When times are tough, start a business

Dan Gregory promotes the importance of being an entrepreneur

When the iPod was born, the music industry was largely disrupted. When smart phones were born, our traditional news gathering habits (reading the newspaper at home) were disrupted. As new technologies emerge and evolve, we are forced to adjust or else fall behind. In the journalism industry especially, the rise of the Internet, smart phones, Twitter and other forms of social media and citizen journalism has created an enormous disruption leaving ghost publications and thousands jobless.

While dismal at first glance, for the optimistic entrepreneur this industry transformation is laden with opportunity. Dan Gregory of Northeastern’s School of Technological Entrepreneurship spoke to my journalism class today about finding ways to capitalize on business ideas.

“What [entrepreneurship] is all about is where wildfires have wiped out industries and put older people out of work, these people are going to have to do something different because their skills no longer fit where they used to,” Gregory said.

He emphasized the importance of honing skills and talents and finding a way to contribute to a new business or establish one from the ground up. By teaming up with other entrepreneurs with a variety of necessary skills, individuals can transform a basic idea and potentially build a successful business model.

As journalism toys with ideas of survival in the current tumultuous environment, online news is alive and thriving. However, the Internet creates a gap between providing a platform for reliable, productive news and creating revenue. At the end of the day having a well researched blog post and a large following doesn’t pay the bills. So how do you fill that gap? Gregory encouraged us to take a look at our skill sets as journalists from a creative angle and consider pursuing our own businesses.

I would love to create a blog that explores all angles of whichever state I’m living in or visiting (lifestyle, entertainment, sports, politics, food, current events) that are specific and unique to those locations and spin-off those compilations into a travel book. The blog would serve as a foundation for what would be the book’s content, and hopefully the copies would fly off the shelves at bookstores around the country. Any takers on joining me in this venture?

Photo (cc) by Dan Kennedy. Some rights reserved.

Allowing the public to analyze news?

NewsTrust

Everyone thinks their opinion is important, but is it always necessary for the world to hear about it? Maybe not always. However, there is an online organized forum for this concept that I think has some potential to be useful. NewsTrust is a web-based non-profit news service that acts as a central hub for news feeds tagged with reviews from the public. The theory is that any person who chooses to create a NewsTrust account may post (link to) a news story on the website, rate it and write a brief review. Or site visitors can bypass posting stories and simply browse the site for articles with particular ratings (on a scale of zero to five) or topics of interest and rate them if they choose.

This format is interesting because of the way the news is presented. However, I am a bit weary of the ”mystery reviewers” who hide behind online identities and can essentially promote or berate any article or news source it chooses.  For example, if there is a NewsTrust member who has a grudge against a news publication, they have the ability to give their articles a low rating that may not necessarily be accurate. I am also concerned that some critics don’t have a strong enough journalism background to understand the difference between good and bad journalism. So the credibility here is questionable to me.

Other than that, I think the idea of NewsTrust is creative and useful. The site allows you to read other people’s reviews and see exactly how they rated stories (they are rated using journalistic principles such as fairness, relevance, balance, etc). So if someone browses the site looking for articles that are rated 4.0 and above with a high “relevance” rating, he or she can find a number of stories to choose from.  

I created an account, posted and rated a few stories myself. Pulling from varied sources (The Christian Science Monitor, Time Magazine, and CNN.com) I selected stories I enjoyed and gave them fairly high ratings based on their successful journalistic principles. Click here to find my reviews.

While I think this is an imperfect system, I can certainly see the value in NewsTrust. It is a community for news consumers, journalism professionals, and everyday people alike to either seek news or provide critiques. Today, where voicing opinions via social media outlets and blogs is commonplace, NewsTrust seems to fit in nicely.

Finding stories in the numbers

Matt Carroll Boston Globe reporter speaks to our Northeastern journalism class about data and maps

Most journalists don’t consider themselves “numbers” people. But Matt Carroll of the Boston Globe willingly admits to being the nerdy, socially awkward number lover. The brains behind Mass Facts on Boston.com, Carroll weeds through statistics on topics ranging from gun licenses to the number of Dunkin Donuts in each town to find news stories. “The numbers make your reporting universe a much better place,” Carroll said in a recent visit to Northeastern University. “It’s a great way to find stories.”

Maybe you’re thinking about moving and you’re interested in the average square footage of land per person in nearby towns. Check out Carroll’s report in the “Your Town” section of Boston.com, which includes interactive maps that visually demonstrate the data. When dealing with numbers and statistics, maps and charts help paint a story without deterring readers from cumbersome lists of raw data.

The Boston Globe recently teamed up with Many Eyes, a web-based software that converts data into visuals. A lot of Carroll’s data in “Your Town” tells stories through interactive maps he created using Many Eyes. If you’re interested in trying this yourself, you can check out the website, create a free membership, download data and convert it into pie charts, bar charts, or a number of other visualizations.

Here’s an example of data Carroll collected and posted on Many Eyes on gun licenses per 1,000 people in Massachusetts towns. By clicking on the “visualize” button, you have several chart conversion choices to browse.

Carroll’s eyes lit up as he explained the capability of story telling through numbers and visuals. “Everyone likes good color maps; everyone understands them,” he said. The charts on Boston.com serve as great data communicators for site visitors, but many journalists cringe at the thought of number crunching. Even Carroll claims he isn’t a math whiz, and he knows how to use Microsoft Excel to do most of the heavy lifting. “I know about three math tricks and I’m going to show them to you and you’re going to go wild,” he said. And we all took fervent notes on how to use this technology to substitute the math we learned in high school.

What’s the Buzz about Social Media?

The KBuzz

What began as a social means to connect friends and family over the Internet has  sparked the attention of businesses that want in on the phenomenon that is social  media. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Friendster have taken the world by storm, and  businesses don’t want to be left behind.  The Kbuzz, a local social media and word-of-  mouth marketing firm, is helping businesses create an online presence on popular  social media sites. As a supplement to their website, the KBuzz has a daily blog that  offers tips to businesses and ordinary people alike that are interested in new ways to use  social media to their advantage.

I’ve been following the blog since a friend of mine joined the company and shared her  weekly blog posts with me. I love it because each day a KBuzz employee posts commentary or findings around current and relevant social media news. I’ve learned a few things from the blog, including how certain government officials use social media as a means to communicate with their communities. Check out the article here.  They also recently posted this great article about comedian Betty White being selected to host Saturday Night Live on May 8, 2010 all because of a Facebook fan group petition. The post really highlights the strength and reach of social media. Another interesting article found here profiles a number of schools that use social media in the classroom.

As the usage of this popular online tool expands, it’s no wonder companies are interested in getting involved. Many have Twitter accounts or Facebook fan pages and reward their “followers” or “friends” with special deals and insider information. Here is another post from today that explains why people connect with brands on social networks.

As a blog follower I enjoy the content and writing styles of the contributors, however I would love to see more use of multimedia. It would be great to see additional short videos beyond their “Watch Me Wednesday” segments and even some photo slide shows if applicable. Another comparable social media website I occasionally follow is Mashable, which is another great resource for all things social media. Though a bit overwhelming at times, Mashable’s ability to publish new articles ever few minutes does offer some great information. Check out both of these sites and let me know what you think!

Are you a visual learner?

With the way journalism is evolving, online publications are making more use of multimedia stories or interactive supplements to traditional reporting. Mapping offers another story perspective with a visual perk. Here is a project Boston.com took on in 2006 that exemplifies the ways reporting can be done through mapping. Former Boston Globe journalist, Charles Sennott visited Afghanistan and Pakistan and mapped his journey as he followed the trail of those hunting for Osama Bin Laden. You can see each stop along the map and click on an icon that has a photo slide show with audio and information relevant to each location.

Another great way to use mapping is in this example. You’ll find a series of U.S. maps representative of the 2008 presidential election and the way America voted (red or blue). As you scroll down, you’ll notice each map shows a more specific perspective of the votes. For example, one oddly warped map takes into consideration population distribution and shows the states drawn proportional to their inhabitants; not the actual size of the state. It’s pretty interesting to see the difference between this one and the traditional U.S. map. The use of a map in this case is crucial for storytelling, especially since a traditional article without this visual wouldn’t have the same dramatic impact.

2008 presidential election results on a population cartogram

This New York Times created a map for the 2008 Tour de France. As the race progressed, the Times traced the route and used icons on a map that linked to relevant photos, articles and features on the winner from each stage. This is another great example of using maps to report news. Mapping is a great way to mix up reporting and portray information in a visual way that supplements or sometimes even substitutes written articles. It may not be best for all reporting, but if used wisely publications can attract an engaged audience.

Behind the scenes at YPNation

For one of the last projects of my graduate college experience (!!!), I’m going to profile a local journalist/entrepreneur. Some of you may recognize the online publication, YPNation, a platform for America’s young professionals. President and founder, Michael Eisenstadt, is the driver behind the new website dedicated to providing a voice for young professionals.  Eisenstadt recognized that prior to YPNation, our country’s young professionals were lacking a unified community where they could receive professional and personal development.  

I’m going to find out about his journalism background, what it was that motivated him to create YPNation and where he hopes to go with the site moving forward. I’m also going to speak with some of his contributing writers, editors (including Jesse Nankin, Northeastern journalism alumna) and YPNation followers. If you’ve never heard of the publication, I hope that when I complete this project you will have an understanding of its purpose and a feel for the mastermind behind it all. I’ll also be making use of multimedia components to help bring the story to life. Standby for the final product in a few weeks!

Feel free to send along suggestions or curiosities you have about the site and/or Eisenstadt.

Optimism in an evolving journalism world

There is hope in the future of journalism. Amid the panic and complaints of publications going under and people crying it’s the end of newspapers, this Columbia School of Journalism professor and dean says we should be optimistic.

Sree Sreenivasan spoke to a group of Northeastern University students tonight about the ways modern practicing and aspiring journalists can roll with the punches the Internet has thrown. With the declining readership newspapers and magazines are suffering, for students like us at Northeastern, people wonder, “why would you enter a dying industry?”

So Sree asked us just that.

One student answered it perfectly by noting that the constant need for news will never go away – we will always want and need to know what’s going on around us, but the way we receive that news is, and has been, changing before our eyes. A few years down the road we may not grab the paper off our front steps in the morning or swing by a local convenience store to read the day’s headlines. But our industry is not dying. It’s evolving.

Sree referred us to a Mashable blog post by a student of his about the top 8 “must-have skills” for tomorrow’s journalist for a dose of survival advice. Among the eight amendments, Sree notes being entreprenurial and business savvy as crucial, as well as being open-minded, and multi-skilled.

“Don’t be the kind of person who is a one-trick-pony,” Sree said.

With many publications cutting budgets and therefore cutting staff, more are looking to hire one or two people with a variety of skills (writing, editing, photo, HTML…) rather than one person specializing in individual areas.

Another important trait needed in tomorrow’s journalism world is being a Pointer. Sree described a Pointer as being someone who is able to point to other people’s work and talk about it with his or her own words. Traditional journalism style tells us to point to our own work and elaborate, but with the rise of blogs and social media, we are immersed in a world of pointing to and sharing information with others.

“If you can be a good Pointer, you will be successful and people will follow you, and that’s important,” Sree said.

Among the endless platforms for journalists to showcase work to their followers, Sree highlighted some popular websites.

Blog Talk Radio is a site where you can host your own radio show, LiveStream allows you to host your own TV show online, and UStream and Twitcam similarly allow you to broadcast yourself to the world.

Some websites he advises journalists “add to their media diet” to stay current on the ever-changing media trends are: Mashable, MuckRack (alternative to Twitter – the site sorts through Tweets to give you only journalism-related info), ReadWriteWeb, LifeHacker, PaidContent, and Romenesko (from Poynter.com).

Armed with the knowledge of what’s happening in today and tomorrow’s journalism is a vital key to success. Being able to use that knowledge is the other ingredient to expand on this success.

Social media websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are essential means to do just this. Sree recommends journalists use Facebook not only as a socializing tool, but as a way to stay current on the goings-on of those around us. He suggests creating “lists” to separate groups so you know where to look for certain information, and so you’re able to filter certain personal information you want/don’t want to share with particular people. For example, he advises Facebook users to create separate lists with enhanced privacy settings for our “creepy cousins,” who we don’t want scouring our profiles for weekend party pictures.

Sound advice.

The key to these sites such as Facebook, Sree emphasizes, is listening. To be a good journalist, listening is a critical trait. With an expansive network of “friends” connected to you on these sites, you have a giant pool of potential sources. Simply observing trends, conversations, and events can lead to a host of story ideas, all at the click of a button.

One final thought Sree left us pondering before ending his lecture, was the journalist’s ability to transcend digital interaction. As the world becomes increasingly dependent on email, social networking websites, texting and other forms of secondary contact, we lose human attention. Journalists have the ability to observe the world and “grab a sliver of human attention, the resource that we’re losing over time,” Sree said.

As long as there are stories to be told, journalists will find a way to tell them. Whether or not newspapers will be around to carry those headlines, content will still reach the audiences that demand them in some form or another.