Looking from the outside in

Posted on April 27, 2008

I’ve been away from the newsroom for only two months, and I feel my news consumption has changed considerably.

For some background: I was an online news producer for eight years. During that time, I covered entertainment, travel and breaking news. I helped out with the sports and money sections as needed. I focused on online community development and then, specifically, multimedia. I’ve worked for large and small papers.

And I loved what I did because I loved being a part of a community. Serving their need to know what’s going on around the world and in their towns and their need to be educated about how what’s happening affects their lives.

I was a news junkie. I consumed news reports as much as I produced them.

Of course, I read the site I worked for daily, and I subscribed to the print edition.

I knew all of the breaking news updates that happened — every single day.

I supplemented my local news updates by reading the national newspaper and cable TV news Web sites.

I used an RSS reader to keep up with blogs and news sites.

I used del.icio.us all the time to keep up with blogs and news sites.

I “played” with content and sought out video, interactive graphics and special reports by newspapers — not just in my local area, but around the world.

I watched cable and network TV in the morning, evening and weekends.

I looked at the Drudge Report and Google & Yahoo news a couple of times a day for another overview.

I wasn’t reading and watching everything, but I felt plugged in.

Now? Well, my schedule’s not nearly the same.

I don’t subscribe to my local print papers (there are four in my area, including two in my town). Sometimes, one of the town papers ends up on my driveway for some mysterious reason, but I rarely read it. And when I do, I’m disappointed by the lack of LOCAL coverage.

During the day at work, I don’t have time to read these four newspapers’ Web sites. I might check them during lunch. But I won’t be going back to the sites for the rest of the day, so I’ve missed out on all those breaking news updates.

I remember how important it was to beat the competition by even seconds when posting to the Web. But guess what? As a news consumer now, I don’t care. In all honesty, unless there’s a 9/11-type event, I’m probably not even checking the site. I don’t even know it’s posting all that great content.

I only have time to “play” with multimedia and other content that’s most important to me — I’ll engage in interactive graphics, watch videos and read blogs that interest me most. The others, either I don’t have time to read or I don’t know the content even exists.

I still check Drudge, Google and Yahoo when I have the time.

I depend on RSS feeds even more.

I still watch a lot of cable news TV at night and on the weekends.

Here’s what’s completely new:

I’ve become one of “them.” I don’t get my news from newspapers and I get little of my news by traditionally viewing a newspaper Web site — as one would a newspaper. I don’t go to the homepage (A1) as often. I don’t flip through the different section fronts and scan the headlines as often. And I certainly won’t read any type of e-paper.

But I DO subscribe to print magazines. Why the difference? I get niche content in magazines. My perception is I don’t get that in my newspapers.

I subscribe to news Twitter accounts. CNN posts breaking news tweets, and I love that it doesn’t overload me with updates. When I get a tweet from them, I pay attention. I enjoy USATODAY.com’s “On Deadline” tweets. They give me a great overview of what’s going on nationally during the day. More newspaper Twitter accounts are out there, but none for my local or city area.

I get news stories from friends on Twitter. It’s like standing around a virtual water cooler. Sometimes tweets are chit-chat. Sometimes they’re gossip. And sometimes they’re news links.

I depend more on links shared by friends via Facebook.

I depend on my del.icio.us network even more to keep up with blogs and news sites.

I’ve gone back to reading e-mail newsletters. These have been so valuable to me, and I’ve noticed blogs offering an e-mail option (I don’t know if this is new, or if I’m noticing it because it’s more important to me now).

I seek out shows that analyze the news and entertain me. I watch “The Daily Show,” “Reliable Sources” on CNN, and I browse YouTube videos.

I’m less often distinguishing my news by TV, print or blogs. News is news. Information is information. The only distinguisher is whether I trust the provider.

I’m still not reading and watching everything. In fact, I feel like I’m seeking out much less. But I still felt plugged in.

Lessons to be learned for news organizations:

>> Make it local. Of all the news I get, the information I usually want most is what I’m not getting: local content. And what I really, really want is micro-local content.

>> Rethink what interactive means. Newspaper’s are doing a great job of creating innovative interactive content, but much of it requires a user/reader to seek out the Web site to participate.

Why not tie social networking tools into your next project? Make it viral. Let readers “play” with that awesome database you made — from their mobile. Here’s an opportunity to take greater advantage of the Web to break up linear storytelling.

>> Personalization is so important. The beauty of blogs and social networking sites is the ability to drill-down to niche content. THAT is what I want as a news consumer now. I still want the main overviews, but I don’t have time to get specifics about everything. I want the specifics about what matters to me most.

Too often newspaper Web sites are too difficult to navigate. I find it hard to find the specifics I need. When I worked for a news site, I used it and several others every day. I knew where most everything was on those sites and could click to the content I needed quickly. But since I’m not visiting them daily now, I tend to get lost right away.

>> Push your content & take advantage of social networking (aka, learn how to market your site and its content). All the fabulous, innovative work that newspapers are doing may be lost to readers who have to seek it out themselves. There are a lot of other Internet and real-life interests, commitments, and demands that are competing for your readers’ time.

As a former journalist, I may be able to find links to innovative special reports via NPPA, ONA, NAA, etc. But “average” readers probably don’t know about these awards or these sites, nor would they be likely to seek them out.

We all know how hard it is to find multimedia/special packages on a site when we’re IN the industry (I depend on multimedia blogs such as Teaching Online Journalism, News Videographer & the former Multimedia Shooter). Now I know how hard it is on the outside. If a reader misses seeing a special package the day it was highlighted on the news Web site, they may never see it.

Particularly if readers are focusing on their niche areas, they’ll miss a great effort that could possibly be of great importance to them. I need an easy way to stay in the know.

This is already happening to me. For example, road work may be done to a highway near where I live, which would have a significant impact on my community. But I keep missing the stories about it written by my local papers. Sure, I could set up a Google search alert and hope it finds the stories I need to read. But now you’re requiring the reader to do a lot of work to access your content. It should be easy for them. Plus, what if I didn’t know the road work was going to happen in the first place? I’d most certainly miss it.

Social networking is more than creating a community on your own site (which is definitely an important step). It’s creating a community around your news that’s off your site, too:

Does your site use mobile and e-mail updates? If so, do they work effectively and correctly?

Does your site use Twitter? It’s such an easy way to keep your readers in the know about breaking news, weather and traffic.

Does your site use Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Flickr?

Does your site interact with bloggers — not just as sources, but to engage in a conversation on their sites? Does your site leverage news aggregates such as Fark, Drudge Report, etc.?

* NOTE: Patrick Thornton has a great post on how news is a social event for his generation that ties in well with my post-newsroom experiences.

Voyeurism is addictive

Posted on July 31, 2007

I can’t play video games. Don’t get me wrong, I have good hand-eye coordination and excelled at Doom back in the day.

No, I can’t play because I become this couch-zombie game addict who rarely blinks. Really, my eyes become so dry they hurt! (The Wii, I can do, however, because I’m movin’ around. Swinging my arms wildly trying to beat my opponent at boxing; well, I *have* to blink during all that commotion.)

Besides, I just don’t have time for that stuff, anyway. I already spend too many hours on the computer reading blogs and the latest on multimedia and journalism.

But I’ve been administering the eye drops because last weekend, I have to admit, I caught a “video game” bug and spent a little longer than I’d like to admit playing: The HBO Voyeur Project, which is a series of multimedia stories that revolve around the theme of voyeuerism. “See what people do when they think no one is watching …”

It takes some time to download, but it was worth it because right off the bat, I was wowed with the Flash design and presentation. Watching the scenes in the first apartment building was jaw-dropping enough, then I realized there’s a whole city to explore. Each building (four at this point, but they may add more) and unit with its own storyline.

Aside from the Flash aspect, how can we apply this example to journalism?

>> This is non-linear storytelling. The user must choose their own route through the presentation.

Sure, it’s entertainment, and we wouldn’t *necessarily* tell a news story in this fashion. But you *could* use this technique to reenact the scene of a crime or to create a more visually interesting interactive timeline.

>> The story is told on several platforms. This isn’t where the presentation ends or begins.

From wikipedia:

“The Project includes the main website, HBO On Demand and HBO Mobile exclusive content, MySpace pages for the characters from the stories, supporting websites, and additional content for those willing to follow the breadcrumbs or “artifacts” hidden in the other media. Clues /discussion about voyeur artifacts found at the promotional blog http://www.thestorygetsdeeper.com. The project was estimated to have cost between $7 and $10 million dollars, and took about a year to create.”

>> The content and presentation is addictive. The site is set up to draw you in, and it encourages you to stay and explore it. (Don’t forget that Nielsen will count only unique users and time spent instead of page views.)

Still behind the 8 ball

Posted on May 30, 2007

Working in an industry in transition means you’re constantly feeling off-kilter. It’s both exhilarating and nerve-racking to try new things:

>> We get to try out new products and stretch our imaginations and notions of what storytelling is.
>> But at the same time we we wonder: Should we spend the resources and time on a new venture that could end up being yesterday’s fad?

Every so often we experience bursts of creativity that we see pay off, such as the advent and quick adoption of video clips (roanoke.com’s TimesCast and naplesnews.com’s Studio55), audio slideshows (thank you, Joe Weiss for Soundslides) and interactivity (USATODAY.com’s redesign).

But really, these advancements are too small and delivery is too late when compared to what other sites and companies are producing. Ahem … Google. Yahoo. Craigslist. YouTube. Yeah. You’ve heard all that before.

But get this: Microsoft today announced a new product: Microsoft Surface. You can use your fingers, pens, brushes, etc., to create and manipulate digital files … all on a table top (much like Jefferson Han’s touchscreen). Set your PDA on that table, and it’ll sync information to it.

Damn. Seems like we’re missing the big picture here if the best we can come up with is putting together a video show online. Newspapers are NEWS PROVIDERS. We should be at the forefront of content delivery — and I think that should include the hardware development. How cool would it be if we actually invested in resources to create a product like Surface or Apple’s iPhone that would make everyone’s jaw drop and then clamor to have one?

Instead, we’re caught in this muddy swamp of trying to cling onto the past (print) and say we’re investing in multimedia (digital). If we keep this up, we’ll be known as parasites, not innovators.

There’s an ongoing discussion on Romenesko’s forum pages on Poynter about this topic, which got me riled up about this issue again. In the most recent letter, ArtsJournal.com Editor Douglas McLennan, wrote:

“While [newspapers] say they’re working on it, their investment has been far behind the curve, and virtually every meaningful innovation in the digital delivery of news and building of usership has been made outside the newspaper industry. Most newspaper websites are dull, confusing and difficult to read, violating long-established principles of reader usability. At a time when social networking sites are showing how to build massive loyal communities, news organizations’ interactivity is rudimentary at best. Companies like Google have raised digital advertising to an art, making it easy for advertisers to find the customers they want. Where have newspapers been? Asleep, while Craigslist and a host of other competitors have eaten their lunch.