The Future of Journalism in the era of Social Media

Susan BreidenbachIRMA Conference Reno, NVSeptember 10, 2011The Future of Journalismin the era of Social Media1Extremely DisruptiveNot a fadNot just about marketingEmerging lingua franca of businessIs impactingvirtually every rolein every type of businessall over the world

2Paradigm ShiftIBM: We will see a greater disruption in communication in the first half of this decade than weve seen in the previous half-century

3Paradigm ShiftIn fact, social media is aREVOLUTION

See Socialnomics video

4The Social Media Imperative

5Paradigm ShiftHierarchies overlapping networksOne-to-many many-to-manyMonologue dialogueOutbound inboundControl influence

6Social Media does not isolate usHeavy social media users are more likely to:Meet people face to faceGet involved in their communitiesHave more friendsHave closer friendsReal-world + online socializing = synergies7Two branches of social mediaSocial networksInformation networksSocial graph sideFacebookLinkedInFocus onpeoplerelationships

Blogging & microblogging WordPress, TwitterImages & videoYouTube, FlickrSocial bookmarkingDiigo, StumbleUponFocus on sharing info

8Citizen journalismWeb made publishing costs near zeroEliminated barriers to entryEveryone became a writer/journalistBut no editorial oversightWriting quality has sufferedFact checking minimal/non-existentJournalists & content devalued9Citizen journalismDisaggregation effectMainstream media no longer gatekeepersTable salt analogyMedia relations conundrumWhom do you target?Influencers may be scattered bloggersOne of the journalists on a Future of Journalism panel drew a table salt analogy. Salt used to be a very scant, precious, expensive resource. Now its a plentiful, cheap commodity. When the publishing infrastructure was providing a barrier to entry, journalists and publishers were the gatekeepers to information resources. Information was a valuable resource people had to pay for. Now information is cheaper than table salt, but a lot of journalists and publishers persist in acting as if it were still a precious resource, and they still controlled access to it. There is so much free information now that its hard for consumers of it to get past the noise and find what they want. Maybe the future of journalists and publishers is as packagers of information. We have to come up with creative, innovative, compelling packagingpackaging that appeals to both readers and advertisers.10Citizen journalismTweets are journalismBillions of feet on the street, armed with the six-shooter of the 21st century (mobile phone)Scoring scoops galoreTweets used as quotes in NYT, WSJCant disentangle social media from journalism anymore11Business model?No one has figured it outHarder if still do print editionOptimal content for print vs. online differsSocial media content half life is 3 hours!So: How do we get paid?

12Social-ized publishingGeosocial mediaHyperlocal news and contentMe MediaPersonal magazines13Hyperlocal contentJournalisms last untamed outpostMeets local community needCommunity newspapers dead or dyingBig papers closing bureausBetter advertising modelReduces advertising economies of scaleProvides more targeted audience14Hyperlocal magazinesVideo: How to create a killer hyperlocal magazineDoes it as you watch in less than 3 minutesSwindon LinkProfitable hyperlocal magazineStill publishes hard copy editionStreet Fight Summit 2011Hyperlocal industry; NYC Oct. 25-2615Personal magazinesMe MediaApplications for iPads, etc.Zite, FlipBoard, Pulse, AoL EditionsContent discovery & curationAggregate news based on preferencesUser customizationPassive behavioral tracking (heuristics)Auto-populate screens into magazine pagesPersonalized web content presented with a magazine feel.16Personal magazinesCNN just bought ZiteInterview: CNNs general manager of digitalalgorithms are CNN-agnosticWireds takeLikely to see packages with only CNN-owned/syndicated content

imagine then an app that uses Zite technology that features only CNN-owned and partnered content, which would allow the app to display content as it fits and with integrated advertising with no worries about copyright infringement or negotiating with publishers.

17Transaction-based journalismForbes creates social-ized article pageTurns Facebook inside outBrands individual journalistsFuture of journalism is transactionsNot addressing the reader anymoreJournalists now must engage

18Age and gender matterFavor different social networksUse social networks differentlyPenetration among young almost 100%More than half U.S. adults use social mediaOlder demographics are fastest growing groups19Keywords are criticalConcepts & meaning are for peopleWords & phrases are for search enginesHeadlines & subheads count morePlacement matterstop of story counts moreRepetition mattersFresh content matters20Viewer format issuesThink smalliPad-type readers penetrating rapidlySmartphones to dominate Web access by 2013Browser wars continueExplorer vs. Firefox vs. Chrome vs. SafariSocial browsers emerging Rockmelt21CrowdsourcingGreat way to engage readersGet input from themLearn more about themPoor mans market researchIn lieu of focus groups22Social bookmarkingCurating informationCollaborative researchGreat tool for editorial teamsStumbleUpon, Diigo, DiggStumbleUpon surpassed Facebook in June as largest driver of traffic to web sites.23Powerful toolsSocial media dashboardsHootsuiteTweetdeckGoogle AlertsNewly indexed contentReputation managementRoboformPassword managementAuto-fills forms

24Whats ahead?Gamification of social mediaRewards systemsFoursquare, Empire Avenue, KloutWeb 3.0a.k.a. Semantic WebHeuristics (a.k.a. artificial intelligence)

25Analysis Paralysis?Dont wait until you have a handle on thisKeeps changingRate of change probably increasingGet on the learning curveFail forward fast26Some linksVideo: Panel at IdeaFestival talks about future of journalismUniversity J-schools finally addressing issuesCitizen Journalism 101, from PeoriaMagazines.comThe hyperlocal lessons of Americas weekly newspapers27Questions?Susan BreidenbachCertified Social Media Specialist (775) 722-5777sbreidenbach@usa.net

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