A lot of commentary regarding the recent Intelliseek/BuzzMetrics VNU deal, and Nielsen's position wrt the new company have focused on two things: measuring media consumption and using that measurement to inform advertisers (and thereby, for those whose glasses are half-full, influencing the content that hosts the adverts). This perspective is, perhaps, forgivable. However, I would encourage anyone with a true interest in the consolidated company, and the implications for both the user-generated media anlaytics space as well as the blogosphere in general to both look at the offerings pre-deal described on Intelliseek's and BuzzMetrics' sites and to look in greater depth at the range of products and services offered by A.C. Nielsen. They are more than just numbers.
On a related note, refer to Matt's post, and this raving lunatic to get some perspective on what happens when the consumers of consumer-generated media are recognized as the producers, oh - and customers as well. The issue is pertinent: in the traditional media model, there are two distinct classes - producers and consumers. The new world just isn't like that.
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