That’s right: Thirty-five

In late October, Newsday, the Long Island daily that the Dolans bought for $650 million, put its web site, newsday.com, behind a pay wall. The paper was one of the first non-business newspapers to take the plunge by putting up a pay wall, so in media circles it has been followed with interest.

…

That astoundingly low figure was revealed in a newsroom-wide meeting last week by publisher Terry Jimenez when a reporter asked how many people had signed up for the site. Mr. Jimenez didn’t know the number off the top of his head, so he asked a deputy sitting near him. He replied 35.

Michael Amon, a social services reporter, asked for clarification.

“I heard you say 35 people,” he said, from Newsday’s auditorium in Melville. “Is that number correct?”

Mr. Jimenez nodded.

Wow. It should be noted, however, that the website offers free access to all print subscribers, as well as to certain cable television subscribers. Publisher Terry Jimenez explained that web was not intended as a revenue generator, but rather as way to provide extra benefit to loyal subscribers.

But still… 35?

We can’t know whether the move to a paid-content format affected the print or cable subscription rates. Though it would be hard to imagine a large enough bump to offset what must be an astronomical drop off in online advertising revenue.

As someone who’s worked for a fair number of corporations, this video nails it. The part about the marketing person getting “feedback” from their kids – so true.

Some of you may have noticed that I no longer have a facebook page and that my myspace profile is mangled.
No, I was not hacked. I have been trying to cancel myspace for a few weeks and was having trouble, so I destroyed what was there. I have now reached someone there who is promising me that they will let me leave. I have no grudge against myspace or facebook. It’s hard to explain. I just don’t want to do these things anymore and I started to feel like I had to. So I stopped. That’s all.

People will tell me that that kind of networking is vital for my career. Well, I guess I’m willing to go ahead and find out that no one is coming to my shows because I don’t have a myspace or a facebook account. I wish all of you in the social network world a terrific whatever you’re doing. If you still want to reach me, you can come here to my website. I will try to use the time I have freed up by killing those things to update this page more often.

A good life, or a hard life lived well to all of you.

Louis C.K.

(emphasis mine)

Bravo.  Finally someone who “gets” that for 99% of entertainers, companies, and entrepreneurs, these sites are an unnecessary time suck that build the site owners’ presence, not their own.  When updating 2, 3 ,or 30 “social media” sites becomes more of a chore than one’s actual trade, it’s time to walk away.

I applaud Louis C.K.’s decision to simply walk away.  Maybe he’s been reading Cal Newport.

He’s not giving up “Web 2.0″  entirely, however.

ps. I still have twitter.

This highlights the crux of  Twitter’s appeal – short, focused updates that take a minimal amount of effort. A simple, effective, communication strategy, ala Three Sentences, that lets the practitioner focus on what they do best – their trade.