Each day we provide a roundup of five stories from around the Web that our editors read and found noteworthy. Follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day@digiday.
Is Google Building an Open or Closed Ad System?: Google says it wants an open display ad system. Yet the search system it built is closed, which leads your competitors and others to say that’s what Google’s really building, a closed system. Fortune has a big profile piece that pits Google up against AppNexus in the battle to build an open system for managing and delivering online ads. The question is who will get there first — and do it right. Fortune — Brian Morrissey @bmorrissey
The Death of The E-Reader: They paved the way for tablet devices, but as users expect more from their devices besides just text, the e-reader’s demise now seems inevitable. Though the e-ink experience is still preferable to an LCD screen for consuming long-form content, as technology improves it’ll be the e-reader that loses out to the new kid on the block. As Alexander writes here, “The e-reader’s purpose is, ostensibly, to serve as a stopgap measure until both e-ink itself and LCDs evolve to the point of intersection — and that does not seem too terribly far off.” The Loop— Jack Marshall @JackMarshall
U.S. Users Aren’t All That Social: Despite the fact services such as Facebook and Twitter continue to grow in popularity amongst U.S. users, the fact is that consumers elsewhere in the world are often more engaged with social platforms. Three quarters of Facebook users are outside the U.S., for example, as is more than half of Twitter’s user base, while many local services in non-U.S. countries claim users are much more involved in creating and sharing content. That’s worth thinking about. As Forrester suggests, “If you’ve been putting all your social efforts into the U.S. and the U.K., it’s time to shift your focus – and your budget – to the countries where users are more social.” NY Times Bits Blog — Jack Marshall @JackMarshall
