Trends in New Media
Why can’t news organizations monetize traffic spikes?
For news websites, big stories often mean big traffic. That traffic can come when a local story goes national, when a story gains profile through social media recommendations, or when an item gets prominent placement on a news aggregator.
But even though web advertising is often sold by “impressions”, the number of views an ad gets, [...]
Does checkbook journalism pay?
With all the attention garnered by the “balloon boy” story, any information available about the boy and his family became fodder for news outlets. Amid all the coverage, one online news site was able to score a rather valuable interview — one with a Denver college student who supposedly had knowledge of a plan by [...]
How do divisions in social networks affect professional communicators?
In front of a packed audience in a New York City auditorium, researcher Danah Boyd posed a question. She asked the roomful of political junkies, activists and tech aficionados at the annual Personal Democracy Forum how many were on Facebook. Almost all raised their hands. Then she repeated the question, instead asking about MySpace. Almost [...]
Are niche social networks the future of social networking?
When the topic turns to social networks the conversation tends to be about the typical players – Facebook and MySpace. However, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of online social networks out there that don’t even begin to rival the millions of users of the big ones but instead cater to niche audiences.
Many of these [...]
Can nonprofit status save news organizations?
Last week’s post discussed how nonprofits and other advocacy groups are becoming producers of news in the Internet age, distributing direct to news consumers alongside traditional news organizations. Recently, though, news organizations have been emerging as nonprofits at a rapid rate. These nonprofit news organizations are opening up possibilities for an entirely new business model [...]
Will the informational role of advocacy groups increase in the new media environment?
As the media landscape changed over the past few years, some university public relations officials began to make an observation – the amount of coverage their organizations’ research was getting had decreased significantly. Shrinking newsroom staffs apparently made it difficult to get their messages to members of the public, so they decided to just skip [...]
Will collaborative, user-driven journalism reshape reporting?
As more activities traditionally carried out on desktop computers continue to move to “the cloud” – online data centers that host everything from video editing software to office applications to e-mail – so is the reporting process. Some users see it as a way to do journalism in areas where no one else is, while [...]
Do online games have a role in news?
What do Gannett newspapers and Hasbro have in common? If you’re not sure, check out Picture the Impossible, a joint venture by the Gannett-owned Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and the Lab for Social Computing at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Picture the Impossible is an alternate-reality game developed to attract young readers to the newspaper. It’s [...]
What problems do social media pose for an organization’s communication strategy?
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco runs his own media empire of sorts. He is one of a growing number of Internet users who are as much a content creator as they are content consumers. He communicates publicly with his fans on social media site Twitter (@OgoChoCinco) and interacts with fans in his live video [...]
Is the Web altering the ethics of reporting?
As the Web has provided whole new avenues to tell stories, it has also created new methods of information gathering, some of which challenge some of the most basic principles of traditional journalism. Among the most controversial new ways of developing stories is what is being called “process journalism.”
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