Reading list: Does anyone pay for content?
Just doing some year-end house-keeping. I’d come across these links — particularly the ones about paying for content — and neglected to pass them along. I have had this conversation with colleagues (about whether readers have actually paid for content), particularly in the context of newspaper journalism. This item from a few months ago was an interesting analysis of the question. Plus, a counterpoint to the item…and a few other miscellaneous posts.
Post-Medium Publishing
An excellent analysis of whether people actually pay for content. I agree with a lot of this post; some of my colleagues look at me like I’m crazy.
Etaoin Shrdlu: Seminal work or sloppy thinking?
Jeff Jarvis has already anointed it as “seminal” and reprinted more than 350 words of Paul Graham’s Post Medium Publishing, so let me try and bring something different to the party: some examples of sloppy thinking and errors in the piece.
Clay Shirky: Let a thousand flowers bloom to replace newspapers; don’t build a paywall around a public good
Nieman Journalism Lab
Full transcript and audio from Shirky’s remarks.
The Beginner’s Guide to Tricking Out Your WordPress Blog
Lifehacker
Great tips for setting up your WP blog and for deciding which plugins to grab.
Austin police fed up with bogus online comments
www.policeone.com
Perhaps not the best way to deal with attacks on you in social media sites? Perhaps engage instead of litigate?
Interesting stuff I saw online, Aug. 26 to Sep. 9
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Aug. 26 through Sep. 9:
- The newsroom view of user content revealed – Well, this isn't really a surprise. Most journalists find user-generated content a distraction.
- Social Media: Fighting the Fear – Good piece reinforcing the ways individuals (and, particularly, businesses) can get past the fear of social media.
- Measuring the Value of Social Marketing and Media – "While social marketing was originally developed from the desire companies had to capitalize on commercial marketing techniques, it has evolved into a more integrative and comprehensive discipline that draws on a wide array of technology, from the traditional media to new media referred to as 'social media.'"
- ‘Skanky’ Blogging, Anonymity and What’s Right – More helpful fodder for those of us who are constantly fending off attacks on the ability for readers to post anonymously. I was particularly fond of your point, “People who’d ban anonymity don’t seem to realize that it’s technically impossible unless we’re willing to turn over all of our communications in every venue to a central authority — a system that would herald the end of liberty.”
It’s a point I’ve made often to anyone who will listen. Even Facebook, which prides itself on “requiring” real names, can live up to that requirement.
Interesting stuff I saw online, Aug. 22 to Aug. 25
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Aug. 22 through Aug. 25:
- Is It O.K. to Blog About This Woman Anonymously? – The Moral of the Story Blog – Interesting take on the idea of anonymous comment. The writer comes down against it.
- The Risks, and Rewards, of Social Media for Newspapers – Nice rundown on policies and pitfalls in newsrooms over the use of social media — professionally and personally.
- Teaching Online Journalism Updated tutorials for Audacity (audio editing) – "I finally revised and updated the three tutorials I use to teach journalism students and professionals how to edit audio using Audacity, a free program that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux."
- Out of the Frying Pan and into the Mildly Uncomfortable Sauna: The Not-So-Bad-But-Still-Unconstitutional Social Networking Ban – Wow. "A week ago, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill, HB 1314, making it illegal for convicted sex offenders to access a 'social networking website.'"
The interesting stuff I saw online, Aug. 19
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet on Aug. 19 from 7:46 pm to 8:37 pm:
- Let It Be 26True. Beatles And iTunes Come Together Again In Rumors – I'm gonna have to buy all these Beatles CDs again, for the third time.
- You’re Doing It Wrong Part 348: Complete And Utter PR FAIL – Great post. I was hit by this PR firm spam blizzard today and didn't get a chance to blog about it myself. Thanks, TechCrunch, for taking care of it for me.
- The Limits of Control – "With journalists and their employers increasingly active on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, news organizations are struggling to respond to a host of new ethics challenges."
- MediaShift . Journalism Students Need to Develop Their Personal Brand | PBS – "As a journalism professor, I have found there is one thing guaranteed to set off a flurry of frenzied activity in the classroom. It has nothing to do with exams or story deadlines. Rather, it is prompted by a simple question to students: How many own your name as a domain name?"
- Lost Remote: The Business of Journalism – "When a source told WCCO-TV’s Mark Rosen that Brett Favre would join the Minnesota Vikings, he sent out a tweet. Moments later, other reporters re-tweeted the news, and it was piped out to Facebook. Soon, WCCO was one of the top three trending topics on Twitter, reports MinnPost, sending a big traffic burst to WCCO.com. The tweet beat WCCO’s TV coverage, but not by much."
Interesting stuff I saw online, Aug. 12 to Aug. 14
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Aug. 12 through Aug. 14:
- Video: Social Media Revolution – Great video, lots of stats about the boom in social media growth. Thanks @stevebuttry
- Employers Are Freaking Out About Twitter and Facebook, Study Shows – Fascinating Citizen Media Law Project post includes hysterical example of dumb employee, Facebook and her boss.
- The 7 Deadly Sins of Blogging – "The same problems come up again and again, keeping bloggers from building a real audience for what they have to say. So how about you? Do you commit one of these seven deadly sins with your content?"
- News numeracy: online tools for reporting numbers – Journalism.co.uk: "Following on from Steve Harrison’s excellent two-part guide on news numeracy, ‘How to: get to grips with numbers as a journalist’, here’s a round-up of some of the best online tools and sites for journalists when reporting figures and stats."
Kurt's Tweets- Realizing how woefully out of touch I have been with this part of the county. (@ Saint Louis Bread Company) http://4sq.com/5z5Bfh
- Just had my first Gmail phone call -- with my parents -- and the quality was fantastic. Wow. http://tcrn.ch/a8GndI
- Another day, another interview. Fingers crossed. (@ Saint Louis Bread Co) http://4sq.com/avGImL
- Helping my son learn the first 20 elements on the periodic table. Disturbed by how many more elements there are since I studied this stuff.
- Giving blood. (@ St. Martin's Episcopal Church) http://4sq.com/aiWuEk