Subject: Re: Qualifying the Customer Re: name-brand readers From: jvncnet!thelake.mn.org!steve (Steve Yelvington) Date: Sat, 12 Mar 1994 15:21:28 -0500

To: dowjone!rexb (Rex Ballard)
Cc: online-news@marketplace.com
Disclaimer: I work for the Star Tribune. I do not speak for the Star Tribune.
Organization: A private system in the little town that time forgot
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Rex Ballard wrote ...

> The human variation of that capability is to have an "On-Line Broker" who
> can match my requirements to what is coming over the net and call me when
> he gets a match.  He could even negotiate for my terms on my behalf.
> 
> This is an opportunity for double-dipping.  The publisher can charge the
> provider because he is giving access to qualified subscribers.  The publisher
> can charge the subscriber for filtering out the noise and providing only
> relevant information from the provider.

The Star Tribune has been experimenting with some of this in audiospace, as
opposed to cyberspace. We have a subsidiary called Fonahome that maintains a
database of rental property. Private-party rental advertisers automatically
get a one-month listing in the database in addition to their classified
advertising. Prospective renters can retrieve more information about a
property via audiotex. (I haven't used this service, so I don't know much in
the way of details.) We also have a subsidiary that is building a database
of commercial property that can be searched for matching commercial renters
with space.

We've always been in the business of connecting sellers with buyers, and in
that context we've always had an odd relationship with real estate agents,
who are in the same business and therefore our competitors as well as our
customers. The Multiple Listing Service is basically a system designed to
avoid having to advertise homes in the newspaper. The two biggest real
estate agencies in our market are now building their own advanced computer
networks with searchable multimedia databases.

A week or two ago I spoke with some folks at the Minnesota Department of
Jobs and Training about the Internet. One little tidbit I picked up was that
they are building a new employment database, using technology developed for
outplacement by a defense contractor. The state has always been a competitor
of the classified advertising section, but a poor one. This new database may
change that. They want to be able to match any job with any applicant based
on a skills analysis, not simply on the old job-classification criteria.
They want to be able to accept resumes in any format via fax or email, and
have the computer scan and analyze them. They want everybody in Minnesota in
their database.

This is not an environment in which the newspaper can sit on its duff and
wait for things to shake out. If we do that, we'll be the ones who are
shaken out.

-- 
Steve Yelvington in Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota USA 
           ... or at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis 


From jvncnet!marketplace.com!owner-online-newspapers Fri Mar 11 02:47:21 1994