The New York Times Co. released its earnings report for 4Q 2011, which did not reflect the recent sale of its Regional Media Group (worth $150 million plus tax benefits). Operating profit fell $5 million from 4Q 2010 to $106.6 million, and revenues dropped to $643 million.

Facebook filed a nearly 200-page S-1 statement to register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In it, the company claims 845 million users, more than half of which (483 million) are daily active users, a 48% increase over Dec. 2010.

A woman from Brooklyn, N.Y., is suing Hearst Communications, Inc. for wages she says are owed to her and others who interned at Harper's Bazaar and other Hearst magazines, working 40-55 hours per week without any compensation.

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) released statistics that show ebook growth slowed somewhat in November, although it is still high overall. Ebooks are still up 65.9% over Nov. 2010. In the same November-to-November window, trade sales were down 3.5%.

Yahoo! announced that it is pulling development and support for 10 of its less-popular mobile apps. While some of the apps are popular on the web and others were created for mobile users, consumers are not using them as much as Yahoo! would like.

In an effort to help brands better understand the intent and motivations of their target audiences, San Francisco-based Twelvefold Media--which calls itself "an emotive-based media company that helps brands target, reach and persuade engaged audiences"--introduced the Mindset Index on Jan. 24.

Hot gossip, recipes, cute baby photos and juicy tidbits about office Christmas party shenanigans aren't the only things being shared on Facebook these days. Many folks actually use the social network king to pass on interesting news articles, too. In fact, a look at what made the list of the top 40 most shared articles on Facebook in 2011 can offer some interesting clues to publishers and media outlets as to what makes a story "shareable."

Ireland, once seen as country with an economy based solely on manufacturing, has blossomed into what some call "the Internet capital of Europe." Many of the top tech companies, such as Google, Facebook, Zynga, PopCap, IBM, Microsoft, Apple and HP, have international offices in Ireland, an otherwise relatively small country. In September Twitter announced its plans to locate an international office on the green isle, tweeting "Ireland is trending. Twitter to establish international office in Dublin. #idairl". According to Emmanuel Dowdall, global department manager for content, consumer and business services for the Industrial Development Agency Ireland (IDA), that announcement was re-tweeted over 650,000 times.

Scout Analytics last week announced a new research division, Scout Research, which is "dedicated to providing revenue intelligence for digital publishers," according to the Issaquah, WA-based company that calls itself "the leader in digital revenue optimization for publishers." Scout kicked off its new venture with an analysis of the age-old problem of the print vs. digital revenue models.

In 2008, Rafat Ali sold ContentNext media--the company behind paidContent.org--to UK-based Guardian News and Media, Co. for a reported $30 million. He left the company in 2010, and now Guardian is looking for a buyer for the property. Based in New York City, the company covers the business of digital media, serving decision makers within the media, entertainment, publishing, advertising, marketing, and technology sectors.

From an outsider's perspective, being a professional freelance writer may seem like the dream job. After all, you can make your own hours, work from the comfort of home (or from your local Starbucks), and handpick which projects you want to pursue based on your level of expertise or interest. Those who are active in the field know this is far from true. For many freelancers, finding a job that appropriately compensates their level of skill, and relaying that job into a steady gig takes patience, perseverance, and a whole lot of practice writing query letters. But there's good news for freelancers. The market is changing.

Few, if any, would argue that the internet has dramatically and permanently changed the publishing industry. As print publishers have scrambled to find ways to compete with and, ultimately, embrace the digital world, some are excelling through a combination of traditional and online options. Others, new to publishing, are operating in the online-only world, but everyone is dealing with the age-old problem of circulation building and audience development.

Somewhere between unknown, independent bloggers and traditional publishers with well-respected reputations are the sites known as content farms--websites that generate a large quantity of content specifically designed to rank high in search engine results. They range from local, content-driven sites such as AOL's Patch and Examiner.com to how-to sites such as Howcast and Demand Media's eHow.com to topic-focused sites such as Suite101 and Associated Content.

There is a new breed of content creator seeking to dominate the world of search-based information gathering by leveraging keyword-driven editorial missions and a huge supply of journalists who currently find themselves in need of revenue streams. Are these so-called content farms the end of cultivated content or do they represent a necessary state in the evolution of the content creation model?

That old stalwart, email, and some Web 2.0 upstarts like wikis and blogs, are supposed to make us more productive and collaborative. However, organizations must consider how to get all digital communication and collaboration tools to conform to business best practices and legal requirements.

It's been a busy year for U.K. media. It started off with the pomp and ceremony of the Royal Wedding, moved to the embarrassing unravelling of News Corp. over a phone-hacking scandal, and ended with the devastating riots, which started in North London and then inspired copycat lawlessness in cities across the country for a few alarming days in August. When you look at it all written out like that, it's a wonder we survived at all!

My family has a long history with the border town of Laredo, Texas. As a child my mother moved around a lot along with her six older siblings, as part of an Air Force family. Laredo just happened to be one of the towns that stuck. Two of my aunts and one of my uncles still call it home, along with their families. As a born and bred New Englander, it's pretty much another planet to me.

I recently jumped on the Mad Men bandwagon. That Jon Hamm sure is handsome, and boy oh boy, did they smoke a lot. There's plenty to gawk at-and cringe at-on that show. The sexism. The debauchery. All those pregnant ladies hitting the bottle and smoking up a storm. As I watch--floating somewhere between awe and disgust--the goings-on of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce have got me pondering the modern business of advertising.

For the past year, I researched the business practices of the Grateful Dead as I wrote (with co-author Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot) a book published by John Wiley & Sons recently called Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History. As I was preparing the manuscript, I was struck by how many lessons apply to content businesses of all kinds.

We've seen the shuttering of dozens of B2B publications, we see some moving online only, and we see the emergence of web-native alternatives that leverage work-at-home flexibility to create content at a lower cost: no offices, no benefits, no salaries, lower freelance fees, etc. However, even these nimble web-based companies are struggling to survive on banner ads and webinars.