Far from supporting newspapers' drive for a paywall, Buzzmachine blogger and author Jeff Jarvis is suggesting the opposite course: Grab as many people as you can through hyperdistribution.

He means widgets, reverse syndication, specialization, social engagement and APIs to encourage development. "This ain't about getting people to come to your home pages," he suggests.

Rather, it ought to be a full-on effort to develop more and more users, particularly engaged users who will consume and distribute content.

"Right now, news organizations should be trying to reach more people and engage with them more deeply."

A new report suggests smaller and medium-sized businesses in the U.S. increasingly are turning to digital advertising ahead of traditional media spending.

The BIA/Kelsey's Local Advertising Monitor report found 77 per cent of small- and medium-sized firms (the principal part of the local scene) are using digital, compared to 69 for such traditional media as television, radio and newspapers.

The number of users is ahead of the number of dollars, but there is still healthy growth in the revenue stream. Nearly four of every 10 dollars spent on advertising and marketing now head to digital. The reason, businesses say: The ability to track users through click-through and email.

The advent of evaluating emotion as data has given rise to opportunities to aggregate social media activity and monetize it.

The New York Times looks at three services that pull together crowd-sourced sentiment (approval, disapproval, recommendations, etc.) and the implications for the Web.

There are obvious implications for the news business, in determining the value of opinion holders and predicting the patterns of users with content.

ReadWriteWeb also looks at companies involved in sentiment analysis and suggests it's going to be a hot area for development this year.

A concert in the park, not a nightclub behind a velvet rope.

It's a nice description Rick Edmonds makes in arguing for unfettered access to newspaper content, suggesting that the paywall concept precludes a large part of society from seeing the best of newspapers' work.

The Poynter Institute columnist suggests that democracy is ill-served by making too much newspaper content inaccessible without a fee. The moves by Wall Street Journal and others to erect paywalls might serve the elite, but doesn't serve the wider interests of journalism in serving the information interests of a community.

A paywall would not only depress traffic but the ability to serve that community, he says.

TechWeb CEO Tony Uphoff's latest post identifies nine new rules for media. Some bear a familiar tone, but a few break away from the pack and indicate a very progressive vein.

In summary and in broad paraphrase:

1. Content equals engagement equals revenue, not reach equals revenue.
2. There is one media.
3. Branded response has replaced traditional branding.
4. Content is the marketing platform, with knowledge exchange replacing advertising.
5. Integrate content or watch someone else do it.
6. Live media is, well, alive and well.
7. Brands very much matter.
8. People will pay for quality.
9. Businesses must challenge the ideas that made their businesses.

It has been a busy week in the world of so-called hyperlocal news.

The Washington Post closed LoudonExtra.com, its major initiative into neighbourhood news. Everyblock, tne exceptional technological platform to examine what's happening on your street and in your midst, was sold to MSNBC. Huffington Post and Facebook worked through a new model of social networking that has strong local applicability. And a conference at the Aspen Institute discussed some business model proposals (largely shooting them down, which is the way critics typically work en route to acceptance).

Fast Company's Michael Gluckstadt chronicles the week that was and implies a more interesting question toward the end of his piece. He suggests hyperlocal ought not be judged as some sort of saviour of journalism, but as a model on ints own that contributes to the broader public sphere.

Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, confirms today that the microblogging service will launch commercial services aimed at businesses later this year in an effort to monetize the wildly popular but free social network.

Stone says the business service will produce analytics to help them understand how they're performing on Twitter, help them identify and tailor content to followings, and presumably help them track trends and particular opportunities. Then will come business-oriented APIs to create a commercial layer.

Twitter has been coy about its plans for monetization for months, but in recent weeks has produced guides for businesses on how to best use its service. That ought to have twigged for people. Today's announcement, though, is clearer.

Also clear is the message that, for most of us, Twitter will remain free. No changes are coming there, Stone asserts.

Editor & Publisher reports Nielsen Online data that suggests the time spent on leading newspaper sites rose slightly in July.
The New York Times and Wall Street Journal experienced some substanial gains, while the Washington Post only crept up slightly.
It is possible the data isn't representative of trends because Nielsen altered its panels in June. But at the very least, it suggests strong use of the top sites and sustained use of them.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that News Corp. is exploring the creation of a consortium of media organizations to place content in behind a so-called paywall.
News Corp. chief digital officer Jonathan Miller is leading the discussions with such organizations as the Washington Post, Hearst, Tribune Co. and The New York Times.
The initiative clearly aims to ensure that the aggregation of content is sufficiently attractive to entice subscriptions. It also would conscript an array of media companies so no firm goes it alone.
Obviously the effort is fraught with risk, but the thinking is that there is greater safety in numbers.

Alan Mutter's Reflections of a Newsosaur has to skate a little in recent posts as he weighs in again on the whither-pay issue online, principally because Mutter is a consultant for ViewPass, a technology aiming to develop micropayments for news organizations.


But his two most recent posts, with one to come, offer insight into the emotional and financial issues weighing on the minds of publishers as they determine the viability of shifting content inside a paywall.


Mainly, Mutter notes, it's a question of fear that's holding publishers back --- fear of loss of traffic, of revenue, of competitive position, and even (I suspect) of a reputation for bravery.


Mutter's not been able to disclose all of his insider understanding, due to the conflict he's in as a consultant, but he comes close to leveling with readers about the nature of the dilemma. His posts are good reading, and he promises another instalment shortly on solutions.