As a rule, we don't write opinion-based articles at Digital Signage Universe. We try to stick with the facts and give our readers accurate information that they can use to make smart and informed decisions. We're making an exception to this rule today to follow-up on a recently announced editorial policy change, and to address other issues that we feel the need to speak out about. As an industry resource we try to offer information that is unbiased, factual, and accurate. We strive to include fair balance so that information isn't skewed in a particular direction. We respect our readers, and know, when given the facts, they are intelligent enough to draw their own conclusions.
After issuing our change in editorial policy announcement, we received a fair number of replies from readers and industry insiders who applauded our effort to take a stand against an ever increasing level of factual distortion, misrepresentation, and over-hyped PR that some companies have been distributing. As we said in our note a few weeks ago, credibility matters—yours and ours.
Think about it this way: imagine for a moment if all of the individuals responsible for today's financial mess had done their jobs honestly and correctly, protecting the public's interest as they were supposed to. Companies like Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's, and Fitch Ratings, if they had done their job— gauging credit-worthiness with honesty— without being blinded by greed, we wouldn't be in the situation that we're in today. Does anyone really think that any of these companies can regain their reputations and restore the public's trust in them again? We don't think so. The abusive business practices that many of us have turned a blind eye to in the past are no longer acceptable, they can't be.
The "gold rush" mentality that has taken over the digital signage business is not a free license to cast aside the basic rules of principle and ethics. While most companies in the digital signage industry are doing great work, and should be recognized for their contribution in growing this space, there are a few "bad actors" within the industry that have left a bad taste in the mouths of some clients, and in turn have caused damage to the industry.
Riding The Bull
Since starting Digital SIgnage Universe almost 2 years ago, we have met some really outstanding people in the digital signage industry. We've listened and learned great deal from many people within the space, and we thank everyone for their time, insight, and consideration. We also appreciate all of the positive feedback we have received about our site. However, not everyone is happy about the fact that our site, Digital Signage Universe, has come into being. In some ways we have ruined the party for some by offering more information and resources than they would like end-users to know about. We have built our Portal and Directory in a way that attempts (there's always room for improvement) to be all inclusive, unbiased, and easy to use, so that end users have the opportunity to see all of the available options and possibilities. We believe that people need to be given a complete picture so that making complex choices about hardware, software, and partners is done with all the available information in hand.
We know we're not alone, and there are several great Web sites that offer outstanding coverage of the industry that we read regularly, and we encourage you to visit as well. To start with, we recommend Dave Hayne's Sixteen:Nine blog and Bill Gerba's Digital Signage News Blog, both offer honest and highly experienced industry insight and information. Gary Kayye's rAVe Digital Signage Newsletter offers excellent coverage from the AV integrator's point-of-view. David Weinfeld's Digital Signage Insights looks at emerging trends between digital signage and the world of branding, marketing, and advertising. ExpoNation's Digital Signage Expo Portal has done a great job of taking what was a tradeshow specific site, and have transformed it into a well-balanced industry news and information resource. NetWorld Alliance's Digital Signage Today is the oldest industry portal offering in-depth industry coverage. The Just Out-of-Home Media Blog offers a hip, streetwise, New York City advertising professional's view of the the digital out-of-home industry. Ken Goldberg's Broad Thinking. Narrowcasting blog offers excellent industry insight. We also like Adrian Cotterill's DailyDOOH Web site, while we don't always agree with their style of coverage, the DailyDOOH shine a bright light on many issues within the industry and tends to dive deeper into industry issues. We're also fond of the DailyDOOH's CEO spotlight section that offers unique industry perspective from leaders around the industry, it is well worth a read. Finally, we subscribe to James van Etten's Clippings Newsletter which aggregates important industry news links into a daily email. Van Etten's Clippings offers its readers a valuable daily resource that puts each day's top industry news, with worldwide coverage, into a single easy to use link interface. Well worth subscribing to if you're interested in keeping up with the business.
Beware of Bum Steers
And now to the bad and the ugly. There are several "pay-to-play" sites that pretend to offer themselves as industry resources while steering visitors to specific products and services. If you're new to the industry, or if you're an end-user doing research on digital signage on the Internet, it's easy to get caught in this tangled Web of skewed, biased, and misleading information. Eric Kanagy over at The RedPost recently blogged about this issue in an article called The Revolution: Less BS, where he highlights some of the leading culprits of these pay-to-play schemes.
In some industries and cultures pay-to-play is considered a "normal" business practice. The problem with "pay-to-play" for the digital signage business is the fact that end-users (The customers and clients that we all want and need to grow our businesses) are being mislead, and there is nothing innocent about what is happening here. For this industry to grow, we all need to be thinking about what's best for the end-user and discourage this practice.
If you're researching digital signage on the Internet and use "Digital Signage" to begin your keyword search, it's very easy for you to land on a group of Web sites that market themselves as "resources" but in fact are designed to steer you to specific products and solutions. While not illegal, it is very misleading and in our opinion—unethical. Being at the top of Google search results is not an endorsement of credibility or quality. The plain facts are that many of the sites that you see at the top of Google's "Digital Signage" search results are there because they have manipulated the search engine results by paying other sites to link to them to increase the their number of inbound links, thus boosting their position on Google's index. Google discourages this type of activity, but it is very difficult to enforce completely. The digital signage business is a young industry that in many ways has been compared to the early days of the Internet—It's a new frontier, and in many ways it's like the wild West.
If we could offer you one piece of advise— it would be to search deeper, do your homework so you know the right questions to ask, and investigate very carefully who you're taking advise from. Try to find true resources that make your deployment needs their priority. This way you won't end up getting a bum steer.
Big Changes Ahead
The intersection of technologies that has given birth to this industry has created great opportunities. We've seen some exciting solutions, products, and deployments—but, it's only the beginning. This business is changing rapidly, we've seen a glimpse of what's coming—and bigger changes are on the horizon. We're excited about the digital signage industry's future, and look forward to sharing it with you.
We're interested in hearing your opinion, Please feel free to write us about these issues, or anything related to the digital signage business at: press@digitalsignageuniverse.com
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