Noise to Signal: On Blogs

Rob Cottingham, creator of the webcomic Noise to Signal, has been on a roll lately on the subject of blogging:

Who Are the Marketed-To in Your Neighborhood?

Via Lifehacker, a fascinating tool put out by Nielsen used by marketers to determine what "types" live in your ZIP code and how to market to them. Types are arrived at by, according to Nielsen, "ground-breaking segmentation techniques." You can look up your ZIP code here, and see your area broken into five main types, some with less-than-flattering names. Click on any one type to see more information about it.

I currently live in South Minneapolis, at 55407. Types include:

American Dreams, who are

"a living example of how ethnically diverse the nation has become: just under half the residents are Hispanic, Asian, or African-American. In these multilingual neighborhoods--one in ten speaks a language other than English--middle-aged immigrants and their children live in upper-middle-class comfort." American Dreams folks, we learn, shop at Old Navy, buy motivational tapes, read Black Enterprise, watch TeleFutura, and might drive a Lexus IS;

Big City Blues, described this way:

"With a population that's almost 40 percent Latino, Big City Blues has one of the highest concentration of Hispanic-Americans in the nation. But it's also the multi-ethnic address for low-income Asian and African-American households occupying older inner-city apartments. Concentrated in a handful of major metros, these younger singles and single-parent families face enormous challenges: low incomes, uncertain jobs, and modest educations. Roughly 25 percent haven't finished high school." Big City Blues families shop at The Gap, go to movies, read Ser Padres, watch Noticiero Telemundo, and drive Volkswagens;

Close-In Couples: "a group of predominantly older, ethnically diverse couples living in older homes in the urban neighborhoods of mid-sized metros. High school educated and empty nesting, these mostly older residents typically live in older city neighborhoods, enjoying their retirements." Close-In Couples shop at Macy's, travel by rail, read Essence, watch Rachael Ray, and drive PT Cruisers;

Money & Brains: a "wealthy, older family mix" who "seem to have it all: high incomes, advanced degrees, and sophisticated tastes to match their credentials. Many of these city dwellers are married couples with few children who live in fashionable homes on small, manicured lots." Money & Brains types shop at Nordstrom, contribute to NPR, read the Sunday newspaper, watch News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and drive something from the Lexus RX series. [I can't remember ever seeing a Lexus in my neighborhood, and now two segments drive them!]

;

and finally, Multi-Culti Mosaic: "a mixed populace of Hispanic, Asian, and African-American singles and families. With nearly a quarter of the residents foreign born, this segment is a mecca for first-generation Americans who are striving to improve their lower-middle-class status." Multi-Culti Mosaic folks shop at CVS Pharmacy, buy "Spanish/Latin music," read Seventeen, watch Premio Juventud, and might drive a Volkswagen GLI.

In my neighborhood proper, there are also a bunch of white, queer or queer-friendly, work-at-nonprofits, bicycle-riding, left-leaning, shop at farmers' markets and Savers and Target (but no more!), watch Rachel Maddow or Democracy Now, over-educated, etc. folks, but not enough to make up a fifth of 55407.

Before moving to Minneapolis, I lived in Milford, DE, 19963--a town of 15,000 about 20 miles north of Rehoboth Beach--whose types included, Nielsen says, Crossroads Villagers, Mayberry-Ville, Simple Pleasures, Traditional Times, and Young & Rustic.

The library I work at is located in 55344--one of the ZIP codes of Eden Prairie, the Twin Cities suburb recently rated the #1 place in the country to live by Money magazine--and 55344 includes Executive Suites, Gray Power, Home Sweet Home, Movers & Shakers, and Young Influentials. At least a third of our library users--maybe closer to half--are not included here, and are Somali immigrants who have come to live in Eden Prairie in the last 10 years (most more recently), who do not have internet access at home. Not surprising, I guess, but interesting: that the people who most use the library here aren't the people who are most recognized by marketers. I'd wondered about the use of this tool for libraries (who are, ever more, needing to market ourselves). But then, the people who most use the library don't need to be marketed to: they're there because they have to be. So perhaps it's still useful. The "Gray Power" category certainly is, in terms of program planning.

As for 90210--come on, you were wondering--its types include Bohemian Mix, Money & Brains, Movers & Shakers, Upper Crust, and Young Digerati.

I could spend a lot of time with this strange little tool, finding out what the Young Digerati read (Wired, I was hoping--but no, of course: The Economist) and marveling that it's the Middleburg Managers who "buy books on tape." The Segment Look-up shows all 66 (and a 67th: "Unassigned") categories in which United States residents might be officially lumped (what on earth are Country Squires? Hey, there's a category called Shotguns & Pickups!). It's a weird little glimpse into how we're glimpsed. Thanks to Lifehacker for blogging it.

Mockingjay, Instantly

I asked for and received a Nook for my birthday, in large part because the library system I work for started offering ebooks for dedicated devices last month and I'm increasingly feeling the need (and desire) to have a hands-on familiarity with the formats we offer and the devices they work with so I can explain the ins and outs to patrons (Whew). I hadn't yet felt the need for a dedicated ereader for purely personal use--I have an iPod Touch and find reading ebooks on it comfortable enough.

When I mention the Nook the others, the first question I get is, "Why not a Kindle?" Two main reasons: one, the library's ebooks--most libraries' ebooks--all libraries' ebooks?--aren't compatible with the Kindle. Amazon has chosen to make a device incompatible with ePub, the most popular--and closest thing to an early "universal"--ebook format. This is tough at work, when eager new Kindle owners come up to the information desk asking how to check out library ebooks to read on their Kindles. We post a list of compatible devices, but most folks don't check that before purchasing an ereader (and many have received Kindles as gifts). Amazon has made the Kindle a pretty inconvenient and unfortunate device for most libraries (though some libraries actually purchase Kindles to loan out), at least for the time being. It doesn't endear me to the Kindle--though I have no problems with the device itself. More importantly, I still haven't been able to get over Amazon's handling of last summer's Orwell fiasco. I have no idea if Barnes & Noble would've handled it better; I just know how Amazon handled it. Terribly.

I'm not sure how long the dedicated ereader will last (as opposed to a device like the iPad). The Nook takes a while to start up (a minute or so), and a second or so to load a new page at every page turn. No huge deal if you're from my generation, but I can't imagine that younger folks who've grown up using (or coveting) lightning-fast touchscreen devices will stand for it. Sonys, Nooks, and Kindles feel to me a bit like the old "Speak n' Spell" toy I had as a child. Brand-new, out of the box, they seem dated. The Nook has a touchscreen along its bottom (fine, but not as fast to respond as my Touch's touchscreen), but the screen you read your book on is static e-ink. Easy on the eyes, yes--easier to read on for extended periods of time than the Touch? I'm not yet sure--but once you've used a touchscreen you just (or I just) can't shake the impulse to touch the screen and expect something to happen. In the course of the two days I've owned it, I've tapped the Nook's screen at least ten times, expecting a book to open because I've touched its title. You can read about two-year-olds (and cats) all over the web who jump right in on iPads, adapting to the touchscreen almost instantaneously, and who try to tap their parents' watchfaces, etc, expecting the screens to respond to touch commands. I feel pretty confident that the touchscreen is where the future of ereading is at--that, or e-ink devices will have to seriously speed up their response times.

So, what excites me about this artifact in my hand? Mockingjay. It's the third book in Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games trilogy, and it will be released on August 24. I pre-ordered a print copy a while ago, and today I pre-ordered an ebook copy for the Nook. Mockingjay is a hotly-enough anticipated title that there will be midnight bookstore parties with long lines of people waiting to get their hands on it as soon as possible (unlike the first two books, Mockingjay never came out as an ARC beforehand). When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out, my household had pre-ordered a copy to be delivered that day, but by mid-day, when it hadn't yet arrived, Teresa went out and bought a copy in a bricks & mortar store, unable to wait. How much faster will my ebook copy arrive than my print copy? Will it arrive instantly at midnight? I think it might.

Mockingjay is currently on the Top 10 list--at number 9--of bestselling ebooks from Barnes & Noble. It is the only book on the list that has not yet been released (and won't be for 10 more days). When the 24th comes, I hope someone will be keeping track to see if the ebook version outsells the print version (including in-store and pre-order). I won't be too surprised if it does (or if a good number of those purchases come from people who don't even have handheld devices, but plan to read it on their computers, because it's the fastest way to get it). Buying an ebook for your Nook, or your Kindle, etc, combines the luxury of being utterly physically lazy with the luxury of instant gratification. No wonder at all that they're selling like hotcakes. Think of the appeal (to many, if not to you) of eBay's "Buy It Now!" feature, and add "Have It Now!" into the mix. Even careful, really-think-about-it-before-spending book buyers (like me--I'm not much of a book buyer and am also on the library's waitlist for Mockingjay--I wasn't originally planning to buy it--but now my whole family's into the trilogy and T will just buy it regardless if I don't do it before her) are likely to make one or two impulse ebook buys when it's that convenient and easy.

Interesting times. See also: Shelf Check comic strips tagged "ebooks"