COMMENTS
This is an interesting point. Many blogs out there tend to rehash what other blogs are saying, and the result is a farrago of already-recited news and information to drive traffic. Bloggers really are in a position not only to specialize the content in which they produce, but also to tap into the resources who would be able to report breaking information quickly. Utilizing that facet of social media to relay pertinent and timely information to the readers is an often passed-over methodology that many bloggers would be smart to adopt.
Great post!
I read several area newspapers every morning. In addition, I read several news “archive” sites, including Drudge Report, Fark and Reddit. I read online news archives because I do not have access to thousands of global newspaper subscriptions. My online readership is based on member submissions within these online new communities. The trends I have noticed and considered for social media sites versus print articles are as follows:
Many online social media sites, including websites, blogs and wikis do not have the same appropriation of funds held by most print media companies. These funds are used to hire reporters, journalists and most importantly, copyediting staff. As mentioned in your article, many blogs or websites do not have the income for the ability to write breaking news articles or to even cover news stories. Many blogs or websites can only pass information on with their own subjective viewpoints, hoping to engage their readership to their opinions and “selection” of articles”. For example, you will only find audience specific viewpoints and articles on Crooksandliars.com.
This general shift has lead to subjective blogs and news sites, creating communities with similar readership and values. Personalizing the web and funneling these readers into communities enable blogs and tweets to reach and engage target audiences. Print Newspapers do not have this luxury. Print Newspapers have to engage ALL audiences, and maintain their readership with objective viewpoints and articles. Therefore, blogs and other social media applications can create and maintain an edge on reporting information to target audiences.
I applaud and agree with your conclusions about the direction of social media strategies for businesses. Both small and large businesses are able to publish, maintain, and engage specific audiences through the use of online social media strategies. Press releases, product enhancement and special events can be promoted without the extended revenue of publishing within a print medium. Breaking news within your specific business or industry is your company’s own privileged information. This information should not be spread through other channels for their publishing capabilities, when your company has free and extensive publishing tools within the World Wide Web. Business blogs are the source of your industry’s news and stories surrounding products like the Apple Tablet remain privileged to your company.
I saw an interesting and quite relevant piece on PBS' "Now" over the weekend: http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/603/index.html
Ken Auretta also makes a similar point in "Googled".
Central to both is the commitment to investigative journalism.
There's no denying that Traditional Media will always have a role in the breaking of stories due to the necessary resources involved. Certain folks (above company excluded), however, try and conflate this Woodward-and-Bernstein type value, if you will, with their reflexive dismissal of New Media.
Those with true prescience see the value of both.
Great commentary on creation vs distribution in the world of blogging. It sounds like you're discussing a division where businesses should take a more proactive, news creation role, while realistically, bloggers are limited more to disseminating other people's content. Is that a fair take-away? Can you envision the blogosphere developing the skills or resources to really impact new news content? Great discussion about the future of the medium.
-Eric
My apologies, dead link on last post
Eric, you ask a good question. We live in a world where many bloggers don't have the money or resources to research in-depth news stories.
We also live in a world with many businesses who are still in the process of really seeing the true value of blogging. I stand by my point that I believe business blogs are in a better position to offer new information from within their industry, will they take over the role as traditional media, maybe not, but it's possible that business blogs could lead a revolution where new information can come from anywhere. With social media spreading content so quickly and all in one place, my news can come from anywhere. That means that it doesn't matter whether I read it in the New York Times or on a random blog - all that matters is how valuable the information is to me.
Can I envision the blogosphere developing the skills or resources to really impact new news content? I think that's really hard to say. There have been a few break out stars Techcrunch, for one, that actually "breaks" news. However, a recent blog post by Michael Arrington discusses that bloggers trying to make a career out of it may be disappointed with how often people will recycle your content or just blatantly rip it off.
That's why I believe the business blog will really step up. There is so much room for growth in the blogosphere and businesses are just beginning to see the true value of becoming a content creation machine. When you couple the SEO value along with how blogging positions your company as a thought leader, plus the added benefit of building out your site pages and driving people back to your site - it just seems obvious that businesses will be investing more and more in blogging in the coming years.
Michael Arrington believes that there is a lot of "fast food" blog content in the future, but I believe that business blogs might step up and start offering the calibur of content value-wise as we expect in traditional news.
Very nice analysis of this information from the perspective of the blogger. I wrote about this same article on my blog last week from the marketing perspective.
I'm also wondering if there will be a shift to more breaking news from bloggers. There is a growing wave of professional journalists who have lost their jobs in the past couple of years setting up their own blogs. I have a friend here locally who is doing quite well on this track and was referenced as the source of a story that ended up on the local newspaper's website.
How's that for turnabout :-)
Shannon,
Thanks for presenting, a reasonable, balanced view of how the news distribution might settle given the rise in non-traditional sources. I think the key is that consumers of media understand what is traditional, and has an (albeit imperfect) expectation of objectivity, and what is run by businesses, who have a more vested interest in what they're presenting. There is definitely a place for both, but I think traditional sources will continue to produce the majority of new content, while the area where businesses really step up is in providing analysis and distributing content. There will be overlap between the two, but this seems like the most realistic scenario.
Great work on opening the conversation about the ever-changing production and consumption of what we consider “news”.
-Eric
Bloggers may break news, but they should be held to the same standard as professional journalists. That means they should verify the facts before posting the material. Please see our blog for more. I wrote about this last week: http://blog.thesimonsgroup.com/2010/01/don%e2%80%99t-bury-traditional-news-%e2%80%93-just-yet/
Great post, I got to admit, I collect news every day on the internet and post it on my blog about
internet marketing.
Hi there - great post. I am a total blogging advocate and you've written some really interesting stuff about blogging. I recently came across a really interesting video on Social Media Explorer - Steve Rubel. He's stopped blogging and his video suggests that blogging is dying... I responded stating that so many businesses aren't even on the blogging radar that it's still hugely fertile territory for many. I'd be interested to find out what you think - I've inserted the post here http://ow.ly/1mZwU9
I also believe blogging is fertile ground because the mainstream has of traditional business hasn't gotten involved here yet (yes, there are a lot of companies blogging but waaaaaay more just discovering what a blog is). I think like everything else, the first ones to discover something are always the first ones to say it's "so yesterday" :-) The nice thing is we can now all make our communities out here online instead of having to stuff ourselves into someone else's mold :-)
I love this new blogging idea it seems to works for many different occasions. On that I think of is, the fact that i can tell people that My ablbum is coming march 1st 2010. and it will be priced to buy. so retatin your copy first. Pangy1 Pangpangbabaey!the marketers though should be specific about their areas of expertise. this would help in choosing the proper marketer for my business ventures. thank you