“Say a high school kid who is a sports nut gets some local prep stuff online and tries to build a little business out of that… how could he direct traffic to it? He’d have to take ads out in our paper.” John Tompkins CEO News Media Corp. from an interview on InlandPress. Small, local newspapers do enjoy certain business characteristics and revenue opportunities that the larger papers do not. I agree with this 100% though the opposite is also true. The above quote reinforces a feeling I keep getting that older generations simply do not understand how younger generations are using Social Media.
Tompkins Bio Video
This is particularly unsettling in the case of John Tompkins because he rose to such power at a very early age. At 21 years old, “After borrowing money from family members and his bank, John purchased The Rochelle News Leader, a twice-weekly publication in Rochelle, Illinois.” -as quoted from the above video.
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Thompkis’ story is compelling. This is exactly the kind of guy who should understand what’s going on with social media and the power and youthful exuberance the people utilizing it. But he doesn’t. His quote above mocks the efforts young entrepreneurs.
What would Mr. Tompkins think of Vanessa Sievers? If Mr. Tompkins were 20 years old today, would he think any differently?: Vanessa Sievers beat out Grafton County Treasurer Carol Elliott, 66, a Republican, who called Sievers a ‘teenybopper’ and blamed the loss on ‘brainwashed college kids. -entire AP article on Politico.com
How did she do it? This is small town stuff right? This is Tompkins territory. She used her Facebook profile page and targeted voters at Dartmouth and Plymouth State University through a $42 ad on Facebook. So Mr. Tompkins, why do people need to take out ads in your newspapers?
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