people call you "cookie cutter" they are simply stating the obvious fact that you are operate and look like a chain. Chains are not usually thought of as local or grass roots or deeply tied to the community.

One of the reasons people embrace local independent online media is because they identify with the place they live - a place that is quirky and unique. Why would the layout of a website in LA look different than in NYC? Because those places are themselves different. They have different economies, transportation, weather, people and most importantly people from those places think of themselves as different. And that difference is why they are interested in drinking at a quirky local coffee shop where they know the owner rather than Starbucks.

The funny thing is that I think you know that. You brand everything with your local media partners. When you make phone calls to sell ads you say you are calling from the local TV station. You know that people respond to local and you leverage your brand to seem local, established and engaged.

But I digress, I doubt any of this keeps you up at night. Although I bet high churn rates do. . .

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The way most tech entrepreneurs emphasize the word is disingenuous and possibly misleading for other startups.

For example, I hear people say that users comment or participate because of a sense of community. I hear this all the time, so much so that "community" may be the new "go viral."

Users do things because they have incentive to do so. That's it. That’s the grand thing. That incentive may be "community," but it often is not. While not having a sense of community can create feelings of insecurity that dis-incentivize participation, it is often not the primary motivator.

For example, I do no participate in Groupon because of a sense of community. I do it because I like the deals and I like sharing the deals – not with Groupon's online "community," but with my own social graph.

I feel very safe using Mint.com, but it is not because of a sense of community. Rather, it was their clean design, one nice article in Techcrunch and a couple of recommendations from friends of mine and – voila: It feels safe.

Even in the above examples, there is another pattern. Not only was the makeup of the "community of users" of those services relatively unimportant, but my relationship with my own social graph was very important. My friends make me feel safe. I want to impress my friends.

And of course there are other great incentives to doing stuff online. For example, del.icio.us was just awesome at saving bookmarks across browsers and working collaboratively at work. But when my tags were aggregated with others' tags, del.icio.us became a useful index of web services.

I did it for me. I tag for me. I tried Mint and use Groupon for my personal benefit. It’s the same with Facebook and on down the line. I continue to use the service because it continues to be the easiest way to get to that benefit.

So the question is: Why would users want to use your service? And, in relative terms, are there easier ways for them to derive the same benefit from another service?

I could have nabbed that line right out of a "how to write your first business plan" book. Yet we have gotten so bored with this simple concept that we wrap it in mystery. Nowadays, anytime I hear someone is offering an incentive to participate online, it is some form of "game mechanics." This is another overused and often misleading term.

Groupon used to rely on game mechanics. Sure, early on you had to tell all your friends about a deal because you didn't know if the deal would reach a threshold and become active. At this point, almost every deal in every market kills the threshold so fast I bet most Groupon users these days don't even realize that rule exists. The "game" is really that you have only one day to purchase the deal. Wow, fun game! I can't wait to play.

It’s applying a simple business rule to incentivize desired behavior. I guess you can call it what you want to, but I think it just makes corporate leaders seem like they are innovating something really novel, when they are doing something we all do.

Let's take a look at Foursquare for a moment. It uses badges and points. It turns your whole life into a game, right? Game mechanics. Well, sure, but people are looking at the wrong side of the game to emulate. Think of when you were a kid playing your first RPG or maybe 3D platformer. One of the most fun things these game opened up was the ability to explore. Exploring the game world was fun, and stuff you found there was interesting. I liked to play RPGs on a TV with a friend so we could share the experience.

I love exploring, and I love sharing the experience with my friend. Did I really care, then or now, about scores? Sure, I did and do a little. But that is a byproduct of the game, not the real mechanism. The game mechanism and deep-rooted motivation for using Foursquare is exploring my world. It is adding a social layer and a scoring layer that completes the game of my world.

Going a bit deeper, mayorships are another game mechanism employed by Foursquare. Often, the mayorship is actually driven by simple incentives. There is an incentive to impress your friends. There is an incentive to feel like you own the place or that you are closer to the people who work there. I used to feel that about a little restaurant called Ink Eats & Drinks just a couple of blocks from my house. This was way before Foursquare, and it wasn't scored.

OK, now how would you apply these findings in the local news space? For one, if you want to incentivize participation and good behavior on your site, try answering a simple set of questions:

1. What do you want users to do? Do you want them to comment, rate, tag, share or write an article?
2. What benefit do they derive from that?
3. Why would they chose to use your service to do that over other services?

Take the example of a comment. I would argue that not only are comments not "broken" as some would have you think, but comment behavior is much easier to understand in the context of the above questions than in the context of "community."

So you want a user to comment. What makes you comment? I know what makes me comment every time – even when I'm on my stupid little phone. I comment when I virulently disagree with something in an article or another comment. Disagreeing makes me feel anxious and even a little upset. The comment lets me relieve that tension. Then I usually tell a bunch of people that day how stupid the "thing that made me mad" was and how smart and passionate my response was. I keep checking back to see if others agree in rating my comment or leaving their own. I get into small spats with people I may or may not have known before.

Break it down. Comments are spurred by emotion. They are designed as a reactive mechanism. They themselves can be the tonic – especially if you can easily share them in context with your social graph. This is why tying Twitter to comment systems is natural. This is why Facebook comments should work. I know they don't, but that's another subject.

Comments may do something useful in creating a community of people around issues over time. That is not why I do it, but a happy byproduct of the action. How media outlets then leverage these communities who have niche interests is up to them, but at this point, they don't really do it well.

On The Sacramento Press, we have a really hot topic. All the articles are from community contributors and biased to different sides of a debate about how the local grocery co-op operates. So we want to write a less-biased story about the issue and then create a splash page to lay out all the advocacy pieces and our story in a balanced way. It would be splendid if we could make the same commentor community that was active on the earlier threads aware of our new work around the subject.

Going further, it would be nice to solicit many of those people who write comments to give us more context in a full-length opinion piece. We need to find ways to incentivize that behavior. And we have an advantage: We are local. We can meet the contributor for coffee. We can explore our city together. We can chat and interact. We can even play. As a local news source, we can be at the center of an actual community and facilitate crucial conversations amongst the members of the community most likely to have direct impacts on all of our lives.

Now that is not just jargon. That is not a misuse of the term. That is community.

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I'm proud to announce that The Sacramento Press hit a major milestone.

In two and a half years we have published work from over 1,000 unique authors.

A few are employees here and many are interns, but the vast majority are community contributors. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to all of our contributors!

What does this number really mean? There are a lot of big numbers flying around these days. AOL probably has plans for more Patches than we have had unique authors. Facebook just hit 750 million users. Compared to that 1,000 seems so small.

But "small" is precisely the point. Our small team has worked diligently to foster a deeply informed and engaged community. We know many of these people. Many have attended our free workshops. Many more have utilized our free copy editing services. I've attended neighborhood association meetings with contributors and taught people how to use modern blogging tools. We have an open office and several people without computers have come in to write their stories in our newsroom.

I can't believe it, but this really is a vast network for our purpose and scale. It grew person to person. It is made up of purposeful people who believe in the power of community.

1,000 people gives me goosebumps. A couple of years ago I could have predicted 1,000 but I could never predict the texture of the journey. The intensity of local and the joy of it - leaves me speechless.

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Geoff and I have been conviced the article is antiquated and inefficent since around 2003.

The article is not the basic unit of storytelling, reporting, selling or anything else. It is an antiquated by product not of good journalism, but a quickly fading era. The article was forged in an industrial age when news was represented in physical goods with two key limitations: space and time. The paper or magazine was only so long. Deadlines prohibited covering a story for as long as it took, rather the article had to be ready for publication.

Of course many of us grew up in this age and therefore feel comfortable with the poor old article. We know how to read them and how to write them. It is designed to be edited in serial and fit in with the organizations we have created. It would be massively disruptive to the people who work in those organizations to abandon the article and worse, it would be foreign to readers.

In 2005 when Geoff and I started testing a new concept called a storyline instead of articles our potential readers didn't like it. They had to learn a new way to interact with media off-the-bat just to get the story. We learned quickley that we had to present an interface that looked like the old and that would grow over time into something new. We hid the storyline concept as a feature. That proved to be a smart move.

It is easier to hire journalists, work with volunteer community contributors and showcase The Sacramento Press to potential advertisers. The minute you see the site you know what it is. If you want to go deeper, click on the storyline button on an article or even the author's name and you will start accessing the advanced features that will be cruicial to the social, collaborative and platform agnostic future of journalism.

(see www.sacpress.com and play around - use the search too, it's fun)

What do I mean about social, collaborative and platform agnostic?

1. Professionals and amateurs are just people and will want to gather to read, share and tell stories. They will want to debate and react and converse. Digital journalism will reflect the parlour or town hall meeting more than a TV show or a bundle of paper. People will be compelled by structured social communication like achievements and exclusive groupings. This is already evident with Groupon and Foursquare. We have integrated merit badges in our system and emails notifying contributors that editors have chosen their articles for our featured pages.

2. Collaborative journalism is common sense. We do too much in serial along a series of deadlines. Peer editing groups, stringers and reporters can work in parallel to tell stories on the fly. The key is this group of people must work synchronously. That is asking a lot of people so organizations will have to give more value to these contributors. Maybe that compensation is money like what we pay reporters and editors now. Maybe it will be social satisfaction or in exchange for training like interns. No doubt this will require new organizational structures.

3. We built a platform from scratch. How 2003 of us! Though I do love our platform, there will be value in being platform agnostic. Media organiations will have to learn to connect with communities of interest where they already spend time online. Luckily, platform makers have learned that they must be open if they wish to survive. They must let us interact with these tribes of influence and enthusiasm or those communities will leave their platform. Therefore we will have the access and the interest to reach beyond any wall.

This is how aggregation dies - it morphs from something people scoff at to something so core to our journalisic process we have to protect it to better inform the public. What we now chide and deride will become the norm in the future, but in such a sophisticated and beautiful form we won't want to go back to the old days where real time meant un-edited and untrustworthy.

The article may still be part of the process - or something like it. Why? Why do we still use QWERTY keyboards? Because anachronistic things often survive if there is significant societal training behind them. In fact, it makes sense that headlines will survive as well. They seem to be more suited to short messaging platforms than other fragmented pieces of our antiquted model.

Transition from big to lean, from industrial to ethereal, and from utility to beauty is hard to achieve - but surprisingly easy to predict. The toughest part will be understanding your community and not flat our introducing the future just because you can. In practical terms someone gave me this advice years ago:

Give your audience two things they understand up front - then slip in one they don't!

-Ben Ilfeld, follow me @benilfeld

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Today's announcement of Google Wallet is a big deal because of one word, "open."

NFC is inherently local, yet on launch day Google needed the scale of huge corporations to make their system a standard. A savvy move, but now the fun part begins. To be effective we must all look beyond the big guys and find ways to connect the creativity of technology professionals with authentically local media outlets and vital neighborhood SMB's.

In order to connect those dots we will need the API's and training from Google to encourage open development around this backbone. That is the best way to both ensure local benefits to an inherently local technology and to grow the usage of these technologies on "main street." 

The question is how creative can we be using these NFC devices and payment gateways?

For example, could we create our own maps of local offers or embed offers in advertisements on our site? Could we embed local offers automatically whenever a sponsor is mentioned an article?

Most importantly, can we create our own offer and commerce platform and tie it into their wallet protocol? I'd personally love to add scavenger hunts and conduct bar crawls for charity around this system someday.

This technology can do wonders for those of us who know we drive business to local SMB's. We can show our partners return on their investment and let them get back to what they do best, customer service at the point of sale.

In fact, the point of sale will become more important than ever with NFC because the conversation will not be about where to slide or sign or what keys to hit in what order. Rather it will revert to "did you find everything OK?" and "How 'bout them Kings?"

If the big G really means it, they could have a hit on their hands with marketers, media and local retailers.

There are a bunch of creative people at the nexus of commerce and community just waiting to translate digital campaigns to real world purchases.

Open was a word used over and over. It will be the key to success or failure for Google Wallet at the local level and, really, altogether.

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‘Hyper local’ version of new online daily deal trend partners with local businesses; Deal Ticket on Nov. 16 to benefit Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Nov. 15, 2010 – Like its distinctively independent, “hyper local” approach to news coverage and commentary on the capital city, The Sacramento Press now delivers Deal Ticket, its version of the emerging national trend in online daily deals with a truly “hyper local” difference – Deal Ticket exclusively works with other “hyper-local” publishers as daily deal affiliates. They also have a locally based customer service office for consumers if any questions about their deal should arise. Deal Ticket sales representatives are able to partner face to face and with local businesses to secure effective and meaningful 51-90% off offers for local consumers. 

Since debuting in August, Deal Ticket has had a remarkable early run of success for participating local merchants and customers.  In three months, Deal Ticket has sold Sacramento locals more than 3,600 “screaming hot” deals from more than 60 high-quality local merchants, including one-day Deal Tickets for Tuli Bistro, which gave buyers a $25 voucher for only 10 bucks, and for the landmark Squeeze Inn restaurant, which received the biggest response to date from local consumers. 

The one-day-only deals are often so attractive that they exceed projected take rates, producing tremendous bargains for purchasing consumers and increased traffic and sales for the local businesses that partner with Deal Ticket in offering discounts. 

“Deal Ticket worked out really well for my business,” said Abraham Sanchez, owner of the Article Consignment Boutique. “It was a great opportunity to have not only new people, it worked out for my existing clients to get some good deals and bring back recurring business. It was very easy and well-organized. It went as I was told it would go. It was successful and profitable for me. It allowed new people to come in and, of course, those people referred others. I would consider it a great success for me and my business.”

Asha Yoga owner Bernadeen Zivkovic said: “We had such a wonderful response to Deal Ticket. The setup was smooth, the description of our business the Deal Ticket team wrote represented our yoga philosophy and we had a lovely response from the community. It exceeded our expectations but wasn't overwhelming. 

“We appreciated the communication from all of the staff at Sacramento Press -- from the sales team to the fantastic list of clients that purchased our Deal -- and everyone who redeemed the offer had a positive experience, as well,” she added. “We'd definitely do it again, and we love keeping money in the local economy.”

“We’re trying to make Deal Ticket fun, affordable, easy to buy and, most of all, credible,” said Ben Ilfeld, co-founder of The Sacramento Press and Macer Media. “Our emphasis with The Sacramento Press and SLOAN has always been ‘hyper local’ for news, commentary and advertising. Deal Ticket is about taking branding to a ‘hyper local’ level for area businesses that participate.

And Deal Ticket is continually being improved: A new gift-giving capability, allowing consumers to gift Deal Tickets to family members or friends with individualized messages, and enhanced log-in features for a better user experience were added just last week.

Those interested in receiving the daily deal can sign up at http://www.sacramentopress.com/deal to receive Deal Ticket offers to their e-mail accounts. They can also easily share the deals with family and friends on Facebook, Twitter and via e-mail.  

Each Deal Ticket discount offer is available for purchase for one day only, with the exception of Friday’s Deal Ticket that can be purchased throughout the weekend. However, deal redemption periods can range from several months to two years.

Tuesday, November 16, Sacramento Press will use Deal Ticket as a mechanism for local charitable giving for the first time in an exciting partnership with Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services.  People can use Deal Ticket to donate $13 or more to the Food Bank, with 100 percent of the purchase price relayed back to the Food Bank. Those who take the opportunity to donate to this worthy cause will be issued vouchers upon purchase that serve as receipts for their donations, which are 100 percent tax-deductible. The voucher will provide a tax ID number, as well.

“Tomorrow’s Deal Ticket is timely, just in time for Thanksgiving,” said Ilfeld.  “In one easy stroke, buyers will have the opportunity to give to the less fortunate in our local community.” 

According to the Food Bank, a donation of $13 buys one of the following:

• $130 worth of goods and services for individuals and families in need
• A three-day supply of quality, healthy groceries for four families of four (48 meals) (Food Assistance program)
• Three days worth of diapers, food, formula and educational workshops for a family in need with an infant (Mother-Baby program)
• 26 articles of clothing (Clothing program)
•   Three art education classes (ceramics, watercolor, poetry, etc.) for four students (Women’s Wisdom Art program)
• Two days of technology-based education for one child (Computer Clubhouse program)

All daily deals feature local, Sacramento area businesses or locally owned franchises of national chains.  So buyers of Deal Tickets can take pride in patronizing a truly “local” business while indulging themselves in a meal or service they may have wanted to try but haven’t had the opportunity to experience it yet.

For example, Deal Tickets have featured local greats such as Tuli Bistro, the Article Consignment Boutique, Asha Yoga and more. Deals have ranged from great local restaurants, yoga and tanning all the way to deep discounts on power washing and salon services. They are typically so attractive that it’s important for consumers to check their e-mail or the site every day to check out the various deals.

The Deal Ticket program helps participating local businesses by mailing them a check the day after their deal is sold, allowing the businesses to stock inventory accordingly and have enough staff on duty.

The Deal Ticket team works hard to tailor every offer distinctively for the local Sacramento market, even in the face of competitive national daily discount behemoths such as GroupOn and Living Social.

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Aiming to advance local online media networks throughout California and beyond

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Nov. 9, 2010 — Looking to help communities elsewhere build successful new local online media models as traditional media struggle to survive, the founders of The Sacramento Press have chosen a new corporate identity – Macer Media LLC – to underscore their philosophy to keep their operations lean, even as their business continues to develop new sources of revenue and grow at a healthy pace.

Formerly known as Castle Press LLC, Macer Media has been structured by Sacramento Press co-founders Ben Ilfeld, Geoff Samek and their team to serve as a corporate umbrella over several operating entities, including The Sacramento Press, Sacramento Local Online Advertising Network (SLOAN), The Bay Area Publisher Partnership (BAPP) and DealTicket, an online local daily deal site.

“As we grew rapidly and realized how many operations we have under our umbrella, we saw a great need to put our parent company at the forefront of all our assets and services with a name that’s unique and vibrant,” said Ilfeld. 

Macer Media aims to assist 21^st Century publishers in other markets in understanding and obtaining the innovative blends of news gathering, advertising, social media and technology needed to succeed at seeding their own “hyper local” new media outlets.

“Our new company name symbolizes our company's birth and launch at the height of the Great Recession and our need to stick to the fundamentals. It also represents the close affinity, the near kinship we have with all the independent local efforts out there struggling to make it work,” said Samek.  

“We want to run a lean company in the spirit of these local and hyper-local champions and be a company that not only has a stake in the hyper-local fight in the form of The Sacramento Press, but also helps out others in our space by providing the tools to build healthy local media ecosystems,” added Samek. “And we aim to do that with a new name and focus as Macer Media.”

The Macer Media team is focusing initially on creating trusting relationships with local publishers throughout California to test the sharing of news, as may be appropriate for their readers, and as a means for local advertisers to expand their reach.  

“We chose the name Macer Media because macer in Latin means ‘lean,’ and that definition sums up our philosophy and entrepreneurial spirit, a spirit that we want to convey to local media all around the country,” said Ilfeld, who co-founded The Sacramento Press in 2008.  “We try to be a model of building smaller and leaner niche media creatively, and continually develop tools for that kind of operation.”

The Macer Media team encourages publishers to develop their own distinctive blends of news gathering, advertising, social media and technology infrastructure rather than adopting a “cookie cutter” approach to serving local audiences. 

 “We learned fairly quickly that people respected what we’re doing with The Sacramento Press in terms of our mix of technology, advertising and news gathering,” Ilfeld said.  “We’ve demonstrated an ability to innovate with technology and then leverage our strengths in technology and marketing to start SLOAN, our local ad network.  Those are hallmarks of what we do.”

In addition to Ilfeld and Samek, members of the Macer Media team include Technology VP Joel Rosenberg, CFO Anil Sinha and Corporate Strategy VP Lynn Mayugba.

-XXX-

About Macer Media
With a mission to elevate hyper-local and local media ecosystems, Macer Media LLC is dedicated to maximizing the growth potential of its own hyper-local online media holdings, including The Sacramento Press, The Sacramento Local Online Advertising Network (SLOAN), The Bay Area Publisher Partnership (BAPP) and Deal Ticket, an online daily deal program for local businesses. Macer Media aims to foster the hyper-local online media concept among other entrepreneurial publishers by providing them guidance and counsel on setting up the infrastructure of news-gathering, technology, advertising and social media they need to establish winning new media properties in their areas.

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