What Newspapers Can Do NOW To Gain Readership
March 20, 2008 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
Newspapers have a bad reputation of being reactionary (although much of the American media is quite reactionary in nature) but here are some things I think newspapers should do NOW to gain readership and credibility in the communities they serve.
- Update your website more than 3 or 4 times a day, information is always becoming more clear as stories develop, let that be reflected on the web. I would even suggest time-stamping updates to stories so that your readers know that you are WORKING for them.
- Don’t ignore stories after they’ve been reported once. Make sure your reporters know how to edit and change web stories, have them post followups and additional information even after they’ve moved on to other stories.
- Open comments on your web site, in order to gain any credibility you need to allow and embrace commenting on stories, sources, and reporters by the public. Let the public have a voice. While it may seem very scary, it’s more necessary than you think right now.
- Let the public report on their own stories. No one else knows more about what the public wants than the public itself. Allow them to contribute news, information, text, images, video, and more to your news organization… Then publicize it and let them see their own work.
- Editors and filters don’t have to be out of the picture with user generated content, but stringent rules and regulations and fears of the public do need to be out of the picture.
Those are just a few of the many ideas I have about what the newspaper industry need to do in order to gain readership and respect in this new age. It is in no way exhaustive, and there are many other steps, tools, and advice I can give on those subjects.
Here’s the real lesson: Transparency, Participation, Conversation, and Trust.
Why Your Business Needs To Focus On Relationships More and On Money Less - Dawud Miracle @ dmiracle.com -
March 4, 2008 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
(Via dmiracle.)
I’ve blogged many times before about the lack of effective monetization for news organizations on the web. It’s not just news orgs that need better ads and monetization strategies, believe me, I’ve been there.
Many of the web sites I built and sold have been ad revenue based, and none of it was easy. Some of the sites that i’ve built over the years didn’t even make much money, but they sold for more than the sites that were making twice or more. Know what the difference was? Heart, the ones that sold high I had put more time into them and they had ‘meaning’.
The web isn’t just about making money and taking names, it’s about building relationships and networks now. This is what web 2.0 is really about. It’s about the people. People make the mashable web go round.
The blog post I’m highlighting here talks about relationships and conversations being worth more than than the revenue your site is supposed to generate as it relates to businesses.
Now I understand that The Man wants to make his or her money from web ventures, but relationships and conversations can, and do, bring much more to the table. By gaining respect and ‘friends’ in the social web you’re able to use those connections and real people to your advantage.
There’s nothing quite like getting real, honest feedback from people who actually visit your site and have something to say about it.
So as you’re launching the next big web venture remember that, money is important, but the relationships are just as important, and often more important than the revenue.
Journalism
January 19, 2008 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
First we had newspapers, then radio and television, and now the Internet, cell phones, and more. The practice of journalism has evolved for a long time and will continue to change. In recent years however, the way journalists and news media present facts and information has changed dramatically. Journalists and the business behind the news can no longer sleep heavily and depend on slow growth and profits.
The constant invention and expansion of news delivery formats has increased the demand for journalists, producers, and sales people to exert more time and energy in forging new relationships and connections with more people and businesses.
As news and information is further commoditized it becomes more important for a journalistic entity to expand it’s reach and stretch it’s resources.
Here are some journalism pieces that I either wrote or edited for various news organizations. All links open in a new window
WDAF-TV 4 (Fox Affiliate)
Special Projects:
Kelsey Smith, 18, was ubducted from a Target parking lot. I generated original and online exclusive content including live-streaming from SkyFox helicopter, live-chats taking questions from viewers, and moderating hundreds of blogs and discussion board posts.
Planned, Designed, and Implemented Afternoon Web Update. This is a brief that is posted every-day from 3PM till 5PM with ‘everything you need to know for the drive home’.
Moderated and participated in FOX sponsored chat and blog sessions on a daily basis.
Planned, designed, programmed, and prepared for launch a special pets related micro-site.
General Assignment:
- New KCMO HR Director Missing
- Kansas City Kansas Man Fights For Custody
- Child Sent to Hospital For Tick Bite
- Woman Jogger Nearly Abducted in Lenexa
- Ruling Opens Doors For Executions to Resume
KOMU-TV 8 (NBC Affiliate)
Special Projects:
Planned, Designed, and Coordinated a community site for viewer interaction based on the open source Drupal project.
Moderate and Post blogs and news updates to legacy discussion board system.
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OtherProfiles
