Christmas Firsts

Apparently, this Christmas was a record-breaker.

For the first time ever, Facebook was #1 on Christmas. On both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Facebook was the most visited website in the United States, beating out both Google and Yahoo, Facebook's frequent competitors. Why Facebook on Christmas? Wishing family members and longtime friends a Merry Christmas, perhaps? Sending messages to find out what kind of sweet presents your roommates got that you can use next semester? Extra time to spend chatting with your best friends? Whatever it is, we know Facebook has worked hard for this moment. Maybe they'll surprise us again in 2010.

Also for the first time ever, Amazon sold more Kindle books than printed books on Christmas. While many people may have received Kindles for Christmas and needed to stock up, it's still a milestone for the Kindle due to the sheer volume of purchases and its increased presence within our society. Much like the younger generation's tendency to flock toward online news rather than print, perhaps we really will start to see the same trend with books in the coming years.

Giving newspapers my advice

When I become a publisher, my game plan will be this.

Full disclosure, readers filling in the blanks, full audience participation, community support, inventive stories - all are essential to a current successful news organ. We need to reinvent the way we deliver news at the same rate that people change the way they consume news. And right now, we're falling quite short.

Another tidbit from Journerdism: Stop giving the newspapers your advice - they don't need it.

Oops... :)

Lunch Duty Rap - Week 3, Longing for Photoshop

Teaching Online Journalism's post today reminded me of an issue I've been thinking a lot about lately.

It quotes Renee Barnes' question, "What skills are most important for an online journalist?"

The main skills that emerge include these:

1. Evidence of blogging and interaction with a wide range of blogs
2. An understanding and active use of social media (Twitter, RSS, social bookmarking etc.)
3. The ability to tell an engaging story using still images and audio (audio slideshow – see my previous post for great examples)
4. Ability to shoot, edit and tell stories using video.
5. Basic ability to create interactive story elements using Adobe Flash
6. Ability edit audio and produce podcasts
7. Ability to file from the field breaking news
8. Ability to moderate online discussion

Personally, I feel that all of these skills are not only important but absolutely necessary for journalists today. The speed with which we're moving toward online products and competition is fast-paced and inevitable. In order to best be able to market yourself and serve your community, you have to fully embrace technology and online journalism.

However, there is only one issue with this reality - access to resources.

Most of the technology referenced above is not free. Programs for photos, video, podcasting and web building can cost hundreds of dollars. If you work for a newspaper or online publication that is willing to foot the bill, then that's great. But what about the rest of us?

I work at a small newspaper with minimal funding and even less online use. I can barely access email, let alone any Flash programs or Photoshop. So in order to have the same opportunities as everyone else, it's up to me to fund my own education in technology.

The same goes for freelance writers, laid-off journalists, or journalists who are actively job searching. It's the Catch-22 of the journalism industry. In order to make yourself marketable, you need access to technology. But when you're unemployed or living on a very low income, it's hard to fork over hundreds of dollars in the hopes of keeping up with technology and successfully marketing yourself. In all honesty, sometimes it's a gamble that I'm not willing to make.

The solution? Who knows. Maybe a technology grant that journalists can apply for and receive. Maybe free classes or free access to some of these programs at public libraries. Maybe there are some things out there already that I don't know about yet. Luckily, blogs, social networks and story-writing are all free, so there's still hope for some of us. I do the best that I can with what I've got. While I'm constantly nervous about being so far from where I should be as far as technology is concerned, I hope that my knowledge of the industry and my love of learning will get me past any hump that may come along in my search for jobs in the future.

And as soon as I have some extra cash, it's going straight to a Photoshop fund.

News of the day

News of the day:

People who read news online usually read it for 53 minutes each week. That's up from 41 minutes in 2007. Sell that one to advertisers.

Also, Disney has officially partnered up with Hulu, further influencing the future of online TV. Now, ABC shows - Lost and Grey's Anatomy, etc. - will join the lineup alongside NBC and other providers. And hopefully this means we get The Little Mermaid, too!

Through a new journalist's eyes

People don't seem to understand why young journalists like me still see hope in newspapers.

There’s a lot of talk about newspaper doomsday – about why things went wrong, who’s to blame, when to get out so that you can still land a job with a decent salary. Yet I find very few people offering solutions to these problems, aside from the silly notion that consumers should pay per article online (an argument we’ll save for another day).

Here’s what I think newspapers should do:

Let go of the print version and go all in online.

And no, I’m not talking about killing the newspaper. In my eyes, a newspaper online is the same as a newspaper in print. They’re still the same newspaper with the same information, same reporters, same advertisers, same publisher, same community. How is one product more of a newspaper than another? It’s time for us to start thinking outside the box a little bit. We’re talking about letting go of a product that uses extensive and damaging amounts of paper and ink for a product that is cleaner for the environment, cheaper for readers (it’s free, people!) and still equally marketable. Take a chance, leave your comfort zone and go completely online with your newspaper.

Lay off some of your staff.

As a recent graduate currently feeling out the job market, I don’t like that idea any more than you or the journalists you’re laying off do. But unfortunately we’re in a struggling economy and industry, and newspapers are a business, and businesses have to make monetarily uncomfortable decisions sometimes. However, I’m only talking temporarily. Switching to completely online will mean that you have to initially run your product slim and tight. You should work with the minimal amount of reporters, advertisers and especially managers possible. Don’t go crazy with big projects and expensive, unnecessary investigations in order to grab readers. Focus on delivering the news, providing information and serving your community. You can reward yourself with the fun stuff later.

Don’t panic.

Though you’re not getting as much money from advertisers with online versus print, the day will come when advertisers see the value of online. The more that newspapers switch to an online model, the more advertisers will turn to online advertising, either because they’re left with no choice or they truly are starting to see where this is going. As more consumers value online news, advertisers will seek to target them, finding that online newspapers are the best environment for such a task. Just because advertising’s slow now, doesn’t mean it always will be. Do what you can to get by at the moment, and wait patiently for the market to pick up again.

Sit tight.

Eventually advertising will pick back up and you can slowly hire more and more people. Start building your new product, using your money wisely. In a few years or a decade or so, a new industry – online news – will be thriving and our generation will sit around and reminisce about the good old days when newspapers were poor.

Don’t lose hope.

Newspapers are necessary to our society. They are the voice of the people. They’re not going anywhere. They’re just changing along with the rest of us.

Literally, a book of faces

If you think Facebook has been stirring up enough trouble lately, wait until you see what's in store for us next.

What better place for a facial recognition application than the Facebook?

As unbelievable as it sounds, Face.com has introduced a new application on Facebook called Photo Finder. Photo Finder takes your untagged photos on Facebook and automatically tags them for you - with surprising accuracy. It's capable of finding that crazy couple you met in the bar last week as well as finding pictures of you that you never knew existed on Facebook. And it does all of this with a picture of your face.

Creepy? Potentially. However, Face.com has its bases covered. The application poses no threat to you unless you allow it to access your account. If the idea of pictures of you on your 21st resurfacing doesn't appeal to you, don't add the application and no one will ever know.

Photo Finder also recreates your Facebook privacy settings within the application so that if you want everyone to see your pictures, they can. And if you want no one to see them, you can do that, too.

Having just re-read Fahrenheit 451 (my favorite book of all time), I have to say that we need to be cautious and aware of the things going on around us. I fully support technology and its uses today, even Face.com's new application thanks to the care they've taken to protect users' privacy. However, I also believe that there are limits to the use of technology in our lives and we should be vigilant in keeping technology in check.

Becoming a well oiled machine

After sifting through 500 or so articles on Google Reader today, Mindy McAdam's post on the Reporter’s Guide to Multimedia Proficiency caught my eye.

There's no doubt about it - the newspaper industry is changing. No longer is a print publication the only source for information. In today's world, information is available through audio clips, videos, online news, RSS feeds, social networks, blogs, microblogs and millions of other media that we have yet to even fathom.

Now, take a deep breath. You're not the only one feeling overwhelmed.

The current trend in journalists' attitudes toward this adjustment is sort of an "out with the old, in with the new" outlook on content as well as employees. However, I can attest to the fact that it's not just the "old farts" who are feeling a little behind. I'm hesitant to jump headfirst into some of this stuff myself, but it's all about forcing yourself out of your comfort zone and using your brain to its full capacity.

My advice? Start with the steps outlined in McAdams' RGMP:

"1: Read blogs and use RSS
2: Start a blog
3: Buy an audio recorder and learn to use it
4: Start editing audio
5: Listen to podcasts
6: Post an interview (or podcast) on your blog
7: Learn how to shoot decent photos
8: Learn how to crop, tone, and optimize photos
9: Add photos to your blog
10: Learn to use Soundslides"

Don't worry. I'm only on step four or so. Looks like I'm going to be taking my own advice in the next few months.

To Tweet or not to Tweet

Just when you thought you'd figured out Twitter's purpose in life, a group of people turns the social network into a virtual Globe Theater.

For @AmwayShakes, all the world's a stage. Literally. Beginning February 14, a 19-person Twitter cast will perform Twitter of the Shrew, a Twitter adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The group will act out one scene per day on its Twitter account until the cast takes its final bow on February 25.

Crazy? Absolutely. And although Shakespeare is probably rolling in his grave right now, I kind of like the idea. It's new. It's different. It's stretching the limits.

Every day more and more people are developing new ways to exercise their creativity online. I find it an intoxicating and inspiring atmosphere, no matter how crazy the concepts.

Plinky to the rescue

Got writer's block? Leave it to Plinky to solve your problems.

You're prompted with stimulating questions the second you join. Wanna know what the coolest thing I saw in another country was? Check it out.

iTunes : Apple :: Kindle : newspapers

Once upon a time, iTunes saved Apple and the music industry from destruction. David Carr's column in the NYT Sunday proposed that we find a similar way to save newspapers.

Some say that we already have the answer: Amazon's Kindle. With the ability to combine paid subscriptions with downloadable MP3s, books, magazines, and audio-books, the Kindle is bound to cause quite a stir. The Kindle makes it easier and more efficient to read a newspaper.

Others of us aren't so excited about a monopoly on newspaper readership. Freedom to listen to whatever music you want is one thing. Freedom of the press is something completely different. Yes, maybe something like the Kindle could help bolster newspapers for a little while, but I don't believe that it's a good idea in the long run.

Newspapers and information are supposed to be available to everyone. Our country and the journalism industry itself have consciously kept prices of newspapers low so that the majority of Americans can afford to be informed. If all Americans are eventually expected to buy a Kindle to read their newspaper, readership is going to go way, way down. People are going to be uninformed and they're going to feel alienated by the press, which is the last thing journalists want. The Kindle needs some healthy competition - other ways to read newspapers electronically that are both more affordable and less affordable, more convenient and less convenient, etc.

Let people make their own choices; don't let Amazon and newspapers make the choices for them.

A beginning and an end

Things are finally wrapping up here, one by one. Today I finished my last article for the special holiday guide that the paper's been publishing this month. My last day physically in the office will be Friday, I think. Honestly, I'm really sad to leave. I love the energy that comes with working at a newspaper. The hustle and bustle. The daily scramble to get stories written. It's intoxicating.

I'll be working for Doug McKillip, Democrat representative from Athens, Ga., starting in January and throughout the legislative session. It's not journalism, but politics are my second love so I'm extremely excited to say the least. I have a feeling that this experience will open many doors for me and I'll learn things that will help me become a better journalist down the road.

The local paper has some ideas for me while I'm living in Atlanta. First of all, I'm going to have my own blog connected with the paper and I'm going to be giving updates and accounts of my experience for the entire 40 days. I'm going to have to be careful about what I say and whose toes I'm stepping on, but it'll be a great learning experience.

Also, the paper wants me to start Twittering from the floor. If anything crazy happens or a controversial bill passes, I'll be using my phone to update the paper's Twitter that goes directly on the home page of the paper's web site. It's a really forward-thinking idea, and it's comforting that people at the paper are finally embracing today's technology and social networking opportunities.

Hopefully these things will help me expand my resume to include more online experience. I'm really looking forward to leaving my comfort zone a little bit and learning new things. It's always a little intimidating, but I think I'm ready.

Aching for analysis, apparently

I've been putting off checking Google Reader simply because of the fact that I haven't been checking it. I didn't want to have to sift through post after post after post. But today I realized that the longer I wait, the more posts I'm going to have to endure, so I might as well get it over with.

After I narrowed down 208 new items to about 20 that I actually thoroughly read, I had a realization about blogging. I've always heard that the more you post, the better your blog simply because shorter, more frequent posts attract more readers. It makes sense, and I've always kept that in mind in regard to my blog. I try to post every day, but it's been over a week since my last entry, and I admit I felt a little inadequate and nervous about not being on top of things.

Well, I knew I wasn't going to read every single one of the 200+ items on my Reader, so I went to the blogs that I value most. Later, I realized that I was more likely to read posts by people who blog less frequently than Romenesko-type blogs.

I knew that whatever I read at yelvington.com or Teaching Online Journalism would be well thought-out, original, personal and relevant to me and my interests. Those are the things that I value in blogs. Yes, Romenesko and Twitter are good for short snippets of information and breaking news. I get much of my information and ammunition from sources like those. However, when it comes to the goals that I hope to accomplish with my blog and what I'm interested in reading on others' blogs, I strike a chord with blogs with less-frequent entries and analysis of some sort.

The mysterious Monitor

This weekend, my dad said to me, "Did you hear the Christian Science Monitor isn't going to be a newspaper anymore?"

Instead of being alarmed, I was thinking, "Who the heck is the Christian Science Monitor?"

I've been heavily involved in newspapers for at least the past two years and no one has ever, ever talked about the Christian Science Monitor. But after some brief research, I found out that it's going to be the first nationally circulated newspaper to forgo its print edition in favor of a completely online publication.

I can tell you that I'm going to be watching its progress verrrry closely. And so are a whole lot of other journalists.


P.S. This blog is beautiful.

The funnies are people, too

Today I was exposed to another element of journalism that honestly I hadn't given much thought to previously.

I walked into my editor's office early this morning expecting to sit in on a campaign endorsement interview, which would have been interesting but not incredibly stimulating at 8:45 a.m. Instead, my editor says, "You wanna come in and talk comics?" Um, of course?!

And so the process of pitching comics, games and applications was revealed to me. I had never really thought about where Blondie and Sudoku and Word Jumble come from. They just appear on the page, and they're fun, so it was really interesting to see how the process works. The salesman pitched various comics, columnists and puzzles, listened to what my editor had to say about them - whether he was interested or whether something wasn't an option, and was very convincing and organized. My editor really only had eyes for online games, but all of the products that were unveiled to us were top-notch and fun. It'd probably be easy to sucker me into some of that stuff...