Results matching “migrating to new media”

The Kansas City Kansan has announced that it is to discontinue its print edition and move to online only.  The final print edition will be on January 10 and the paper will launch a revamped Web site on January 7.

 

General Manager Drew Savage explained that the move to online only was to save on overheads and allow for more investment in electronic media.  He insisted that the Kansan would continue to thrive with "a lot more content than we have ever had," and pointed out that online readership is ten times greater than for the print edition. 

 

AsianWeek, a San Francisco free sheet aimed at Asian Americans has also announced the demise of its print edition, with the final copy to come out on Friday.  It will continue to publish online, and its editor and publisher Ted Fang attributed the move to economic hardship.  

Helium is an online company that describes itself as, "the online spot to learn what you need to know and share what you know." It combines citizen journalism with peer rating in order to provide a plethora of articles on just about any topic.

Helium brings together a system of news and information combined with a place to submit articles. It even has a "marketplace" where publishers can post topics for people to write about - sort of like a publishers à la carte classified space.

It is a place for readers to find articles that interest them, writers to write about topics that they know and understand, publishers to find articles and non-profits to voice their issues.

It is a unique system of sharing content, ideas and knowledge. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Helium, if the current system will hold up and retain its credibility.

The Editors Weblog interviewed Peter Newton, the VP of business development at Helium.com to get a better idea of how the site works and what their goals are for the future. Newton has worked at Monster.com and The Boston Globe where he was the vice president of advertising.

EW: What is your selection process for articles and writers?

PN: Helium represents the first true meritocracy in the publishing industry. Helium welcomes anyone and everyone to join its community of writers.

We don't select writers; they naturally come to the site and write to areas in which they have an interest (in many cases, a passion) in sharing their knowledge or opinion. Once members join, their work is evaluated by other members though our peer-review rating system.  In essence, Helium brings order to the chaos of user generated content. Its patented peer review rating engine elevates the best quality articles.

After a writer submits an article, he/she is presented with two anonymous articles in the same topic area to rate in an "A versus B" comparison. Through the wisdom of the crowds, the best articles rise to the top, resulting in a rank-ordered list for every topic.

The end result is that the best writers are promoted, recognized and rewarded for their work.

New titles are introduced onto the Helium site through members, partners and directly by Helium staff.

EW: Where do you draw the line between journalist and citizen journalist?  What about between citizen journalist and blogger?

PN: Citizen Journalism is a very awkward term. Quality journalism demands its participants to be objective, ethical and methodical. Research, fact checking and skillful interviewing techniques are critical to the art. It's not obvious that what we are starting to call citizen journalism possesses any of these traits. I'm certain that the Columbia School of Journalism doesn't teach that the art of being a world class journalist is to be in the right place at the right time. Citizen Journalism seems to be migrating to each individual's "15 minutes of fame" and further and further away from journalism. It might be fun to watch - but so were the lions and Christians in the Roman Coliseum.

With that said, Helium is not really concerned with categorizing or labeling different types of writers.  We have created a platform for people to express themselves in writing across a wide variety of topics in a civilized and substantive way, and then have the community sort for quality.

Helium is a site for writers that fills a unique role in the publishing industry. In doing so, we are representing a new classification of online writers.

Our community of members includes professional writers, freelancers, subject matter experts, students and the expert next-door.

We are not attempting to replace investigative journalism or time sensitive reporting. Instead, Helium attracts and produces individuals who have the skill and insight on specific topics that they wish to share with others.

EW: Do you feel that the status of being an "expert" or a "professional journalist" is becoming less important?

PN: No, there will always be a need for professional journalists, especially in covering breaking news or conducting investigative journalism, and Helium is definitely not out to undermine established journalists or copywriters.

Instead, we are trying to expand the ranks of paid writers to include part-time talent that otherwise would be sitting fallow.

Our media solutions product offers newspapers a way for them to supplement what remains of their editorial staff, but is in effect driving down their content-creation costs. We are merely tapping into the notion of "social publishing," in which publishers ask their readership to contribute content.

EW: Do you apply any regulations for topics? style? content? etc...

PN: Yes, Helium has established regulations for topics, style, and acceptable content.

Beyond providing clarity to our members, the community is self moderating. Every new article submitted to Helium is rated by other members. The best content rises to the top. Our members often message each other with advice as to how to improve articles and items that don't fit the standards of the site are removed.

EW: Do you see a shift towards more citizen journalism in news reporting? Both online and print?  How will this affect the future of professional freelancers? Is it going to put a dent in the freelance market?

PN: When you say "news reporting", let's be clear that our focus is not breaking news or conducting investigative journalism.  With that said, there is a growing paradigm shift in content creation; publishers are increasingly sourcing content, not writers. As for how this will impact freelancers no one can say for sure but one thing is for sure-there will always be demand for quality writing.

EW: Can a person make a living from putting material on Helium the same way a freelance gains income?

PN: The short answer is no.  But with that said, there are thousands of Helium members who earn from $40-$100 each month, which is much more than chump change. In fact, some of Helium's highest earning members have made more than $3,000. It really depends on how much members use the site.

Earlier this month, Helium announced upfront payments for all new articles being written by starred writers on Helium.com. This change to Helium's Terms of Service is a move to reward the site's highest quality writers and to promote quality content at Helium.com.  In addition, the company's popular Marketplace product - used by publishers looking for top-notch content for their publications - now offers special access to the site's best writers. The move will improve content for Helium's publishing partners and help ensure that the site's best writers will be seen by those publishers.  

Many web 2.0 companies offer opportunity for incremental income. With these changes at Helium, highly-rated writers will have an opportunity to earn larger sums for sharing their expertise with the Helium community.

"Helium has grown by leaps and bounds these last two years; it has earned the respect of people and writers around the world," said Petra Newman, a 3-star writer on Helium.com "With the sky falling on our economy, Helium has again found a "pièce de résistance" for people who already have a passion for writing. Increasing the earnings for well-written articles is a win-win situation for both Helium and writers."

EW: What newspapers or websites do you work with?    

PN: Currently Helium is working with GateHouse Media's State Journal-Register(SJ-R) in Springfield, Ill. SJ-R recently begun using Helium's "Media Solutions" product to source writers for its op ed section-there are currently over 700 additional papers in the active funnel.

We also provide content for a wide a variety of other newspapers, magazines, online-only sites, etc.

EW: What about your competition? Who are they?

PN: As a producer of content and as a publisher of content, we compete with thousands of companies, yet in most ways, we have no competition.

That said, we really don't see anyone that directly competes with us, in terms of delivering a scalable solution to engage a community to produce high quality content.  

EW: Where do you see yourself in relation to news organizations such as the AP or the New York Times?

PN: The New York Times is the New York Times. Helium is not attempting to create a competitor to breaking news.  

EW: Where does a site like Helium envision itself in the future? How do you grow / expand ?

PN: Helium is rapidly building the world's largest community of writers. We plan to grow and expand the business in a number of ways over the next five years:

• Become the partner of choice to the publishing, non profit and broadcast industries for generating quality content at a low cost, while helping engage their audience in the process.

• Become the content source for any entity needing quality content.

• Expand internationally; international business represents 60% additional market opportunity

• Create a community of micro publishers

Regional newspapers are becoming noticeably thinner; classified advertisements and standard advertisers are migrating to the web. With this, newspaper and advertising executives are coming up with new and exciting advertising and layout formats aimed at winning back those lost readers.

Northcliffe Media is branching out in their content to new fields of interest. Northcliffe's MD and Chairman of the Newspaper Society, Michael Polesi, advocates adding local traffic news, bus timetables and even the night chemists' opening hours. Such content may appear mundane, but it keeps users returning to its sites and makes it a vital local service. This type of information has obvious potential tie-ins with local advertisers.

Bill Ostendorf, CEO of Creative Circle Advertising Solutions and Creative Circle Media Consulting believes that one of the key weaknesses of most newspaper classifieds is that it is separate to the rest of the newspaper. Ostendorf feels it might be easier to create
innovative, new categories if we could put them in appropriate vertical sections. He suggests a good upsell for car ads, for example, suggesting that it might be apropriate to put a duplicate listing in the sports section.

These ideas can also be used for standard advertisements, if the advertisement is for a DIY store, the advert should be in the "Homes and Gardens" section.

A 2006 survey by Ostendorf's company makes stark reading: 40% of classifieds readers said it's hard to find things, 41% said classifieds sections are too hard to read, 38% said they're too disorganized, and 59% said they would use classifieds more if photos accompanied ads.

Johnston Press Chairman Roger Parry points out that the new websites carrying classified, such as Monster and Primelocation, do not build loyalty with their readers and that they have sprung up quickly. As a result, it seems clear that local newspapers can win back their readers if they think innovatively and serve their community in new ways.

Source: Guardian and Reinvigorating Classifieds

A new report from private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson predicts that Internet ad spend will surpass print ad spend by 2011. Over the next four years, Internet advertising will grow at an average rate of 21%, reaching a total of $61.98 billion in 2011, whereas print advertising will continue to grow slowly, topping off at $60 billion in 2011.

The Huffington Post, a US political blog mixing opinion and reports, hired Elinor Shields, BBC journalist, to serve as its managing editor. This move falls in line with what seems to be the new – and reverse – trend of established reporters migrating to online ventures.

 Every web-based news source must take great care in providing an efficient layout. For two reasons. Studies have shown that, in a general manner, the print-format of newspapers is still more practical than web versions for cursive visual scans and information retention. The second reason is common sense: since traditional newspapers’ readership is migrating to online, it’s even more essential for them to produce a quality online format. So how do you do it? 

Public relations firms have discovered the joys of blogging, and could soon stop feeding their message to newspaper reporters, staples of PR distribution. Not only has it been reveled that WalMart is straying from newspapers and employing bloggers to spread the good corporate word, but the buzz at America's PR Week's annual awards just held in New York was all about blogging.

MediaPost reports that an eMarketer study showed that podcast advertising, already gauged at $80 million last year, will hit the $300 million mark by 2010. Although the new medium is not exactly widely popular, one of the most desirable demographics, 18-34-year old males, make up the majority of its users, which will be 50 million by 2010.

As print advertising showed weak gains this quarter, more newspapers are becoming aware that advertisers are moving to the Internet. Apparently, not only are they shifting their ads to the websites of major media organizations, but also to blogs.

"What happens if we lose much of the old media before the new media business models are formed?"

Former Fincancial Times reporter and Silicon Valley Watcher, a tech/media blog, founder Tom Foremski is worried that old media is losing its journalistic capabilities and influence faster than new media can make up for it. In an essay on his blog, he sums up the situation and throws out some ideas of what could be done.

In a great read, media commentator Roy Greenslade gives a roundup of how the entire media industry is feeling saying, "We are in the middle of a media revolution.  Nobody knows where it will lead.  Media moguls are as uncertain about the future as junior journalists." But unlike other pundits, he thinks print will survive.