Thanks to Eric Schwartzel at the Post-Gazette for sending me this great, funny video. The P-G has rolled out 2D barcodes (aka QR codes) in their print product that are designed to be used by smartphones.
I’m all in favor of videos like this, that guide our readers/users through the process of learning what 2D barcodes are all about, and how to use them. I’d like to see a little more of an explanation of what these codes do, to make the case to the readers as to why they should use them. One of the real interesting possibilities is using these codes alongside of reviews of concerts or movies to take the readers to m-commerce sites, where the paper will get a slice of the ticket sales.
Of course, that’s going to take some time/development money, but for an industry looking for a viable business model to replace the dwindling dead-tree advertising revenues, shifting towards a more PPC-like biz model makes a lot of sense.
