The Internet Co. Robert Persing 16 Sep 1993 15:23 UTC
Last month, a message was posted on the Autocat list from a company called The Internet Co., of Hudson, Mass. The message was really an advertisment for a new subscription agency service (which the listowner pointed out was an inappropriate use of an Internet bulletin board). The service, called "The Electronic Newsstand", plans to offer subscription agency services through a Gopher. For titles which contract for the service, the Internet Co. will post their tables of contents online. Interested parties can then order either single issues or subscriptions online, using the Internet Co. as the subscription agent. The press release does not mention whether any fees or discounts are involved on the orders. The company reports having signed up several publications, including "The New Yorker, The Economist, The New Republic, Foreign Affairs, National Review, Technology Review, Eating Well, Outside Magazine, The Journal of NIH Research, The Source, and New Age Journal." More titles are being invited to participate. Two statements about the company's purpose particularly struck me. In the memo, Robert Raisch, president of the Internet Company and COO of Electronic Newsstand, says, "Our service is designed to showcase an advertiser's products and services." Further down, he again says that "the Internet can serve vast amounts of information to benefit advertisers and their consumers." On the question of access, Raisch says, "Once a customer accesses our service, we are able to collect information from customers actively, by asking questions, or passively, by simply watching where they visit and what documents they retrieve." The idea of using the Internet to easily place subscription orders, and of publishers willingly participating in such a system, intrigues me. However, something about both the above statements makes me wonder what the true purpose of the service is -- whether its primary focus is really on selling subscriptions, or rather on providing advertising publishers with marketing data and a foot in the Internet door. Has anyone starting using this service for placing library subscriptions? If so, what have been your reactions? I'm very curious to hear real reactions from users before proceeding any further. ***************************************************************************** Bob Persing "I find TV very educational. Every time Assistant Head of Serials someone turns one on, I go and read a Van Pelt Library good book." --Groucho Marx University of Pennsylvania 3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6278 (215) 898-2815 persing@pobox.upenn.edu or persing@a1.relay.upenn.edu *****************************************************************************