Maybe you heard the news. Barnes & Noble has just announced plans to eliminate 30% of it’s stores over the next ten years.
Barnes & Noble, like other book store chains, has been putting up an excellent fight against digital competitors, but it appears the nation’s largest traditional bookstore has still come up a bit short.
What conclusion can one draw from this?
Is it, as company spokespersons say, business as usual with some closings because stores are unprofitable and others are stores moving to better locations? Or is it time, as some believe, to sketch out what the industry might look like without Barnes & Noble.
Not a happy thought for publishers, booksellers, authors, agents, and… readers. Yet, there is no escaping it…
The relentless march of digital convergence is taking hold.
Google TV
Watch Google as they continue to roll out updated versions on their connected TV platform. Company engineers view Google TV as essential to their strategy of maintaining a strong presence on every connected screen in a person’s life.
Google’s innovations are more evidence that the world is turning from the traditional media world of limited choice to the digital media world of unlimited choice.
The question is, how does your company or ministry bridge those two worlds? How do you make it really easy for audiences to access all the great content that is out there?
Connected Cars
If you are a radio or television station, or have a church media platform, how do you reach people in the connected car?
Very soon, connected cars will integrate the same level of digital services that audiences are used to having in their homes or at work.
Volvo will use local infrastructure vendor Ericsson’s Connected Vehicle Cloud solution in order to allow drivers, passengers and the car to connect to services available in the cloud.
Ford is developing in-car integration of the Android app Kaliki. Kaliki curates the top news stories from major newspapers and magazines and provides an audio version for on-demand playback in the vehicle.
Does Kaliki sound like a digital hybrid of reading your favorite newspaper and listening to your favoriate news/talk radio station or podcast?
National Religious Broadcasters Convention & Exposition
When it comes to building bridges between the traditional media world and the digital media world, no group has more skin in the game than the National Religious Broadcasters.
“It’s a group of men and women committed to using every electronic media platform available to us to reach the world for Jesus Christ,” explains NRB President & CEO Dr. Frank Wright.
Beginning March 2, thousands of Christian media and ministry professionals will converge at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, TN, to take part in the NRB Convention & Exposition – the world’s largest annual gathering of Christian communicators.
“NRB forces me to stop and assess the year, consider next steps, envision areas of growth or areas where I am missing ministry opportunities, investigate new technology and trends, etc.,” commented one Convention participant. “Without NRB, I’d just keep doing the same thing year after year.”
The world’s first eStation at NRB13
The company I work for, Glorystone.tv℠, will be participating in this year’s NRB convention and exposition. Members of our team will be on location with the first phase of what we call the technological introduction of the world’s first eStation℠.
The eStation℠ is a first-of-its kind Web TV platform built for Christian broadcasters and ministry. Visitors to Booth #848, hosted by Jason Reynolds, Co-founder/Solutions Architect, will be able to watch the first-ever eStation live and make a little history.
If you have never attended an NRB Convention, Glorystone.tv would like for you to attend as our guests. Watch for details about how to get a free registration here and on the Glorystone.tv landing page next week.
The NRB is a group of men and women committed to using every electronic media platform available to us to reach the world for Jesus Christ. Frank Wright
Highlights of the Glorystone.tv “NRB Special Offer” will also be presented.
Revolutionary activity
These are hardly the early days of digital disruption, technological innovation and global change. However, what we may be witnessing now is the beginning of the coming widespread advancement of such digital phenomenon as the e-book, the connected TV and the connected car.
There have never been more large electronics companies pouring resources into strategies for dominating ePublishing and eBroadcasting.
This is a strategically important time for Christian Media, and for those willing to undertake real revolutionary activity toward winning souls for Jesus in the digital world.