the emerging news landscape: three lessons from the frontier
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The emerging news landscape: Three lessons from the frontier. Michele McLellan Knight Digital Media Center News Entrepreneur Boot Camp May 17, 2011. Photo: Andria Krewson , http:// twt.tl/aocDfAi. News ecosystem. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
The emerging news landscape: Three lessons from the frontier
Michele McLellanKnight Digital Media CenterNews Entrepreneur Boot CampMay 17, 2011
Photo: Andria Krewson, http://twt.tl/aocDfAi
News ecosystem
“Nothing will work, but everything might. Now is the time for experiments, lots and lots of experiments, each of which will seem as minor at launch as craigslist did, as Wikipedia did, as octavo volumes did.” - Clay Shirky
- “Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable”
What hasn’t worked, what might?1. User engagement2. Revenue3. How you spend your revenue
1. User engagement•Lesson: Volunteer journalism doesn’t
scale•Emerging: Participation in small bites
▫Make it easy (tech)▫Go where people live (mobile)▫Ask for small bits of participation
(SeeClickFix)▫Nurture community – loyalty vs. mass
Who produces content?•Paid journalists –
more 50 percent of the content published
•Volunteer journalists – Slightly more than 10 percent
•Mix of volunteers, paid non-journalists, student interns. User contributed is less than 3 percent
2. Revenue•Lesson: Grants are not a business model
▫Unreliable source of funding▫National/local problem
•Emerging: Diversification Multiple revenue streams Earned revenue, even for nonprofits
What’s your mix?Nonprofit news site - $1 million in annual
revenue
3. How you spend your revenue•Lesson: Good content is not nearly
enough•Emerging:
▫More emphasis on business development▫Community loyalty key
Formula for failure?
4. Bonus lesson (my opinion)•Lesson: Forget about ‘success’ or ‘failure’•Emerging: Make steady progress
User engagement (content plus much more) Business development Revenue diversification
Questions?Thank you!