7 Reasons Why Hospital Blogs Are Awesome Content Marketing Platforms

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I recently read a very simple article Why Hospital Blogs Fail. My biggest takeaway from the article was, wha????

Reality Check: Blogs of any kind are only as good as the effort put into them. Look at this blog for instance. I almost never write to it any more, commenting has been disabled to minimize spam and virus attacks, and the focus has shifted over the years. As a result, traffic has fallen off a cliff. BTW if you like fishing head on over to the greatest fishing blog ever, my other pet project where I now devote much of my time. As a result? That blog gets 11k pageviews a month and growing! I’m like scrooge mcDuck swimming around in gold coins!!!

Hospital blogs and why they are awesome content marketing platforms:

  1. Free Content, Free Content Marketing
      Good for humans and search engines. Content marketing allows everything below to happen.
  2. Free Quality Backlinks
      Great for search engines
  3. Free social media fodder
      Great for humans and SERP’s
  4. A Free platform to trumpet your achievements
      Great for Staff and SERP’s
  5. Free platform to repost your videos
      You are posting your videos to YouTube right?
  6. Free place to repurpose Press Releases as articles
      Great use of resources, your boss will be proud.
  7. You may actually connect with a reader!
      When that glorious day happens, shower them with praise as if they were standing right in front of you saying, “I liked your post, thanks for sharing.”

How to crush it with your hospital blog:

  1. DO NOT PUBLISH YOUR BLOG ON YOUR OWN WEBSITE
      By publishing your blog on one of the many local news outlets (that would love to get free content) you are exposing your hospital to a wider audience than people who already know you exist.
  2. Focus on educational pieces.
      If your wife or girlfriend won’t read it, it’s junk.
  3. Incorporate lots of photos and video
  4. Link, Link, Link
  5. You may actually connect with a reader!
      When that glorious day happens, shower them with praise as if they were standing right in front of you saying, “I liked your post, thanks for sharing.” Yes I repeated this line.

Who is this guy and with what level of authority is he telling me Hospital Blogs are awesome content marketing platforms? google me.

Ask a non-expert: Kindle Fire review

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Ordered a Kindle Fire out of shear curiosity and it arrived yesterday. Here’s my take so far.
PROS:
1. It’s smaller than an iPad making it a pleasure to hold with one hand while navigating with the other.

2. The screen size is just big enough to watch movies on without your eyeballs melting.

3. $199 for a new toy isn’t bad.

4. $75 annual amazon prime membership gives me access to 10k videos (movies, tv shows) and a book library where i can borrow a book a month. (I took out The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins)

5. The controls are mostly intuitive; tap, double tap, spread, swipe, etc…

6. It has adobe air and adobe flash player

7. You can toggle the browser display between Desktop mode and Mobile mode and the websites you visit will reflect that setting.

CONS:
1. You need a WiFi connection at all times to do anything worth doing (aside from reading a book you downloaded)

2. The memory is a measly 6.54 gig so don’t think you can just download everything and sidestep the WiFi need.

3. You need an $75 annual amazon prime membership to access the videos and books.

4. No camera

5. One browser issue, see screenshot below.

6. Navigation not as intuitive as an iPhone or iPad. My 3yo uses those with ease, but the kindle he fumbled around with. Me, i couldn’t find the sound setting (it’s buried under the settings gear icon in the upper right hand corner of the window)

7. I really don’t want to buy two of everything apple apps and amazon apps! blegh…

Overall, I’m still enjoying the device. I’m reading a book and got to watch Girl with the dragon tattoo so i’m happy with that. BUT you need a WiFi connection and an amazon prime account to make this worth your while. Amazon should have sold this for $274 bundled with amazon prime.

EDIT: I have not used this device in months. My kids and I fight over the iPad…sorry amazon try again.


BlackBerry for scale.

Houston we have a problem.

Day 10 – 31 Days to an Even Better Blog

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EDIT – This test has been abandoned because the source material is obsolete, don’t waste your money.

Before we get into Day 10 – A quick recap.

I continue on my quest to grow RoundValleyFishing.com to 100,000+ monthly pageviews with the goal of becoming the best fishing blog on the internet.

I started a meetup.com group – Round Valley Fishing Meetup Group and have scheduled the first event for August 6th. I’m excited about the offline opportunity here and even seen a little bump in traffic from the promo. (I’ve been tweeting the group and upcoming event on facebook, twitter, the website and meetup.com promotes it for me whenever someone in the are is looking for fishing.) The cost of the service is $79 for 6 months so I’ll need to defray my costs with a sale of something or take it out of my monthly Google adsense revenue.

Although I’m on day 10 now i technically started on July 1st so 22 days have elapsed. Here are my GA stats for July 1st to 22nd VS the same time period prior:

google analytics report showing pre 31 day campaign

As you can see everything expcept visits is up, but i’m not worried about that because the green blip you see is from an awesome fishing article that went viral on reddit and brought in lots of new readers.

My organic traffic and referral traffic continues to grow. As does my monthly eNewsletter list which grown by 10% in the last few weeks.
——–
Day 10 – ok, day 10 is all about setting up alerts to monitor what’s happening in your niche and then using that info to react. I’ve been using google alerts to do this for a few years now so nothing new here. I will say that this is a MUST for any serious blogger or corporate communications officer. You’d be amazed at what google can fined.

How I use Google Alerts:

  • Breaking News
  • as inspiration for articles if they are really suited for that
  • if it’s just a one-off story I’ll just mention it in my news section and link to it.
  • if round valley is mentioned in a news article or forum I’ll be sure to go in and leave a comment and link back to my site OR more likely a link back to my site in my profile page (less spammy, less likely to get banned.)

That’s it, see you next time.

Day 9 – 31 Days to an Even Better Blog

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Day 9 is about joining a forum related to your niche and participating over a long period of time with goal being 1.adding value to your readers 2. piquing the interest of the forum readers enough to drive them back to your blog (by learning more about you in your forum profile.)

Directly joining a fishing forum and attempting to drive traffic away from it to your own blog seems a little shady. I know I would not want it done to me. (I did join a few newspaper sites and link back to roundvalleyfishing.com though)

Instead I have google alerts set up for every possible scenario concerning my niche and depending on the story i either link to it, comment in it or blog about it. I do leave comments in my local paper comments sections too but i really don’t see any value in it as far as the analytics data shows. I do join facebook groups and participate there, so this is the new “forum” for 2011.

I do have my own forum but it sees little activity. Facebook has killed the forum model for newer publications.

I believe this day 9 suggestion was more relevant pre facebook and google+ where sharing and filters were harder.

Day 8 – 31 Days to an Even Better Blog

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Day 8 is all about interlinking your blog posts to boost pageviews and provide more value to your readers. I’m already running the YARPP plugin which auto-suggests related articles at the end of a post, but interlinking puts the actual links back into the body of your posts. It is a manual, time-consuming process.

For the biggest bang for my buck, I looked through my Google Analytics account to see which posts are most popular and decided to ad interlinks to the top ten.

Day 7 – 31 Days to an Even Better Blog

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Day 7 is about linking to other blogs. The idea here is that you are giving your readers value by sharing more info than just your own. Nowadays we often link using twitter and facebook, not so much in the actual blog posts themselves and remember that you will bleed pagerank to lower pagerank blogs so use rel=”nofollow” in your anchor tag when linking to lesser domains.

Darren also suggest using google alerts to monitor your niche for content ideas. This I agree with and have been using for quite some time.

So i’m going to write a link post. I think i’ll do, 11 Best Fishing Stories Of All Time. Then submit to Reddit, Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and a few others and hope it takes off.

Cheers.

Day 6 – 31 Days to an Even Better Blog

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Day 6 is about learning from the pro bloggers, top marketing people like Seth Godin (do yourself a favor and read everything he’s ever published), and SEO experts like Rand Fishkin.

I particularly like reading Seth Godin’s Build Traffic To Your Blog article. It is still relevant today.

As a sidenote, I’m sure Rand would freak out if he saw Seth’s url structure sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/06/how_to_get_traf.html ie. how_to_get_traf that’s terrible for search engines 1. it’s incomplete and 2. it uses underscores instead of hyphens – see webmaster topic:
“Google has traditionally considered the underscore as a true character and not a separator. They did this so people can directly search on technical keywords that contain the underscore character, such as _borders or mod_rewrite. ”

But once you are as big as Seth Godin or even Webmaster World, pretty urls are less meaningful because your audience will be linking to you, giving you all the link juice you need.

One of the best takeaways is from ChrisBrogan.com
“Never write the me-too blog. Look to be ahead of the wave and feeding backwards, not behind the wave and eating someone’s wake.”

Day 5 – 31 Days to an Even Better Blog

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Day 5 is about community building through reader interaction. Darren suggests emailing readers or responding to comments in the comment field of an article.

I do chat up my readers, but increasingly it is through Facebook or Reddit. The number of readers leaving comments on my blog post comment box is about 1 out of every 1000 visits (roughly 1 out of 10 if I’m giving something away). But on Facebook those same articles are discussed almost daily. I also wind up emailing or getting emails from readers through Facebook several times per month.

While a rough industry standard for comment to reader ratio is 1 to 100 I believe my lower comment ratio is a reflection of my market segment. Fisherman are loathe to give up any info and indeed it is the reason i started roundvalleyfishing.com to begin with – to spread good information.

Day 4 – 31 Days to an Even Better Blog

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Day 4 is about analyzing a top blog in your niche, with the goals being to either emulate some facet of blogging they do that you are currently not and / or becoming inspired to do something better. Top blogs are doing well for a reason, find out what that reason is.

I consider njfishing.com to be my biggest local competitor and fieldandstream.com/fishing to be my biggest national target.

NJfishing:

  • A large / vibrant community that has been built up over several years.
  • Their main focus is on saltwater fishing, but that doesn’t stop fisherman from fishing and posting about their freshwater exploits.
  • They publish almost no articles. The forums are the main focus of the site.
  • They appear to make most of their money from local advertising though they do have google adsense running as well.
  • As of this writing Compete lists them as having roughly 8k monthly uniques/month

Fieldandstream:

  • Decades old print publication.
  • Full staff of writers, editors, photographers and freelancers
  • Contests, Giveaways, Photo Submissions

    • fieldandstream

  • Sensational stories / TMZ style reporting. See above
  • As of this writing Compete lists them as having roughly 400k monthly uniques/month
  • They appear to make most of their money from national advertising though through doubleclick.
  • Their photo galleries are short on text and each picture loads a new page… sneaky way to build up pageviews.

Takeaways:
Not much going on at njfishing that i can beat over night. It took them a while to build up their numbers to the forums and it seems everyone knows everyone on there. Its another old boys club.

I can learn a lot from field and stream. They have deeper full blown feature articles, but I like their content – light photo articles for building up pageviews. will be brainstorming on that.

Day 3 – 31 Days to an Even Better Blog

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Day 3 is about promoting a blog post. The ideas is to get other people linking to your content. Darren suggests using social networks like Delicious and Digg. Well, Digg is dead so I won’t be using that and delicious has been sold to the founders of YouTube. When the heck was this written? I just bought it!

The important takeaway is to leverage the prevailing social media channels right now to promote your blog post.

I have been submitting relevant articles to Reddit.com/r/fishing and that has been working out great. It is by far the best source of social media traffic. Check out the screenshot below of my latest 30 day analytics for roundvalleyfishing.com

referring sites

you see reddit is crushing everything else and notice twitter… wait where is twitter? It seems twitter is not used by my target audience, no problem, I just pay more attention to Reddit and Facebook.

I also belong to a few linkedin groups and post articles there every once in a while but only if it’s appropriate. You can really upset that crowd easily.

I have an opt-in eNewsletter through MailChimp where once a month a I mail out my top posts on the site. It’s a completely automated process once I set it up, it just pulls articles from my RSS feed. Very Easy and FREE. I always get a little bump in traffic when these go out. Again, I only do it once a month because i don’t want to be spammy.

Another place to promote is through a WordPress plugin and service called BlogGlue. It’s free under a certain usage. Add partners to cross promote content among your network of blogs. Pretty sweet setup. I’ve seen my visits and pageviews rise since installing this plugin.

I did have one actionable takeaway from day 3. I added my blog to Technorati. Don’t know if anyone still uses Technorati, but roundvalleyfishing is now there too and it’s an RSS feed so I really don’t have to do anything. EDIT: looks like Technorati is not indexing my blog… does it matter, pretty sure no one uses Technorati for anything.

Adios day 3.
Read day 1-2

Day 1 and 2 – 31 Days to an Even Better Blog

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I went and bought Darren Rowse’s ebook http://www.problogger.net/31dbbb-workbook/

“31 Days to Build a Better Blog is a downloadable e-book designed to help you revitalize your blog by giving you 31 tasks that will all help to turn it into the page view powerhouse you’ve always dreamed of. ”

My goal is to speed up the growth of my fishing blog RoundValleyFishing.com which gets roughly 11,000 pageviews per month. I want to get that up to 110,000 pageviews per month to increase my income.

This shows 1 year growth:

Here is my baseline from June of 2011:
4,744
Visits

3,137
Absolute Unique Visitors

11,346
Pageviews

2.39
Average Pageviews

00:02:38
Time on Site

63.79%
Bounce Rate

59.82%
New Visits

Day 1 is about publishing a list post, that’s just what i did, “10 Summer Fishing Tips“.
Subscribe to the Better Blog category feed to follow along if you like.

How To Write Timely Articles That People Will Share

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I’ve stumbled upon many a media website days, months and even years after the article has been published only to think, “hey this would have been funny or helpful or interesting back when it first came out”. So why didn’t I find the article back then? What went wrong?

• Awful article timing
• Awful article title
• Awful article URL

Awful Article Timing:

I write a fishing blog and if I don’t write about fish stocking or an upcoming fishing contest several days before the event (on the blog and on Facebook), I may as well not even write about it. People want to read relevantly timed articles and SHARE those articles.  Who wants to read and share OLD content?  Look at the top articles on Reddit right now. Are they newer articles?  Yes they are.  Look at what’s trending on Twitter right now. Are they newer articles and news stories? Yes they are. Is today a holiday? People will be searching for the holiday so go ahead and write about fishing a Royal caddis fly on the day of the royal wedding. Very punny.

Great Article Timing:

1. The news is covering a hurricane that hit nearby?  Write an article about how low pressure systems affect fish behavior and how fishermen can capitalize on it. (note. if the hurricane hit the lake you write about, then don’t write this article, you will look like a jerk. Instead write about how people can help clean up or volunteer.  Still relevant.)
2. The state is stocking a million fish in a lake you cover?  Write an article about the event days before so they are prepared to get out there and fish.

Awful Article Title:

1. Fishing Before and After Bad Weather (bad. doesn’t reference the actual news event everyone is buzzing about)
2.How Low Pressure Systems Affect Fish Behavior and How Fishermen Can Capitalize on it (bad. too wordy.)

Great Article Title:

1. Fishing Before and After a Hurricane (good. references the hurricane.)
2. Fish Behavior and Fishing Low Pressure Systems (good. indirectly references the hurricane.)

Awful Article URL vs Great Article URL:

Generally speaking, you can turn a great title into a great URL by just making all the words lowercase and chaining the words together with dashes. Keep it short and loaded with keywords.

———————————————

So there you have it. A super-simple primer on writing timely web articles that will get shared and get you traffic.

Write this down on a post-it note and stick it to your computer screen:

1. What’s the biggest news story today? Is today a holiday? Can you put a spin on it for your area of focus?  Write that article.

2. What’s the most shared article today on facebook / twitter / reddit?   Can you put a spin on it for your area of focus?  Write that article.

3. Write a kick ass article title AND url.

4. Make it easy to share and share it.

5. Stay on top of your website analytics to see what’s working and what’s not.

6. Repeat every day.

Good Judgment Prevailed as Congress Rejected a Move to Assert Government Control Over the Content of News

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national public radio
NPR STATEMENT ON THE HOUSE REJECTION OF AN ATTEMPT TO PROHIBIT FEDERAL FUNDING FOR NPR
November 18, 2010; Washington, D.C. – Today, good judgment prevailed as Congress rejected a move to assert government control over the content of news.

The proposal to prohibit public radio stations from using CPB grants to purchase NPR programming is an unwarranted attempt to interject federal authority into local station program decision-making. Furthermore, restrictions on the authority of CPB – a Congressionally chartered, independent non-profit organization – to make competitive grants to NPR, or any other public broadcasting entity, is misguided.

For more than forty years, the federal government has provided financial support for public broadcasting – to serve the public interest with essential educational, news and cultural programming that commercial interests neglect.

America’s independent, locally governed and managed public radio stations have always had the freedom to make programming decisions based on the needs of their audience and local community. The separation between funding and funders and content decisions is a widely respected, long held and fundamental standard of a free press.

In an increasingly fractious media environment, public radio’s value in fostering an informed society has never been more critical. Our growing audience shows that we are meeting that need. It is imperative for federal funding to continue to ensure that this essential tool of democracy remains available to all Americans and thrives well into the future.

-NPR-

NPR Media Relations: Anna Christopher 202.513.2304 / achristopher@npr.org

New York Times Ends Publication of ‘The Local’ in New Jersey and Directs its Readers to Baristanet

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From the NY Times:

The decision has been made to use the knowledge we have gained from the New Jersey Local and take the experiment in a new and exciting direction. And so today this part of The New York Times hyperlocal experiment has come to an end.

The Times is passing the baton to another site, Baristanet.com. Baristanet is one of the most successful hyperlocal Web sites in the country, and its owners, Debbie Galant and Liz George, both experienced writers and editors, are leaders in the field.

The new and exciting direction of which NYT speaks of is to cease publication… it seems lots of companies these days are trying this new approach to er…business.  Publicly traded NYT shut their experiment down because they couldn’t figure out how to make money with it, plain and simple.  Just looking at the The Local I could say, “where the hell is all the local advertising”?

Thankfully, Galant and George don’t seem to have any problem making money with their local news style.  Their sites content AND advertisements are plentiful and on topic.   A statement from their site follows below. Good luck to them and Happy Newsing.

Press Release from Baristanet

Starting tomorrow, July 1, the place we all call Baristaville gets bigger.

We will begin covering Maplewood, Millburn and South Orange with sites for each town as The New York Times today ends publication of The Local in New Jersey and directs its readers in those three towns to Baristanet.

We’ve served Montclair, Glen Ridge and Bloomfield — towns encompassing about 90,000 people — since 2004. Expanding to Maplewood, South Orange and Millburn will bring Baristanet’s coverage area to 150,000.

“Hyperlocal journalism is constantly evolving, and as The Times continues to investigate this arena, we’ll watch with great interest how our friends at Baristanet advance the cause in Maplewood, South Orange and Millburn,” said Jim Schachter, associate managing editor.

We’re thrilled that the Times has passed their hyperlocal baton to us and we will run with it. First and foremost, we are your local homegrown online community. And to that end, we are bringing these new towns into an expanded “Baristaville” by staying local. Journalist and Maplewood resident Jolie Solomon joins the Baristanet team along with community contributors from Maplewood, South Orange and Millburn.

What does this mean for you dear readers? More to love, we hope, and some new voices as we welcome these towns and new readers into the online community you helped create. Thanks for everything you do to make this site an online news and entertainment destination and a true community. And feel free to say hi and interact with your new neighbors in Baristaville.

###

Visit Baristanet.com for more.

Visualizing the World Cup – explorations in html 5, css3, jQery and more

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world cup visualization html 5 css3

click image above to experience the World Cup Visualization…

Some of you have asked for more info about the World Cup Visualization I recreated. Honestly, go read the overview of how robby macdonell did it, that’s what I did.

All my data came from wikipedia.  I’m still adding data to this little by little as time permits.

As an aside, I’m pretty comfortable using flash and actionscript and I feel that I could have done this in flash in half the time and with the emergence of things like Smokescreen and other things not yet created I would not discount the ubiquity of Flash for the near future.

comScore Media Metrix Data ranks The New York Times as Top Online Newspaper According to May 2010 U.S.

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The New York Times Ranks as Top Online Newspaper According to May 2010 U.S. comScore Media Metrix Data

U.S. Online Newspaper CPMs Nearly 3 Times Higher than Average

RESTON, VA, June 16, 2010 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report of the top U.S. online newspaper groups based on the comScore Media Metrix service. The newspaper category represents the first site category for which each of the top ten ranked entities has transitioned to the comScore Media Metrix 360 (Unified Digital Measurement) methodology.

The report showed that more than 123 million Americans visited newspaper sites in May, representing 57 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience, as the New York Times Brand led the category with more than 32 million visitors and 719 million pages viewed during the month. The average visitor viewed 22 pages of content on the New York Times, also leading the top ten. Tribune Newspapers ranked second in terms of audience with 24.8 million visitors, followed by Advance Internet (18.1 million visitors) and USA Today Sites (16.8 million visitors). Continue reading →

MAYOR BLOOMBERG LAUNCHES NYC MEDIA LAB – Innitiative to Promote Media Innovation

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR- 268-10
June 14, 2010

Partnership of the City, Polytechnic Institute of NYU and Columbia University Will Connect Media Companies with Academic Institutions and Drive Independent Technology Research

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today launched NYC Media Lab, a new initiative to promote innovation within New York City’s media industry. The new laboratory – a consortium of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) and Columbia University – will drive new technology research and connect companies looking to advance new media technologies with local academic institutions undertaking related research. NYC Media Lab builds on models established at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University and is the nation’s first government-supported laboratory for media innovation. It will be housed within the NYU Polytechnic Institute campus in Downtown Brooklyn. Mayor Bloomberg made the announcement at the Wired “Disruptive by Design” conference held at the Morgan Library and Museum, where he was joined by New York City Economic Development Corporation President Seth W. Pinsky, NYU-Poly Provost Dianne Rekow, Columbia University Vice President for Intellectual Property & Technology Transfer Orin Herskowitz, and AOL Chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong, an advisor to the City’s MediaNYC 2020 initiative. Continue reading →

Upcoming social media workshops in June: NYC, Chicago, Boston, Providence

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Sree Sreenivasan, Columbia J-school digital media professor; contributing editor to DNAinfo.com; and one of AdAge’s 25 people to follow on Twitter, is offering a series of workshops in June – in NYC; Chicago; Boston/Cambridge; Providence. More on him at http://sree.net and you can see how he uses social media by connecting with him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/sreenet | Facebook: http://facebook.com/sreetips (tech tips and job leads) | LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/sreenivasan

He promises his sessions, like his tweets, will most likely be: * helpful * useful * informative * relevant * practical * actionable * entertaining * fun * occasionally funny

==> You can track his workshops at http://bit.ly/workshops and/or ask him to add you to his monthly tech tips & tricks mailing list: sree@sree.net

NEW YORK CITY:
Wed, June 2, 6:45-9:45 pm, NYC: Mediabistro workshop at Chinatown YMCA: BASIC Social Networking for Media Professionals – register here – USE THIS DISCOUNT CODE, SREE25 – save 25% on the class price: http://bit.ly/sreemb6
(this is the basic session; the advanced one is June 30; you can attend, one or both)

Wed, June 30, 6:45-9:45 pm, NYC: Mediabistro workshop at Chinatown YMCA: ADVANCED Social Networking for Media Professionals – register here – USE THIS DISCOUNT CODE, SREE25 – save 25% on the class price: http://bit.ly/sreemb7 Note: Sree will be joined by Soraya Darabi, a socmedia star who has more than 400,000 followers. (this is the advance session; the basic one is June 2; you can attend, one or both)

CHICAGO:
Thurs, June 17, 6-8 pm: A FREE intermediate/advanced social media workshop, hosted by Chicago chapters of SAJA & AAJA at Bloomberg Chicago bureau. Limited seating so please RSVP only if you can make it. Details: http://bit.ly/sreechi

BOSTON:
Thursday, June 24, 6:30-8:30 pm, Cambridge: FREE social media workshop at Cambridge Marriott. Limited seats available for outsiders – if you’d like to attend, e-mail sree@sree.net

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND:
Monday, June 7: 1-2:30 pm: FREE social media workshop at the Providence Journal. Limited seats available for outsiders – if you’d like to attend, e-mail sree@sree.net

- – -

SOME RECENT ARTICLES ABOUT SREE’S WORK IN SOCMEDIA

NEW YORK OBSERVER: The Twitter Tutor – http://sree.ly/sreenyo

MEDIABISTRO: So, What Do You Do, Sree Sreenivasan?
http://bit.ly/sreembprofile

HUFFINGTON POST: Sree Sreenivasan on Using Social Media For Better Journalism -
http://bit.ly/sreehuffpo

LEAP (Sarah Davidson’s blog): Tweet or Die http://bit.ly/9unBJW

- – -

ATTENDEE COMMENTS FROM PREVIOUS SREE SESSIONS
“This seminar couldn’t be better. Sree is articulate and engaging, and really understands both his subject and the needs of the media professionals who attended the seminar.” — Lynn Brenner

“Sree knows his stuff. He packs lots of information into a totally engaging, fast-paced class. I strongly recommend this class for anyone who wants to understand social networking and how to apply it to their professional endeavors.” — TaRessa Stovall

“Sree was wonderful. He has a real knack for imparting an understanding of social networks and technology for the young and old.” — Peter Zehren

“Sree was absolutely terrific! He made a topic that is very difficult for many people to fully grasp very comprehensive.” — Melissa Schwartz

“Sree’s presentation was well thought out and the time flew by. He truly knows his stuff and engaged students as well.” — Anita Aboulafia

Prof. Sree Sreenivasan | sree@sree.net
Dean of Student Affairs, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism
http://www.sree.net | http://www.sreetips.com
Contributing editor, DNAinfo: http://DNAinfo.com
FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/sreetips
TWITTER: @sreenet – http://twitter.com/sreenet

Main Street Connect sees value in community news

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Metaprinter reader Scott R. shared the link below with us.

…thought you might interested this article from BNET about a new community news/hyperlocal company called Main Street Connect.  The founder of the company, Carll Tucker, talks in the article about how he got inspired to start the company and how it is different from other hyperlocal ventures in the space.

Here is the link to the article- http://blogs.bnet.com/smb/?p=558

Advanced Social Media Workshop

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Special Advanced Social Media Workshop, hosted by AAJA & SAJA at Columbia Journalism School. Free for AAJA & SAJA members, $20 for others.
SPEAKER: Prof. Sree Sreenivasan

Wed, April 28, 2010
6:30-8 pm

Columbia Journalism School
116th St & Broadway (#1 train to 116th St)

RSVP to: http://sree.ly/aajasaja28

Sign up for AAJA membership (open to all): http://aaja.org/membership
Sign up for SAJA membeship (open to all): http://bit.ly/sajamem

Free for members of those groups or pay $20 at the door if you are not a member.

We will check membership status at the door.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP: Already comfortable on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn? Then it’s time to take it your social-media skills to the next level.

This special, advanced social-media class is designed to specifically help media pros make the most of social-media tools. You will be expected to know all the basics and be ready to dive into a session filled with practical, actionable tips and case studies.

# How to deepen your connection with your audience via social media

# New tools you must absolutely know and use

# How to build your personal brand

# How to find, on deadline, specific types of people you need for work

# The best ways to increase your followers, fans, and connections

# How to get the “right” followers, fans, and connections

# Metrics: why you need to understand them and how you can do just that

# Sustainable social media — how to keep from drowning in information and make time to participate efficiently

Versions of this have been taught by Sree at CNN, NBC, ABC, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Boston Globe, Washington Post, NPR, Mediabistro and elsewhere.

THE SPEAKER: Prof. Sree Sreenivasan, Dean of Student Affairs, Columbia Journalism School & contributing editor, DNAinfo.com – one of AdAge’s 25 media people to follow on Twitter. More on him at http://sree.net and you can see how he uses social media by connecting with him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/sreenet | Facebook: http://facebook.com/sreetips | LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/sreenivasan

He promises the workshop, like his tweets, will most likely be: * helpful * useful * informative * relevant * practical * actionable * entertaining * fun * occasionally funny

Here’s one comment from a previous attendee: “Professor Sree’s presentation at the Columbia Club luncheon in Naples was riveting, fast-paced and packed with information. He presented his material clearly, accessing the internet in real-time to introduce his audience to new and useful websites. Sree was friendly and open to questions at all times, and his style and sense of humor contributed to what was a fun learning experience.” – Michael Hanson

BTW, I am also teaching a brand-new workshop with a brand-new topic for a brand-new organization: “Get Beyond Job Hunting: Tips for Journalists and Media Professionals” – Wed, May 12, 6-9 pm (including mixer), NYC – presented by Guruloft at Hive at 55 (55 Broad Street, 13th floor, near Wall Street) – see details & register at http://bit.ly/gljobs – USE THIS DISCOUNT CODE – SREENET – for 15% off.

“The Giant Pool Of Money” – Top Ten Works Of Journalism Of This Decade

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“THE GIANT POOL OF MONEY” DISTINGUISHED BY NYU

AS ONE OF THE TOP TEN WORKS OF JOURNALISM OF THIS DECADE

CHICAGO PUBLIC RADIO’S THIS AMERICAN LIFE AND NPR SHARE HONOR

FOR LAUDED EXPLAINER OF SUBPRIME MORTGAGE CRISIS

April 5, 2010; Washington, D.C. – It was a compelling, even humorous, hour of radio, making sense of the mortgage crisis and Wall Street turmoil, and in the process creating one of the finest pieces of explanatory journalism on the economy – months ahead of its collapse. Now, “The Giant Pool of Money,” an hour-long documentary co-produced by NPR News and This American Life from Chicago Public Radio and distributed by Public Radio International, has been named one of the decade’s best.

New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute announced today that “The Giant Pool of Money” was selected as one of the Top Ten Works of Journalism of the Decade in the United States. “Giant Pool” is ranked fourth on the list and the only broadcast piece cited out of all ten works. The works were selected by the NYU journalism faculty and a panel of outside judges representing media, the non-profit sector, philanthropy and academia. The full list is available at: http://journalism.nyu.edu/decade/

“The Giant Pool of Money” was reported by NPR economics correspondent Adam Davidson, This American Life producer Alex Blumberg and host Ira Glass, and aired on that program in May 2008. With personal narratives and memorable storytelling, Davidson, Blumberg and Glass told the story of the housing crisis, mortgage backed securities and the collapse of the banking system in a way that made sense. The program was heralded as “a brilliant piece” by the Columbia Journalism Review, TIME wrote of “a riveting narrative with distinct characters and plot twists” and it earned Peabody, duPont-Columbia and George Polk awards. “Giant Pool” was cited by the Peabody committee as “impressive for the arresting clarity of its explanation of the financial crisis we’re in, and even more so for its having aired so early – in May 2008.”

“’Giant Pool’ forever changed how we approach storytelling. To take something so complex and make it relatable, even entertaining – it struck just the right chord at the perfect time,” says Ellen Weiss, Senior Vice President for NPR News. “We are incredibly humbled to be included among the works on this list, and thank NYU for such an honor.”

The success of “Giant Pool” led to the creation of NPR’s Planet Money, a multimedia reporting project led by Davidson and Blumberg, covering the global economy on radio and through a blog, podcast and social media (all available at www.npr.org/money). It launched, by coincidence, on the first day of the acute financial crisis – September 7, 2008 – and has since established itself as the place for clear and innovative financial reporting. The Planet Money team regularly reports for NPR and This American Life, has recently covered Haiti’s post-earthquake economy and is following the progress of its very own toxic asset – purchased to help track how the housing bust is playing out.

-NPR-

Clay Shirky on the Collapse of Complex Business Models – Media & Newspapers

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…Diller, Brill, and Murdoch seem be stating a simple fact—we will have to pay them—but this fact is not in fact a fact. Instead, it is a choice, one its proponents often decline to spell out in full, because, spelled out in full, it would read something like this:

“Web users will have to pay for what they watch and use, or else we will have to stop making content in the costly and complex way we have grown accustomed to making it. And we don’t know how to do that.”

-CShirky read the entire post on Shirky’s blog.

Advertisers and Readers Return to Newspaper Industry – Profits Up

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In a stunning turn of events for the newspaper industry Q1 2010 numbers show that readers and advertisers have returned to this medium.   Experts suggest the return is real and that long-term the outlook for newspapers and newspaper revenues look strong.  One ratings analyst with April Capital Management was quoted as saying, “look, where else are people going to raise awareness for their brand or read the news? Newspapers seem the best option for both customers”.

No comment from the Google Topeka executives who are now scrambling to unload their digital advertising and data mining enterprises.

Newspaper Association of America Reports Ad Revenue Fell 27.2% in 2009

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Newspaper print ad revenue fell 28.6% from last year (which fell 17.7% the year before).  Even more alarming is the fact that newspaper Online advertising revenue fell 11.8% (which fell 1.8% the year before).

Total ad spending in the U.S. fell 12.3% to $125.3 billion in 2009, according to a report from Kantar Media (formerly TNS Media Intelligence).

Internet display advertising was up 7.3%, and free-standing inserts, up 3.0%.

While the economy had an impact in the numbers, clearly, the business model is not working.

Newspaper Website Development in 2010

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Question:
Why do newspaper website still look like complete data-dump link farms in 2010?

Answer:
??????????

An unscientific poll I conducted at my Community College revealed the best newspaper website, as voted on by me and some college students, is not even a newspaper website… it is the Huffington Post.  Why?  Because as soon as you land on the homepage you know what the big story of the day is. You don’t have to agree with their bent, but you know what’s going on in the world pretty damn quickly. NPR.org, CNN.com, and BBC.co.uk were in the mix too as were even more unconventional filters like reddit, digg, delicious, facebook and twitter.

I think i know what the news is

I think i know what the news is

vs this

so what happened in the world today?

so what happened in the world today?

Newspaper website people, please do the following:

1. Use big pictures to tell a story, not because your readers are stupid and can’t read but because your readers are smart and want an engaging multimedia presentation.

2. Stop with the page jumps.

3. Stop with the invasive advertising.

4. Please break your mammoth newspaper website into a bunch of micro sites.

5. Fix your navigation.

6. Fix your navigation.

7. Fix your navigation.

8. Hire a web development company with no ties or experience with the newspaper industry to redesign your site.

9. Take your site down completely and syndicate your content to Google news… or whomever wants to make a deal.

Jobless America- A New Paradigm?

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How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America

The Great Recession may be over, but this era of high joblessness is probably just beginning. Before it ends, it will likely change the life course and character of a generation of young adults. It will leave an indelible imprint on many blue-collar men. It could cripple marriage as an institution in many communities. It may already be plunging many inner cities into a despair not seen for decades. Ultimately, it is likely to warp our politics, our culture, and the character of our society for years to come.

read the entire article on The Atlantic website.  article By Don Peck

2010 America East Newspaper Conference – Exhibitors List

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The Following 2010 America East Newspaper Conference list is correct as of February 28, 2010.

Please check www.america-east.com for updates.

ABB Inc.

Accraply

AdMall

Advance Diagnostics Computer Services

Agfa Graphics

alfaQuest Technologies

Anocoil Corporation

Anygraaf USA, Inc.

Aragon System Products

Atex

Bluefin Technology Partners

Brainworks Software Development Corp.

Bridgemont Community & Technical College
formerly the Community & Technical College at WVU Tech) Continue reading →

NPR News with three 2010 Gracie Awards for outstanding series, documentary and podcast

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February 24, 2010; Washington, D.C. – The American Women in Radio & Television (AWRT) is honoring NPR News with three 2010 Gracie Awards® for outstanding series, documentary and podcast, it was announced today. Earning awards are the documentary series “The Science of Spirituality” from religion correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty; a two-part report from Kabul correspondent Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson on wide-spread drug addiction in Afghanistan; and the Culturetopia podcast, hosted by arts reporter Neda Ulaby and blogger Linda Holmes. The Gracie Awards recognize and encourage the realistic representation of women in the news and entertainment.

Winning a Gracie Award for “Outstanding Documentary” is “The Science of Spirituality,” a five-part series reported by religion correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty in May 2009 on All Things Considered. Based on her book Fingerprints of God, the series delves into burgeoning research studying the human brain to look for evidence of a spiritual world and the new technologies being used to document it. Whether donning a “God helmet,” exploring how prayer affects the brain or examining the neural changes caused by near-death experiences, Hagerty finds that people are experiencing something profound – divine or not. Sharing the award are Cindy Johnston, editor, and web editors Erin Killian and Maria Godoy. The entire series is at: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104257486

NPR’s Afghanistan correspondent Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson earns the award in the “Outstanding Series” category for her April 2009 two-part story on the growing number of Afghans escaping the pain of war and poverty by turning to the plentiful and cheap supply of heroin and opium in their country. In the series, she details how a combination of factors – including the war, unemployment and returning Afghan refugees from Iran – are creating and perpetuating a vicious cycle of addiction with little treatment resources available. Among the powerful portraits captured by Sarhaddi Nelson are a 30-year-old mother of six that feeds her drug habit at the expense of her children, and a nine-year-old boy trying to kick his two-year heroin addiction. The award is shared with series editor Douglas Roberts. The reports and accompanying online material are available at npr.org:

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102984398&ps=rs

NPR Arts Reporter Neda Ulaby and Monkey See blogger Linda Holmes’ Culturetopia podcast takes home the Gracie Award for “Outstanding Podcast.” Culturetopia encapsulates the week’s news in books, movie, television, music and media. Every Wednesday, Ulaby, Holmes and guests offer a rundown of notable arts coverage from across NPR News shows, providing additional insights into many of the stories. Executive Producer Sara Sarasohn and Producer Michael Katzif are also honored with the award. Download Culturetopia at NPR’s podcast directory:

http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=89697153

The 35th Annual Gracie Awards will be presented at a gala on May 25 in Los Angeles. The Gracies are granted by AWRT, a charitable non-profit supporting educational programs, public service campaigns and scholarships to benefit the public, mass media and allied field. NPR has been the recipient of 13 Gracie Awards since 2002.

Wednesday Sessions – 2010 America East Newspaper Conference

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2010 America East Newspaper Conference Schedule – Wednesday:

America East is sponsored by 13 state and regional press associations, News&Tech, Suburban Newspapers of America and Editor & Publisher.

“We close the show with educational opportunities for editorial, packaging and press production.”

Monday Sessions | Tuesday Sessions | Twitter users track and utilize #ae2010 for updates

Wednesday, MARCH 17
7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Attendee Registration Desk Open
8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Private Demonstrations with Exhibitors
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. SNA Advertising Symposium and Workshop (Special registration is required.)
8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Print Quality Judges’ Meetings
8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast
8:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Session: Mailroom Issues Roundtable
9:30 a.m. – 10:10 a.m. Session: The Green Side of “Lean and Green”
10:10 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Session: Production Software Tools for Saving Time and Money
11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Session: SNAP Survey Results
11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Exhibit Floor Open
11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Cyber Cafe with Gourmet Coffees
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Print Quality Awards Presentations
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. PNA Scholastic and Collegiate Keystone Press Awards Luncheon (Special registration is required.)
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Various Roundtables on Exhibit Floor
1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Ice Cream Social on Exhibit Floor

MAILROOM ISSUES
Wednesday, March 17, 8:45 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Back by popular demand….a session just for mailroom managers. What are your biggest issues in the bustling mailroom of your newspaper? Discuss them with your peers. No topic or concern is off limits so come to talk and learn!
Moderator: Fred Schuerger, Packaging and Distribution Manager, Erie (Pa.) Times-News
Continue the discussion additional roundtable conversations on the exhibit floor beginning at 11 a.m. Packaging vendors will join the discussion.

Production in Lean Times
Wednesday, March 17, 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Part I:
The Green Side of “Lean and Green”
9:30 a.m. – 10:10 a.m.
Sustainability is a three-legged stool with profit, environmental and social commitment as the guiding principles. To maximize profits companies must find new ways to add value for their customers including shorter cycle times, lower costs and improved services. Profit, however, must not be at the expense of environmental responsibilities. Aside from compliance to federal and regional EPA requirements, most companies can actually save money by reducing, reusing and recycling. Social aspects include providing both responsibility and leadership for employees and the community at large.
Speaker: Tom Croteau, Partner, Media Technology Partners

Part II:
Production Software Tools for Saving Time and Money
10:10 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Stephen Beals, who spent more than 30 years in prepress, now writes for Graphic Arts Online and many other print and web publications and runs his own web site called Printoolz. He will discuss a variety of ways printers and publishers of all kinds are automating their pre-press capabilities to increase speed and efficiency. Discussion will be oriented to small newspaper publishers who may not be familiar with the many types of automation software available today.
Speaker: Stephen Beals, Founder, Printoolz.com Continue reading →

Tuesday Sessions – 2010 America East Newspaper Conference

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2010 America East Newspaper Conference Schedule at a Glance:

America East is sponsored by 13 state and regional press associations, News&Tech, Suburban Newspapers of America and Editor & Publisher.

A value-packed day of sessions for advertising, marketing, production and circulation.

Monday Sessions | Wednesday Sessions | Twitter users track and utilize #ae2010 for updates

Tuesday, MARCH 16
7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Attendee Registration Desk Open
8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Private Demonstrations with Exhibitors
8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast
8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. BONUS SESSION: Part I: The 7 Deadly Sins of Newspaper Marketing
9:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Session: Selling Against the Competition
9:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Session: Utilizing Maintenance to Reduce Production Downtime and Extend Equipment Life
9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. BONUS SESSION: Part II: Key Marketing Lessons Newspapers Should Have Learned But Never Did
10:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. I-SCMA Session: Expanding Your Audience Reach
10:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. Session: Web and Page Size Options to Reduce Newsprint Cost
10:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Session: Best Practices in Building Classified Revenues in Recruitment and Real Estate
10:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Session: Newspaper Web Sites & The Public: A Study of the Benefits and Risks of User-Generated Content
(This is a Tuesday Bonus Session for SNA Symposium registrants!)
11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Exhibit Floor Open
11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Cyber Cafe with Gourmet Coffees
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. I-SCMA Luncheon
1:15 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. I-SCMA Session: E-Editions
12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Various Roundtables on Exhibit Floor
2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. Session: Agency Panel Discussion – What’s in Store for 2010
(This is a Tuesday Bonus Session for SNA Symposium registrants!)
3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Newsprint Suppliers’ Reception on Exhibit Floor

Special Two-Part Marketing Session
Tuesday, March 16, 8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Part I, 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.:
The 7 Deadly Sins of Newspaper Marketing
Business history shows that disruptive forces within any industry do not favor the established players, particularly if they refuse to refute previous business models. The key word is “refute.” It implies more than adapting to change. It requires a complete change – or disruption to our current business-as-usual. Newspapers are guilty of seven deadly sins that, if not corrected, can mean a catastrophic loss of the entire war for public trust, loyalty and democratic mission.
Speaker: Ed Efchak, Managing Partner, Customers by Design, L.L.C.

Part II, 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.:
Key Marketing Lessons Newspapers Should Have Learned But Never Did
The business sections of newspapers cover all the trends, successes and pitfalls of national and local industries as lessons for other business leaders. Ironically, most papers fail to read between their own lines to see how the lessons apply to their own situations. In this one-hour session, get an objective look at the lessons newspapers should have learned and may still have time to take to heart for surviving in the digital age.
Speaker: Rhona Bronson, Marketing Strategist, Plaza Communications & Consulting, LLC

Selling Against the Competition
Tuesday, March 16, 9:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
This session will cover all the tricks of the trade as we prepare sales reps to sell their own products and services and to position themselves favorably as they sell against the competition. Included will be a description of an in-depth training program on how to take market share through training and contests and how to work with mobile alerts, text to win and other programs and devices that produce a winning team.
Speaker: Jim Ottinger, Advertising Sales Training Specialist, The (Allentown, Pa.) Morning Call Continue reading →

Monday Sessions – 2010 America East Newspaper Conference

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2010 America East Newspaper Conference Schedule – Monday:

America East is sponsored by 13 state and regional press associations, News&Tech, Suburban Newspapers of America and Editor & Publisher.

Valuable sessions…lunch….exhibit floor….welcome reception! Who said Mondays are bad?

Tuesday Sessions | Wednesday Sessions | Twitter users track and utilize #ae2010 for updates

Monday, MARCH 15
8:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Attendee Registration Desk Open
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. PA Associated Press Online Managers Meeting
12:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. Keynote Luncheon and Presentation
1:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Session: Top Five Legal Issues for Newspapers in an Online Age
1:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Session: Friendemies – Newspapers and Social Media Sites
3:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Session: New Media for the Newspaper Industry – How and Where Your Audience Will Find Their News
3:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Session: Cutting Through the Clutter
4:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Exhibit Floor Open
4:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Cyber Cafe with Gourmet Coffees
5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Welcome Reception on Exhibit Floor

Lunch and Opening Keynote Address:
Journalism 2010 and Beyond
Monday, March 15, 12:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.
One of the most respected journalists of our time will share his message about journalism as we know it today and what we can expect in the future. Long a proponent to preserve journalism’s core mission of truthfully reporting the big issues and stories of today while exploring ways to rebuild the industry’s business model, Martin Kaiser wrestles with these issues daily both in his role locally at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and nationally with the American Society of News Editors. He will share his insight and his desire for “news literacy” – teaching citizens the value and values of newspapers.

Top Five Legal Issues for Newspapers in an Online Age
Monday, March 15, 1:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Are the rules for online the same or different than for print? Are there new traps for unwary reporters and editors? Two First Amendment attorneys, Craig Staudenmaier and Robert Clothier, will hit the top five online legal issues facing papers. For example: When are papers liable for what’s posted online? What about internet-accessible archives? How should reporters preserve electronic information (emails, drafts, etc.)? Can papers publish Facebook photos? These issues and any others raised by attendees will be covered.
Speakers:
Robert Clothier, Partner, Fox Rothschild, LLP
Craig Staudenmaier, Partner, Nauman, Smith, Shissler
& Hall, LLP Continue reading →

2010 America East Newspaper Conference – Sessions

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2010 America East Newspaper Conference Schedule at a Glance:

America East is sponsored by 13 state and regional press associations, News&Tech, Suburban Newspapers of America and Editor & Publisher.

The event takes place at The Hershey Lodge in Hershey Pennsylvania.  You can register for the event through the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association website.

Twitter users track #ae2010 for updates. View Exhibitor List.

Monday, MARCH 15 view detailed listing
8:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Attendee Registration Desk Open
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. PA Associated Press Online Managers Meeting
12:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. Keynote Luncheon and Presentation
1:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Session: Top Five Legal Issues for Newspapers in an Online Age
1:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Session: Friendemies – Newspapers and Social Media Sites
3:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Session: New Media for the Newspaper Industry – How and Where Your Audience Will Find Their News
3:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Session: Cutting Through the Clutter
4:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Exhibit Floor Open
4:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Cyber Cafe with Gourmet Coffees
5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Welcome Reception on Exhibit Floor

Tuesday, MARCH 16 view detailed listing
7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Attendee Registration Desk Open
8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Private Demonstrations with Exhibitors
8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast
8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. BONUS SESSION: Part I: The 7 Deadly Sins of Newspaper Marketing
9:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Session: Selling Against the Competition
9:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Session: Utilizing Maintenance to Reduce Production Downtime and Extend Equipment Life
9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. BONUS SESSION: Part II: Key Marketing Lessons Newspapers Should Have Learned But Never Did
10:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. I-SCMA Session: Expanding Your Audience Reach
10:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. Session: Web and Page Size Options to Reduce Newsprint Cost
10:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Session: Best Practices in Building Classified Revenues in Recruitment and Real Estate
10:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Session: Newspaper Web Sites & The Public: A Study of the Benefits and Risks of User-Generated Content
(This is a Tuesday Bonus Session for SNA Symposium registrants!)
11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Exhibit Floor Open
11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Cyber Cafe with Gourmet Coffees
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. I-SCMA Luncheon
1:15 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. I-SCMA Session: E-Editions
12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Various Roundtables on Exhibit Floor
2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. Session: Agency Panel Discussion – What’s in Store for 2010
(This is a Tuesday Bonus Session for SNA Symposium registrants!)
3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Newsprint Suppliers’ Reception on Exhibit Floor

Wednesday, MARCH 17 view detailed listing
7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Attendee Registration Desk Open
8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Private Demonstrations with Exhibitors
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. SNA Advertising Symposium and Workshop (Special registration is required.)
8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Print Quality Judges’ Meetings
8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast
8:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Session: Mailroom Issues Roundtable
9:30 a.m. – 10:10 a.m. Session: The Green Side of “Lean and Green”
10:10 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Session: Production Software Tools for Saving Time and Money
11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Session: SNAP Survey Results
11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Exhibit Floor Open
11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Cyber Cafe with Gourmet Coffees
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Print Quality Awards Presentations
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. PNA Scholastic and Collegiate Keystone Press Awards Luncheon (Special registration is required.)
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Various Roundtables on Exhibit Floor
1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Ice Cream Social on Exhibit Floor

*This is a tentative schedule and is subject to change. Please check www.america-east.com for updates.

Google To Become YellowPages

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“I think Google is going to be the new Yellow Pages,” [local business owner and Google advertiser] Mr. Cowie said. “More and more of these younger kids are used to Google. They are looking at their phones rather than opening up a phone book.”

Google’s new enhanced business listings, which it started to test quietly in Houston and San Jose, Calif., early this month, have an obvious competitor: the Yellow Pages. -read the entire post at NYTimes.com

Here is the link to Google Map’s Enhanced Listing page (the yellow tag option is probably not available in your area yet though.

Not Exactly the 4th Estate

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A TechCrunch intern( under the age of 18) was found to have accepted a MacBook Air in exchange for a blog post – He got fired.

Here’s TechCrunch founder and co-editor Michael Arrington, “On Monday evening I received a phone call from someone I trust who told me that one of our interns had asked for compensation in exchange for a blog post. Specifically, this intern had allegedly asked for a Macbook Air in exchange for a post about a startup.”

1.  I’m stunned that TechCrunch, one of the most influential and widely read blogs in the world would allow someone so young to create content for the site.

2.  I’m glad they fired him and deleted his content.

3.  One of the comments tips you off  to the fired intern’s  identity but he’s a minor so I’ll let you figure it out on your own.

4.  Another commentor links to an insightful article by Mark Cuban who breaks down the legality of “unpaid” internships. (tl;dr they’re illegal if your work benefits the company in any way).

5.  I’m now much more skeptical of some blog content. If there is more than one author on a blog site, I want to be directed to the bio of the author when I click on the author’s name, not to a list of all their other blog posts.  Seeking Alpha is one example of a good author link (for full disclosure I am a contributor to that site).

When I interview Don Carli about sustainability in news media a while back we had the following exchange, which is relevant.

RI- Will people still care where they get their news from?

DC- I don’t think people care so much about where their news comes from, but journalism… yes I believe they still care. Anyone can make news and anyone can report it, but journalism is different and that difference matters. For example, Twitter is fast becoming one the most important source of breaking news, but it isn’t journalism. I think a robust Fourth Estate capable of independent investigative journalism is essential. The first tenet of sustainability is having a political system that secures effective participation of its citizens in decision making. That is the role served by journalists and the media channels that deliver and store their content. …full article

Anyone can make news. ps i could use a new car ; )

Non-newspaper site dealing with inappropriate comments

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The tech blog Engadget has temporarily turned off commenting for a bit “until things cool down”.  Apparently the tone in the comments section has been completely out of control the last few days, it  “has become mean, ugly, pointless, and frankly threatening in some situations… and that’s just not acceptable”.

The comments section dust up started when certain Engadget regulars became offended over this spoof article (Do you Hate Apple News?) which pretty much mocks readers for whining about reading too much Apple news.

Engadget is doing some cleaning during their down time right now banning trolls and spammers. But will it be enough?  What’s to prevent those people from coming back again? Remember when Kurt Greenbaum took it upon himself to police a vulgar post at the St. Louis Post Dispatch?  The internet can get ugly real quick.

Is it all the readers’ fault?  Maybe Engadet didn’t have to provoke their readers.  And how the heck can a baker’s dozen or so readers shut down the entire Engadget comments section.  Yikes!  I’m trying to think of what PRINT newspapers do and if there is one takeaway from how they handle input from the public it is that they attempt to tune it out and work above it.   Having said that, I really like metafilter’s solution ($5 lifetime membership), which, through the “broken window theory” builds a sense of community and increases self policing.

Personally I let akismet catch everything it thinks is spam / junk and I read through the posted comments to ensure they are legit. Then again Engadget gets 1.5million visitors per month and metaprinter is lucky to get 1.5thousand :(

Who’s buying Amazon Kindles or any eReader for that matter?

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Way back in November 2008 I wrote a brief article The Kindle Needs a Bellows about the disconnect between the number of Kindle users and the push from newspapers to move their content onto such devices.

It’s now January 2010, a little over a year later, and I still don’t know anyone who has purchased an Amazon Kindle or any eReader for that matter.  So what’s the fuss? The big news at (consumer electronics show) CES this year was eReaders and Tablets, but aside from the push from magazine and newspaper publishers… where is the consumer demand?  Are eReaders nothing more than Thneeds, a veiled attempt at “going green”, or am I missing something here?

Do you own an eReader? Why?  How old are you?

Everyone is Going Nuts about NYTimes.com Charging for Content in 2011

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I heard through Twitter that NYtimes.com was going to start charging for access to their content if you read too many articles on their site… what?

Forbes is calling it “Meter Madness At The Times” and goes on to report-

Greg Mitchell, E&P’s former editor, termed the plan “vague.” Content Bridges’ Ken Doctor called it “a big bet.” Social media critic Mathew Ingram, blogger at GigaOm, wrote, “Why is the NYT waiting until 2011? This isn’t exactly rocket science to implement.” Reuters’ media blogger Felix Salmon minced no words, calling it “a sad day for online journalism.”

I confirmed it by doing a Google News search and then reading an article about it from the Free site Paidcontent.org where they also published the entire NYT memo to the staff.

I wish NYTimes.com all best I’m curious to see how this grand experiment (Round 2) works out. Remember Times Select was a failure, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you can’t charge for general interest news in the internet paradigm.

Covering the News from Haiti via Blogs and Twitter and Alt. Sources

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Person Finder:

Person Finder: Haiti Earthquake – from Google Crisis Response

Haiti News Articles and Sources:

Twitter Helps in Haiti Quake Coverage, Aid – WSJ.com JANUARY 14, 2010, 5:03 PM ET

Viewing Haiti Through Social Media - Huffington Post January 15, 2010 03:04 PM

Google News results for Twitter + Haiti

Google News results for Blog + Haiti

Technorati is currently tracking 29,040 blog posts tagged “haiti” January 17, 2010 2:38pm ET

Haiti News filtered through Yahoo Pipes

Donate:

Google Crisis Response – Haiti news, video, free Google Voice, unicef, care, and more – Google.com

#Haiti Twitter hashtags:

#haiti
#help
#emergency

Haiti results and info from WThashtag.com

Haiti results from hashtags.org

*Readers, If you know of any more good ones, please comment and i’ll add them to the main post.

Who Declared Newspaper’s Editor & Publisher, “The Bible”?

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I was looking for more info about the recent purchase of Editor & Publisher by Irvine, Calif.-based Duncan McIntosh Co. Inc. and became completely baffled by the recurrence of Editor & Publisher being referred to as The Bible of the newspaper industry.  Did I not get a memo on this? Is it in the tagline? A Google search for “newspaper industry bible” kicks back no less than 6300 results for god’s sake… hmmmm.

Who’s the source of this blasphemy and why is it parroted around the internet from blogs to Big Media with citation of the source?  The Bible chronicles the history of ancient Israel… does Editor and Publisher chronicle the history of the ancient newspaper industry?

Someone enlighten me on the source please.

ps. I do not practice any form of organized religion I just think this is really funny.

Best Newspaper Headline of 2010 (so far)

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This gem comes from the Associated press and is published in the Washington Post:

Skywalkers in Korea Cross Han Solo

no kidding!  Hats off to you BO-MI LIM.  Was this headline intentionally loaded or was there something lost in translation?  Either way, it’s epic and yes I know it was written in 2007 but I just found it ok?

Want some more funny newspaper headlines?  Fark has the top 20 headline rewrites of 2009.