The proliferation of social networks represents both an opportunity and a threat to many. Therein lies the juxtaposition of ‘We know our audiences are there, but how do we engage them?’

Here are some low-cost, high-impact ways in which you can engage audiences using social media:

Community-building

Social media networks are useful for attracting, engaging and building a community of loyal audiences. This can be powerful for online communication efforts on a number of levels, including talking to existing audiences, building rapport with potential readers and advertisers, and linking them together to increase a sense of community.

Many communicators have used Facebook, with more than 300 million current users, to set up fan pages and inform their audiences of products, services, news and offers.

Product Research

Social networks are a powerful research and development tool. The collection of people mixing and exchanging news, information, spending patterns, dialogue and feedback can give you a wealth of information for current and future products and services.

This can be delivered through crowdsourcing, or direct one-to-one contact with established readerships.

Customer Service

Social networks are a powerful research and development tool. Social media networks can provide a plethora of opportunities, and without an expensive marketing research campaign behind them.

Twitter, for example, has been leveraged by a number of companies, such as Zappos, which set up an account on this social network specifically to deal with customer service queries. Their Twitter account is followed by more than 1.3 million people.

The company has 400 employees, all of whom have Twitter accounts and who contribute to the company’s Twitter feed. This has helped to bolster customer service, provide an excellent point of contact for customers, and also to act as a showpiece for the firm’s outstanding approach to servicing customers both online and offline. It has also helped to increase revenues over time.

Marketing & Promotion

One of the biggest benefits of social media networks can be the speed, ease and global efficiency with which new products and services can be launched. Routes to market, via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, iTunes and blogging, can be leveraged effectively and in a timely manner.

Competitions, product launches, service initiatives, online forums and polls – there are countless ways social media networks can be utilised to add value to an audience online whilst increasing the buy-in.

Transparency

At a time when traditional advertising has less impact than at any previous point, and customers are able to voice poor service or treatment instantly across social media networks, the ability to show transparency via social media networks is a great credibility-builder.

The days of purely broadcast messaging as we know it are coming to an end.

The audience, particularly the increasingly social media-focused customer, now requires a rapid response to queries, great service, information to be readily available, and not to be sold to.

In short, transparency wins with the modern audience.

Is your social media engagement reflecting this?

Re-posting this after a query from a non-media relations-savvy business contact:

Once upon a time I had a webmaster who did everything for me. Then I had another webmaster. At first she did everything for me, but then she encouraged me to be my own webmaster…unless I needed help. Now, I have control over my own websites  as well as over my own blogs. (I have two websites and three blogs.)

Once upon a time I thought I was too stupid to do anything on the Internet. I was afraid to manage my own website or blog. I found doing anything on the Internet daunting. So, I let other people do my work for my online. Now I spend a good deal of every day promoting myself on the Internet via my blogs, websites, social networking, article marketing, etc. And, because I have been willing to take on the job of  ”Internet marketer and promoter,” even though I’d really like to just be writing my books, I’ve driven a tremendous amount of traffic to my websites and to my blogs. In fact, I’ve built a platform, and I might have more readers online than I could ever drum up for a book.

And, guess what? I kind of enjoy my time working online. I love blogging—and the fact that the more I blog the more readers I have. I enjoy social networking. I don’t mind writing articles and posting them to directories. I even kind of like working on my websites, which is easier than trying to explain to someone else what I want done.

To whom do I owe this knowledge, experience and revelation? To Linda Lee, my sometimes webmaster, always friend and an expert at helping writers develop a web presence and take control of their online life.  The founder and owner of AskMePc-WebDesign and SmartWomenStupidComputers, Linda Lee is a writer, speaker, educator, and website designer. Today, she offers a WNFiN post filled with great information to take the fear out of any writer who knows in their heart they must take the leap and create an online presence via a website or blog…no matter how much they don’t want to do so or fear doing so.

All nonfiction writers absolutely must have online presences today, and this presence becomes a necessity before their books hit the bookstore shelves not afterwards. So, read Linda’s advice and take action before November ends. If stating a blog or website ends up being the only WNFiN project you take on this month, so be it. Even if you don’t finish it by month’s end, you’ll at least have gotten started. (Just be sure you finish…)

Promoting Yourself Online for Writers:
How to Get Started Without Losing Your Mind
By Linda Lee

Writers often hate the promotion part of their job. Even non-writers can understand this emotion. Unless you have a “sales” personality, promoting yourself can be awkward and difficult.

Writers must face this fact that in today’s publishing world, no matter what kind of writing you do, you will need a website at some point to promote yourself on the Internet. This allows people to find you and your work.  Having a website also represents part of building your platform. Agents, publishers and your own readers expect to find you online. Gone are the days when you could say, “I don’t go online or use the Internet.” It is best to embrace this reality now, and get started as soon as possible.

Alleviate Your Fears of Working Online

Beginning your online promotion can be a creative and fun endeavor.  Even if you are a technophobe, you can do this. I have helped hundreds of people who had no computer skills or knowledge at all—and many writers as well—start a website or blog. They now enjoy the perks of having a web presence and are proud of themselves for pushing through their fear of getting started online.

Getting started consists of several components that ultimately create an online presence for you as a writer. Developing this is not as hard it may appear to you. People have lots of fear around working online. Almost daily I hear people say, “I am so stupid with computers,” “I don’t know anything,” and “I am a technophobe.”

You can alleviate these fears, however. When you work on the computer, no matter your current skills level, do the following:

1. Realize that you can do it. (Please, do not tell yourself you are stupid; you aren’t.)
2. Take it one task, one item, at a time.
3. Take a break when you feel frustrated.
4. Google for help. (I find answers to almost every question I encounter while working online simply by searching for it on Google.)
5. Stay focused on what you are trying to accomplish.
6. Do not compare yourself to others online. (You will reach their level of expertise.)

Stay Focused on What you Want to Accomplish Online

During the last 10 years of working online, the most important lesson I have learned is to stay focused on what you want to achieve. When you work online, literally millions of things clamor for your attention. Suddenly you begin to notice numerous internet marketing ideas, “get rich online” schemes and this tool and that tool. Then your friends start telling you about things you simply must do, like Twitter and  Facebook, and tons of things you may of never even have heard of! Everyone will tell you that they know best, and that you must try this or that. Before you know it, you will feel overwhelmed and frozen by your fear and confusion.

Right now, find an index card or a note card and write this down:

What am I trying to accomplish online?
Is what I am doing right now getting me closer to that goal?

When your head starts to spin with information overload, take out this car, close your eyes, take a deep cleansing breath, and read it. Then answer the questions honestly. This will help you stay focused and prevent you from getting distracted from your primary purpose.

I also suggest that you do not start buying internet marketing products until you have at least gotten a website or a blog up and have spent some time developing content.

No matter what your goals, focus always constitutes the first thing you have to learn. Staying focused on the basics allows you to get a little experience before you invest in Internet marketing products that have an entirely different learning curve and can be complex and a distraction from your purpose.

What You Need to Create a Website or Blog

As I said, to promote yourself as a writer, you need a website or a blog. Here are the basics you need to get started online:

1. You need a domain name.

You can buy a domain name from a variety of places.
The pricing varies from 6.95-14.95 a year.
Places that offer a very cheap price initially for a domain name will charge you full price upon annual renewal.

2. You need to select a hosting company.

This is where your website will live, or be “hosted.”
Be sure to look for a company with telephone support and a control panel, so you can login and work on your website yourself.

3. You need a website or a blog.

Once you have gotten your domain name, selected your hosting company and set it up, you are ready to create your website or blog. Both blogs and websites are websites. Blogging started out as more of a journaling tool, and the name blog comes from “web log.” An exciting medium has evolved out of this initial tool. WordPress, which has become the major blogging platform, now is more powerful then most websites in what it can do for you as a website.

WordPress functions as what is called a “content management system.” What this means is that you, as the user, have control over your website. You can login and add articles, or “posts” and “pages,” images, videos, and audio on your own without the need to pay a webmaster.

I encourage many of my clients to select what I call a “blog website” vs. the traditional straight website.

4. Get Started Right Now With a Free Blog

You can sign up for a free blog at WordPress.com or Blogger.com. I recommend WordPress.com, since they are the number one content management system out there. Plus, if you learn the system in their free version and later decide to host your own site, you will be able to transfer your work over to you own self-hosted blog and domain with ease.

Many of my clients ask me to explain the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.com hosts your blog, and they run the entire site, which is full of blogs. You are in control of the content, but your site “lives” with them. This is fine when starting out and if you want to get used to blogging for free. WordPress.com has its own communities you can join. They get great results in the search engines. If you are on a budget or want a great place to learn, I think this offers a perfect choice. You can’t beat the price!

WordPress.org is for people who are self hosting their own blogs. This is a support community with people who use self-hosted blogs helping each other.

5. Maintain a Traditional Website and Add a Blog

Many of my clients already have a website, and they want to add a blog. This allows you to maintain your website with your webmaster, and you can update pages on your blog yourself. Blogs get lots of “search engine love,” because they are fresher and updated more frequently. If you add a blog to an existing website, you will see your traffic increase almost immediately.

The Writers’ Advantage Online

Remember every journey begins with one step. Did I mention that working online can be a lot of fun too? As writers you already have a huge advantage over most people, since you already know how to write.

There is a saying online: “Content is King.” No matter what your site looks like, in the end it what you have written that brings in the readers. Just think of this as another opportunity to showcase your writing and attract new readership and attention,  and you will be building your platform online in the process.

About the Author

Linda Lee is the founder and owner of AskMePc-WebDesign and SmartWomenStupidComputers. She is a writer, speaker, educator, and website designer. She is currently working on her book Smart Women, Stupid Computers, A Savvy Guide to Getting Started Online. Available for consulting and coaching, she helps people launch blogs and websites and trains then in how to get traffic to their sites and to maximize their website presence with the use of blogging and search engine optimization of their websites. Linda is passionate about empowering people to take charge of their computer, showing clients with laughter and enthusiasm that they can make it work for them.

http://www.askmepc-webdesign.com
510-582-2837

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By my own admission, I’ve become a complete hack, for using the term [blank]-killer.  A lot of people are asking whether News Corp would really block its content from Google’s index, and make a deal with Microsoft for exclusive search access.  And if they did, and others followed, would this represent a serious threat to Google?

The tech-über-alles crowd would have you believe that “de-indexing” from Google would be suicide for any publisher.  The assertion there is that Google drives the majority of web traffic, so if you’re not findable through Google, you might as well not be on the Internet.

But that assertion flies in the face of another observation from the technoscenti – social media like Facebook and Twitter are becoming increasingly important as traffic drivers (though this importance may be overhyped).  We may be heading towards a future where the links are shared through social media are more valuable than search links.

More importantly, and against the prevailing wisdom in some circles, content still matters.  People use media services because of the content on it.  Other factors are important too:  the features must be complete, the UI has to be easy, the price has to be right, yadda yadda yadda.  But would any of those other factors make up for terrible content?  No, content is, if no longer king, still the jewel in the crown.

If Bing is able to be the exclusive search partner for the right content, Google is dead.  Of course, what’s “right” can vary quite a lot from person to person.  For me, it’s as simple as two publications:  If the New York Times and Wikipedia are de-indexed from Google, I’m going to stop using Google in favor of the search engine that has those two.  I might think it’s unfair, I might think it’s a triumph of soulless MBAs over tech heroes, I might think it’s the desperate grasping of dying empires.  But I want the content I want, and those principles aren’t enough to prevent me from switching.

Bing doesn’t have to make deals with every content provider, just a dozen or so critical ones that will cause another 40% market share gain (they’re at 10% now).  Sure it’ll be expensive to acquire the best content, but Microsoft’s got more cash than Google.  Once it’s 50/50, it’s anybody’s ballgame but the advantage goes to the one who has the content.

I’m pretty sure that Google is not going to sit back and smugly assume that Murdoch’s gambit will fail.  They’re going to get involved, they’re going to try to start locking down their own partnerships.  If I were them, I’d start with Wikipedia, one of the most important search result destinations on the web – it’s in the top five results of just about any search you do.  Sure, they’re a non-profit, but non-profits need money too.

See I know the little bit of SEO, I’ve created this blog yesterday and it’s got crawled in Google in just few hours:)

Let’s see when will I be able to get the listed in top 5 on “SEO Karachi”.

Let me tell you I’ve done nothing, just optimizing the content a bit, because content is King:), I’ll workout on the Link Building from today, if I’ll have some time.

A wholehearted thumbs-up to Freelance Unbound here – a great blog.

The ‘then’ and ‘now’ list of how journalism operates after the progression of online activities is a gem. If there are any old-school editors out there who needed convincing of the benefits of a digital approach, this list is the defining moment in the era of a new era in how journalism is sourced, crafted and distributed.

Really powerful stuff – for those that are able to listen and rise above the fear of what is happening to out-dated newspaper business models. The digital approach makes so much common sense – after all, it’s all about market demand.

Media publishers in the States have learnt these lessons in the last 18 months, and the hard way: it could even be argued that our American editorial counterparts have suffered far more horrendous losses and cutbacks than those in the UK at the hands of the global recession. And we see the USA media sector bouncing back with innovation, open-mindedness and a willingness to try different business models, embrace digital opportunities, and move into the next evolutionary stage of journalism.

But hey, I am biased as you know.

Having seen Northcliffe Group slam down their digital ‘this is’ series of online offerings back in 2000 and watching bloody good journalists losing their livelihoods as a matter of course from London-based number-crunchers and an appaling lack of sales ability in the advertising departments (there was no global recession for them to hide behind then), it strikes me that it could be more about a non-willingness for the newspaper managers to adapt than it is about a changing and migrating audience.

But that could just be me being cynical.

Surely, on balance of probabilities, moving forward with digital journalism is better than wallowing in editorial nostalgia?

Yesterday saw the first Content is King conference take place in the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin. Organised by Media Contact, the conference promised some world-class speakers which we certainly got.

First up we had Tom Hayes from Lightbox, an award-winning Irish web design company. Tom was there to show us how to produce a winning website and went into some detail of layouts and the importance of placement of various elements of a website and how a simple a change of name or more forceful calls to action can change the success of a website.

Will McInnes, well known online marketer and director of Nixon McInnes was there to give a very entertaining talk about blogs. Will showed us how to take a simple blog and add to it to make it a lot more than ‘just a blog’. He told us about adding widgets and gave some examples of companies who have used very simple but innovative ideas to transform their online business. One such example was Nike Plus, who have created an online community of exercise enthusiasts with their Nike Plus digital pedometer, which can be inserted in a running shoe to take details of a run and then the data can be uploaded to your profile and shared with other runners and enthusiasts.

Next up was Social Media, marketing and communications expert Krishna De. Krishna gave 20 useful tips on social media in 20 minutes and got everyone thinking about which elements of social media will best suit their business and how to stand out from the crowd.

The mid-morning session was concentrated on how to create videos and podcasts that stick. First speaker Joe Conway from Digicast gave us an insight into the best way to create a podcast. Some of the tips were very helpful, from what equipment one needs -digital recorder, microphone, headphones, computer – to how to talk into the mic to avoid pop sounds -speak into it sideways.

Phil Scott Vice President, Consumer Digital Group of Kodak was up next and he brought us through the history of Kodak and their technologies and how they are used by businesses to create high quality videos.

The final speaker was Colin Hetherington from Zoo Digital who came to speak about how to make a winning video and boost it with guerilla PR. Colin had some interesting insights though I’m not sure that telling people to get their video on the ‘most viewed’ page on YouTube by any means necessary was a great idea when spam is such a problem for companies these days. You can see all of Colin’s presentation here as he has kindly uploaded it for Content Is King attendees.

That was the end of the morning session and after the lunch break there was an interesting panel discussion about viral videos. Sophie Merry of Groovy Dancing Girl fame was there as well as the participants and creators of a new video for Age Action, Growing Up Is Optional. Age Action are hoping that this quirky, funny video will go viral and promote Age Action and the elderly.

You can follow all of the tweets from yesterday by going to http://search.twitter.com and searching for #CIK the hashtag used yesterday.

Growing Up Is Optional from Age Action:

Ever noticed how most Editors don’t seem to highlight much in the way of positive news these days?

Not this guy.

A strong believer that when you give you receive, it is with great pleasure that the announcement of an online publishing deal can today be made – and it’s from myself, actually.

I’ll be adding comment to the Bristol247.com web site from 01 December, in the form of a weekly column, covering journalism, social media, online content, regional media issues, business bits, and the odd rant about crap PRs and bland marketing.

I thought it would be, more importantly, an excellent opportunity here to promote the sterling editorial work being carried out by Chris Brown’s site Bristol247.com on my blog. A bit of shameless self-promotion is fair enough, but my main aim is to highlight the brave standpoint of Brown’s editorial and online values. Here’s a guy who’s passionate about News AND the Web.

I’ve been singing the praises of this fantastic site since the Summer, mainly due to the fact that the Editor there Chris Brown is a great journo, but also because he really gets the digital opportunities available for British journalism – and he’s grabbing them, too. The readership of the site has risen considerably in recent weeks, and with good reason. It’s bloody strong content.

Anyway, looking forward to adding value where possible with the column, and if you’re wondering where else you might find my musings and ramblings, check out here if you’re interested. Well, it keeps me off the streets.

According to Sarah Hartley’s experiences here, that may well be the case. Great blog.

There seems to be a north-south divide in the uptake of social media, according to Hartley’s encounters of bloggers, tweeters and media types in London and Leeds. The overall account of the London ‘meeja’ was not entirely inspiring, in that the appearance of City journos being ’switched on’ 24-7 does not necessarily give the reality of being in touch, utilising social media for a wider purpose, or even, ultimately, demonstrating a larger understanding of social media.

The Leeds experience, however, seems to be a different story. Engaged, interactive, questioning, challenging.

Pushing boundaries. This seems to be one of the main areas where media types – particularly traditional media  – are jumping onto social media because they think they ’should’ rather than because they actually want to, or have something to contribute.

Social media is social. Obvious point? Well, put it this way: when was the last time you contributed something useful, valid and valued to the stream of social media editorial? Is it all second-hand news, no real voice, nothing authentic or genuine?

I’ve seen lots of media and marketing types observing, re-tweeting, idea-stealing and copying (for want of a better word) the work of others online and across various social media platforms. And yes, the old “nothing is original” argument is true to a point, but the copiers and plagiarisers still appear on social media spaces too. Ho hum.

It appears, at least according to Hartley’s participation in the north and south social media encounters, the northern participants are actually questioning and challenging why they are taking part in social media, rather than just being there and adding nothing of value for the increasing voices we see online. I, for one, know that social media is about what you put in, not take out.

And this is the unfortunate lesson many traditional media folk and old-school marketers are still missing. Give, give, give a bit.

The proliferation of online users and accompanying social media networks in the last three years can confuse, bemuse and excite in equal measure. Editors included. There are some basic considerations for effective social media engagement.

Here’s my Top 10 Commandments for social media:

1. Thou shalt not spam

Whatever you do, don’t spam your target markets. They won’t appreciate a barrage of poorly-researched, irrelevant and inbox-clogging spam emails. Spamming inboxes – whether it’s company email addresses, Twitter accounts or Facebook will win zero brownie points and alienate you from any further contact. Once credibility is lost, it’s not coming back anytime soon, if ever.

2. Thou shalt not steal

Stealing links to stories, news items, funky new websites, and wonderful products from another source, then passing them off as your own is a huge social media no-no. For example, on Twitter the re-tweet or RT function is an essential part of Twitequette, whilst hyperlinking and acknowledging external sources on your blog makes common sense. It engages and links you with the world.

3. Thou shalt not covet your competitor’s blog

One of the most unattractive and unprofessional social media rules to break is that of taking your competitor’s content, services, products and online offerings – and copying it. And there’s a lot of it about. After all, ideas and innovation do have a commercial value. Advice? Brainstorm and generate new products and services instead. It’s actually good fun too!

4. Thou shalt not sell – anything, ever

The whole point of social media is to attract and engage an audience – hopefully a significant one – who will them promote your business on your behalf. Your audience are NOT there to sell to. They are there because they value your content, insights and advice. If you sell directly to them via your social media channels, you’ll lose them. Instantly. Play it smart – give, give, give. Never sell.

5. Thou shalt not kill

Nothing is quite as bad in social media-land as an account which is established and then sits there. Dead. No content. Nothing contributed. Setting up a social media space, such as a Facebook fan page, Twitter feed, or company blog, and then not adding content to it regularly is a sure-fire way of killing your social media credibility in front of a global audience. Add content. Add value. Just add!

6. Thou shalt not take the name of social media in vain

Remember that despite the fact social media can seem quite light-hearted, harmless and fun, your inputs on social media networks are on the web for Time Immorium. So be careful what you post. Add value, contribute to the flow of conversation. Think carefully before you post anything, anywhere, anytime, which can be viewed as an attack or negative comment in your industry.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery

Social media adultery can be committed without thinking, but the effect and long-term damage is hard to recover from. Because many social media networks operate on an informality level which standard marketing does not recognise, the rules of engagement are still the same. Remain professional, polite and polished at all times. Remember your social media content is your legacy.

8. Thou shalt honour thy audience

Simple really – without an audience, your social media inputs are little more than an exercise in commercial vanity. Without followers, readers, commentators and fans of your social media content, being there is effectively a waste of your marketing budget and time. Make sure you cater for your audience’s requirements, needs and wants. It is, unfortunately, all about them. Always.

9. Thou shalt not forget the Sabbath Day

So, you think social media is a Monday to Friday exercise? Afraid not. In our 24/7, always-on, on-demand culture, social media plays an essential part of the online marketing mix, and your inputs need to cover the full seven days of the week. The good news is that you can pre-schedule posts, tweets and social media content using established tools to maintain an ever-present presence.

10. Thou shalt not worship any false Gods

What this means, essentially, is that just because an individual or company has oodles of followers or friends on a social media network, it doesn’t make them God. Challenge them, make them think, debate their content, get involved. This adds to your credibility and also hooks you into the audiences of the big players. Think of it as a subtle way of piggy-backing for exposure.

Civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed that his children would “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” That same wisdom has often been repeated as don’t judge a book by its cover. Outward appearance isn’t everything—it’s what you’ll find at the core that truly matters.

At the risk of applying the one of the greatest civil rights speeches in history to something as mundane as web design, the same ideas actually apply.

There’s a temptation to focus on the color of a website’s skin. Everybody wants to have eye-popping design and drool-inducing techno goodies. But web design doesn’t have to be fancy, flashy or funded by millionaires. It’s the content of a website that makes it work.

* You don’t need the latest in hipster design.
* You don’t have to hire some whiz kid programmer.
* You don’t need the newest widgets and gadgets.

All you really need is what people are looking for: Content. If you’ve got stellar content the rest will take care of itself. All those other things can help, but without content your site is sunk. A beautiful site with useless content is impotent. An ugly site with helpful content may be ugly, but it gets the job done. Do what you can to get good design, a functional site and whatever bells and whistles you might need. But focus your efforts on great content.

This should be good news for the small business website. You can’t compete with the well-funded sites that hire full time designers. They’ll win that beauty contest. But you’re not looking to win a beauty contest, you’re looking for customers. The content of your site is what will win them over and no one should be better at creating content for your site than you.

Not sure, but it’s looking like the traditional PR providers are on their death knoll, according to recent reports.

Such as this article from PR Twitterati and non-traditionalist Mark Borkowski, highlighting that tools such as Sidewiki are pushing the Ab Fab brigade to the brink of extinction. Not that he cares of course – his kind of PR is contemporary.

Then there are the new breed of PRs, such as We Are Social – instigators of the Innocent Drinks Twitter feed and much, much more. I can imagine traditional PRs reading this new kind of PR delivery and quite literally crapping themselves when a client mentions the words ’social’ and ‘media’ in the same sentence. Great work, and totally audience-focused for Innocent.

Wondering what a traditional PR looks like? Check out Rubella Pymley-Bowles from Ostentacious PR for a few clues. Awful.

Let’s face it – editors are pulling sources of news and articles from a multitude of areas now, including social media channels. The availability of news, comment, and public interaction means that the Press no longer ‘relies’ on PRs to fill up empty spaces offline and online when deadlines draw nearer. That’s right, PRs – the Press don’t need you, even if newsroom numbers have been cut.

Another important fact for those buying PR is this – the “It’s who you know” argument – so often rolled out by PR firms to newly-signed clients – is less and less relevant: let’s be honest, most media contacts are shifting weekly at the moment, let alone staying put on a publication or news site online for months on end. Those days are relegated well and truly to pre-Recession.

So, the death of PR? Maybe the end of a certain type of PR. As an editor, I’m not sorry to see it go. I welcome in the new and say a goodbye to the bad old days when up-their-own-arse PRs controlled far too much content supply into the British media.

My predictions? More and more media channels will open up, leading the Press to work with fast, reliable, non-pretentious distributors of information. Contemporary PRs have nothing to fear. Old school Ab Fabs? Time for a career change, I think.

At least, that appears to be the case according to this story recently concerning the drastic drop in profits for magazines.

As the downward slide continues for offline publishers, it is clear from the statistics presented in the Paid Content report that if you’re in editorial in the magazine sector, unless your publishers have online versions of the print edition, it’s lean times indeed ahead for you as we slide into the pre-Festive season. And to think journalism has been in this position for nearly two years now.

Incredible.

No tangible support or respite for the journalists, section editors, editors and senior editorial employees who’ve been cut, cut and then cut again from the heart of poorly-managed newsrooms. Dammit, stop the rant before the soapbox bends and breaks.

Couldn’t it of been seen coming?

I know from the colleagues I have worked with and spoken to in the last 12 months, we all knew magazine and newspaper editorial staff needed to diversify, re-train, get upskilled, and even consider another sector to work in.

The fact that we’re still seeing no assistance for the flailing British magazine sector is appalling.

And the message from the number-crunchers is still the bloody same – sorry, got to lose editorial, too costly to keep all the journos. Oh, the sales department? No, they’re all still there. Twiddling their fingers and talking about football results. Nice.

Once again, I wonder why it is such a bed idea to not simply consider letting senior editorial manage the business of managing newsrooms as business entities, including forward planning of news diversification, digitisation and online expansion.

Let’s face it – they couldn’t do a worse job than the inept neolithic management teams have done on their behalf to date. Ahem.

…from Adam Westbrook’s blog today concerning journalism new ventures – an essential checklist to consider.

I particularly liked point 8 on Westbrook’s checklist for start-up success: ‘Would it be fulfilling for journalists to work for?

This got me thinking. When was the last time as a journo or Editor you really, truly, completely loved working in your current newsroom? Are you fulfilled, challenged – and rewarded – every day? Is your obsession to keeping deadlines noticed? Ever?

Maybe an additional point to go on your checklist, Adam, should also be: ‘Is it run by Editorial and not Advertising managers?’ This would certainly tip the scales for me, having seen many, many Editors de-motivated and ground down by the money-men and number-crunchers. A journalism start-up run by the writers for the absolute benefit of the readership? A novel idea indeed.

Interesting statistics here today highlighting the rise of older audiences engaging across a range of social media platforms.

Interesting, in particular, for journos as this indicates that the ‘faddish’ nature of social media as initially discussed by traditional newsroom management is not accurate.Not accurate at all, in fact.

It appears that the age range of tweeters bloggers and facebookers is aligned closely to the age range of newspaper readerships – except these same readerships are now accessing free news content online, unfortunately, rather than via paid printed news.

Another area of concern for media-land could well prove to be the fact that platforms such as Twitter anticipate leading the news agenda within the next 12 to 18 months: look at the pick-up on Stephen Fry’s publicly-aired near-step-down from tweeting this week.

The fact that this tweetathon made National news headlines surely points the way which journalists are being forced to source and share news items. After all, if social media is making the news, surely engaging with social media is also a must?

Unconvinced?

Where will traditional newsrooms be in 18 months? If they’re continuing to bury their collective heads in the sand, the future will be bleaker than the last 18 months. And God knows, that’s been bad enough for 1000’s of journalists in the UK already.

As I’ve said before – stop moaning, start upskilling, and embrace digital. Either that, or a career change. Choice is yours. Enjoy.

Within the last week or so, I began to notice a bunch of links coming from the same blog.

Eucalyptus Archive Content Theft

When I clicked through to view the source of the link I was surprised to see several copies of my posts copied enmasse to a blog called Eucalyptus Archive.

The irony about this particular case of blog theft pictured above is that the post stolen from my blog was about Blog theft’s second cousin – duplicate content.

If content is king, content theft is his sworn enemy.

…from Freelance Unbound here.

Apparently, readerships in the States have issues with news accuracy – or lack of accuracy from journalists.

Less than 30% of readers polled felt confident in the facts presented to them by reporters in American newspapers – shocking statistics, or an indication of the lack of trust in traditional media? Is online reportage, via bloggers and tweeters, becoming the new journalism in which the masses will gravitate towards? Only time will tell, but the early indicators are not positive for the old-school Hack, according to the facts highlighted in this excellent media blog.

Personally, I think if News-gathering doesn’t wake up and embrace the variety of tools and techniques available, readerships will continue to move away from traditional newsroom reporting and more towards the sources of news in the places where they want it – ergo, audiences looking for news will find it where they want it. This usually also includes the most trustworthy sources for them, as they see it at that time.

So, to build trust, what to do? How about engaging your readership, in the medium they want, when they want it, and in a style they can relate to? This is perhaps the biggest lesson regional UK media managers have failed to learn in the last three years.

From the Guardian:

Simon Fuller, the man behind the Spice Girls and the …Idol global TV franchise, has backed content creators to be the ultimate winners in the current media “war zone” to find viable digital business models.

Fuller, speaking late yesterday at the government’s digital creative industries conference C&binet, said that while he believed certain companies – such as Google and Microsoft – have a “big head start” in online there is still room for many players in the emerging digital media market.

“It is a unique time, a troubling time but special because I don’t think anyone has all the answers. No one has really figured out how this can work positively for everyone,” he added.

“It is a serious war zone … no one has really struck oil, but we know it is out there. My hat is firmly in the ring of the creator.”

He argued that despite the downturn it was actually becoming, in his view, easier for media and entertainment companies to be successful.

“It is getting easier to distribute,” he said. “The gatekeepers [such as the music companies] … haven’t got the answers. Certainly in the music industry because they are under duress they are more open to partnerships than ever before. The relationship has shifted to the creative entrepreneur.”

Fuller added that TV networks and film studios are “quite far behind” the music industry so they should learn from the music industry’s experience with illegal downloading.

He said “powerful entities”, such as the major music companies, were not likely to disappear, but added: “The future is increasingly about individual ideas so powerful and potent they spring out of nowhere.”

He referred to his own operation, 19 Entertainment, as a “bespoke aggregator”. “The next big idea could come from some kid in India. That’s the way it should be – I’m excited,” he said.

October 26, 2009

The idea that “content is king” is a favorite slogan among media people, since it’s comforting to think that the industry is ruled by its creative side. Comforting, but fictional.

Who does rule the media kingdom? Not the content creators, but the people who control their physical access to the public, that’s who. Sooner or later, channels trump content.

That’s why people who care about freedom of expression have to start by caring about the freedom of the channels over which expression flows.

Hence the importance of the simmering controversy over so-called net neutrality—a policy that is intended to keep the companies that rent us access to the Internet from playing favorites among Web services, information exchanges, content providers of all kinds.

Why does that matter? Because the pace and direction of media development have historically set by the people who controlled the contact points with the public:

- The film industry was the creature not of movie-makers, but of early 20^th century theater-owners who wanted to fill their seats. They fled the East Coast for Southern California to escape the Edison Trust monopoly over supplies of film stock—a stranglehold broken up by the government in 1917. Freeing up those channels made Hollywood possible.

- The Hollywood studio system that arose rested first and foremost not on content deals with stars and directors, but on ownership of movie theaters, which froze out independent producers. In 1948 the government forced the studios to give up the cinemas–and a new Hollywood was born.

The story goes on. FM radio languished for decades, despite its inherent superiority over AM, until regulators forced radio-owners to stop squatting on FM as a secondary outlet for their AM Top-40 rubbish and populate it with content of its own. That wasn’t until the 1960s, and the result was a robust appetite for sounds to fill high-fidelity channels—the ideal midwife for the birth of alternative rock-n-roll.

Channels rule content. It’s the promise of assured access to the public that inspires and emboldens content creators.  During a 20-year period starting in the 1970s, when the three major TV networks were barred from monopolizing the downstream syndication channels for programs they produced, independent TV programming flourished, and in the aftermath three new TV networks emerged. Demonopolizing channel control was pivotal.

And so to net neutrality.  It’s now the subject of a ruling by the Federal Communications Commission formalizing a policy outlined in 2005, and it’s being written into congressional legislation that seems to have strong support.  The basic question is whether the companies that control the channels through which you access the Internet—generally big telecoms such as Comcast and AT&T—should be allowed to favor some content providers over others.

Will they be free to decide which content will flow easily and which content will go slowly? Will they be allowed to charge more for Web services that compete with companies they own, or force such independents onto slower transmission speeds, or strong-arm startups into cutting them in as partners in exchange for favored online treatment, or make it harder or costlier for you to hook up devices made by companies they aren’t in cahoots with?

Comcast, the country’s biggest cable-owner, already ran afoul of neutrality guidelines and was slapped by regulators in 2008 for furtively interfering with traffic on BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file-swapping network. Comcast is moving heavily into the content business; it owns several sports channels and a big piece of E! Entertainment.  It’s pioneering an offering of online programs—HBO’s Entourage and AMC’s Mad Men—exclusively for its Internet subscribers. And it’s maneuvering to buy NBC-Universal from GE, which would give it a major TV network and one of its top movie studios.

It’s inevitable that Comcast will be competing with some of the same online services that rely on its cable systems to reach the public.

Likewise with AT&T: Where’s the guarantee that it’ll give nondiscriminatory treatment to an online company like Skype, whose worldwide Internet phone service competes directly with AT&T’s core phone service?

Control over channels constitutes a perpetual, potential stranglehold over media development, even with a technology whose growth and flowering seem to be as unstoppable as the Internet’s.

Content may never be king. The throne may still be held by the channel-masters. But net neutrality, like an information age Magna Carta, is a way to ensure that their power is not absolute.

 -30-

There’s been a lot of talk around page rank and how it’s importance might be decreasing. Still, we still have many webmasters who ask how does pagerank affect my website’s visibility in Google and why page rank is important? Webmaster Blog has compiled a good beginners guide to pagerank, and attempts to answer some top questions around the subject of page rank in a series of articles over at their blog

Great post here on the importance of fact-finding, fact-checking and why trained journalism still offers something the increasing army of citizen journalists, bloggers and forum commentators can’t give. The upshot? Trained journalists represent the reinforcement of fact-checking at its best: the power and credibility of a balanced, thorough and fact-checked editorial item.

Of course, the initial news value from a tweet, blog post, or forum item can lead journos towards a valuable investigation of an issue, but it’s the fact-checking process, the collation of facts and the trained execution of facts which makes the difference between an amateur piece of citizen journalism and a well-rounded, informative and thought-provoking piece of journalism.

One of the most concerning elements, for me, of untrained editorialists as I call them, is the rise in commentaries and the lowering in quality content. It seems that everybody’s got something to freakin’ say online these days. Progress?

The thing which makes a difference for me, as one who sits firmly in the ‘trained’ editorial camp, is that without the correct and professional usage of fact-collation, fact-checking and fact-integration into an editorial item, we’re left with a shabby represntation to the readership. At best, conjecture. At worst, fact-less content. Propoganda, as it used to be called.

Terrifying prospect, huh? Without the trained, fact-orientated journos in place, how can content remain at a premium?