Telegraph gets 'Dear John' letter
Note to self: This won't work.
Tags: Facebook
August 15, 2007
August 12, 2007
Building bridges before a disaster
Is Twitter the future of breaking news?
A post by David Erickson has a fantastic collection of how people (as opposed to the nada phrase "Citizen Journalist") covered the Minneapolis bridge collapse. Be sure to browse that.
Erickson is an Internet marketing and PR guy in Minneapolis. He first got wind of the collapse via a Twitter post from an area blogger. After observing how people and big media in town covered the news, he has several observations. Among them:
The eyewitness blog posts, the on-the-scene photography, and even the handheld and cell phone videos complete with their jerky motion and blurry, overcompressed images, all contribute far better than the mainstream media, to giving you a more accurate sense of being there. The videos, especially because of their amateur look, gave the viewer a powerful sense of the frantic chaos on the ground.
The tools are there for people to cover breaking news as it happens and if they are there, they may be able to do it quciker than any mainstream media via mobile devices or available broadband Internet connections.
But the platforms of choice for people reporting news, such as flickr and YouTube, are not very good for breaking news because of the lag time before those items are actually searchable. They are there, but you have to know where.
I suspect that's also the culprit in this experiment, instead of not enough SEO hokum, but that's another story.
That has me thinking that's where social networks (loosely defined) could help in locating the photos, videos and blog posts. The organization that figures out how in a local content to aggregate this material quicker and better, and, as Erickson notes, separate the quality from the crap will have a powerful news mechanism.
Those are bridges that have to be built before the next collapse.
Erickson said, except for Minnesota Public Radio, people with the stories were viewed as resources, not story-tellers or newsgathers.
If you're a media outlet, is aggregation part of your disaster coverage plan?
Are there good examples of aggregating breaking news content from disparate sources and leverage that information through good organization, presentation and editing? I'd like something that produces better quality results than Google News and includes photo and video sharing sites and blogs as well as "news" sites.
Tags: citizen journalism | citizen journalists | micro-blogging | breaking news
August 11, 2007
The book just takes up space for me
In early 2006, according to Greg Sterling, the Kelsey Group found print Yellow Pages were the “first choice” for local business information.
Fast forward a mere year and a half, and a new study from TMP Directional Marketing finds 60 percent of consumers use the Internet as their primary information source for yellow page type information.
Sterling says:
This is the “tipping point” everyone has been talking about — it’s been reached.
Is the venerable phone directory good for anything other than flattening papers? Some 90 percent believe a printed yellow pages is more accurate and complete than other sources, but two out of three are USING other sources first.
I think the tipping point is being reached in a lot Internet spaces and movement to Internet platforms and technologies is accelerating.
Tags: yellow pages | local search
August 10, 2007
Blogging mags like mad
Brittney Gilbert's new gig and Brittney on the new gig.
Tags: web apps | magazine blogs
August 8, 2007
Comments on comments
Tony Hung notes the new comment feature of Google News and declaires Google News To Change Online News As We Know It. Here’s Why.
Eric Berlin is intrigued and Steve Rubel says it's sure to be controversial
Here's the Google version.
Tags: Goggle | Google news comments
August 7, 2007
Everybody's just skewed
This is why I say to hell with third-party stats. Actually Quantcast looks almost promising even if its data to date isn't.
The IAB's Sheryl Draizen:
There’s this philosophy in the entire media industry that it’s always better to use independent third-party numbers, because they’re independent and don’t have a vested interest,” she said. “I would argue that that’s not the case, because no one’s independent and everyone has a vested interest. We also have to change our thinking because we have a unique medium that could give us more accurate numbers than we have ever had before…I would challenge the agencies and marketers to stop thinking that the only numbers that are valid are coming from a third party. It’s just not the case in our industry. If there’s a certification process against those numbers, there’s no reason those numbers can’t stand.”
For this site, I've been using Google Analytics and I've been pleased and surprised. Sure beats the vagaries of panel approaches (even if my sites showed up) and best of all, it's free.
Why's it so hard to measure the most measurable of media?
Tags: IAB | Quantcast | Web stat | Web analytics
August 3, 2007
Scale accordingly
Here's a math equation traditional media folks are going to get some schoolin' in.
Lean operation + good sales + good content = internet money
I found that in Wil Harris' article in "The Inquirer" on the sorry state of computer and technology magazines. It's a good read and I think the analysis extends far beyond the tech rags.
Time Inc. is struggling to keep Business 2.0 publishing, but Om Malik, a top writer who left the magazine two years ago, has created a successful family of Web sites, Harris points out.
The Duh! paragraph:
The most successful online publications - whether old or new media, whether video or text - all have a lean, mean operation that employs the best people, gives them creative freedom to shape their publication, and frees them from the constraints of the traditional publishing environment and of what has gone before.
He notes Malik works out of his home and uses standard off-the-shelf blogging and content management system software. Silicon Valley's popular snarky gossip publication ValleyWag is a two person editorial outfit. The most popular independent audio podcasting service is a two-person office.
Get the picture?
In the rock, scissors, paper game of what media is becoming, leaner always wins.
But that doesn't mean lean isn't profitable; the winners are making money where bulky traditional media can't because of their leanness. That coupled with creative freedom, Harris argues, attracts the best and brightest.
Again, it's not about just making the tough cultural transformation from print to online. Harris writes:
The most successful online publications - whether old or new media, whether video or text - all have a lean, mean operation that employs the best people, gives them creative freedom to shape their publication, and frees them from the constraints of the traditional publishing environment and of what has gone before.
Back to the blackboard:
Lean operation + good sales + good content = Internet money
Tags: transformation | mainstream media | business model
August 1, 2007
I'll take a long neck
The "long neck" concept is a new one on me.
Andy Dickinson says it's basically a 25:5 rule ... The 25:5 rule states that at least 25 percent of demand is for 5 percent of tasks; that 5 percent of content is read by 25 percent of people.
A shortcut: 5 percent of the content generates an outsized 25 percent of the value.
The "long neck" is at the other end of the "long tail."
Gerry McGovern aays he discovered it.
My reading of McGovern's concept is figure out the top 5 percent things people want to use your Web site for and focus on making those killer applications/services/features. That's the long neck. Put a big hunk of your money/time/resources into this small percentage of your business that is really driving the activity.
If you identify your Long Neck and focus your resources on making the tasks within the Long Neck better, then you will create more value. You will do a better job and you will ultimately get a greater reward.
For the application of the concept to a media organization's site, Dickinson says:
A large part of what many journalists talk about is compelling storytelling and engaging with community. Compelling content targeted at a mature audience who recognise the brand. Everyone would see that as core to driving the business. Right? But in truth it seems to be a very small part of the outworking of peoples digital strategy.
Look at that apparently small part of your operation that’s generating all the activity – the 5% producing the 25%. Do they make up the smallest part of your digital investment?
Usually the answer is yes, but it should be no.
July 26, 2007
The sad state of stats
Go get 'em IAB.
I always find that statistics are hard to swallow and impossible to digest. The only one I can ever remember is that if all the people who go to sleep in church were laid end to end they would be a lot more comfortable. ~ Mrs. Robert A. Taft
Actually, Mark Glaser has an insightful look at some of the issues with web analytics I'm looking forward to the second part.
It is ironic that the most measurable media ever created has such a hard time figuring out how to measure anything -- accurately.
Tags: web stats | web analytics
July 22, 2007
Multiple Views
Knoxville's Randy Neal has spun up a new site, BlountViews.com, (named for the county, not the blogging ... or maybe both).
Its mission is to be a hyper-local community web space for liberal/progressive citizens of Blount County to meet, organize, and discuss news, politics, events, and issues of interest to the community.
It's cut from the same Drupal-powered mold as his vibrant KnoxViews.com.
Best of luck with the new site!
Tags: hyperlocal | blogging | Blount County Tennessee
July 17, 2007
Just networkin'
Look out kid
It's somethin' you did
God knows when
But you're doin' it again
-- "Subterranean Homesick Blues" by Bob Dylan
Jeff Pulver says he's abandoning LinkedIn for Facebook to focus all his "professional business social networking contacts" while Chris Brogan says in Lee Corso fashion, "wait, just a minute there," LinkedIn still does some things Facebook doesn't but just needs some help.
Steve Rubel says Facebook is a fad like well, LinkedIn and Friendster and Flickr and YouTube and iTunes and iPhone. Watch what people do with the technology, not the technology itself, he says.
Among 10 things Susan Mernit says we've learned from Facebook is:
Technology teaches possibility. It's true that Facebook is a fad, as are the other hot sites of the moment--but it's also true that the big rush onto Facebook tells us more about what users want--and about how particular behaviors, once established, seek to find a home. Create that home, power that home, and babe, you win.
Pulver's seemingly main reason for aligning around Facebook for all contacts is the "wealth of opportunity for vibrant interaction between users and groups of users on Facebook."
And Brogan's in his defense laments LinkIn needs a profile picture and says it has to turn its "platform into something even more valuable."
Rubel zeros in on how these sites change business and society. And Mernit sees it all coming together more powerfully in the cell phone.
It's fun watching what's happening happen. Networking and social habits are being developed now that will, as Rubel suggests, have a profound impact on how society operates in the future (not better or worst, paritcularly, but differently).
For me the idea of hyperlocal anything, much less news, being tied to a clearly definable geographic area is a limited take on what is "local" or part of community. That has some overarching implications on what products or services people will gravitate toward.
Ah get born, keep warm
Short pants, romance, learn to dance
Get dressed, get blessed
Try to be a success
Please her, please him, buy gifts
-- again from, "Subterranean Homesick Blues"
On Twitter, On Facebook, On LinkedIn. On Pownce On Flckr. ... well, you get the picture.
Tags: Facebook | LinkedIn | social networks
When news isn't bottled in an article
In a review of MaineToday.com's refreshing redesign, Howard Owens have some good observations on news site design in general, particularly link bloat and internal politics that bewilder more than bemuse.
One area he didn't delve into is one we're struggling with a bit in our redesign (which we like overall).
How do you get front-and-center attention for non-article content like blogs and videos? We have a great design if blogs and video are supplemental to text stories, but it's a bit tougher to give them equal footing -- even with links to both types of content on the front albeit below the fold. We're still experimenting with the best solution for us and I'm sure we'll hit upon something that works. Most content management systems I've seen have the article at the center of their universe and you end up working around that.
Not even newspapers sites, however, need to be article-centric! How are others tweaking article-centric designs to emphasize other types of content?
Tags: web design | newspapers | online media
July 16, 2007
Chasing youth
Mark Potts is getting a lot of links today on his look back over the Backfence, but another jewel was his post last week on newspaper youth products, Dog Bites Man; Kids Don't Care.
In the not-to-do category, he says:
Young people have never cared much about news; now they care even less about fossilized news delivery formats like newspapers. And what are newspapers doing about it? Um, starting newspapers aimed at the youth market! Or publishing condescending kids' news pages (which appear in the very newspapers the kids don't read)! Great thinking.
Ryan Sholin takes it another step today in "The eleventh obvious thing: Your subscribers are dying."
Again, if you’re serious about staying in business, you’re going to need content that the LIVING people in your circulation area are interested in.
He says we need to start brainstorming ways of framing news in a way that catches their eye.
If you've got the idea, maybe my kids will read you -- online.
Tags: youth market | newspapers | online media
July 9, 2007
A broadcast imbroglio
The NashvilleisTalking/WKRN imbroglio has caught my attention again.
Lost Remote points to a Cable & Broadcasting piece that says the upheaval at WKRN may be a symptom of a rift between old and new media that has led to the departures of Interactive Media heavyweights Wes Jackson at Belo, Ric Harris at NBC Universal and Eric Grilly at MediaNews Group.
I don't have the inside skinny on any of those, but Gordon Borrell, the respected Internet/Media consultant, is quoted:
There seems to be a real rub between those running interactive operations and the big traditional media companies and [the media companies’] inability to move fast enough to satisfy those people.
The swirling rumors (and Michael Silence has a good post on those) about WKRN's NashvilleisTalking blog site is doubly interesting to me because Gwen Kinsey, new GM at WATE here in Knoxville, got the additional role as GM at the Nashville station after the bloodletting.
The new Web strategy for WKRN:
... some in the market expect management to pull the plug on NashvilleisTalking and ultimately roll back WKRN’s digital innovation. “They're going back to Media 1.0,” says one veteran of the market’s news wars. “They'll make their money on broadcast.”
Well, maybe. We'll see. Management's sparse public pronouncements would indicate some future for NashvilleisTalking.
And Brittney Gilbert, the face or voice of NashvilleisTalking until her recent departure, works up a passionate defense of the groundbreaking project even if she says she doesn't care what happens to it next. She was reacting to what Bill Hobbs said.
But amidst the we're-headed-back-to-the-Stone-Age news is a comment from Gilbert's old boss at WKRN, Mike Sechrist, who says somewhat circumspectly:
I’ve had some eye opening conversations with two individuals who want to start full fledged news operations in their respective cities (one on the east coast and one on the west) using only VJ’s and the web. They both have the same idea of usurping local broadcast news.
Usurping local broadcast news. Usurping local broadcast news. Now Mike, that's an idea.
A YouTube video of Sechrist from back in his WKRN day:
Tags: broadcasting | television | interactive media | WKRN | NashvilleisTalking
July 6, 2007
The audience loves its brands
More evidence that brand matters on the Internet -- maybe more so than in the non-digital realm.
Participants in this study ranked the performance of brand name search engines Yahoo! and Google higher than the not-really-a-brand-MSN Live and an unbranded search engine. All, however, returned the same results.
Interestingly, Yahoo! ranked highest, even through many in the study group used Google regularly. I wonder if that has to do with Yahoo!'s traditionally heavier advertising and marketing. Yahoo! has done quite a bit of branding advertising; I can't recall any from Google, although it'd be hard to find an internet user that doesn't "google."
Whatever factors influence the choice of Yahoo! over Google, the implication of the study is nurturing a trusted, positive brand image online is money and time well-spent.
Positive brand identification = Loyal Audience. Audience = $$$.
I've seen some research -- and I'd like to know more -- that TV station Web sites have higher credibility ratings than newspaper Web sites. Obviously brand "feelings" are at work at some level. What I don't know is what factors are influencing the perception.
Tags: marketing | branding | online media
July 3, 2007
Shoutouts far and wide
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Bryan Murley, one of the forces behind Innovation in College Media, did a post Monday on the decision to make the formerly paid-subscription site GoVolsXtra a free site.
Murley says of GVX:
It’s exactly the sort of niche web site more and more pro newspapers are investing time and energy into, and the sort of thing college media could adapt relatively easily. Indeed, the Florida Alligator is already aggregating sports content at alligatorsports.org, and Boise State will be doing so this fall with Broncosports.tv, according to Brad Arendt.
Lucas Grindley, content manager at the New York Times owned HeraldTribune.com in southwest Florida, uses the decision to relax registration requirements as the lead for a RIP for registration.
Remember when everyone got all excited about the prospect of knowing exactly who uses their Web sites? Maybe it will help lure advertisers, they hoped. Well, it didn’t.
It’s about time the industry faced reality: Registration doesn’t work. The information gathered is largely a database of lies. Why would anyone enter their real name, age or anything? Most users fill out crap so they can arrive at the story they wanted to read as quickly as possible.
A lot of newspaper executives aren't as far down the "registration sucks" road as Grindley and would still like to believe that registration is a good thing (economically) and isn't a real drag on audience growth (Huh?, but they ought to consider his view because you find it by talking to a customer -- and it shouldn't take more than one or two to find one that echoes Grindley's basic theme.
Registration data is only useful to us when it’s also useful to the user. When I want to personalize my weather, I’ll give you my real zip code. When I want to receive an e-mail newsletter, I’ll provide an e-mail address. But few people give away accurate personal information out of the goodness of their hearts.
I agree with Howard Owens' comments on Grindley's post that registration data is mostly accurate. Yeah, there's bogus info, but to my cynical mind, there is a surprising wealth of honesty based on what I knew about them from direct customer interactions. And the demos fairly well matched our other market research -- which either says something about the honesty of humanity or the general usefulness of market research.
But registration is a barrier to use -- even among registered users. The anecdotal evidence of dealing with people frustrated enough to call the newspaper confirm it and the market share data vividly graphs it. And I can't see that we ever received the economic trade-off in being able to use the aggregated information vs. the ill-will nurtured for our product and brand.
It would be fair to say we weren't smart enough or technologically savvy enough to get it right. So, yes, I hope, "RIP: Registration, and its database of lies."
The theory has a lot less friction than the practice.
And Will Sullivan gave our switch from venerable Vignette to the hipster Django/Ellington a shoutout in a "Goodbye Vinny" blurb with art!
And you have to watch Erin Chapin's RandomThis video on an ode to "Vinny." I'm not sure what the corporate Lords of the North Shore thought about that, but Vinny did send flowers Friday (of which the Randoms were very surprised and appreciative). Click on the photos to view larger versions.
Tags: knoxnews | govolsxtra | site registration | newsppaers | Vignette | Django/Ellington
June 29, 2007
Reading the long version
The long version is back?
Or blog-style is just the coming thing for all Web sites?
Tags: web design
June 28, 2007
The evolution of knoxnews
We've launched a new knoxnews.com today. I thought some folks might like to see the last three designs of knoxnews (sorry, not sure if I have one from further back, unfortunately).
The first was used for three or four years and was "retired" in April 2005. We thought it was very tired by then.
The second one is the original successor look, but I noticed in looking at the home page yesterday, we had made more "adjustmenets" by the end of its run than I had thought.
The one on the right is an early morning shot of the new, current design. You can click on each image to get a larger view.
Update: Jay Small explains many of the nuances.
Knoxville News Sentinel | knoxnews | newspapers
June 27, 2007
Sullivan sighting
This must rank just behind a Paris sighting among celebrity watchers.
While the paparazzi didn't get his photo, journalism professor and blogger Bryan Murley cornered Will Sullivan of exclusive Palm Beach for an online interview.
Sullivan on blogging:
My blog format evolved out of basically trying to save my sanity. I started off in the traditional format, doing a topical posts daily, but I really got addicted to RSS feeds. (I currently subscribe to 986 feeds.) And keeping up on those at least semi-daily takes a lot of time. So I couldn’t do that, post links and the longer topical diatribes and make sure I had clean clothes and a functioning car at the same time. So now I do the digests and little bits of opinion/snark with sparse topical posts.
And, of course, read Sullivan's blog.
June 25, 2007
Teens make better readers for newspapers
What, you say. Well, hang with me here.
I spaced this post from Mindy McAdams on young people last week, but Melissa Worden drew me back to it with her "good reads" list.
Their interpersonal networks might well reconfigure over time. The software or sites they use might well change or be replaced by others. But their habit of staying connected digitally, checking for updates, making plans, sharing gossip, getting information -- this will likely remain their habit, their means of keeping in touch with the world around them, for the rest of their lives.
That's why we need to understand these spaces where young people interact. I don't know if it really requires setting up a bureau in Second Life, but it certainly does demand our attention -- immediately, today.
The implication of this generally is that that's not a good trend for printed newspapers. The readership habits, or lack thereof, that develop early in life follow one throughout life, hence newspaper in education programs, youth features in newspapers, youth-oriented niche newspapers products, etc.
I may be dreaming, but I do think the information consumption habits of today's youth are good news for newspapers -- just not the printed paper. The amount of information and the sources of that information that our teenage son requires about the subjects that interest him are exponentially greater than what was even readily available when I was a teen.
This demand for information presents opportunities now (Facebook, MySpace, music sites, IM, breaking news, online video), but won't it grow heavier in demand as they start needing information for business/careers and managing their life and families? Isn't it like video game players being better surgeons?
That portends tremendous potential for audience growth in term of numbers and in terms of time spent, or engagement. But it's doubtful they will come to traditioanl newspaper products based on the habits they are wiring into their behavior today; we need, as Mindy McAdams exhorts, to start learning their preferred information means and methods now.
And we're not talking lame "youth-oriented" features in newspapers. And to those that say (and I actually heard something along this line RECENTLY) oh, they'll start reading newspapers when they put down roots and have children in school. I hear the prices of Dutch bulbs are rising.
Tags: social networks | youth | news demographics | readership | newspapers
June 23, 2007
Are we measuring how many read over or rode over the newspaper?
Sometimes the react is better than the first act.
Mathew Ingram and Steve Yelvington have good posts on British newspaper consultant John Duncan Webster's Dictionary of Audience Exaggeration: How internet metrics promote the myth of the dying newspaper.
Yelvington has several nuggets, but this one I can't pass up quoting:
However, the notion that a newspaper's daily print sales figures should be multiplied by some factor to derive actual readers is wishful-thinking crap, and especially so in markets where the newspaper is home delivered, such as is typical in the United States. Try dividing! Once again, I ran over this morning's paper with my car on my way to work.
Tags: print readership | newspapers | internet metrics
June 15, 2007
Small tinkering
Jay Small, fellow Scripps interactive media colleague, said the other day he's going to start writing and opining more on his site when he gives up being an expert. That's good news because he always has some expert things to say about online and media.
Tags: consultant | small initiatives
Next, please
An interesting eye track side study by Nora Paul and Laura Ruel looks at what navigation methods users chose when viewing a photo slide show using a Washington Post slide show that used several navigation types.
Here's which ones people chose:
- Next 19 (56%)
- Numbers 8 (23%)
- Arrow 5 (15%)
- Autoplay 2 ( 6%)
- Thumbnail 0
The results were pretty much the same for the number of slides in the package the views looked at, but weren't the same for the amount of time spent on the slide based on the navigation method.
They noted this:
But perhaps the most interesting observation was the very low level usage of the non-linear approach (and when it was used, how few slides were observed.) Is the linear orientation to looking through material so hard-wired into our media usage that it is, and will continue to be, the preferred way to take in media?
Tags: slide shows | online design | eye track studies
June 14, 2007
Clearing the haze
Steve Rubel is drawing on a number of sources to come up with a solution to "always on" that allows him to be productive.
The underpinning of all the ideas is that we're dealing with too much information, disruptions, meetings, schedules, RSS feeds, email, blogs, telephone calls, voice mail to accomplish much.
He's rallying to Marc Andreessen's The Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity and Tim Ferriss' ideas in his book "The 4-Hour Work Week
I haven't had time to read Ferriss' biz best seller, but I did read Andressen's post.
His advice:
- Don't keep a schedule
- Keep three and only three lists: a Todo List, a Watch List, and a Later List.
- Each night before you go to bed, prepare a 3x5 index card with a short list of 3 to 5 things that you will do the next day.
- Then, throughout the rest of the day, use the back of the 3x5 card as your Anti-Todo List.
- Structured Procrastination.
- The other key two-word tactic: Strategic Incompetence.
- Do email exactly twice a day -- say, once first thing in the morning, and once at the end of the workday.
- When you do process email, do it like this: First, always finish each of your two daily email sessions with a completely empty inbox. Second, when doing email, either answer or file every single message until you get to that empty inbox state of grace
- Don't answer the phone.
- Hide in an IPod.
- Start the day with a real, sit-down breakfast.
- Only agree to new commitments when both your head and your heart say yes.
- Do something you love.
Read his whole post to add a few layers to these concepts. You crackberry addicts may find his suggestions idealistic -- and they may be -- but information smog does create real productivity issues.
One of Andreessen's points is that most productivity systems require so much attention to their process that it's just too much effort and may not really free you up to focus on what's really important. Different styles for different folks.
But for either, Rubel does have a second important point, an attention crash is coming. That could be big bad news for lots of Internet products that people decide they just don't need. At some point, people will begin filtering out -- they already do.
And that may provide opportunities for information providers who can help reduce the smog. MORE, as Rusty Coats often noted in his market research days, is not a selling point. More is not time-saving. More doesn't mean better. More doesn't make life simpler or better. MORE by itself doesn't solve the customer's need; indeed, less may.
Yet, whenever a new news product/service is announced, MORE is touted as part of the "new and improved features" while there's ample evidence that's exactly what's not wanted.
Products and services, in particular news products, that understand where MORE fits will be the winners in an Attention Crash.
(via Journerdism)
Tags: attention, Marc Andreessen, Tim Ferriss, Steve Rubel
June 13, 2007
NCAA to blogger: You're outta here
The NCAA is out of its mind.
That may not be news, but it is Steve Safran's take on the NCAA's blogger blunder.
Michael Silence has several more links to coverage of the ejection of a Kentucky sports writer for blogging at a college baseball game. And Silence has more here, here, here and here.
Howard Weaver, the VP of News at McClatchy, did a post:
I think we can (and will) make strong legal arguments about our right to cover public events being held in (mainly) publicly owned venues. But even though legal options are naturally limited, there's a lot more involved here than legalities.
Dan Gillmor posted on it, too:
... the paper should ask readers to blog the game themselves, from TV sets or from the stands, or both — and then point to the best reader game-blogs.
Bryan Murley points to more posts and says:
This is idiotic on so many levels that it’s incredible that the NCAA would stoop to such stupidity. Wait, strike that.
Lots of others are writing about it as well.
My bet is the NCAA will pretend the world is flat, that college athletes go to college primarily to get an education, and coaches will limit text messaging to recruits. And blogging during a game will continue to be verboten as long as ESPN says so.
Course, I'm covering this game on a play-by-play basis so I suspect the NCAA roustabouts will roust me at any moment and yank my blogging credentials. Wait, I don't have any blogging credentials.
Tags: NCAA | blogging | Brian Bennett
June 6, 2007
Bryan on Ryan
Bryan Murley interviews Ryan Sholin.
May 7, 2007
Legal without the ese
Some good commonsense advice on the legal issues of having an online site, blogging or not. Bookmark it!
Tags: law | copyright | trademarks
May 6, 2007
And the winner is ...
Big awards weekend for the the online news staff at knoxnews.
Of course, they deserved the recognition they got -- and more!
Jigsha, Erin, Lauren, Katie and Talid are just an absolutely awesome team. Way to go folks. Rock on.
SPJ Green Eyeshade Awards
(Presented in Nashville on May 5, 2007)
NICHE JOURNALISM
First Place: GoVolsXtra -- Online and Sports Departments, Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel
BEST USE OF MULTIMEDIA
Third Place: Sweet 15 - Jigsha Desai, Lauren Spuhler, Kevin Cowan, Joe Howell, Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel
East Tennessee SPJ Golden Press Awards
(Presented in Knoxville on May 4, 2007)
SERIES/PACKAGE/PROJECT WRITING
Award of Merit: Andrew Eder, Erin Chapin,Knoxville News Sentinel
WORK FOR OTHER MEDIA -- VISUALS
Award of Excellence: Jigsha Desai, Lauren Spuhler, Joe Howell, Knoxville News Sentinel
Award of Merit: Jigsha Desai, Lauren Spuhler, Erin Chapin, Katie Kolt, The Knoxville News Sentinel (Swept category)
Tags: Knoxville News Sentinel | SPJ | Green Eyeshade Awards | knoxnews | Society of Professional Journalists
May 5, 2007
Digging into all this . . .
The Digg Revolt is fascinating:
It's stage-setting.
Revolts are good for traffic.
It's not the mob that's the problem, it's anonymous individuals.
It's much bigger than we realize.
And who has the upper hand?
Finally, the delicious irony of it all.
Tags: Digg revolt | social media | Digg surrenders
May 2, 2007
Community run amok or Viva La Revolution?
There are lessons to be learned here.
It would be interesting to see an analysis of whether the "mass revolt" involved the small percentage of Digg users that consistently push stories to the front page or a wave of dissatisfaction. I suspect the former although the story spin so far is of a "mass uprising."
Sounds like a successful guerrilla action by the heavily armed influencers.
Wonder what Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose would do in an electronic lynching? Oh, what the hell, gimme the rope .... ?
Tags: digg | social media
April 25, 2007
Collegiate Times
Wow. Great post about the Collegiate Times at the Va. Tech campus.
Their coverage and response has been getting kudos all around.
Tags: virginia tech | college newspapers