Lift not yourself but your users
Tuesday, February 28th, 2006Can we please bury the word “leverage” and all other marketing-speak when talking internet strategy? I’ve heard that word twice in the past 24 hours used by people with something to sell, people who are talking about getting the most out of viral or social networking sites.
What’s wrong with this picture?
The top still thinks it can “manage” its way to success by manipulating the bottom. This is exactly the opposite of what’s required in the business disruption that’s impacting the communications world. Why? Because the bottom is now in charge, and the laws of attraction “work” where laws of promotion don’t. Before you try and “leverage” people (that’s what this is really all about), you ought to ask if they want to be leveraged. They don’t.
Case in point is a nice MediaPost article today called “Productivity: Meet, Greet, Then Market.” J. Walker Smith of Yankelovich Partners is a major player in the marketing world, and the item has a lot of good information. He writes, for example, that social engagement is the next big thing in marketing and adds that it’s not just about the internet.
There’s a new appreciation that people like talking to other people, not to brands. In fact, at Yankelovich we’ve documented how little people want to be marketed to these days.
…the Internet has emerged as a new marketing medium because it is the new medium of social engagement.…The smartest use of technology is to leverage this dynamic of participation and engagement.
…In this age of consumer resistance, people are avoiding brands while seeking one another. Brands must shift away from the single-minded focus on engaging consumers and instead become adept at enabling people to engage with each other. This will give brands the edge they need in tomorrow’s marketplace of social engagement.
As I tell clients, you must approach people on the web backwards. That means with the utmost respect for their time and loyalty, by providing a valuable service, by supporting what they want to do, by staying fluid and flexible, by being completely transparent about what’s going on, by facilitating their leveraging of us, and by just simply making them feel welcome.
Lift not yourself but your users. Seduction (I want you to want me more than I want you) is the game, not pandering.
Foolish strategy by the networks
Monday, February 27th, 2006NBC and CBS have displayed serious strategic ignorance by pulling clips from the popular user-contributed site youTube.com. First, NBC yanked the “Lazy Sunday” skit from Saturday Night live, and now CBS News (after 1.2 million views) has demanded that youTube pull a feature story about an autistic kid who captivated the crowd at a basketball game.
CBS explained is this way on “Public Eye”:
“It’s uncool for people to take our video without permission,” says Betsy Morgan, senior VP and GM of CBSNews.com. “It’s interesting and encouraging that there’s that much of an audience for our content. But this stuff should come back to the core site — otherwise it’s theft.”
It’s also heavy-handed, despite their plea that this is, after all, illegal (tsk-tsk, you naughty boys). In insisting that others abide by rules that benefit the status quo, the networks are distancing themselves from the very audience they covet. youTube is not the enemy. CBS and NBC (and all who think similarly) are vying for blockbusters in a snowball world. That’s the problem, and if it takes new laws to open the lanes for snowballs, then so be it.
(Thanks to the always excellent Lost Remote)
Public Broadcasting needs a new name
Monday, February 27th, 2006I saw a sign outside one of the meeting rooms at the Integrated Media Association’s conference on public broadcasting in Seattle last week. It read: “Public Broadcasting: Radio, Television, Internet.” We need to step away from that sign for a minute and ask “what’s wrong with this picture?”
What’s wrong is that the internet isn’t a form of broadcasting, and putting it in the same line with “other” broadcast models is suicidal in a Media 2.0 world. If public broadcasters are to be successful downstream, they’re going to have to see themselves as more than “just” broadcasters, and that takes a new way of thinking.
If not, they will become pure content companies, whose material will be used by others in the development of their own business models. This is a point a lot of local commercial media companies miss as well. Content may be “king,” but the number of players looking for content (web, mobile, on-demand, etc.) ought to make us stop and think that perhaps there’s something for us beyond just making content. Given the exploding creation of “content” from many sources, I’m not convinced we can make enough money (or raise enough money) to keep our own business models going unless we explore these new possibilities.
Public broadcasters believe their brand separates them from the masses and will protect them over the long haul. This is a fallacious belief, for broadcasting brands don’t necessarily transfer to the web, unless all you want to do is “broadcast.” That means you’re just a content company. I touched on the public broadcasting brand last year after another conference:
The Achilles’ Heel of Public Broadcasting is actually its core competency — trustworthy, quality programming. Those lofty attributes served it well in a Modernist, top-down world, especially when viewer choices were limited. PBS had the history, arts, documentary and education niches all to itself. Not so anymore, and the cry “but we offer such quality” falls on the deaf ears of a public that views such a claim with the same skepticism it does any other media claim these days. Quality is such a subjective term, especially in today’s marketplace. The inference I gathered from the people with whom I spoke was that quality to PBS — among other things — includes the filtering that only an educated elite can provide. I’m not trying to be unkind, but this is the impression one gets when the word is tossed around like an official mandate, a justification for all kinds of difficulties in a world of disruptive technologies and innovations.
The only way to properly view radio, television and the internet on the same line of an organizational chart is if there’s an entity above them calling the shots. This is why I recommend broadcasters start viewing themselves as multimedia companies, and even changing their names to help spread the message both internally and externally. The internet is NOT broadcasting, and the more we understand that, the quicker we’ll get on with business models that’ll meet our needs in a Media 2.0 world.
R.I.P. Don Knotts
Sunday, February 26th, 2006Let me join my voice with others in mourning the passing of a comic legend, Don Knotts. While he’s best remembered as Barney Fife, his original comedy on The Steve Allen Show was what rocketed him to stardom, and those who’ve never seen his bits have missed some real comic genius. Here’s a graph about the show from The Museum of Television Communications:
And on the new show, Allen’s man in the street interview segments launched the careers of comedians Bill Dana, Pat Harrington, Louis Nye, Tom Poston and Don Knotts. Dana played the timid Hispanic Jose’ Jiminez, and Harrington the suave Italian golfer Guido Panzino.
Characters created by Nye, Poston and Knotts were the best known of the group. Nye portrayed the effete and cosmopolitan Gordon Hathaway whose cry “Hi Ho Steverino” became a trademark of the program. Tom Poston was the sympathetic and innocent guy who would candidly answer any question but who could never remember his name. Probably the best remembered character was the nervous Mr. Morrison portrayed by Don Knotts. Often Morrison’s initials were related to his occupation. On one segment he was introduced as K.B. Morrison whose job in a munitions factory was to place the pins in hand grenades. When asked what the initials stood for, Knotts replied, “Kaa Boom!” Invariably Allen would ask Knotts if he was nervous and always got the quick one word reply, “No!!!” Allen characterized the cast as the “happiest, most relaxed professional family in television.”
I will also fondly remember Don Knotts in The Incredible Mr. Limpett, a silly 1964 film in which Knotts’ character gets his wish to become a fish. It still brings a smile to my face.
Rest in peace, Don Knotts. You are remembered with much love.
Eclectic thoughts from the IMA conference
Saturday, February 25th, 2006The W Hotel is a nice place to hang for a few days, but they need to provide a flashlight to guests as they check in. The hotel is dark, from hallways to rooms, and I swear it took me five minutes to find the on/off switch on the little coffee maker the first morning.
One of my favorite people, Diane Mermigas, addressed the crowd on Thursday, and it was a joy. Not only is she smart as all get out, but she has this motherly charm about her and used it throughout her speech (she indeed has four children). You can find a detailed summary of her talk here, but the highlight was a simple thought with which I agree: the liability to your company is greater if you do nothing than if you simply get in there and do something. This was a prevailing theme among several speakers, because there’s a sense that public broadcasters recognize we’re in the midst of significant change, but they’re waiting for somebody, anybody to show them what to do. “Just do it,” was the advice of Rafat Ali on a panel examining various new technology platforms.
My session on unbundled media was attended only by about a dozen people. This didn’t surprise me, because I was up against some pretty heavy sessions, although I was surprised that my presentation was labeled “news/elections” while another session got the “cutting edge” tag. It doesn’t matter; I believe that those who needed to hear my presentation were present. And once again, I was stunned by the number of people who read what I write. I don’t think that’ll ever change. Included among them is Dennis Haarsager, whose Technology 360 blog is on my reading list as well.
Of the sessions I attended, my favorite was a presentation by Andrew Blau, who I’m sorry to say I’d never heard of before this conference. The guy is absolutely brilliant and has his arms around the paradigm shift in communications, and I wish you all could’ve been there. Dennis has a brief summary of Andrew’s talk, which includes the following:
1. Pervasive - media will be part of every kind of experience
2. Noisy - more media, everywhere, all the time means more competition for everyone, everywhere, all the time
3. Inverted - the essential dynamic of how audiences connect with work will be inverted from broadcast to “broadcatch”
4. Fragmented -audiences are fragmenting and organizing in new configurations
5. Financially reorganized - how independent work is funded will change
I’ve been terribly sick this entire trip, and I’m sure looking forward to getting home to Allie and my own bed. I like to travel, but this has been a long week, and I’ll close with a thought for Southwest Airlines. You guys need a “time out” chamber for toddlers whose temper tantrums can’t be controlled by their parents. Argh!
Inside online advertising
Thursday, February 23rd, 2006The PaidContent mixer last night was loud, crowded and a lot of fun. I spent most of my time with Rafat Ali and Staci Kramer of PaidContent.org, Cory Bergman of Lost Remote, and the inimitable Chris Pirillo (of Lockergnome and Tech TV fame).
The best part of the conversation was an exchange between Rafat and Chris about online advertising. Both of these guys are highly successful in terms of online advertising, but they’ve gotten there by paying attention to how they can best serve the advertiser, not on how much money they can make. They resist the formulas of contemporary advertising, and Rafat even once cut a “buy” by two-thirds, because he knew his site wouldn’t be effective for the advertiser over the long haul.
The logic is that the reputation of the publisher has exponentially increasing value as it serves the best interests of the publisher and the advertiser. Both stressed that, as publishers, they have to personally be involved in the ad process in order to maintain this integrity. Chris spoke of the need to work advertising into the blend of podcasts rather than attach disparate ads, and he was doubtful about the long-term viability of platforms that do this.
This is important for Media 1.0 players to understand, because you cannot be successful in the 2.0 world by applying 1.0 systems and methodology. New metrics — such as authority and influence — are being created, and that is what advertisers will buy down-the-road.
That’s Mr. Excitement, Chris Pirillo, on the right. I’m with Rafat Ali on the left.
I’m presenting my Unbundled Media dog-n-pony show this afternoon and am on two panels tomorrow, including “The Future of News.” Hmm. Should be fun.
Googlefasting
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006Here in Seattle, Chris Pirillo is trying to live without Google for a week. “And I even have support from my doctor,” he adds, meaning Doc Searls. Both call it “Googlefasting.”
I love the blogosphere. (And Chris is a better man than I am.)
On the road
Tuesday, February 21st, 2006I’m in Salt Lake City for a presentation and then on to Seattle for a conference. I took the scenic route in getting here, flying from Nashville to Los Angeles to Salt Lake City. Whew.
It gave me time, however, to read Glenn Reynolds’ new book, An Army of Davids. This is a must-read for people who follow the empowerment of everyday people through technology. It’s an easy read and filled with thoughtful questions (and a few predictions) about tomorrow. It’s the best new media book I’ve read so far.
The title paints the picture of big media (Goliath) now facing an army of Davids, which brought to mind Gordon Borrell’s analogy of the deer having guns. What do you do when you’re facing an army of Davids? Get into the slingshot business.
I won’t be blogging much this week, but I’ll be back with stories.
The tactics of Peggyblues
Saturday, February 18th, 2006(NOTE: The quotes used in this entry have not been edited for grammar or spelling.)
The anonymous bloggers who forced Peggy Phillip to shutter her blog this week did so with that intent in mind. That’s the conclusion from reading copies of entries and comments posted on the Peggyblues blog. Poster “MemphisOptix” wrote: “It’s time for all this blog craziness to end. That’s what this is about.” Another poster, Secret13, wrote, “…peggy is just getting a taste of what she’s given everyone else. If she gets to blog so do we.”
The difference, of course, is that Peggy’s wasn’t anonymous.
There are comments about Peggy’s drinking and avoiding her general manager. One anonymous commenter wrote, “Meagle (GM Howard Meagle) is such an idiot,” and, “…Peggy gets away with what she does because he is so dumb. She even says that sometimes in meetings.”
Another poster, Peggyblues, wrote, “Piggy, you LEARNED what the breaking news e-mail is from watching us. In fact, we might have to waltz on over there and remind you what BREAKING NEWS itself is. When your stupid ass, once-a-month, bad-spelling, delayed reaction breaking news emails start coming out as they should, then AND ONLY THEN will you be able to stand on your two pudgy legs and criticize.”
On Monday of this week, Peggyblues wrote, “We are anonymous because none of our companies would let us post a blog like this. Peggy, some of our commenters seem to think you’re special because you identify yourself on your blog. We’re not stupid. We know it’s not because you have the biggest balls or because you’re the bigger man. You are doing it because your company isn’t smart enough to recognize what you’re doing. THere’s no reason you should be the only game in town. We are the ying to your yang.”
And, “…Thank you to the two people who sent us peggy’s resume. We will protect your anonymity and we will start to take the resume apart later this week.”
Then on Tuesday, the group announced further action they’d be taking. Memphis Optix wrote, “..we’re going to start an e-mail campaign to Raycom Media’s CEO at the end of the week to get Peggy to pull the plug or at least to tone it down.
“…When we’re done what we want is just a blank section on this blog with a submit button that will automatically send an email to Raycom’s CEO so that people can let him know what they think of Peggy’s blog.”
“…we’re trying to do it so that it will all be anonymous, no IP addresses or anything so that people aren’t scared to get involved.”
And rather than face such a threat, Peggy submitted to their wishes and removed her blog.
The local television news community in Memphis now must ask itself a question, for Peggy’s blog was a thorn in the side of her competitors. So while they’re probably happy with the result, the question is does the news community in Memphis support the means by which this took place? I know I would not be comfortable working with such cowardice, and I can’t believe it sits well with anyone in news or station management in the community. That this would happen in a newsroom or newsrooms is what truly boggles the mind. Freedom of speech isn’t absolute, and if you don’t respect others’ rights, how can you expect others to respect yours?
These anonymous, slithering sub-humans actually think they’ve done a noble deed, but they’ve aligned themselves with the worst of the scum they cover. “Gotcha” has gone to seed in the minds of these individuals.
I don’t think this is over.
Important lessons being taught this week
Friday, February 17th, 2006We’re learning two important things about media this week — confirmations, if you will, that we’re knee deep in significant change.
The first is the story of NBC’s ratings performance of the 2006 Winter Olympics. MediaLife has a report suggesting that NBC may actually lose the February sweeps, something that wouldn’t surprise me.
NBC is now in a distant second place behind ABC in the February sweeps, with both CBS and Fox nipping behind. And media people say its chances of winning sweeps, a given in past Olympics, seem to grow slimmer by the day.
* The end of the Big Event — we’re no longer captive to the coverage or the hype because we exercise ever-increasing choice. This doesn’t mean there will be no Big Events (see: SuperBowls) but there will be fewer.* The ubiquity of instant information — media no longer controls the timing of the story and the basic news is a commodity available anywhere immediately.
* The primacy of the niche — the Olympics are, in a sense, the ultimate niche event as some watch curling and some watch ice-dancing and nobody wants to be forced to watch it all and that is the natural state of media.
* The disillusionment with Olympic hype — we don’t buy the narrative of nobility as scandals and greed — reality, in other words — take over.
And that brings me to my second lesson of the week. As I’ve tried to point out, the kerfluffle between Vice President Dick Cheney and the Washington press corps has heretofore missed the point that the Corpus Christi Caller-Times has done an outstanding job in coverage of the accidental shooting. Editor & Publisher talked to Kathryn Garcia and Jaime Powell, the two reporters who broke the story, and discovered that everything’s just fine in Corpus Christi:
When asked about the White House press corps’ continued grilling of Press Secretary Scott McClellan, the pair supported the ongoing interest, but disagreed with the harsh approach. “We need to ask every question we can think of,” Powell noted. “But until someone has proven themselves untrustworthy, I don’t think we need to act like pit bulls. That makes us look bad.”For Garcia, the job of the Washington reporters is “to get to the bottom of things.” But, she added, “I don’t understand why they are so upset about it.”
She also had a message for those larger news outlets who have hinted that the Caller-Times should not have been the first called with the story, and perhaps could not cover it completely: “Sometimes it seems that they think we can’t handle it, but we can and we did everything right.”
This is just part of the overall business disruption that’s impacting all media, and the solution, of course, is to embrace the disruption, not try to fight it.
A blogging pioneer calls it quits
Thursday, February 16th, 2006Peggy Phillip, news director of WMC-TV in Memphis, and the first local television executive ever to blog, has shut down her blog, copied the files to a CD labelled “R.I.P.” and buried herself in work. This is a sad story that I’ll have more about tomorrow when I receive some files she’s sending me, but she’s quitting over pain caused by anonymous and cowardly assholes in Memphis who recently put up a bitter and vitriolic blog called “Peggyblues.”
I’ve known Peggy for a long time, and she is not one to ever back down from a fight. The tone in her voice this morning was resigned and sad, however, and she’d made up her mind. “What am I going to be spending my time doing,” she asked, “finding out who’s calling me fat and ugly or trying to determine how to best cover the news and make the Olympics more appealing to our viewers?”
The site not only went after Peggy; they also apparently applied their name-calling to Howard Meagle, General Manager of WMC-TV. “He’s a good guy,” Peggy told me, “and didn’t deserve to be called fat and stupid. That and combined with the bloggers desire to do a letter-writing campaign to Raycom made it clear to me that it was becoming a distraction that could influence work in the newsroom.”
In response to Peggy’s action, the anonymous cowards took theirs down. Here’s their justification:
We took the blog down, because Peggy took her blog down. We no longer have anything to respond to.We will never be exposed. We are not scared.
If Peggy blogs about tv news, we will blog about tv news. If somebody else puts up an arrogant, nasty blog, we may blog about them. If people are nice, we will be nice.
This is one of those times when bloggers need to rise up and, as a group, condemn this pathetic and slanderous Website. Google should fully cooperate by releasing the IP addresses of those who’ve posted, and WMC’s competitors should publicly renounce those who’ve done this.
We cannot let anonymous and irresponsible criminals taint the whole blogosphere in this way.
Passages
Thursday, February 16th, 2006Steve Rubel is leaving the CooperKatz PR firm to join Edelman PR as a Senior V.P. Why should you care? Steve’s blog, Micropersuasion, is high on my list of “most-valuable” RSS feeds. The guy always seems to be right out on the edge of new stuff, and I can’t think of a better place for him than Edelman. Steve is a guy to watch — someone who understands the blogging world better than most — joining a firm that’s also ahead-of-the-curve in new media.
Methinks he doth protest too much
Thursday, February 16th, 2006The mainstream press coverage (Romenesko has a list) of Brit Hume’s interview yesterday with Vice President Dick Cheney is following a couple of themes — that Hume soft-balled Cheney and that it’s not over. I was especially struck by this line from a Howard Kurtz report in the Washington Post:
“Going to Brit Hume doesn’t solve Dick Cheney’s crisis problem,” said Lanny Davis, a Democratic lawyer and damage-control specialist. “It’s not because Brit Hume works for Fox, because Hume is a tough reporter. It’s because it doesn’t address the elephant-in-the-room issue, which is Dick Cheney and his refusal to be open with the press.”
Winter Olympics — not the cavalry it used to be
Wednesday, February 15th, 2006As we moved through the months of 2005, media analysts — especially those with expertise in TV advertising — pointed to the fact that 2006 would provide relief for embattled broadcasters, because it’s an Olympic and mid-term election year. The thinking was that these events were traditional mass marketing blockbusters that would provide an ad revenue lift for everybody. A handful of us, however, warned that anything “traditional” is problematic in the new media world, and we’re seeing the fruit of that with the Olympics so far.
The spinners are spinning — and it’s far too early to draw safe conclusions — but it’s clear to me that the following factors are at work this year that weren’t at work as early as two years ago.
- NBC is offering unbundled video clips for download, which gives those interested a new way of accessing highlights. The network also has boosted other online options for coverage, as reported by Cory Bergman at Lost Remote:
Compared to Athens two years ago, NBCOlympics.com’s pageviews are up 63 percent, thanks in part to 1) a much-improved relationship with NBC affiliates through shared sites called Olympic Zones 2) a wider distribution strategy, from Google Video to ESPN 3) and more aggressive marketing to young people, including the site OffThePodium.com. “We found that the more content we make available, the more buzz we create,” said Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics.While this has been good for the network overall, it has doubtless impacted traditional television viewing.- Competing networks are pulling out the stops with new programming, which is giving viewers options. They’re taking them too. For the first time in 18 years, a non-Olympics network won Sunday night 18-49 viewing (ABC). Fox and ABC are taking the most aggressive approach. CBS is offering “Survivor” on Thursday nights. In the past, it was standard operating procedure to simply let the Olympics network have its way.
- Interest in the Olympics has been measured geographically and shows weakness in all but the Northern states. While many will complain that an ESPN Sports Nation poll isn’t “scientific,” and others would argue that it’s merely common sense, the noticeable lack of interest in Southern markets undercuts the notion that the games have universal appeal. This is also confirmed by ratings in major Southern cities like Houston, Charlotte and Atlanta, where the numbers have been below the overall averages.
- We’ve also learned that NBC is packing more commercials into ad pods, presumably to reach their budget goals. According to MediaDailyNews, the length of commercial breaks is up 14% this year. The more the network struggles to make its bottom line, the more it drives people to other forms of coverage, and that will impact future Olympic games on-the-air.
What this has done is to render yet another industry tradition unreliable, and that sends an ominous message for the future. You just can’t count on the way things used to be anymore, and I believe the next lesson on the horizon will come from the 2006 midterm elections. If I was a broadcaster, I’d be very cautious with budget projections this fall.
Local news covering Cheney just fine
Wednesday, February 15th, 2006The Corpus Christi Caller-Times continues to do an excellent job of covering the hunting accident (free registration required) involving the Vice President. If the political spin is what interests you, then by all means, pay attention to the usual suspects, but if your interest is the story itself, try the local press (where, at least in this case, it doesn’t appear anybody is trying to impress anybody else).
While I think it probably would’ve been smart for the White House to release the story Saturday night, the fact that they didn’t isn’t the story, folks. The “crisis” in Washington over this is a manufactured story that fits neatly into the feeding frenzy mentality of the national press. The Caller-Times offers an editorial on the subject, which is where it belongs.
What many miss about RSS
Wednesday, February 15th, 2006Rich Ziade over at Basement.org has posted a “part two” of his excellent list: Taking RSS Beyond the Headlines. Good stuff. I referenced his first list in the essay, The Ammunition Business, and I’ll say again that this is where the real power of RSS can be found and why it’s so vital that media companies get into the business of helping people use the burgeoning list of RSS applications available to them. To “just” be a content company isn’t going to be enough, and a look at Rich’s list will give you an idea why.
Visiting the Northwest
Tuesday, February 14th, 2006I’m headed west and north next week. First stop, Salt Lake City and a client presentation. Then it’s on to Seattle for the Integrated Media Association’s 2006 Public Broadcasting New Media Conference. I’m staying at the W hotel in Seattle, so give me a holler if you’d like to say hello when I’m there (or drop me an email).
PBS stations face a unique challenge as Media 2.0 sweeps down on them, and it’ll be interesting to chat about all that. I’m meeting Diane Mermigas and Rafat Ali for the first time, so I’m really looking forward to it.
Visiting the Northwest
Tuesday, February 14th, 2006I’m headed west and north next week. First stop, Salt Lake City and a client presentation. Then it’s on to Seattle for the Integrated Media Association’s 2006 Public Broadcasting New Media Conference. I’m staying at the W hotel in Seattle, so give me a holler if you’d like to say hello when I’m there (or drop me an email).
PBS stations face a unique challenge as Media 2.0 sweeps down on them, and it’ll be interesting to chat about all that. I’m meeting Diane Mermigas and Rafat Ali for the first time, so I’m really looking forward to it.
Sour grapes from the White House press corps
Tuesday, February 14th, 2006I learned the hard way that it’s smart to keep your mouth shut when you’re angry, because you’re liable to say something highly revelatory about your true feelings when enraged. I believe the old saying is “a closed mouth gathers no feet.” NBC’s David Gregory could use that advice.
In an off-camera White House press briefing spat that’s getting a lot of attention, Gregory made a statement that bears repeating. He was arguing (nothing new) with White House spokesman Scott McClellan about how the story of this weekend’s Dick Cheney hunting accident was first reported. The woman who owned the ranch phoned her local paper, something Gregory apparently feels was inappropriate.
“Let’s just be clear here,” Gregory said. “The vice president of the United States accidentally shoots a man, and he feels that it’s appropriate for a ranch owner who witnessed this to tell the local Corpus Christi newspaper and not the White House press corps at large or notify the public in a national way?”
This is the kind of insane logic that springs forth from the oxygen-deprived mind of a guy who’s spent far too much time atop the pedestal of the vaunted White House press corps. It’s an insult to local media everywhere and especially to the very people that Gregory’s employer (and other mainstream media outlets) are trying to reach with a message of “trust me.” By implication, Gregory is asserting that only he and other elitists can properly vet news items involving Dick Cheney and, one assumes, other “important” people. What a crock!
There’s nothing mainstream about the blogosphere
Monday, February 13th, 2006New York Magazine has an interesting, albeit predictable, analysis of the blogosphere today called The Blog Establishment. The emerging hierarchy of the New New Media. The pieces examine how there really is an elite among bloggers, and that those with a good idea and the passion to compete are often shut out by the big boys.
Folks, if all you’re looking for is the business and competitive angle of this phenomenon, you’re going to find it. In so doing, however, you’ll miss what’s really taking place, and that will lead you to mistakes in attempts to participate therein. This otherwise excellent piece of work begins with the assumption that the purpose of getting into blogging is to reach the largest audience possible and monetize that audience through advertising. If not, how do you explain a line like this:
“…if you talk to many of today’s bloggers, they’ll complain that the game seems fixed. They’ve targeted one of the more lucrative niches–gossip or politics or gadgets (or sex, of course)–yet they cannot reach anywhere close to the size of the existing big blogs.”
Sooner or later, however, these entities will suffer the same fate as their mass media predecessors, because the simple truth of blogging is this: there is a great difference between people who write because they have something to say and those who are paid to write something. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the “laws” of mass marketing — when applied to bloggers — produce more chaff than wheat by turning formerly passionate writers into slaves of the almighty dollar and creating a new pejorative entity: the MSB, Mainstream Blogosphere.
Here in Nashville, for example, we have a vibrant blogging community, and that’s exactly what it is. We talk about the news. We talk about life. We talk about pets and sports and spouses and shopping and who’s doing what to whom. I can think of only one local blogger whose goal may have been to make the A-list, and I think that’s probably representative of the blogosphere as a whole.
So why devote an entire series of articles to blogging without considering this? Because, sadly, most people in mainstream media dismiss it as irrelevant, because it’s not a direct threat to what they know (or their own jobs). This offers a window of opportunity for smart local media companies to get involved.
Meanwhile, what’s bubbling up from the bottom is beginning to get at least some attention. Check out this article from Business Week. Heather Green, the writer, does seem to understand, and that gives me hope.