Does this mean bricks and clicks can NEVER be joined?

Blockbuster, Barnes & Noble and other major retail "bricks" stores have tried repeatedly and as this NYT article reports, generally failed to beat their online-only rivals -- Netflix and Amazon, respectively.

Does this mean all bricks retailer efforts to build business online are doomed?

No, of course not, but...it does mean you have to commit to a host of changes in how you do business. All your business. What changes, exactly? I knew you were going to ask that! Good question! Next...

Okay, here are some starting points:
1. Accept that there is a new world. Begin to grapple with the implications: pricing, new definitions and ways of achieving trust, customer power, level of customer service, best practices defined not by your old competitors, but globally, online.
2. New business model, often not compatible with your well-established one.
3. Probability of losses or low profits for a while -- painful when you have an established, profitable business that you're cannibalizing...for this?
4. New metrics of success -- with the right ones hidden in a flood of new metrics, not all of them relevant.
5. Faster pace: products, customer service, changes to plan needed.

Other issues you see?

Advertising IS (local) news -- if done right

Gordon Borrell, one of the wise men (I deliberately omit "old") of media new and old, points out that a century-old saying is just as, if not even truer in our mobile, drive-by news world. And wouldn't you know it, one of the supposed dying icons of print advertising, Yellowbook, is trying a quick follow of the leader Groupon, with weforia.com. Can't help myself: when do you think newspapers will figure out that this might work?

Borrell Associates, Inc: Local Interactive & Online Advertising Research and Consulting

What We Can Learn From Alien Hunters - Advertising Age - CMO Strategy

Jonathan Salem Baskin makes a very good point: "Purpose, legitimacy and direction are core drivers of conversations, whatever the medium." Too many social media campaigns are merely clever, but not really rooted in a relationship to the product or service.

What We Can Learn From Alien Hunters - Advertising Age -

12 sites that "get" it -- good models

Lori Luechtefeld at iMediaConnection explains what makes each of these sites so good at what they're trying to do. Levi's has gone so far as to remake its site using Facebook lingo, for example.

12 killer websites worth watching - iMediaConnection.com

Now that we're all on social media, which type of ads are most effective?

A research firm with the great name Psychster has answered the question, at least for now. They tested seven different types, on their client's site allrecipes.com, and on Facebook: brand profile pages with fans and without, widgets you can give to your friends or get, banner ads, newsletters, and sponsored content.

Spoiler alert: ads that matched the site they were on performed best, regardless of type! And engagement, at least as measured as propensity to interact with the ad, seemed not as likely to generate buying intent.

MediaPost Publications What Type Of Social Media Ads Are The Most Effective? 03/30/2010

Superpages Offers Coupons to Small Businesses on Twitter | Response Magazine

Another corner turned in the race-- which will make money (appropriate to the usage) first, Twitter or Facebook? And, more to the point, which will make itself more useful to small businesses first?

Superpages Offers Coupons to Small Businesses on Twitter | Response Magazine

Predicting lifespan of online communities

Through Shaping Tomorrow I found this study of what factors influence the longevity of online communities. "Researchers have previously claimed that there are too many variables influencing the survival or demise of such channels and that there is therefore no way of testing it, and earlier studies have primarily focused on group size and activity."

Turns out the key factor is how quickly the membership turns over -- the more frequently, at least to a point, the better. Those old friends, your first members, loyal as they are, don't contribute much to the life of the network, it seems.