This is a digest of the links you see offered as “featured” on the Journalism Accelerator homepage (and other spots across the site). Because the featured items are updated often, this is the place for you to find these resources once they’ve left the rotation. To help you find something you may have seen on a given week, featured listing are organized by the dates they ran. Got suggestions on content you’d like to see featured?
Two new tools to improve community reports, lessons from a seven-year startup, a JA network member broadening innovation’s reach, and why many publishers struggle to monetize data.
The divide
JA network member Mike Green hailed for his work to spread innovation into African American communities. “No one in recent memory has come out with such articulate, explicit connections.”
New Tool Helps Publishers Find National Stories to Localize
Start with Google news, add tools to extract names and ID locations. Voila! A beta app to get local publishers fresh ideas, including stories that “satisfy consumer demand…and can be monetized.”
In Search of a “500-Year Plan” for Achieving News Literacy
Media innovator Fabrice Florin hands his “separate fact from fiction” nonprofit to Poynter. Four lessons learned along the way.
The Guardian formalizes audience curation with #smarttakes
“If nothing else, The Guardian is persistent in its desire to ask the public for help with its journalism.” Here’s an idea any publisher might borrow.
Why is managing and monetizing audience data so hard?
Two new studies give insight to this vital question that publishers wrestle with constantly.
A Record Amount of TV News Last Year, Annual RTDNA Study Finds
Minutes of local TV news rises, is predicted to climb. “The percentage of news directors expecting to cut news has always been low, but this is the first time since 1997 that it’s been zero.”
Posted on July 26, 2012
Topic: Digest
Back-to-basics tips, new digital training, both aim to help local newspapers. Can your news content go further in a ebook or enewsletter? And what does an “open internet” mean? Help define policy.
Now available for download: Nieman Lab in ebook form
Would Nieman’s new product strategy work for you? A “collected, collated package of news, commentary, and analysis” for people who don’t want to check a site daily or follow on Twitter.
News Corp. Split Adds to Pressure on Papers
A case to watch: How will News Corp. newspapers manage the market disruption, now their buffer of “a vast and profitable entertainment empire” spins in a different direction?
The Declaration of Internet Freedom Wants Your Feedback
What does an “open internet” mean for you and your work? FreePress wants a “public discussion” defining the term, and people to “remix it, fork it, change it.”
Poynter, American Press Institute and Knight Foundation team up to help newspapers with digital tools training
Session sign-ups to watch for! New training for newspapers to “multiply their productivity and impact” and “develop a culture of innovation.”
The future of media and forcing new content into old models
A forward take on the Journatic controversy over bylines and remote “local” reporters. “Not ’pink slime,’ just a potential new model…Why not experiment with new forms?”
Groupon opens concept store in Singapore
Remixing digital and physical, with customers in mind. The shop strategy “speaks to the huge priority we place on delivering convenience to our customers,” says Groupon Singapore CEO.
Local news crisis: publishers and editors must get back to basics
A favorable future seen for local newsprint: “The opportunity for local newspapers is as clear as it always was. It is only the effort and methods of delivery required that are different.”
6 Email Marketing Tools for Hyperlocal Publishers
If daily emails of top stories are “an excellent solution for busy publishers looking to turn occasional readers into devoted fans,” here are useful leads to find a platform match for you.
Posted on July 13, 2012
Topic: Digest
Deep thinking on information v. content: who’ll pay for what? Want to work for Warren Buffett? What you might not know about Twitter communities, and tools for revenue and investigations.
What makes something go viral? The Internet according to Gawker’s Neetzan Zimmerman
Worth it? The sole person behind Gawker’s drive for page views with cat videos offers no magic formula, but alone frees up ten reporters for “real work.”
Newspaper Work, With Warren Buffett as Boss
The NYT visits a long-held Buffett paper to predict his management of new properties. “A profitable paper that is run with little involvement from its owner” but not immune to industry pressure.
Why Reporting Is Ripe For Innovation
Facebook’s journalism program manager on the fear that journalism is worse with fewer people on the job. “That’s because the news-gathering model is still being thought about in the old way.”
Why the World’s Most Perfect News Tweet Is Kind of Boring
Useful to read before your next tweet! Serious researchers find an algorithm to predict how widely a news story will spread. Do people share the same links they “eagerly click on”?
Poynter Revenue Camp 2012, Part 1
A peek into NewsU’s latest training on journalism and revenue. “We don’t publish news to make $, we make $ so we can publish news.”
Paying for information versus *access* to information: A key distinction for news publishers
“If you (or your bosses) aren’t finding a solution for making money from news online, maybe you need to ask yourself some fresh questions about the real nature of your business.”
Twitter Offers News Orgs Opportunity to Reach Diverse, Underserved Communities
New Pew study: Twitter is taking hold among people often underserved by news organizations, including African American, young, and low income communities. “These stats scream HUGE OPPORTUNITY…”
Let’s Get This Straight: Information vs. Content
What are you publishing – content or information? Spot.us founder David Cohn – now with Circa – weighs in on this question: which will people pay for?
Free tools to tackle almost any task, from data wrangling to photo editing
A new list of “powerful” and “essential” data tools, all with a great price tag. From USA Today’s Anthony DeBarros and NPR’s Matt Stiles via Investigative Reporters and Editors.
Posted on July 6, 2012
Topic: Digest
A wealth of new thinking about journalism content online: contributed, layered, pre-planned. Stressors on the ad model for TV online and off. And the next generation of college papers.
Why Are TV Networks Still Discounting The Value Of An Online Audience?
Why TV advertising “has largely not changed even with all the new opportunities the internet has to offer.” And what challenges may lie ahead if broadcasters fail to value online viewers.
David Karp: Tumblr’s Revenue Model Is All About Telling Stories
Powering ad revenue with social relationships and storytelling, Tumblr founder Karp shares ideas on making ads “less distracting and more meaningful to users.”
Why we need to blow up the article in order to save it
Expanding on Jeff Jarvis’ exploration of the news article as a collection of “assets,” GigaOm’s post breaks it down: Layer, explore formats and sequence the elements to enrich the experience.
Alan Rusbridger on The Guardian’s open journalism, paywalls, and why they’re pre-planning more of the newspaper
Guardian editor Rusbridger tells Nieman Lab a paywall isn’t “the most interesting thing to be doing” now, in part because it separates content from people who want to contribute.
What the Forbes model of contributed content means for journalism
An assessment of Forbes’ “incentive-based, entrepreneurial” and unedited journalism finds success. The site doubled its audience to 30 million monthly visitors and attracts hundreds of writers.
Time Warner Cable Head Sides With TV Networks Over Ad-Erasing Technology
Do you fight tech or figure it out? TV claims an ad-erasing option “could damage the existing ecosystem of television programming and distribution.” What lessons could print offer?
Revolution. A new model for college media
U of Oregon’s paper ends M-F publishing after 92 years. “Not a move made out of financial desperation” but to “serve our community and prepare our student staff for the professional world.”
National Journal Group Happy With Results of New Membership Model
High profile and high priced, but the basics of National Journal’s new model may hold insights for other. The company signed up close to half the 1,500 customers “identified as prospects.”
Posted on June 22, 2012
Topic: Digest
Great guides to assess ad networks and going mobile, case studies of collaboration and failure, what Warren Buffet sees in small town papers, and research into Twitter’s value as a verifier.
Ford Foundation to fund new LA Times reporters
A new deal with the potential to re-shape traditional business models: A big commercial paper gets a $1 million grant to cover specific beats but with “no [other] strings attached.”
Press Associations Open Their Doors To News Sites
Google rethinks classifications, a “blog” becomes a “news source” and doors to “legitimacy” open. Catch up on state-by-state access digital journos now get to legacy press associations.
PubliCola, 2009-2012: How a Seattle news startup built an audience but not a business
A detailed, behind-the-scenes look at why a news site that seemed to have all in place failed. The founder cites weak business planning and execution.
Why Warren Buffett is buying newspapers
A wide look at the industry shows small town papers still hold “some of their traditional monopoly power.” Will the ability to scale pay dividends for Buffet and local publishers?
Media 99% Special Nationwide Coverage: May Day Protests
Collaboration in action: Two dozen independent media organizations join together for May Day coverage of Occupy events. A case study for large scale, live collaboration.
10 Questions Every Publisher Should Ask Online Ad Networks
Spelling out the hard questions you have to ask, this handy guide makes it easier to pick among the various online ad network offerings.
The Bootstrapper’s Guide to the Mobile Web Infographic
See where mobile is going, why, and what you can do to keep up. A visual shortcut to the heart of a new book by the same name.
Social journalism research helps explain how information is verified on Twitter
Deep research offers insight into the value of public verification. Sorting out facts still crucial: “What has changed is how a journalist does this and where.”
Posted on June 8, 2012
Topic: Digest
Web-first and user-first strategies find success. And inspiration here from many sources: a major collaboration, thoughts on thriving in news, and a conversation on journalism and democracy.
Best Social Media Metrics: Conversation, Amplification, Applause, Economic Value
Surfacing meaningful metrics to show impact, social media measurement requires a different lens. “Did you grab attention? Did you deliver delight?”
Why the future of business media is not in print, it’s in being user-first
An approach to financial sustainability putting users front and center. Author Neil Thackray sums it up: An approach that “creates deep engagement across platforms is always monetisable.”
Data and visualization blogs worth following
Interested in how people are using data to understand ourselves better? Stay current and fuel your work with this collection of inspiring blogs covering data visualization.
Christian Science Monitor sees traffic, revenue rising after 3 years of Web-first strategy
Digital first case study: Christian Science Monitor ups views, uniques, ad revenue and content sales after “wrenching” change adapting “serious…journalism to the Web’s possibilities.”
Inside Forbes: The 9 Key Steps We’ve Taken to Disrupt the Traditional News Business
Nine practices a “95-year-old startup” cultivates to reinvent itself. Forbes writer Lewis DVorkin writes “we’re striving to create a news experience that is not just social, but connected.”
A lesson in collaboration: How 15 news orgs worked together to tell a single education story
A collaboration case study: Fifteen reporters and more than a dozen news organizations together “track the local use of $3 billion in federal School Improvement Grant stimulus money.”
5 ways young journalists can stay motivated, thrive in the newsroom
Via Poynter, Tom Huang’s perspective on thriving in journalism. A response to Malcolm Gladwell’s suggestion young people avoid print newsrooms and “go the penniless web route for practice.”
Marty Kaplan on Big Money’s Effect on Big Media
Head of USC’s Norman Lear Center Marty Kaplan talks with Bill Moyers, noting “Education and journalism were supposed to, according to our founders, inform our public and make democracy work.”
Posted on May 22, 2012
Topic: Digest
Evidence that local audiences want hard news, how to collaborate with an eye on your bottom line, a new US law opens new funding opportunities, and tales from the shifting ad landscape.
Collaborating for Dollars: How to Raise Revenue With Others
Practical tips on how collaborating can earn revenue. Make the pie bigger. Get everyone involved to promote and distribute. “Increase efficiencies and decrease costs.”
Pandora Courts Local Advertisers, by Offering Well-Defined Listeners
Pandora challenges local radio where it hurts, telling local advertisers that tracking internet radio listeners delivers far more data than terrestrial broadcasters ever can.
How to Engage Hyperlocal ‘Hard’ News Enthusiasts
New Pew report reveals plenty of people want hard news on local issues. Street Fight says “hyperlocal sites should not look at hard news as journalistic broccoli.”
How Niche Content Sites Can Build And Keep Audiences
CraftGossip founder tells the backstory of this highly successful site, with embedded takeaways any niche publisher can borrow.
US Legalizes Startup Crowdfunding – What It Means for Hyperlocals
The “game changer” JOBS law will open new funding opportunities for startups, including publishers, once all the rules are written. Jump-start your knowledge of crowdfunding basics now.
Business models to monetize publishing in the digital era
Practical for publishers: an in-depth breakdown of revenue models, including subscriptions and freemium content.
Facebook Advertising Rates Skyrocket, CPM Up 41%
Demand pushes up what advertisers will pay on Facebook: “The cost per fan acquired has increased across all territories…” Could this suggest ad rates creeping up across the Web?
Tumblr Announces First Foray Into Paid Advertising
Tumblr turns toward earning revenue from ads, a change from the microblog’s beginnings. Founder David Karp says Google and FB ads “lack creativity.”
Posted on May 10, 2012
Topic: Digest
Where record-level startup investments really went in 2011, finding the line between collaboration and competition, and tracking two legacy newspaper trends: paywalls and front page local news.
How West and East Coast dynamics help startups succeed
Philip Moyer reveals an investment footprint of $30B of capital was deployed in 2011, a record year since 2001. And only $11.6 B was invested in Silicon Valley. Curious where the rest of it went?
Why the Denver Post is putting more local news on A1
Metro coverage moves to the front as Denver’s major paper cuts pages. Why? Editor Greg Moore: “That’s the unique, unduplicated content that you can only really get from your local newspaper.”
Hyperlocals Need to Pay Attention to ‘Red Flags’ in User Content
“Copyright law offers some immunity to hyperlocals for content uploaded by the user…” but keep an eye on the Viacom v. YouTube lawsuit for potential wide-reaching judgments.
Wait, so how many newspapers have paywalls?
150 or 300? Help in tracking this clearly growing trend. “Turns out the lesson here is one we keep learning again and again: The news business is changing, and it’s changing fast.”
How sales and marketing can collaborate in social business
Publishers and the B2B world may have more in common than you think. Market disruption by way of social collaboration offers important lessons in connecting with your community.
Welcome to Wall Street: The Instagram Buy Is All About Facebook’s Investors
A bottom-line analysis of $1B buy reveals the biggest players in the market still need to keep it fresh. Question is: can “Facebook…open new revenue streams even as its user growth levels off”?
Display Ads All Grown Up
Google AdWords Display Network just turned nine years old. ClickZ’s Lisa Raehsler, search engine marketing expert, helps us understand how this plays to content producer’s core strengths.
Collaboration, Competition and Consolidation: Where Is the Line?
Josh Stearns draws a line between collaboration and consolidation as “a partnership among separate and independent entities…” The other “results in one news organization co-opting another.”
Posted on April 27, 2012
Topic: Digest
The Investigative News Network offers critical strategies for growing a nonprofit newsroom, Google unveils a new revenue option for web publishers, plus Pew’s State of the Media 2012 is out.
INN Report: Critical Strategies for Growing a Nonprofit Newsroom
A comprehensive overview for “nonprofit news organizations offers tactics for increasing sustainability, developing an audience, and expanding reach for public-interest reporting.”
State Integrity project builds off a nonprofit news network
Rating the corruption risk across 50 states, this project outs open records laws with hundreds of exemptions. Budget decisions made behind closed doors. Ethics panels that haven’t met in years.
Google Unveils New Revenue Option for Web Publishers
AdWeek’s Mike Shields distills down “a microsurvey product that may offer an alternative to paywalls” as evidence “Google really does want to help save the digital publishing business.”
Audit Bureau of Circulations Pushes for Meaningful Metrics on Digital
Newly proposed standards of digital sales counts would affect big magazines; ideas around new content breakdowns may help you figure out fresh ways to mine metrics to attract advertising dollars.
New Nielsen Ratings to Measure TV and Online Ads Together
Finally a new “cross-platform campaign ratings” system with potential to influence how online dollars are directed. Nielsen’s next steps include measuring smartphone and international ad views.
A year into the Times’ digital subscription program, analysts and insiders see surprising success, and more challenges to come
As paywalls gain popularity, one year later NYT finds “people like this so much they’re actually willing to pay for it.” But growing the model “will take significant effort and resources.”
State of the Media 2012: How Community News is Faring
Community news chapter in Pew’s annual media report predicts more niche sites and finds “a clearer sense of what is needed to succeed” including business focus and partnerships.
List.ly makes curating lists of things simple and interactive for publishers
Capitalize on your content with the lure of lists. A cool new tool; designed to connect with your audience around top tens or other collections. Who doesn’t love a smart list?
Posted on April 11, 2012
Topic: Digest
Matter investigates iTunes as a pricing model for publishing, Buzzfeed and StumbleUpon find sharing behavior is driven by close friends and not influencers, and reflections from SXSW.
How Content Is Really Shared: Close Friends, Not ‘Influencers’
BuzzFeed and Stumble Upon dispel the myth of influentials, finding “intimate sharing outnumbers broadcasting” significantly. “Real-world word-of-mouth” spreads “highly engaging” content.
Amid push toward new digital frontiers, talk of ‘too much’ at SXSW
As 20,000 attendees drink from the SXSW 2012 interactive fire hose, a number of innovators there debate a “possible downside to mounting technology.” Hitting “Digital Vertigo?”
How to run a social site and not get users killed
Real names, real risks, and a great debate. These notes on a SXSWi panel are in an open Google doc. Add to the resource or perhaps borrow this idea to up community engagement on your own site.
Village Soup’s hot pursuit of a hyperlocal model goes cold
2007 Knight News Challenge winner abruptly shuts doors. Village Soup did print and online news, focused on community conversation. What went wrong and who might fill the void?
iTunes Pricing as a Model for Journalism
Could 99 cent articles become the backbone of a publishing business? Longform science journalism startup Matter sparks a hot debate on content sales.
Two ideas for handling content aggregators, attribution
From SXSWi – two new efforts break trail for a Golden Rule guided by polite and accurate aggregation and attribution. The payload? Acknowledgement and traffic.
Why Group Deals Are Killing Small Businesses: 7 Thoughts from City Grid Media at SXSW 2012
Know your customer to sharpen your pitch. Insights from the small business point of view can help you shape effective ad-deal bundles.
Ray Kurzweil Debunks ‘Exponential Returns’ Doubters at SXSW
Feeling overpowered by the tidal wave of technology? Food for thought: At SXSW “hyperbolic” Ray Kurzweil “believes we routinely underestimate the capacity of our digital creations.”
Posted on March 30, 2012
Topic: Digest
