Record profit for Disney

[SyracuseOrange]

To answer your question about which events they do not warrant an invite for - that would be all of them. As the site is not significant in expanding Disney's reach, they have gained nothing from this site. It is therefore a waste of money inviting them.

Far too any people these days think they can throw up a word press site and become some major force in their respective areas overnight. It doesn't work like that when things get serious.

Disagree. I work in social media and have done blogger outreach, and I can say firsthand I've seen it contribute to a company's bottom line.

 

[wdwmagic]

Alexa is accurate to the extent that users have its toolbar installed. It is no substitute for Google Analytics. Not even close.

Google "Alexa.com accuracy" for a more thorough discussion on the topic.

Well it can't possible equate to a dedicated site specific stats package. But by statistically sampling the Alexa toolbar users, it gives a very good approximation to how wide a reach a site has. In my experience it is a good guide.

 

[WDW1974]

Here's just a list off the top of my head of Disney fan sites that have been treated like press by the company and despite that, openly criticize company decisions: Stitch Kingdom, Discussion Kingdom, WDW Today, Passporter, and Pete Werner.

You are killing me. You know it is a Gleeful Tuesday, right?:ROFLOL:

I have heard of Stitch Kingdom, but know nothing beyond that.

Discussion Kingdom was formed by some former members here (some that I personally like) because they had issues here. I told some at the time that they were being immature and should have either stayed here and taken their issues up or just leave. I have tried to post there, but it is a dead site ... and the owner is barely a legal adult who has openly said he desires to be part of the whole Disney Lifestyle world. But he has NOT to my knowledge been invited to anything. I may be wrong, but I know he wasn't at anything where Social Media wasn't a major component (in other words, maybe he was tossed a credential to D23, but the whole purpose of it is to get in bed with the webmasters). And I would most certainly describe him as someone in love with The Disney Lifestyle. When you move to O-Town to go to school (not really a smart move) and then spend 6-7 days a week living at theme parks ... well, I don't want to rip the kid, but I don't call that a life.

WDW Today is that my pal Tom 'I wish I were Lou' Corless site? Again, I really don't half the sites out there because they aren't major. This one is. LP.com is. Miceage/Micechat is.

As for the Passporter, I've met the dude (Dave Marx?) a few times. I don't get him being someone very critical of Disney. I think I insulted him once (not intentionally) by mentioning that it's very hard to write a guidebook of WDW with much perspective when you never visited before it had a pink castle and a fourth park about to open. I find it hard to believe he's been very critical, but if you know otherwise ... fine.

I'm sure others can add to that list. As for Yee and Lutz, are you sure? If Kevin is reading this, I'd love for him to chime in on the topic.

I am quite sure. Kevin and I have talked at length about the subject. Disney has repeatedly ignored his requests, which I am sure has had a negative effect on his ability to report as well as he could. Al absolutely doesn't get credentialed for anything.

And while I'm fairly certain neither would take things like free trips or even tickets as they have their APs, one would think they'd like the access to the execs/Imagineers etc that come at official events/announcements/parties.

If I were Kevin, I might be a bit more aggressive with Disney, but I respect his 'tude that he's gonna do his job in spite of their lack of cooperation.

What sites have the DPB and D23 been successful in silencing?

I wouldn't say silencing (now someone will point out how I used the word before), but if you look at how some of the biggest Disney fan forums have been dying (this place seems to be an exception, but one wonders if that will continue if too many people become too negative -- remember Duncan is quite proud of 18 positive comments to every negative one, even if it is likely BS). LP.com and Micechat are shadows of what their boards used to be. Jim Hill was totally insiginificant for years and I can only guess his reemergence has to do with some deal with the devil.:fork:

~GFC~

 

[ptaylor]

Disagree. I work in social media and have done blogger outreach, and I can say firsthand I've seen it contribute to a company's bottom line.

Not sure what you are talking about, but I'm talking about the specific web site that WDWFIGMENT mentioned, not the official DIsney Parks Blog site.

 

[SyracuseOrange]

I wouldn't say silencing (now someone will point out how I used the word before), but if you look at how some of the biggest Disney fan forums have been dying (this place seems to be an exception, but one wonders if that will continue if too many people become too negative -- remember Duncan is quite proud of 18 positive comments to every negative one, even if it is likely BS). LP.com and Micechat are shadows of what their boards used to be. Jim Hill was totally insiginificant for years and I can only guess his reemergence has to do with some deal with the devil.:fork:

~GFC~

That's hardly Disney's doing. Forums in general (Disney and non-Disney) are dying.

 

[HMF]

OK I wasn't going to name them, but you have thrown a couple out there. Some of the ones you mention (they involve the words Kingdom), exactly illustrate 74's point. DK is a tiny site (of about 1 year old), with about 100 forum members, and made up of members ejected from WDWMAGIC. Do you really think they should be attending media events at Disney? They must be thrilled to get lanyards and event entry however.

Keep in mind though, this was a tiny site once too.:animwink:

 

[HMF]

As to the strategy leading to new business, I've yet to hear one media pro (who doesn't have a vested interest in pushing social media) say that Disney is significantly, if at all, growing its business this way.
~GFC~

One of my opinions on the matter is if a Company grows too big it will lose it's heart and focus. the current WDC is the perfect poster child for this.

 

[unkadug]

You are killing me. ...

Jim Hill was totally insiginificant for years and I can only guess his reemergence has to do with some deal with the devil.:fork:

~GFC~

:lol:


BTW I find it interesting that DK is now closed due to excessive bandwidth. :shrug:

 

[jt04]

One of my opinions on the matter is if a Company grows too big it will lose it's heart and focus. the current WDC is the perfect poster child for this.

I am waiting to see what the new CEO's philosophy is. I sincerely believe Iger had to be very pragmatic financially to recover the company. From franchising every new attraction to the One Park business model. It was all an absolute necessity.

Interesting that instead of basing their latest addition on a Disney owned franchise, he choose an outside property. So we went from Carsland (100 per cent Disney) to Avatar which will mean shared revenues of some sort.

So perhaps the new CEO will have the financial freedom to go back to purely home grown additions to the theme parks. Perhaps that can mean fixing things like Energy or Imagination without the need to incorporate an established franchise.

Time will tell.

 

[asianway]

:lol:


BTW I find it interesting that DK is now closed due to excessive bandwidth. :shrug:

Too many people drooling over those pictures of the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom window pics. Or maybe the video of the RFID entry at EPCOT.

Definitely scary site crashing scoop...

 

[TP2000]

That's hardly Disney's doing. Forums in general (Disney and non-Disney) are dying.

I've noticed that too. LP has totally died off from what it was just a couple years ago, much less 5 or 10 years ago; as I've been a member of that site since it started in the late 90's. The others are a shadow of their former selves, while Micechat still gets a boost from being associated with Al Lutz and some other really solid contributors like Werner Weiss at Yesterland, etc. I find the Micechat conversations get just too SoCal Local AP nerdy for me (and yes, I know there are many here who find that hilariously ironic that I said that), and Micechat still has threads that get a hundred or more posts in a day and I simply can't keep up.

But forums overall are dying, I agree. I guess the kids are all twittering now about their tweets, and posting a few complete sentences to a dedicated website board is hopelessly square and 2000's for them.

 

[jakeman]

Many names being batted around in this thread...yet none from the one person they were requested from and none of them demonstrating the syrupy opinions (with the exception of Lou, but come on...) accused of either.

Interesting.

 

[Tigger1988]

Stitch Kingdom is very negative towards Disney and they still get invited places as press. I had to unfollow the twitter account because watching that guy harass the Disney Store President got old real fast.

 

[HMF]

But forums overall are dying, I agree. I guess the kids are all twittering now about their tweets, and posting a few complete sentences to a dedicated website board is hopelessly square and 2000's for them.

too 2000s for them? Oh boy! I am getting old.

 

[asianway]

Stitch Kingdom is very negative towards Disney and they still get invited places as press. I had to unfollow the twitter account because watching that guy harass the Disney Store President got old real fast.

I wonder if he still gets invites after badgering Jim-that will be the tale if the tape

 

[DisneyJoe]

he figured out a way to leech off of Disney instead of getting a real job

He's been working daily at this since 2003 if not before to become what you are calling a leech. I'd match his work ethic against anyone here.

I met him once in 2007 for a few hours and have exchanged a few emails. I would consider him an acquaintance. I'm more familiar with other travel agency owners than the owners of the sites that they sponsor.

I've been working selling Disney since 1997. Someday soon it will fully support my family's lifestyle instead of my day job in IT.

I'm not sure what your problem is, but most people who are earning money from their passion for Disney have been working very hard at it for many years.

If it takes me 15 years of hard work to earn press credentials or other perks from Disney and am deemed a leech by you, then so be it.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I KNOW that Disney created D23 and The Disney Parks Blog as methods of ripping apart the fan community and killing as many sites that skew to balanced (they'd call them negative) reporting on Disney. They've been quite successful. And I'm sure they'll only get better results moving ahead. They didn't do so because they love their fans and want to engage in a dialog with them.

My understanding is that D23 and the Disney Parks blog were created to "control the story" and quite frankly I've gotten more information from Lee and Jim Hill in the last year than I did the Disney Parks blog (although I suppose World of Avatar breaking is a major exception).

This is why I was so upset about the chat with Chris Beatty, it called back to how they used to do things and completely messed up a great opportunity for the blog. Honestly, they should be doing things like that with legit Q & A's on a regular basis and they shouldn't be the fluff that the first one was. We know that they had the harder questions in the hopper, they just chose not to pick them.

Disney is actively paying people for coverage by giving them free trips, swag and special access ... and it is making sure it isn't balanced coverage ... ask Al Lutz and Kevin Yee (two of the most legit personalities online) where their credentials are.

I ordered Jason Schultz and Kevin Yee's Disneyland Almanac today. It looks to be an amazing book.

Disclaimer - I am the owner of an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner agency.

If it happens to be Off to Neverland travel, send me a private message - I had a not so pleasant encounter with one of the agents.

WDW Today is that my pal Tom 'I wish I were Lou' Corless site? Again, I really don't half the sites out there because they aren't major. This one is. LP.com is. Miceage/Micechat is.

Tom's concession speech for the podcast awards was absolutely brilliant.

But you're confusing WDW Today (Matt Hochberg, Mike Newell, Mike Scopa, Len Testa) with (Tom Corless and a bunch of others)

:lol:
BTW I find it interesting that DK is now closed due to excessive bandwidth. :shrug:

That's not necessarily reflective of a popular site, it's reflective of a site that's more popular than you're paying for.

 

[WDW1974]

Hopefully this thread will still be around next week, because I don't have time to type a response to this right now (although I didn't have time to type the last TWO responses, either!) as I need to pack and put together a coffee table before the wife gets home.

For right now, though, I will enjoy being wrong as I go pack. I hear it's already Christmas in Disneyland! :xmas:

I am sure it will be around. But I won't be. Headed out west to spend Turkey Day with family and friends and then gonna be out in Vegas and at DL between business meetings in LA, so my posting here will be taking a break.

I kinda wish our DL trips had coincided because I enjoy the ability to be blunter in person than I am on online forums.

But I hope you have a great time at DL and I am looking forward to doing likewise -- and then at WDW too later in December!

~Spirited Hating Disney Coast to Coast Holiday 2011 Tour~

 

[WDW1974]

I'm involved in internet ad buying and web development, so I look at these types of issues daily.

Without gaining access to a site's log files I can't give you exact traffic numbers. However, I can look at the site and make some conclusions about its traffic and reach.

The site includes stats about visitors in the last 24 hours. Typically this is around 100 visitors who are registered. Let us multiply that by 10 to allow for unregistered users (which is probably generous). That gives us around 1000 visitors per day. Looking at the posting history on their forums, it is all repeat visits. So I would be willing to bet they have a core of repeat visitors of of between 100 and 1000.

Their Alexa ranking is in the irrelevant zone. Yes Alexa is not deadly accurate, but in my experience (and I have a lot of it), it is a very good guide in most cases. Good enough to form part of my opinion.

Their Twitter following is small, as is their Facebook.

The overall picture tells me the site is not relevant in terms of wide reach.

Infact, when it comes to WDW fan sites, there are only about 5 or 6 that are relevent in terms of large reach.To answer your question about which events they do not warrant an invite for - that would be all of them. As the site is not significant in expanding Disney's reach, they have gained nothing from this site. It is therefore a waste of money inviting them.

Far too any people these days think they can throw up a word press site and become some major force in their respective areas overnight. It doesn't work like that when things get serious.

I bolded what I believe is the key to this point/discussion. I just don't buy that a Mommy Blogger in Ohio is somehow reaching more eyes than MAGIC does or LP.com does ... or Micechat does ... or Mouseplanet does ... or the DISBOARDS do. I just don't.

And no one has come up with PROOF (and I'm talking inside Disney, not demanding it of folks on a Disney fan forum) that all of these sites are doing anything to expand Disney's consumer base. The reality is Disney is spending tens of millions annually on kissing up to many webmasters/bloggers/podcasters and I want to know how that is growing the business and by how much.

BTW, I visited my new Disney Store this week and am convinced it was designed with input from a typical Mommy Blogger in that it is simple, fake, plastic and has nothing to interest anyone over the age of 10.

~Spirited Hating Disney Coast to Coast Holiday 2011 Tour~

 

[WDW1974]

That's hardly Disney's doing. Forums in general (Disney and non-Disney) are dying.

That is true to an extent. And the evil vile FB and worse, Twitter, are certainly partly to blame.

It's very simple. And you don't need a seven figure consulting check (although who wouldn't want one?:wave::xmas to understand that.

People have decided its much better to hang out with a clique and talk in an echo chamber where they all agree on everything or most things. It's the same reason why you have people on different ends of the politcal spectrum getting their poisoned 'news' from either a FOX or a MSNBC.

No one wants to hear/read/debate anything that goes against their world (or World) views.

Much better to talk in a group of 20 about the Orange Bird in the Twitterverse (something insiginificant that no one under the age of 35 should even be aware of) then to discuss why WDW has issues with Spirits you may not agree with.

BUT ... Disney is nudging the process along too!

~Spirited Hating Disney Coast to Coast Holiday 2011 Tour~