The line between editorial and advertising
Posted: April 29, 2009 Filed under: Department of Digital, Department of Print | Tags: integrity, reinventing the model Leave a comment »There have been two really interesting examples in the last month of, well, “creative license,” by traditional media players (the LA Times and ESPN.com) who have sold some of their most-valuable editorial real estate as ad space. I think it’s worth bringing up because I have a pretty sizable problem with the practice.
Just yesterday, one of the biggest portals out there on the Web (and, not to mention, part of my daily routine is to check it multiple times during the day) decided to make a pretty crucial decision when it came to ad space. Look at the screen below. everything in the red boxes on the homepage of ESPN.com is an ad from Apple:
Gary Vaynerchuk argues that his biggest issue is how this ad changed the user experience and the ability to find those key headlines. I agree with him (and his thoughts are embedded below): this is a ridiculous change. For me, though, it’s greater than usability (as I tweeted yesterday). By selling that space, it obliterated any integrity that ESPN was holding on to as a breaking news source.
I think the timing on this is interesting, because just a few weeks ago, the LA Times did a very similar thing. Look at this image of its front page below, that box on the right? A “story” on one of the characters from NBC’s new show, Southland:
That’s even more embarrassing, to me, than the ESPN.com issue (although I disagree with both). Say what you will about ESPN.com, but one of the last remaining nostalgias of newspapers is what it means for a front page story. Even the LAT staff was upset about it.
Has it gotten that bad for traditional media that they are willing to sell that much of their soul? (Sidebar: I very much consider ESPN.com to be a traditional, top-down, non-conversational medium that shouldn’t be called “new” or “social,” since, well, the Internet has been around long enough and the site isn’t *that* social.) The problem for me is that advertisers are getting almost too much say in what the editorial can be. And that’s dangerous because if it keeps going, those who pay will be able to set the agenda, and not public discourse or journalism.
The media isn’t dying, but, I have to say, a few more moves like this across other news sources, and it’ll officially be on life support.
My last post on Here Comes Everybody
Posted: April 23, 2009 Filed under: Department of News | Tags: here comes everybody, kayaking downstream 1 Comment »…actually, I can’t promise that this will be the last. If I had an MLTDA book club, I’d make Clay Shirky‘s book the first read. The book was way too good and should be on the top of anyone’s list who is interested in how technology works to bring people together, not just what it is. It’s the type of book that took me so long to read because I’d finish a few pages and be blown away that I needed to write something of my own in response.
One of the points that Shirky drives home in the epilogue is that technology has changed so much and many people are looking at it as if we have the power to steer where things are going. He argues that “We are steering a kayak, pushed rapidily and monotonically down a route determined by the environment.” Doing some digging, it looks like this thesis of Shirky’s has been hanging around for awhile. Thanks to BoingBoing for pointing me back to the 2005 blog post, which I in turn used to make this:
I stole the photo from Flickr user visbeek, who actually has a great caption that describes the scenery and kayaking along with the image.
Now, I spent enough time as a kid around lakes and boating, so I really enjoy this image. I’m completely in agreement on the idea that when you are out there in the world, you can only do so much because of the environment. There’s three options:
1) Try and paddle upstream.
2) Go with the flow and take advantage of the current.
3) Get out of the water.
From a communication and media standpoint, the metaphor of a kayak and river are incredibly vivid. The river is going to keep moving – i.e., new communication channels will only grow and become the way of life. For those stuck in old media ways, I’d argue that option 1 gets you nowhere and option 3 is a waste of your time.
The media world will embrace those who keep going downstream, and everyone else will be left behind. So – where will you end up? You can certainly find me kayaking downstream.
4 16 07
Posted: April 16, 2009 Filed under: journalism, social media | Tags: citizen journalism, new forms of news, social media, YouTube Leave a comment »
When I first visited the Newseum as it opened in the Spring of 2008, I was kind of surprised that, historically speaking, the most recent news item that was covered in the New Media arena was the tragic event that happened at Virginia Tech in April of 2007.
However, as I’ve thought about it more over the last two years, I think that this will be moment in mass media history on which the entire culture of participatory media can be explained. For anyone who doubts the ability of social media to drive a personal, citizen focused story, this event will be the thing to which many of the Digital Native generation will point.
It will be always a challenge for me to forget the horrific events of that day – even though I was nowhere near Blacksburg when it occurred. The reason? Because the story went far deeper than what the traditional mouthpieces of media reported. The dimension created by the immensely personal nature of on the scene videos and instant reactions ultimately changed the story – and media forever.
You see, by hearing from those voices directly – and first – it made the tragedy more than an insulated event at Virginia Tech. It made people on college campuses across the country (where I happened to be at the time I first heard) realize that the name of the school and academic building were incidental. For the first time, the channels my generation had been connecting on for a handful of years became where we also congregated as the collective zeitgeist of young people.
It was the first time Facebook profile pictures became platforms for advocacy, support as photos were flipped out for images like the one above and “Today, we are all Hokies.” Videos and tributes (like this one) weren’t reserved to only traditional news outlets.
There have been events in the past few months in which we have applauded how the culture of participatory media was able to spread a story. But, luckily, those were consumer-misguidings (like Motrin or Dominos) or averted disasters (Flight 1549). The personal emotion that came through two years ago will add to a story that we will never forget – and it will be the chapter one case study on what participatory media brings to the table.
Failure and the Long Tail
Posted: April 6, 2009 Filed under: journalism | Tags: here comes everybody, the long tail Leave a comment »I’m what the world considers to be a phenomenally succesful man, and I’ve failed much more than I’ve succeeded. And each time I fail, I get my people together, and I say, “Where are we going?” And it starts to get better.
I promise, this is a positive post. Although, I sometimes wonder what people think when they come to this blog if *any* of it is positive. It all is, I promise.
I’ve mentioned in the past, but a phenomenal book on the topic of legitimate impact on the way technology has changed how people think is Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody. One of the chapters that stands out the most to me is on the topics of crowdsourcing online in an open-source environment. When there is no institution and the only tether is communication, it’s amazing what can be accomplished – you have removed the organizational fear of failed investment because there is no structure that needs to move forward.
Shirky started his point around the Linux operating system – what started as a hobby has become a lifeblood for many ITers out there. The development has been completely “What works stays, what doesn’t isn’t implemented.” You can’t afford to do that in an institutionalized working environment (as Shirky says many, many, many times throughout the chapter).
Great point, I like the idea of crowdsourcing software, but it’s just not practical to the rest of the world. Online communities makes it easy to communicate and work on large projects – but they also allow everyone to come together with an exceptionally low barrier to entry. That’s why blogging was revolutionary – not because the general public hadn’t been building Web pages for the world in the past, but because now it was easy to learn, cheap to setup, and free to host.
Think about things that actually matter to you – friends, interests, personal development. Ten years ago, I never would have been able to share my own music the way I do now. Recording, developing, editing and distributing would have been costly, ineffective and even more. But now, what do I have to lose? A large point of Shirky’s overall work is that in communities, most contributors actually add very little – in terms of content, new ideas, or views – some even only adding one thing and walking away. The majority of a work is delivered completely by only a handful.
My new band, The Greensides, are we going to get as many views as Lonely Island? No. We aren’t. No matter how much Pat and I put out there, it’s a pretty safe bet that we will not pass Andy Samberg and T-Pain in total watches. But, it didn’t cost us anything to try over the weekend:
Think about other things – the online community gives you a chance to try something. I’m really only beginning to understand, though, that this has huge implications on the Internet’s “Long Tail.” The reason the long tail got so long, to those really niche populations, is because the door is open to try something and see if the community exists. If there were only two other guys in the world who covered Pat McGee Band, it would have been a needle in a haystack for us to find them.
Cheap, easy, and accessible; these are the keys to online communities nowadays and these are what drive the fringe groups to find each other. Pat and I took a chance on some good ol’ PMB with this video. If die hard Pat McGee fans don’t find it or, worse, find it and hate it, is that failure? How many views constitute success? Tough to say. The point is that it costs us nothing – and the ability to stare failure down, get over the fear, is one thing that will always contribute to success.
