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
Wikipedia Founder: How To Save The Newspaper Industry -from MediaPost.com
News is widely syndicated — and that’s one reason why it’s difficult to charge for the content, Wales said. “If you went into Google News and didn’t see 600 copies of the same story, but just one, that one could make money — and spreading it everywhere doesn’t make sense”.
I personaly feel that newspaper are too worried about damaging their credibility and cache to just give up something like the sports section to local sports nuts, but if phased in properly I can see it working. Look at Seeking Alpha (I’m a contributing media writer, though I haven’t contributed anything in a while) as a model. I don’t know what their balance sheet looks like, but I know that people trust the site enough that it has formed partnerships with companies including Yahoo! Finance, Dow Jones MarketWatch, E-Trade, and CNET. The company is backed by Benchmark Capital, a firm that funded eBay.
The key to launching successful user generated content and sections is #1 visibility: Get the authors in front of lots of people and they will usually do their best to look good and do good. #2 selection: Get the most enlightened and fanatical users onboard. #3 strict enformcement of guidlines: to give readers a sense of security.
But Robert, you just laid into Topix in a recent blog post for being a big useless, flame war inducing, data dump. That site is user generated. Yes, and one of their big problems is ignoring rules #1-3 above. When Wales said “give up”, he was refering to newspapers’ attempt to move their business model online. Clearly the internet paradigm demands new models and revenue streams.
I often see and hear the statement that Twitter is not journalism. But when I see posts like the one below, I have to disagree. Journalism is happening on Twitter. The problem is that the filter for finding the good stuff isn’t yet what it will be. But it will. #journ
jayrosen_nyuI’d like to ask you, @JohnAByrne: do you think CNBC is losing legitimacy after Santelli’s rant and the aftershocks? Should it, in your view?
on the NYU Journalism Institute’s faculty since 1986, and from 1999 to 2005 he served as chair of the Department. He also writes at PressThink, The Huffington Post, is quite active on Twitter, and on and on.
John A. Byrne is executive editor of BusinessWeek. Previously, Byrne was editor-in-chief of Fast Company. Before that, he worked for BusinessWeek for nearly 18 years, rising to senior writer.
Substitute the name “Smithsonian” below with the name of your favorite Print Newspaper and we may have something to work with towards effecting positive change in the newspaper industry. *Note my hyperlinks and bolding added for emphasis. Note also that not once do they whine about the destructive or disruptive nature of the internet on their business model, they embrace it and seek to leverage it for furthering their mission.
Smithsonian 2.0: A Gathering to Re-Imagine the Smithsonian in the Digital Age
Twenty-four million visitors come through the Smithsonian’s doors each year to view our collections and to learn about science, technology, history, art and culture. We host 175 million (more than seven times the number of our physical visitors) through the Web. As digital technology accelerates and the Web becomes an even more essential part of our everyday lives, that number will grow, possibly reaching billions.
As part of Secretary Wayne Clough’s strategic planning initiative, the Institution will host “Smithsonian 2.0: A Gathering to Re-Imagine the Smithsonian in the Digital Age”—a two-day conference on Jan. 23 and 24, supported by the Smithsonian National Board. Smithsonian 2.0 will bring more than 30 creative leaders from the Web, digital and new media worlds (chosen for their engagement of large audiences, including youth) to meet with a core group of Smithsonian staff to look at our vision, our challenges, and our current level of achievement in Web and new media. This group will try to identify how to move the Smithsonian forward toward a “Smithsonian 2.0.” Continue reading
Ed Shamy is the lone employee of the County Courier newspaper in northern Vermont. Reading the description of what Ed Shamy does to operate a one man newspaper, it occurred to me that all he’s really doing is publishing a paper blog. Check it out:
He opens mail, stuffs envelopes, fields complaints and helps unload the advertising inserts from a tractor-trailer that pulls up once a week outside the brick building, sending all hands outside to lift the stacks of fliers off the trucks and carry them inside.
And he writes a column, of course – about the traffic bottleneck at the Swanton municipal complex, about Vermont’s penchant for elections, about the local guy who found a battered book of mysteries along a roadside and set out to find its owner.
What he doesn’t have yet is a paycheck, but that’s his own decision. continue reading at SFgate.com
Ed’s passion about newspapers and journalism runs deep. I can’t help but draw parallels between him and what the multitudes of bloggers out there are attempting every day.
He’s doing exactly what I talk about at the end of my podcast. Running a small paper, getting involved with his community and building his value around the needs of that community. This is what all the big papers are doing wrong.
I love his story and I wish him the best of luck.