April 18, 2011
18 Apr 2011

Citizen Journalism or Really Community Curation?

 

‘What is journalism?’ is probably a very elementary but necessary question to ask right now. In the olden times of pre-2000, what made it easy for people to distinguish between respected journalists and ‘filler’ journalists used to be the sheer quality of reporting they delivered; solid investigations, probing questions and impressive sources. Today, the nature of all those factors has changed. This video titled ‘The Rise and Fall of the TV Journalist’ really encapsulates this. It’s a little bit old-school, a little bit more critical in its review of the profession, but some key observations really flesh out what is going on today.

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0 Comments/1 Tweets/in Journalism
March 30, 2010
30 Mar 2010

Lowering the cost of journalism

Ok. Before we start, I know this a very touchy subject. I fully believe that good journalists are worth good wages. And I sympathise with all the 14,775 newspaper employees that lost their jobs in 2009, and the 1,643 already in 2010.

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4 Comments/0 Tweets/in Journalism, Newspapers
December 4, 2009
04 Dec 2009

So what is a digital magazine?

After using, building, and writing about digital magazines extensively, the conceptual definition of a digital magazine is less clear to me than ever. I have been pondering this issue for a couple of weeks, looking at the various forms of online publishing that call themselves “magazines” – and there is huge diversity. The one thing I am almost sure about now, is that print magazines have something so unique that there is no chance they will be extinct in the next few years. Yes, many titles will go out of print, but as a medium they are just too tangible, too accessible, and provide too great of an experience for demand to completely disappear. Just as online can do stuff that print can’t, the reverse is also true.

Although I read 99% of my news online, I love the rare opportunity I have to sit and read a magazine. And as time goes on, the more I value that experience. I’ve spent some enjoyable Saturday mornings reading Wired UK, Intelligent Life, BusinessWeek or Wallpaper in the last month, and I don’t think that pleasure will go away. So, with all this in mind, it was with interest that I saw Time Inc’s demo of their new tablet-based magazine.

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0 Comments/0 Tweets/in Magazine
October 2, 2009
02 Oct 2009

Brand publishing

http://www.degweb.org

In an increasingly fragmented media landscape, the opportunities for brands to connect with their market are endless.

The old model, where magazines, newspapers and TV channels provided a marketplace for brands to inform and persuade consumers is failing. It still has legs, because there is nothing that yet compares to the mass-market impact of buying a 30 second advert slot during a primetime TV show. However, the demise of mass media, caused by the move to online content consumption, audience fragmentation, and the cyclical downturn which has quickly exposed the structural issues in existing media business models, has created a huge opportunity for brands that are willing to engage their customers beyond their transaction.

There are many ways to skin a cat

Traditional media players argue that there is huge value in the quality and volume of audiences that they can amass, and this is true to a point. When advertising in a premium publication, the brand aligns itself with the goodwill, history and quality of the publication. But its becoming harder and harder to make this case, when that same audience can be sliced and diced, and reached more cost-effectively through a huge variety of online publishers and communities, PPC campaigns, email marketing, SEO, etc…

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4 Comments/0 Tweets/in Content Marketing
June 9, 2009
09 Jun 2009

Monetisation sucks.

Ok ok, not the concept, but the actual word… “monetisation”. The whole Web 2.0 movement, and now publishers, repeatedly complain about poor monetisation, or proclaim new monetisation strategies, or compare thoughts on monitising content, or how to monetise users.

Let’s get things straight. All we are talking about is revenue. Plain and simple. Can you imagine the owner of the local cornershop talking about the monetisation potential of his stock?

(And yes, I know that I am often the worse villain).

Ok. Mini rant over with. Sorry…

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0 Comments/0 Tweets/in Content Marketing, Paid Content
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