• Facebook has 250 million active users to Twitter’s 19 million (eMarketer research via Mashable)
• A large number of users quite within the first month (Nielsen)
• Twitter has no revenue stream

So, is Twitter the new attention dashboard? I have my doubts. I think that’s a very limited view of the conversations that are occurring online.

Will the real-time Web be a major influence on communication in the future? Absolutely.

The focus on the newness of things, the tool and its features and the immediacy of information (Twitter beat CNN to the Tiger Woods story this week by 45 mins) is compelling – but only to a point.  Beyond that point, Twitter discussions tend to become rather sycophantic, repetitive, tactical and/or theoretical.

This stuff is important though; The immediacy of micro-blogs like Twitter influences the way that we value information and perceive it.  It speeds up the news cycle and makes information even more of a commodity.

In a presentation at the recent Media140 event in Sydney Barry Saunders spoke about the danger of not considering context when we use the real-time Web as a primary source of information.  This is among the most insightul and interesting things that I’ve heard said about this space.  Its a very valid point, which is – along with others -  being overlooked in a plethora of hype fuelled conversations about Twitter.  Mr. Saunders make some additional points on related topics here.

The Twitter purists consider Twitter to be a conversational tool but many organisations are, in my experience, approaching it is a broadcast medium, as research that we are releasing tomorrow will show.

I will leave you with this analysis from BlogPulse, which shows comparative mentions of ‘Twitter’, ‘Unemployment’ and ‘Iraq’ in all forms of consumer generated media over the past six months:

]]> http://justanother24hours.com/blogging/just-home-much-air-time-does-twitter-actually-deserve/feed/ 0 http://justanother24hours.com/media/readers-should-fund-online-media-and-that-includes-journalism-and-blogs/ http://justanother24hours.com/media/readers-should-fund-online-media-and-that-includes-journalism-and-blogs/#comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:04:19 +0000 Daniel Young http://justanother24hours.com/?p=943 The business model that underpins print media is under pressure as a result of the competition that is presented by free online media in the form of news sites and blogs. Publishers are grappling with a range of questions:

• Will digital advertising revenue alone support quality journalism?
• Will readers pay for quality content?
• Will micro-payments scheme work on a pay as you go basis?
• What will happen if I start charging for content but no-one else follows suit?
• Can we maintain objectivity within an advertising-only funded revenue model?

The Internet has caused massive fragmentation of the media landscape, bloggers and news sites have sprung up that cater for the most niche of audience groups – this is a good thing. They attract large numbers of readers but few of them are profitable.

In the medium to long term I believe that the blogosphere will face its own challenges when it comes to funding and sustainability. The net result will be drastic consolidation of the blogosphere, which will have a knock on effect for the niche audiences many of which will lose their ‘media’.

There is a simple solution to all of this. Every publisher charges a fee.

Online publishers whether they be heritage media publishing houses that have made the transition to web, new media houses or independent bloggers should charge a micro-fee for their content on a pay per use basis.

Its a win win win situation.

• Readers are served by quality mainstream media and coverage of niche interests.
• Advertising revenue can be devoted to social networks, search, communities, forums, discussions groups and so on.
• Journalists and bloggers get to maintain their objectivity as part of a sustainable and value industry.
• Journalism is sustainable.
• Government, institutions, business, interest groups are held to account by an objective and sustainable Media.
• Consumers make informed evolved decisions based on influence and information, as opposed to mindless subliminal advertising.
• Media becomes a true marketplace – quality shines.

I recognise that there are practical issues associated with this model but for me this is the true evolution of the Internet. A force that has democratised information and influence. Lets now apply a workable marketplace for the influence economy.

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]]> http://justanother24hours.com/media/readers-should-fund-online-media-and-that-includes-journalism-and-blogs/feed/ 1 http://justanother24hours.com/technology/options-still-on-the-table-to-support-the-future-of-quality-journalism/ http://justanother24hours.com/technology/options-still-on-the-table-to-support-the-future-of-quality-journalism/#comments Sun, 07 Jun 2009 00:59:30 +0000 Daniel Young http://justanother24hours.com/?p=703 Simon Sharwood, a freelance journalist in Australia, recently blogged two out of his three ideas for new business models in print journalism. Both ideas are based on the concept of industry funding.

In the first, funding would come from industry associations and industry groups. In the second, the PR industry funds print journalism via a licensing system, which grants the license holder access to those journalists – similar to the registration of lobbyists.

Both concepts seem to create dependencies that would undermine journalistic independence and integrity, although the risk of this occurring in the second model could be minimised: “…to be a registered PR, one would stump up a fee that goes into an independently administered fund that is then redistributed to publishers with oversight to ensure it goes on wages” (Simon – in comments).

Putting aside the practical challenges of this model, some of which are discussed in the post, I doubt that the model would be sustainable. Funding from the PR industry would be a diminishing return as media relations become a smaller part of what PR agencies do.

Here’s where I come up with my alternative solve all solution.

I might need to get back to you on that but here are some other funding alternatives:

• Newspapers earn not for profit status and the associated financial and tax breaks
• Introduction of a subscription/ micro-payment system that covers multiple competing publications. Check out ViewPass, which would process payments and collect data to drive targeted advertising or trade content for information about the reader’s preferences and interest.
• Newspapers regulate the re-use of content – in the same way that the music industry does.
• Philanthropy may sustain some publications.

The subject is such an emotive and complex issue. I am definitely in the ‘newspapers are a good thing’ camp – but at the end of the day if the model ceases to work then we have to let ‘nature’ take its course.  Consolidation is inevitable but I think that the concept of a newspaper-less society is somewhat alarmist.

By the way, newspapers are flourishing in the developing world. 

Ultimately, I see a small number of print publications containing analysis and opinion available internationally, nationally and in major cities. They’ll play a key role in holding institutions, business and Government to account and would be supported by the not-for-profit- funding model if advertising revenue alone was not sufficient.

I am positive that the pendulum will swing back from digital to traditional media and that things will balance themselves out.

Quality print journalism will survive even if the industry is vastly consolidated and readers will turn to the Web for breaking news, trade/niche content,  entertainment and video. I don’t personally have an issue with a micro-pay scheme – I’d be happy to pay a small amount for quality content from someone that ‘appreciated the technical nuances of the fields concerned’.

There continues to be considerable opportunity for the newspaper industry to reduce cost which makes this scenario seem feasible. Moody’s estimates that just 14% of newspaper operating costs are related to content creation. It’s not all doom and gloom – there are still workable options.

Alan Kohler, Business Spectator

Alan Kohler argued that the Internet has put an end to the cartel which existed between a small number of publishers in the era of print media as it eradicated the high barriers to entry such as printing presses and licenses (in the case of broadcasting).

Print is a highly ineffecient means of conveying news, he said, adding that the Government would be mad to support ‘public trust journalism’ via print publications. He viewed the recent increase in subsidies for print media legislated by Sarkozy as the latest example of ‘loopy French economics’.

Kohler – as an online publisher – strongly supports the trend towards digital media stating that the industry is in a transition mode. These points formed part of a panel discussion for the ABC’s Saturday Extra program on Radio National entitled, Quality Journalism: How Pays? Does it Matter?

Alan Kohler is the publisher of Business Spectator (online business and finance news) and The Eureka Report (subscription based investor news service). He said that the Business Spectator – founded 16 months ago – would ‘make a profit before too long’.

Philanthropic support and/or Government funding could help protect public interest journalism in Australia, according to Eric Beecher, publisher of Crikey.

The panel also included Wendy Bacon (Centre for Independent Journalism, UTS), John Hewson (Liberal Party Federal Leader, 19901-994) and Campbell Reid (Group Editorial Director, News Limited) with Geraldine Doogue, as moderator/presenter.

I have mixed feelings about the decline of newspapers. I agree that traditional mass media is effectively a monopoly but its also representative of national consciousness (imperfectly but as close as we know), it leads and sets the agenda. Digital media lets the audience set their personal agenda and that has inherent limitations (you don’t know what you don’t know).

I’d like to think that the power of the Internet to mobilize large numbers of people around campaigns and ideas will be effective in holding our institutions to account in the future but this still requires instigation, leadership. The danger is that we lose print media and have nothing to fill the void and each individual retreats into their own echo chamber of self determined media, opinion and content.

Crikey's Eric Beecher

Eric Beecher (Publisher of Crikey) painted a dark future for the print versions of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspaper during a panel discussion for ABC Radio’s Saturday Extra program earlier today. The discussion ‘Quality Journalism: How to Pay for it? Does it Matter?’ focused on the future of print journalism in Australia, new business models and the concept of public trust journalism.

Pointing to the fact that few cities internationally are able to sustain two daily newspapers (many are struggling to sustain one), Beecher made the point that News Corporation with The Australian and its tabloid dailies in Melbourne and Sydney would take the opportunity to ‘wipe out’ the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. A ‘not unlikely scenario’, he said.

Utilitarianism: More votes to clever people

In 1861, the philisopher John Stuart Mill wrote: the exercise of any political function, either as an elector or representative, is power over others.

We live in tumultuous times. The United State Presidential Election is scheduled to take place on November 4 this year.

The question remains relevant today: Do voters have a moral duty to be informed about politics?

The majority of Americans rely on the television for their political information, not realising that most news networks are highly partisan, owned by corporations and biased.

John Stuart Mill argued that the impact of political ignorance should be offset by giving extra votes to the most highly educated portions of the population.

Who is responsible for generating an informed population? Is it the moral responsibility of the individual? Perhaps – It’s rarely (if ever) in the interests of the political elite or governing party to educate the electorate about its shortcomings and failings.  

Edmund Burke coined the term, the Fourth Estate. He is quoted in Thomas Carlyle’s book:

“Burke said that there were three Estates in Parliament, but in the Reporters Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all”.

Journalism is seen as having a critical role to play as an institution that holds the other institutions to account. Sadly, our society has lost faith in the media.

2b or not 2b informed

A Pew Research Centre Study found that 66 per cent of people consider the press “one sided” while only 9 percent of journalists are concerned with the media’s credibility.

Technology is challenging and transforming the Fourth Estate. 

The Internet is perceived to have democratised information. It has placed the means of production in the hands of the consumer, hence User Generated Content. It has enabled the audience to engage in conversation, to provide feedback and to challenge one sided arguments and vested interests.

The Internet presents fantastic possibilities and potential as means of sharing information and mobilising communities around a cause or issue but I don’t think its safe to assume that this potential will necesarily be realised to the benefit of all.  

I think we can draw parallels between free markets and de-regulation and the impact of the Internet on media and information. Recent events clearly demonstrate – if proof were needed – that a laissez-faire attitude does not always lead to a positive or sustainable outcome. Fundamentally, free markets (of information or finance) may be self correcting but often that process is too painful to bare.

We cannot claim that traditional print media has been effective in establishing an informed population (whatever one of those is) but my fear is that new media, digital media will have a downward effect on the degree to which the community as a whole is achieving an acceptable level of informed-ness.

Contained conversation

Sure, it will expose active and aware audiences to a much wider and active array of content and opinion but that’s an echo chamber. A situation in which information, ideas or beliefs are amplified or reinforced by transmission inside an “enclosed” space. This was one of the primary objections to the role of the media in the lead up to the Iraq War.  

History tells us that the general public has no inclination and accepts no moral obligation to be informed about events in the world and in the world of digital media where the reader is the editor this concerns me. 

For the majority of the population, the Internet means memes, it means funny videos, it means games, it means shopping, it means entertaining news and opinion. It has little or no relationship with political consciousness.   

The following table captures the characteristics of traditional print media as I see them and compares them with that of digital and new media.

My fear is that if we move to a world where the characteristics of the media and the way that we engage with media reside in the right hand collumn we will utlimely become less informed and not more.

I don’t know what the solution is to this problem given the fact that media is moving irretrievably  along a digital path but I think it’s worthy of discussion.   

Papworth’s presentation provided an overview of well known social networking sites and blogging platforms and instructions on how bloggers and content creators can promote their product via social media. It dealt with some of the implications for the freelance journalist community.

The content was relatively rudimentary but well matched to the level of knowledge and experience among the audience of freelance writers.

I have seen Papworth speak a few times. Tonight, I again learnt about some new stuff, fact and figures:

• The biggest concern for 50% of the journalists that participated in a PEW survey (State of the News Media) ranked economic concerns as their biggest professional issue  
• MySpace = the third largest country in the world
• More on corporate activity within Facebook: Salesforce has created an application that links Facebook activity with its CRM application. More on this here.
• Glassdoor: A site that provides an environment for employees to anonymously rate their employer. More from Ms. Papworth here.

The take away was basically: Freelances need to get theirs head around social media and learn how to use it to their advantage because in the future an editor is just as likely to commission a blogger with a ready made audience and some degree of authority on a specific topic.

I don’t think there is any doubt that this is true.

The evening got me thinking about journalism and how this compares to blogging. Surely good journalism is mainly but not totally about objectivity, as defined by Yahoo! Education:

The style of writing characteristic of material in newspapers and magazines, consisting of direct presentation of facts or occurrences with little attempt at analysis or interpretation.  

Clearly, journalists and publishers have biases and political leanings but famous papers got that way because they were objective. The skill in journalism comes from researching and understanding an issue before gathering credible sources together to present a balanced analysis of that topic.   

Bloggers have an agenda. They shoot from the hip and more often than not they promote themselves and their point of view. There is no requirement for objectivity. They know that their audience either already has an interest in their favoured topic or agrees with them or just finds their personal going-ons interesting. 

They operate within echo chambers (at least to some extent) and their success and the degree to which they entertain and inform is rarely determined by their ability to deconstruct relevant and topical issues.

This begs the question: Is it better to have an understanding of what’s going on or to know what somebody else thinks?

A combination of Opinion and Objectivity would be ideal but as Papworth said during her concluding comment the US newspapers are placing more and more blog content on their home pages and she expects this trend to be repeated in Australia.   

The last questioner of the night pondered the issue of time; where might freelance writers find time to blog and manage and extend their social networks? A valid question because now it’s my bedtime.

You’ll find the presentation from tonight’s event here (soon).