This video by Amani Channel has its issues – he spends the first 50 seconds or so reciting his resume – but it also sends a clear, important message: The user has to come first in today’s news business.
In 2007, as we began working on 209Vibe.com, a friend told me I should check out self-described Internet punk Rob Curley. Curley had been the online editor at the Lawrence, Kan., Journal-World, and my friend recommended I research (what I was told was) his work on Lawrence.com. The site was, and still is, a model for hyperlocal entertainment coverage. It’s interesting, engaging and its design always seems to be ahead of the curve.
Curley later went on to other media companies in Kansas and Florida before joining Washingtonpost.Newsweek and, in 2008, Lasvegassun.com. There he’s continued to earn accolades and, according to a story this week on Lasvegascitylife.com, he’s ruffled his fair share of feathers. The story says in part that Curley’s Web-first emphasis as well as his efforts to generate revenue have earned him the scorn of some in the newsroom.
But whether or not it can work financially shouldn’t be the only question journalists ask themselves before seeking philanthropic support.
More importantly, they need to ask if it’s moral.
Again, there’s only so much nonprofit funding available. Donors don’t have enough money to support every worthwhile cause; instead, they choose to fund some charities over others.
I’m sitting at my kitchen table with a cup of coffee on a Sunday morning monitoring three Twitter accounts, a Facebook page and a MySpace page (all via Tweetdeck) as well as two Google Waves. Combined, they reach a total of between 4,000-5,000 social media users, mostly in Stockton and San Joaquin County.
It’s gotten me thinking about the effective use of social media in the news industry (as well as my crazed obsession with the Internet, but that’s a different post for a different time.) We in the online media world like to jump on the latest, coolest social media technologies and try to put them to work at our news organizations. Our theory is that social media will play an important role in the future of communication, and we in the online world need to be progressive when it comes to using new technology.
I don’t disagree, but given the number of social media sites out there, and the still relatively small audience for social media in some markets, I’ve been wondering how we can organize our limited schedules and resources to best take advantage of those technologies. Is it worthwhile to spend hours Tweeting when there are less than 500 Tweeps in your community? Should we focus on providing new content to lure users in, or should we be doing more to look for new marketing tactics to let users know we’re available online? Does social media’s success at targeting niche markets mean we should be moving away from providing general news coverage online?
