Filed under: Citizen Generated Media, Citizen Journalism, Citizen Media

There’s a neat experiment debuting tomorrow (July 28) at 12:00 from the pressroom of the Star Ledger in New Jersey. It’s called Ledger Live and its billing itself as a “new kind of news show”.

It will be a short midday segment of local news, hosted by veteran reporter Brian Donohue. The stories will be daily briefs and features. It says that they’re going to tap into the local citizen media types - bloggers, vloggers, etc. That will mean some quality control, but it’s my guess that they can pull it off if they’re diligent.

I am, however, a little skeptical of these efforts because they rely on an audience that’s not there yet. And there’s no proof that they will be. Will people care about relatively light stores? I don’t know. It will depend on how expensive it is to maintain this format.

I do think that, done right, it could easily develop that sense of community that I’ve been talking about. That’s important. I’ve seen a lot of these efforts start out all hype - mostly from idealistic citizen media evangelists - who overestimated the potential.

And I can almost see it happening here. The one comment they have is “I am so proud of you guys. You have done a GREAT job. Congrats to all. you are about to change the newspaper business forever. ”

Change the newspaper business forever? Same rhetoric I heard two years ago.

Here’s a clip:

No Comments » Posted on July 28th, 2008 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Ad Buys, Ad Sales, Blog Policies, Blog Strategy, Blogger Activation, Blogger Code of Conduct, Brand Promotion, Citizen Generated Media, Citizen Journalism, Citizen Media, Community News, Community Service, Disruption, Industry Reputation, Influence, Influencial Bloggers, Influentials, Networks, New Media Blogs, News Aggregation Strategy, News Organization, TV Advertising, Television, Television Over IP, Television on Demand

On Monday, CBS Television Stations announced the launch of what I think will be a great step in the direction of web based mainstream and citizen generated news. They are launching the CBS Local Ad Network in which local stations will syndicate new content to local bloggers and social media sites. This news will be delivered via news widgets that will link to video and text news of the local stations.

IN exchange for hosting the widgets, the bloggers will receive a share of the local ad dollars that are sold by the station.

How is it a win-win-win-win situation?

The will extend the CBS news media brand both on a national and local level by integrating news content with local blogger with a following. While it takes some of the focus off the broadcast model, it could potentially easily be made up via web usage. The network will seem innovative while the local affiliate could develop deeper ties to the local community. Bloggers and social networkds could increase their visibility and bring in more traffic. Advertisers will get greater exposure.

I like the idea.

4 Comments » Posted on March 20th, 2008 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Blog Counter-Messaging, Blog Messaging, Blog Policies, Blog Strategy, Blogger Engagement, Blogger Relations, Blogger Response, Blowback, Brand Promotion, Brand Protection, Brand Reputation, Branding, Branding Online, Buzz Marketing, Citizen Generated Media, Citizen Journalism, Citizen Media, Code of Conduct, Cult of Personality, Customer Ratings, Customer Reviews, Influence, Influencer Identification, Influencers, Influencial Bloggers, Influential Brand Advocates, Influentials, Intellectual Property, Legal Blogs, Legal Issues, Memetics, New Marketing, New Media, New Media Blogs, New Media Marketing, New Media Strategy, New PR, Online Advocacy, Online Avertising, Online Brand Intelligence, Online Brand Promotion, Online Brand Protection, Online Brand Reputation, Online Branding, Online Communities, Online Community Outreach, Online Engagement, Online Evangelism, Online Facilitation, Online Marketing, Online Participation, Online Reputation, Online Reputation Management, Online Reviewers, Online Reviews, Online Strategy, PR Hubris, Peer-to-Peer, Pop Culture, Public Relations, Reputation Rehabilitation, Social Meda, Social Networking, Viral Marketing, Web 2.0, Web 3.0, Word-of-Mouth, Word-of-Mouth Marketing

I just asked a question via Twitter. And I’ll repeat it here.

Question for social media types…many complain about interference from legal dept. when it comes to social media, especially with UGC…so, are there any conferences, events, seminars, etc. that bring the two groups together to understand one another more?

Not to toot my own horn, but that’s a good question. And it’s one that needs to be answered.

Marketers are essentially in charge of defining, promoting, enhancing, and protecting the brand. Lawyers are essentially in charge of protecting the entity, the business, and, yes, the brand.

I got to thinking about this because social media strategists often, as part of their strategy, enlist, encourage, or allow a brands users to play a role in the branding. I got to thinking of a recent story involving a group of car enthusiasts putting together a picture calendar showing off their cars. They calendars were to be sold on CafePress. But there was some sort of communication screw up and it was halted I believe. Some social media strategists mistakenly blamed the car company.

But then I thought…wait…if the legal department did have reservations in this situation, is that necessarily a bad thing? Think about it….

What if one of the participants of an unsolicited consumer generated media effort has let’s say a problem. Like a police record. I mean, let’s say he’s the type of guy who could get nailed by Chris Hansen of Nightline. You know, a pedophile.

Ridiculous? If you think so, you’re missing the point. The point is that legal department and marketing departments are going to have to understand one another and work together to both reasonably promote and protect the brand through social media. Cutting edge vs. overly cautious won’t do. Lawyer potentially nixing or at least getting in the way of potentially effective programs or frustrated marketing types angrily rolling their eyes at the stupidity and interference of the legal department will only serve to stifle the brand, or, potentially worse, leave it unprotected.

No Comments » Posted on March 2nd, 2008 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Citizen Generated Media, Citizen Journalism, Citizen Media, New Media, News Organization, Traditional Journalism

To me, this is the way it should be.  At least at first.

On one hand you’ve got established, traditional news media outlets that provide professional and quite often excellent new coverage of local, national, and intenational events.  The reporters will often have great insight, key access, and substantial resources to report on news.

On the other hand, you’ve got a slew of amateur citizen journalists that, despite their lack of direct experience and resources can still show a lot of skill in investigating and reporting news.

An unfortunate part of the Wisdom of the Crowds/Cult of the Amateur argument is that both carry legitimate weight but neither side is willing to give the other the proper credit.  CNN is helping solve that with the launch of iReport.com.

Read more…

No Comments » Posted on February 14th, 2008 by Jonathan Trenn

Filed under: Citizen Generated Media, Citizen Journalism, Citizen Media, Community News, Norg Media, Social Meda, Social Networks, Social News

I am one of Bronwen Clune’s biggest fans. I am also one of Norg Media’s biggest fans. Well, it looks like they’re on their way towards taking over the world! Via TechCrunch: Norg Media Wants To Community Enable News:

“Norg media has this week expanded from its Perth base and now offers Norg sites for Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, with plans to expand into the United States and the United Kingdom in the next 12 months.They are also looking at options for partnerships in non-English speaking countries, having already been approached for partnerships in countries including China. The two person operation is privately funded but is currently talking to investors for funding to bring on new staff so they can better facilitate their international expansion.” Via TechCrunch: Norg Media Wants To Community Enable News

No Comments » Posted on November 17th, 2007 by Chris Abraham

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