From GalleyCat:
The Number of Self-Published Titles on the Market Up 59% Last Year: Bowker
By Dianna Dilworth on November 13, 2013 3:30 PM
The amount of self-published book titles available in the marketplace went up 59% between 2011 and 2012, according to Bowker’s latest self-pubishing report. The report looked at U.S. ISBN data to identify that there were more than 391,000 books self-published in 2012. eBooks made up 40 percent of these ISBNs.
The report examined how the self-publishing industry has grown over the past six years, illustrating a large proliferation of self-published titles in the marketplace. Amazon’s CreateSpace, Smashwords and Lulu.com led the list for putting out the most ISBNs of self-published works in the U.S. for both print & eBook from 2007-2012. For instance, CreateSpace’s output grew 3355.84% from 2007 to 2012. When broken out between print and eBooks, CreateSpace led with the highest volume for print books. Smashwords was the top player for eBooks.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Newspapers Aren't Dead Yet
Extra, extra: Newspapers aren't dead yet
Rem Rieder, USA TODAY
Painfully slowly, not all that surely, but still, a new business model for newspapers is taking shape.
It's hardly time to uncork the Champagne. The challenges remain formidable. But after years of steady, ominous decline in the face of digital disruption, the long-derided dinosaurs are showing signs that they may not be leaving the building anytime soon.
The business will be smaller. The sky-high profits of years past are as over as the Spice Girls. But oblivion is not necessarily part of the equation.
The core question for newspapers in recent years has been, where is the money going to come from? The Internet blew up their lucrative advertising monopolies. Craigslist took their classifieds. And while newspaper websites significantly increased the size of their audiences, digital advertising, once seen as the holy grail, has been profoundly disappointing.
There are two major elements in the emerging survival strategy:
• Circulation revenue is increasing. The key: Charging for digital content. Newspapers are now making money from digital-only subscriptions and, more important, bundled subscriptions that give readers access to information in a multitude of ways.
• Newspapers are leveraging their skills to bring in revenue from activities other than journalism. Most significant is providing marketing services to local businesses trying to figure out how to flourish in a transforming environment. But newspapers are also earning money through e-commerce and hosting events.
"We are beginning to see a glimmer of a 2018 business model, one that is at least stable and at best shows some growth," says news industry analyst Ken Doctor, author of Newsonomics: Twelve New Trends That Will Shape the News You Get. He adds, "We have pieces of the puzzle."
The outlines of the future are sketched out in an important report released Monday by the Newspaper Association of America. Commendably, the study made a concerted effort to, for the first time, tally up money flowing in via the new revenue streams. The result is a much more accurate picture of the industry's health.
It's a sign of how grim things have been that a report indicating revenue declined by 2% could be considered a hopeful sign. But it was the smallest drop in six years.
While advertising, once the lifeline of newspapers, continued to plummet (by 6% last year), circulation revenue was up 5%, the first year of growth since 2003. New ventures, such as marketing services, brought in $3 billion, and revenue from sources the NAA hadn't counted before, such as niche publications, brought in nearly as much.
The study underscores what a huge mistake it was for the industry to give away its content on the Internet for all of those years. Now about 400 papers are charging, and many more, including The Washington Post, will start doing so this year. "The key is the metered paywall (which allows readers to access a number of articles before they have to pay), and it works," Doctor says. By 2015 he believes such arrangements will be the default position for newspapers both in the United States and elsewhere.
To Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute, a critical finding is that after years of decline, "now things are growing" in certain categories. At this point, he says, the newspaper business "is a mature industry and an emerging industry at the same time."
Newspapers were awfully slow to react to the ramifications of the digital revolution. "We're beginning to see signs of adaptation," says Rosenstiel, who worked on the report (API is now under the aegis of the NAA). "Skeptics might say it's been a long time coming, but it's coming."
Rosenstiel, the longtime director of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, thinks the mobile market offers newspapers a bright opportunity for future growth. "Before, newspapers saw technology as a threat," he says. "Mobile gives them a second bite. It could be very significant."
Media analyst John Morton, a longtime columnist for American Journalism Review, takes the long view. He points out that newspapers have been challenged before and lived to tell about it, citing the advent of television as an example. TV pretty much wiped out the metropolitan evening paper, and is one of the reasons there were once about 1,800 daily papers and now there are 1,400.
The digital juggernaut, Morton says, "is not going to kill the industry. But it's certainly going to change it."
Rieder is editor and senior vice president of American Journalism Review.
Rem Rieder, USA TODAY
Painfully slowly, not all that surely, but still, a new business model for newspapers is taking shape.
It's hardly time to uncork the Champagne. The challenges remain formidable. But after years of steady, ominous decline in the face of digital disruption, the long-derided dinosaurs are showing signs that they may not be leaving the building anytime soon.
The business will be smaller. The sky-high profits of years past are as over as the Spice Girls. But oblivion is not necessarily part of the equation.
The core question for newspapers in recent years has been, where is the money going to come from? The Internet blew up their lucrative advertising monopolies. Craigslist took their classifieds. And while newspaper websites significantly increased the size of their audiences, digital advertising, once seen as the holy grail, has been profoundly disappointing.
There are two major elements in the emerging survival strategy:
• Circulation revenue is increasing. The key: Charging for digital content. Newspapers are now making money from digital-only subscriptions and, more important, bundled subscriptions that give readers access to information in a multitude of ways.
• Newspapers are leveraging their skills to bring in revenue from activities other than journalism. Most significant is providing marketing services to local businesses trying to figure out how to flourish in a transforming environment. But newspapers are also earning money through e-commerce and hosting events.
"We are beginning to see a glimmer of a 2018 business model, one that is at least stable and at best shows some growth," says news industry analyst Ken Doctor, author of Newsonomics: Twelve New Trends That Will Shape the News You Get. He adds, "We have pieces of the puzzle."
The outlines of the future are sketched out in an important report released Monday by the Newspaper Association of America. Commendably, the study made a concerted effort to, for the first time, tally up money flowing in via the new revenue streams. The result is a much more accurate picture of the industry's health.
It's a sign of how grim things have been that a report indicating revenue declined by 2% could be considered a hopeful sign. But it was the smallest drop in six years.
While advertising, once the lifeline of newspapers, continued to plummet (by 6% last year), circulation revenue was up 5%, the first year of growth since 2003. New ventures, such as marketing services, brought in $3 billion, and revenue from sources the NAA hadn't counted before, such as niche publications, brought in nearly as much.
The study underscores what a huge mistake it was for the industry to give away its content on the Internet for all of those years. Now about 400 papers are charging, and many more, including The Washington Post, will start doing so this year. "The key is the metered paywall (which allows readers to access a number of articles before they have to pay), and it works," Doctor says. By 2015 he believes such arrangements will be the default position for newspapers both in the United States and elsewhere.
To Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute, a critical finding is that after years of decline, "now things are growing" in certain categories. At this point, he says, the newspaper business "is a mature industry and an emerging industry at the same time."
Newspapers were awfully slow to react to the ramifications of the digital revolution. "We're beginning to see signs of adaptation," says Rosenstiel, who worked on the report (API is now under the aegis of the NAA). "Skeptics might say it's been a long time coming, but it's coming."
Rosenstiel, the longtime director of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, thinks the mobile market offers newspapers a bright opportunity for future growth. "Before, newspapers saw technology as a threat," he says. "Mobile gives them a second bite. It could be very significant."
Media analyst John Morton, a longtime columnist for American Journalism Review, takes the long view. He points out that newspapers have been challenged before and lived to tell about it, citing the advent of television as an example. TV pretty much wiped out the metropolitan evening paper, and is one of the reasons there were once about 1,800 daily papers and now there are 1,400.
The digital juggernaut, Morton says, "is not going to kill the industry. But it's certainly going to change it."
Rieder is editor and senior vice president of American Journalism Review.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Today's Christian Woman launching weekly digital edition
Today's Christian Woman Launches Weekly Digital Issue
CAROL STREAM, Ill., Oct. 10, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today's Christian Woman (TCW), a Christianity Today publication, announced today the launch of its weekly, themed digital issue, providing women timely, relevant content in a compact format that is easy to read and quick to access. First launched in the mid-seventies, Today's Christian Woman now offers a diverse look at a single theme or topic relevant to Christian women every week -- on your laptop, smartphone, and iPad app.
Increasing from bi-monthly to weekly issues ensures women have access to fresh ideas and information when and where they choose to read. Every week the compact, digital issue covers a single theme from diverse angles. Themes range from sexuality to creativity to identity, vocation, calling, and more. The issues are simple and sleek, designed to remove clutter and distraction from the reading experience. The inaugural issue, Let's Talk about Sex, is a Christian perspective on romance, cultivating healthy sexuality, and healing from the past.
"Today's Christian Woman equips and inspires women to live out their faith wherever God places them," says Carol Thompson, executive vice president and publisher of Today's Christian Woman. "Our new weekly, compact issue is designed to speak clearly and frequently into the lives of women, delivering the inspiration they need to impact the world."
For more information about Today's Christian Woman or to obtain a subscription, visit TodaysChristianWoman.com.
CAROL STREAM, Ill., Oct. 10, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today's Christian Woman (TCW), a Christianity Today publication, announced today the launch of its weekly, themed digital issue, providing women timely, relevant content in a compact format that is easy to read and quick to access. First launched in the mid-seventies, Today's Christian Woman now offers a diverse look at a single theme or topic relevant to Christian women every week -- on your laptop, smartphone, and iPad app.
Increasing from bi-monthly to weekly issues ensures women have access to fresh ideas and information when and where they choose to read. Every week the compact, digital issue covers a single theme from diverse angles. Themes range from sexuality to creativity to identity, vocation, calling, and more. The issues are simple and sleek, designed to remove clutter and distraction from the reading experience. The inaugural issue, Let's Talk about Sex, is a Christian perspective on romance, cultivating healthy sexuality, and healing from the past.
"Today's Christian Woman equips and inspires women to live out their faith wherever God places them," says Carol Thompson, executive vice president and publisher of Today's Christian Woman. "Our new weekly, compact issue is designed to speak clearly and frequently into the lives of women, delivering the inspiration they need to impact the world."
For more information about Today's Christian Woman or to obtain a subscription, visit TodaysChristianWoman.com.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Arizona Republic editors to reporters: Do your work at Starbucks or McDonald's
Arizona Republic editors to reporters: Do your work at Starbucks or McDonald's
Jim Poulin/Phoenix Business Journal
The Arizona Republic is telling many reporters that they need to work remotely.
Starbucks and McDonald’s will soon be the new offices for roughly 20 community reporters at The Arizona Republic.
Top Republic editors met with reporters from the Mesa, Scottsdale and Phoenix community sections Thursday to tell the reporters they were getting laptops. They would become “mobile reporters” without any traditional desk in an office, according to multiple reporters who wished to remain anonymous.
Because Starbucks and McDonald’s have free Wi-Fi, those were the two places editors suggested reporters take advantage of as they work out in the field.
Some reporters said they could work from home, but others said they were being asked not to work from home and instead be out in the field as much as possible. Reporters are being asked to take home their files, and keep them in their car or at home.
Complete story here: http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2013/10/03/arizona-republic-editors-to-reporters.html?ana=twt
Jim Poulin/Phoenix Business Journal
The Arizona Republic is telling many reporters that they need to work remotely.
Starbucks and McDonald’s will soon be the new offices for roughly 20 community reporters at The Arizona Republic.
Top Republic editors met with reporters from the Mesa, Scottsdale and Phoenix community sections Thursday to tell the reporters they were getting laptops. They would become “mobile reporters” without any traditional desk in an office, according to multiple reporters who wished to remain anonymous.
Because Starbucks and McDonald’s have free Wi-Fi, those were the two places editors suggested reporters take advantage of as they work out in the field.
Some reporters said they could work from home, but others said they were being asked not to work from home and instead be out in the field as much as possible. Reporters are being asked to take home their files, and keep them in their car or at home.
Complete story here: http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2013/10/03/arizona-republic-editors-to-reporters.html?ana=twt
Monday, September 30, 2013
CT Introduces Re-Design
'Christianity Today' Surprises with a Completely Redesigned Magazine
CAROL STREAM, Ill., Sept. 30, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Christianity Today magazine, the storied flagship publication from the ministry of the same name, will launch a bold, new print redesign with its October issue. The redesign comes exactly four years after its last redesign in October 2009, which was slighter in nature.
The redesign was done by José and Nikolle Reyes' firm, Metaleap Creative. The Atlanta-based design firm's résumé includes redesigning music magazine Paste, D.C. lifestyle magazine the Washingtonian, and Presbyterian publication byFaith. Executive Editor Andy Crouch, who oversaw the redesign process, says, "We wouldn't have retained Metaleap simply to help us tweak our existing look – we asked them to give us something smart, bold, and beautiful, and we believe they succeeded."
With wider margins, new typefaces, restructured magazine sections, and a simpler color palette, Christianity Today is investing in its print medium with changes they hope will be met with surprise and delight by both new and long-time readers. Publisher Terumi Echols says, "The core values of Christianity Today -- providing our readers in-depth news, cultural analysis, and insightful, theology commentary about the God's church on mission in the world -- haven't changed. We wanted to set that kind of journalistic excellence in a design that would be fresh and surprising."
Along with the re-imagined layout, Christianity Today has moved away from its long-time full-width masthead logo in favor of a truncated CT logo, which also marks a change in the magazine's naming convention. "We plan on starting to call ourselves what everyone already calls us – CT," says Crouch.
Following the print redesign, Christianity Today is now hard at work on revamping their website, ChristianityToday.com. The team hopes to launch the site in early 2014 with a user-friendly layout, new content, and more subscriber benefits. "The biggest thing we want to signal is that you can trust CT to surprise you, in great ways, month after month. And to signal how much we delight in excellence and creative work that serves our customers well," says Crouch.
You can subscribe to receive the redesigned magazine at OrderCT.com/NewCT and look out for the newly redesigned ChristianityToday.com coming in early 2014.
Christianity Today is a nonprofit, global media ministry that serves the church through digital and print publications, as well as practical and accessible web resources that together reach more than 2.5 million people every month.
CAROL STREAM, Ill., Sept. 30, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Christianity Today magazine, the storied flagship publication from the ministry of the same name, will launch a bold, new print redesign with its October issue. The redesign comes exactly four years after its last redesign in October 2009, which was slighter in nature.
The redesign was done by José and Nikolle Reyes' firm, Metaleap Creative. The Atlanta-based design firm's résumé includes redesigning music magazine Paste, D.C. lifestyle magazine the Washingtonian, and Presbyterian publication byFaith. Executive Editor Andy Crouch, who oversaw the redesign process, says, "We wouldn't have retained Metaleap simply to help us tweak our existing look – we asked them to give us something smart, bold, and beautiful, and we believe they succeeded."
With wider margins, new typefaces, restructured magazine sections, and a simpler color palette, Christianity Today is investing in its print medium with changes they hope will be met with surprise and delight by both new and long-time readers. Publisher Terumi Echols says, "The core values of Christianity Today -- providing our readers in-depth news, cultural analysis, and insightful, theology commentary about the God's church on mission in the world -- haven't changed. We wanted to set that kind of journalistic excellence in a design that would be fresh and surprising."
Along with the re-imagined layout, Christianity Today has moved away from its long-time full-width masthead logo in favor of a truncated CT logo, which also marks a change in the magazine's naming convention. "We plan on starting to call ourselves what everyone already calls us – CT," says Crouch.
Following the print redesign, Christianity Today is now hard at work on revamping their website, ChristianityToday.com. The team hopes to launch the site in early 2014 with a user-friendly layout, new content, and more subscriber benefits. "The biggest thing we want to signal is that you can trust CT to surprise you, in great ways, month after month. And to signal how much we delight in excellence and creative work that serves our customers well," says Crouch.
You can subscribe to receive the redesigned magazine at OrderCT.com/NewCT and look out for the newly redesigned ChristianityToday.com coming in early 2014.
Christianity Today is a nonprofit, global media ministry that serves the church through digital and print publications, as well as practical and accessible web resources that together reach more than 2.5 million people every month.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
AP Style in the Digital Age
Here's a great little article from the Burrelles Luce Newsletter:
AP Style in the Digital Age
Do you ever find yourself wondering whether to write a historic day or an historic day? Maybe not, but you're probably wondering now.*
One of the foremost resources for answering that and many other linguistic predicaments is The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law. The AP Stylebook was first published in 1953 (more than 100 years after the AP first started breaking news in 1846) and has since become the industry standard for many newspapers, magazines and other media.
The first edition was 60 pages; the 2013 edition is nearly 500. Though some may consider AP style – or grammar in general – erudite, The AP Stylebook is revised every year to reflect modern changes in language.
Why adhere to AP style?
Just because modern technology has abbreviated our language with "GTG," "BRB" and "IDK" (all AP-approved, thx) doesn't mean that modern professional PR writers should throw vowels to the wind.
You want members of the media to read the information you send them. Editors are paid to work with language, and a press release or info blast filled with errors is more likely to be ignored – or worse, mocked – by recipients.
When SEO and AP collide (NOTE: SEO means search engine optimization)
SEO is a vital component of any online publication, but when, if ever, should AP take precedence over SEO? In fact, it seems somewhat rare that the two collide in an impactful way; many tenets of web writing, like keeping paragraphs short and striving for brevity, are completely in line with AP style.
Some AP-SEO conflicts arise regarding keywords, when AP mandates that certain words be hyphenated or be two words instead of one. (Google has a brief guide to punctuation and how it can affect search engine results.)
But since AP changed "e-mail" to "email" and "Web site" to "website," there are fewer sources for dispute (though AP currently stands by "live-blog" instead of "liveblog" and "e-book" instead of "ebook").
Google algorithms change 500 to 600 times per year, so it's getting harder to win the Google search game with strictly SEO. And many of the most common SEO mistakes are related to problems separate from punctuation. End conclusion: don't sacrifice a cohesive style for SEO; instead, use AP as a guideline, not a rulebook, and tailor it to your company's needs.
Don't just write like the AP – link like AP
In its Social Media Guidelines for AP Employees, the AP reminds staffers to "link to content that has been published online rather than directly uploading or copying and pasting the material." This is not only best practice to avoid copyright issues, but linking and being linked to can help to increase your site's value.
*According to AP style, the answer is a historic event. And if any grammarian sticklers are wondering why we flout AP style and write The AP Stylebook instead of AP-sanctioned "The AP Stylebook," the italics follow our BurrellesLuce house style, which draws heavily on AP style but makes a few of its own modifications.
About BurrellesLuce
BurrellesLuce is the U.S. media content monitoring leader, providing curated, copyright-compliant content from local and national print (traditional and online), broadcast, video, proprietary online content, blogs and social media sources. Our comprehensive suite of affordable services is fully integrated in one convenient and easy-to-use portal, BurrellesLuce WorkFlow™. BurrellesLuce WorkFlow™ gives you everything you need to organize and manage your media relations and public relations efforts.
AP Style in the Digital Age
Do you ever find yourself wondering whether to write a historic day or an historic day? Maybe not, but you're probably wondering now.*
One of the foremost resources for answering that and many other linguistic predicaments is The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law. The AP Stylebook was first published in 1953 (more than 100 years after the AP first started breaking news in 1846) and has since become the industry standard for many newspapers, magazines and other media.
The first edition was 60 pages; the 2013 edition is nearly 500. Though some may consider AP style – or grammar in general – erudite, The AP Stylebook is revised every year to reflect modern changes in language.
Why adhere to AP style?
Just because modern technology has abbreviated our language with "GTG," "BRB" and "IDK" (all AP-approved, thx) doesn't mean that modern professional PR writers should throw vowels to the wind.
You want members of the media to read the information you send them. Editors are paid to work with language, and a press release or info blast filled with errors is more likely to be ignored – or worse, mocked – by recipients.
When SEO and AP collide (NOTE: SEO means search engine optimization)
SEO is a vital component of any online publication, but when, if ever, should AP take precedence over SEO? In fact, it seems somewhat rare that the two collide in an impactful way; many tenets of web writing, like keeping paragraphs short and striving for brevity, are completely in line with AP style.
Some AP-SEO conflicts arise regarding keywords, when AP mandates that certain words be hyphenated or be two words instead of one. (Google has a brief guide to punctuation and how it can affect search engine results.)
But since AP changed "e-mail" to "email" and "Web site" to "website," there are fewer sources for dispute (though AP currently stands by "live-blog" instead of "liveblog" and "e-book" instead of "ebook").
Google algorithms change 500 to 600 times per year, so it's getting harder to win the Google search game with strictly SEO. And many of the most common SEO mistakes are related to problems separate from punctuation. End conclusion: don't sacrifice a cohesive style for SEO; instead, use AP as a guideline, not a rulebook, and tailor it to your company's needs.
Don't just write like the AP – link like AP
In its Social Media Guidelines for AP Employees, the AP reminds staffers to "link to content that has been published online rather than directly uploading or copying and pasting the material." This is not only best practice to avoid copyright issues, but linking and being linked to can help to increase your site's value.
*According to AP style, the answer is a historic event. And if any grammarian sticklers are wondering why we flout AP style and write The AP Stylebook instead of AP-sanctioned "The AP Stylebook," the italics follow our BurrellesLuce house style, which draws heavily on AP style but makes a few of its own modifications.
About BurrellesLuce
BurrellesLuce is the U.S. media content monitoring leader, providing curated, copyright-compliant content from local and national print (traditional and online), broadcast, video, proprietary online content, blogs and social media sources. Our comprehensive suite of affordable services is fully integrated in one convenient and easy-to-use portal, BurrellesLuce WorkFlow™. BurrellesLuce WorkFlow™ gives you everything you need to organize and manage your media relations and public relations efforts.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
More Innovation Happening in Face of Newspaper Decline
Source: http://paidcontent.org/2013/09/23/theres-one-good-thing-about-the-newspaper-industry-decline-more-innovation-is-happening/
There’s one good thing about the newspaper industry decline — more innovation is happening
By Mathew Ingram
There are a couple of different ways that newspapers and other media companies have chosen to respond to the inexorable decline of their former market dominance: one is to moan about how Google is stealing their content, and talk incessantly about the good old days, and the other is to try and adapt to the shifts going on around them — by experimenting to see what their readers respond to and learning from that. It’s refreshing to see at least a few newspapers choosing the latter path, including the Boston Globe and the Washington Post.
Neither newspaper is doing particularly well, in the larger scheme of things: the Globe was just sold to a local hedge-fund billionaire for $70 million — which means it has lost a staggering 90 percent of its former value in the last two decades. The Washington Post, meanwhile, was just acquired by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, after the paper’s former owners admitted that they couldn’t see a future in which they didn’t have to cut more staff and continue to lose money. Not a great environment for innovation, you might think — but you’d be wrong.
A Twitter-based local news aggregator
As Justin Ellis at the Nieman Journalism Lab notes in a recent post, the Boston Globe‘s in-house research lab has built what amounts to a Twitter-powered news aggregator called 61Fresh — a tool that pulls in tweets based on a number of factors, but most importantly whether the content comes from a number of sites and services of interest to Boston residents. The algorithm-driven experiment is designed to produce a kind of Techmeme-style news aggregator, but one based on geographic parameters rather than topic-specific ones.
Every 10 minutes, the algorithm goes searching for the most viral news items. And because it uses Twitter as its source material, it isn’t just a soul-less feed of the latest headlines, but a snapshot of what people in the community (or at least connected to that community, since some may be ex-residents) see as interesting content worth sharing — whether it’s about Tom Brady or a local fire.
Is this going to somehow save the Globe by generating millions of dollars in revenue? Of course not. But it might help the company figure out how content works now, and how social sharing helps drive engagement, and that certainly couldn’t hurt as it tries to carve out a new path — not to mention that those working on it could develop new skills that might come in handy.
A visual interface for mobile news
Along the same lines, the Washington Post is experimenting with a visually-driven news interface called Topicly, which it launched this week: in a nutshell, it takes the top stories from the newspaper and sorts them based on the number of updates — and then displays them as a series of images tiled across a page, so that when readers click on a topic like “Chemical Weapons,” they get all of the stories the newspaper has written that related to that topic.
Cory Haik, senior director of digital news for the paper, told Ad Week she thought of the interface as a good way to present news for mobile users who don’t want to scroll through a lot of headlines, since it’s easy to see what the top stories are and what they are about (Circa, the San Francisco-based news startup, is also trying to rethink news for mobile). The new Post feature also has its own advertising format, which should make it easy to insert native ads into the stream as well.
Again, this probably isn’t going to make the difference between profitability and unprofitability for the Post, but it is a welcome sign of experimentation and a desire to learn how to present content differently for a mobile, digital audience. And to be fair to the Post, the paper has a long history of that sort of thing — from a Facebook news reader (which didn’t wind up working out) to its algorithmic news-recommendation app Trove and a socially-driven advertising unit.
Since no one really knows what the future of digital media looks like, it’s worth experimenting with as many new things as possible — in part because the next new thing always starts out looking like a toy. So kudos to the Post and the Globe for doing so, despite the gloom all around them.
There’s one good thing about the newspaper industry decline — more innovation is happening
By Mathew Ingram
There are a couple of different ways that newspapers and other media companies have chosen to respond to the inexorable decline of their former market dominance: one is to moan about how Google is stealing their content, and talk incessantly about the good old days, and the other is to try and adapt to the shifts going on around them — by experimenting to see what their readers respond to and learning from that. It’s refreshing to see at least a few newspapers choosing the latter path, including the Boston Globe and the Washington Post.
Neither newspaper is doing particularly well, in the larger scheme of things: the Globe was just sold to a local hedge-fund billionaire for $70 million — which means it has lost a staggering 90 percent of its former value in the last two decades. The Washington Post, meanwhile, was just acquired by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, after the paper’s former owners admitted that they couldn’t see a future in which they didn’t have to cut more staff and continue to lose money. Not a great environment for innovation, you might think — but you’d be wrong.
A Twitter-based local news aggregator
As Justin Ellis at the Nieman Journalism Lab notes in a recent post, the Boston Globe‘s in-house research lab has built what amounts to a Twitter-powered news aggregator called 61Fresh — a tool that pulls in tweets based on a number of factors, but most importantly whether the content comes from a number of sites and services of interest to Boston residents. The algorithm-driven experiment is designed to produce a kind of Techmeme-style news aggregator, but one based on geographic parameters rather than topic-specific ones.
Every 10 minutes, the algorithm goes searching for the most viral news items. And because it uses Twitter as its source material, it isn’t just a soul-less feed of the latest headlines, but a snapshot of what people in the community (or at least connected to that community, since some may be ex-residents) see as interesting content worth sharing — whether it’s about Tom Brady or a local fire.
Is this going to somehow save the Globe by generating millions of dollars in revenue? Of course not. But it might help the company figure out how content works now, and how social sharing helps drive engagement, and that certainly couldn’t hurt as it tries to carve out a new path — not to mention that those working on it could develop new skills that might come in handy.
A visual interface for mobile news
Along the same lines, the Washington Post is experimenting with a visually-driven news interface called Topicly, which it launched this week: in a nutshell, it takes the top stories from the newspaper and sorts them based on the number of updates — and then displays them as a series of images tiled across a page, so that when readers click on a topic like “Chemical Weapons,” they get all of the stories the newspaper has written that related to that topic.
Cory Haik, senior director of digital news for the paper, told Ad Week she thought of the interface as a good way to present news for mobile users who don’t want to scroll through a lot of headlines, since it’s easy to see what the top stories are and what they are about (Circa, the San Francisco-based news startup, is also trying to rethink news for mobile). The new Post feature also has its own advertising format, which should make it easy to insert native ads into the stream as well.
Again, this probably isn’t going to make the difference between profitability and unprofitability for the Post, but it is a welcome sign of experimentation and a desire to learn how to present content differently for a mobile, digital audience. And to be fair to the Post, the paper has a long history of that sort of thing — from a Facebook news reader (which didn’t wind up working out) to its algorithmic news-recommendation app Trove and a socially-driven advertising unit.
Since no one really knows what the future of digital media looks like, it’s worth experimenting with as many new things as possible — in part because the next new thing always starts out looking like a toy. So kudos to the Post and the Globe for doing so, despite the gloom all around them.
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