It is hard to recall a news story that so obviously revealed the changing face of media as much as the most recent scandal involving Eliot Spitzer.
It is hard to recall a news story that so obviously revealed the changing face of media as much as the most recent scandal involving Eliot Spitzer. On Monday, within two hours of posting an article connecting New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to a prostitution ring, traffic on the NYTimes.com web site spiked 60 percent higher than at the same time the previous Monday, with mobile traffic nearly doubling during the same time period. As the story began to unfold in the coming days, resulting in Spitzer’s eventual resignation on Wednesday, the Times’ website continued to show signs of strain and slowdowns, as it sluggishly heaved through the traffic of the hungry public who wanted the most up to date information available. And it was perhaps Spitzer himself who recognized how quickly news is spread, proof being that he stood on a podium making apologies for his misjudgment and poor character less than two hours after the news of his involvement in a prostitution ring broke, denial wasn’t even an option. Besides revealing the well known fact that no one loves a sex scandal quite like a New Yorker, the speed-of-light pace at which the details of Spitzer’s scandal were exposed, prove that in this increasing world of digital connectedness, there really is no hiding from a scandal or the Internet news machine. This may just look like another political and personal failing (Clinton 2.0?) however this news story also revealed some interesting patterns about the way in which the Internet and social networking are changing how a news story plays out in the public, on TV and in the papers, and further proves that now more than ever, the media must aggressively attempt to stay ahead of their tech-savvy public who knows how to retrieve details and information faster and sometimes even better than they do. It wasn’t only that people were hungry to learn the details of Spitzers’ story, but rather they sought to stake a personal claim in the scandal as well, and there is no easier way to do that than buying domain names. Minutes after an article was posted on New York Times referring to Spitzer as the particular “Client 9” that was named in a criminal complaint filed by prosecutors last week, the client9.com domain name was registered for $10.13, and in addition to this purchase other savvy business minds bought client-9.net, and client-9.com. And it doesn’t stop there. As we found out in the days that followed, it appears that the very break-through in this case itself has been intricately affected by the amount of data exchanged on the Internet through a variety of digital platforms. What led the FBI and the IRS to Spitzer in the first place was a complex electronic virtual paper trail that revealed a large unaccountable movement of cash, corroborated by telephone wiretaps, computer records and other electronic evidence. With this information stored permanently on a variety of servers and databases it really does call into question what other persona digital traces are out there being tracked, and what if any, are the rules of privacy are associated to them—in this case the possible criminality of the act proved privacy wasn’t a concern when retrieving Spitzers’ records. In an article for Businessweek.com, Hillary Rhodes points out another interesting aspect of this news story, highlighting the changing face of one of the oldest professions in the midst of the wired world. Rhodes writes “the prostitution scandal involving New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer lays bare some of the inner workings of modern day sex work: text messaging to clock in the client, electronic fund transfers, a Web site featuring color photos, prices and rankings” and I would add, an easier more convenient method of payment. 
As Rhodes goes on to discuss, workers also use high-tech measures to avoid getting caught by the police (wire taps, cameras etc.), and in the case of Spitzer, also use technology to do the catching. And just when you thought the web of technology couldn’t be weaved any more tightly around this case, the infamous “Kristen” whom Spitzer was said to have been with on the night of February 13th, was revealed to the public via her Myspace page to be a woman named Ashley Alexandra Dupre. The ease of access to this information may cause Myspace devotees to rethink their security settings. In addition to the New York Times article which splashed the shots of Ashley across any empty space they had available, CNN showed screenshots of the Myspace screenshots, and awkwardly scrolled through Ashley’s page reading her “about me” stating them as a testimonial of her theories on life, and as insight into her psyche. At just about the same time this media bonfire was ablaze, local news crews camped outside her apartment tracking her every digital move saying, “We can tell from her Myspace page that she has signed on this evening.” It is hard to think of another story in recent history whose details unwound so immediately and one that also relied so heavily on a social networking site for a solid evidentiary source. In addition to Ashley’s face gracing the cover of every major newspaper and news program; it appears that her goal to be an R&B artist is now more fully realized than ever. She sells her music on Amie Street, which sets the price of songs based upon how quickly and how much it sells. With her new found fame it appears Ashley’s song is now selling more quickly than Radiohead at 98 cents per download, so even she is cashing in.
And if selling songs faster than Thom Yorke is not exciting enough, there are now 13 Facebook groups dedicated solely to Ashley. Every angle of this news story points to the rapid rate at which information is consumed and exchanged throughout a number of growing digital outlets—from the reveal of initial scandal to the way in which the perpetrator was caught in the first place. Whether it is a story breaking on a popular newspaper website, buying domain names to stake a claim to Internet intellectual property, or cruising Myspace to better understand the psyche behind a scandal, one thing remains clear, new media has made the public life of politicians and breaking news stories even more public and consumable.
Internet privacy is a topic that makes most of us sit up tall and listen. Most people could never imagine having their identity stolen and the repercussions that it can burden you with both financially and socially. But what if targeted advertising is all about making the ads we see online, on the TV and on your mobile phone more bearable and possibly even enjoyable?
More than three out of four corporate advertisers – 78% to be exact – said they have less confidence today in the effectiveness of TV advertising than they did two years ago, according to a survey released at the 
With MySpace, Bebo and Facebook all posting double-digit percentage hits in Q4 2007, where should advertisers be looking?
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