Aug 24, 2009
Posted by VC on Aug 24, 2009 in Business, Musing, New media | 0 comments
Nine days from now, I’m starting the engine on my white Jetta and cruise controlling my car full of irreplacables to the west coast. For the these last precious sweat-drenched, jersey-dress clad Texan days, I will do everything in my power to live afk as much as possible. Do all the things I meant to do while I was here. Hug all the people I wanted to hug. Drink all the free booze that I would normally turn down in the name of linear thought and early morning basic motor functions. I’m not ruling a return drive out, but I’m not planning on coming back.
To document my adventures which were inspired by a new-to-me Hunter S. Thompson book, The Great Shark Hunt, as well as the communication department’s equipment requirements which cause me to wonder what my tuition pays for exactly, I’ve acquired some fab new video and audio gear. I’m also switching up the focus of my blog to reflect my new interests.
Looks like I wasn’t all that interested in my last topic, ‘cos I didn’t blog much about it, hmm? Nah. In actuality companies were paying me to write for them in such quantity during the day that when I came home, it was all I could do to read my freshest New Yorker or watch movies lethargically.
As an aside, Festen aka The Celebration is an especially jaw dropping flick. The bland Netflix synopsis doesn’t do it justice.
My time in the corporate jungle is short (4 days left), and the time has come to leave the comfort of my ergonomically sensitive chair and temperature controlled climates and emerge from the security badge activated electronically powered revolving door armed with a sound growth strategy, a cell phone with internet access, and an open mind.
My lunch break is over… I’ll write more soon.
Share on Facebook
May 5, 2009
Posted by VC on May 5, 2009 in Musing, New media | 2 comments
It’s hard to take tweets seriously, when ninety percent of them are crap. But more and more credible sources are using Twitter to share information. On the flip side, I am concerned that these new methods of delivering content could make it more difficult for journalists to make a decent living than it already is.
Take Breakingtweets.com: One of their goals is to use Twitter as a “journalistic platform.” Their editors, predominantly grad students, write a few lines which summarize a hot topic and then compile choice tweets to show how people in the immediate area are reacting to it. The two are then blended into single entry which reads like a succinct blog post with authority. The site has the potential to really dive into the deep end of some thick and hearty issues in a sexy way. And it seems like a lot of fun for a journalist to do. But despite their aim to increase dialogue, I don’t see a ton of comments. It might be that people haven’t heard of them yet. They’re fairly fresh on the scene.
The site’s founder Craig Kanalley hasn’t identified how to sustain the site after grad school.
“ckanal@ohmyafly working on that as we speak, talking to lots of business/marketing people. honestly, not much luck yet.”
Delivering user-generated content like tweets is mad cheap, and having editors around to filter through them is a really good idea. Aside from selling ads and providing intelligence to companies, however, I’m not sure how breakingtweets is going to bank on this. He wouldn’t tell me how large their regular audience is. I don’t see content or features unique enough to keep people coming back for more. No integration with mobile devices. I’d like to see them break a tweet at you that’s relevant to your location. A most pressing question is whether the site will create jobs or hobbies for journalists who are looking ways to pay their rent in the future. Time is expensive. And no one there is getting paid to bust a tweet.
On the larger end of perspective assemblage, Google News is now twittering their site’s headlines with links to full stories. Not the most creative way to advertise. I know reporters who do this kind of thing all the time. In fact, it gets really annoying when they hog your twitter feed with their tweets. I digress. I’m mentioning these tweets because they’re related to their news site which will soon complicate things for journalists in a job market that massively sucks. The Google intends to roll out a journalist-job-killing feature in about six months which will passively search for and deliver customized content to googlers. Google CEO Eric Schmidt told The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman:
“Under this latest iteration of advanced search, users will be automatically served the kind of news that interests them just by calling up Google’s page. The latest algorithms apply ever more sophisticated filtering –- based on search words, user choices, purchases, a whole host of cues -– to determine what the reader is looking for without knowing they’re looking for it.”
“And on this basis, Google believes it will be able to sell premium ads against premium content.”
The news outlets from which they pull stories are not going to get a cut of the revenue action as of right now. Except for the AP of course.
Sure, they might get more clicks. But will that really translate to much of an increase in ad revenue? For the small sites that don’t normally get a ton of traffic, perhaps. I doubt that the bbc.co.uk will see a change in the number of total clicks. It’s unclear whether Google would be willing to pay a fee to all the news outlets after funneling their content. Hard to negotiate that when the news sites are putting their product out there for free.
From the breakingtweets to the Google, the trend right now is to take existing content and mash it together in a new way which exploits free data distributors like Twitter. Google uses it to advertise. Breakingtweets uses it to accurately portray varied perspective. It’s rad that these sites are focused on delivering valued content to users in a fresh way that keeps it timely. Unfortunately, it sucks that neither has adequately addressed the need for the creator of the content to eat.
Share on Facebook
