Social media: One future of news?

Mary Lou Fulton of the Bakersfield Californian (and many Web sites) and Rich Gordon of Medill j-school and the Media Management Center at Northwestern University gave presentations about social networks and how news organizations can use them to foster community, disseminate news, and, possibly some day, make some money.

Gordon looked back at Knight Ridder’s Viewtron experiment of 1983, noting that what started as a vehicle for presenting news turned out to be a way of gathering community via the early equivalent of e-mail and live chats.

KR came to two conclusions:
- It provided a way for users to interact anonymously with each other in real time
- Most of the participants were probably teenagers.

Hmm. The more things change, the more they remain the same, as the French say.

The lesson?
“Interpersonal connections have ‘always’ driven online usage,” Gordon said. “The dot-com boom was driven in large part by sites and services that have interpersonal connections.”

Gordon also cited Readership Institute research about how people experience different media. These two experiences are unique to online:
1. Participation and communication. “I like to talk with others.”
2. Online community.” I’ like to know what others think.”

Gordon also touched on a difficulty for many traditional journalists - fear of losing control. “You’re not a publisher but a host or facilitator of community conversations.”

While the idea of online community for many news sites is allowing user comments on articles (and not all do that), believes that’s too limiting. “There’s a core problem in trying to build community around news articles.”

Here’s his check list for developing an online community:

- Identify audience and their objectives
- Choose technology model
- Assign the right people to community management ("This (piece) is critical and one many companies seem to miss.")
- Motivate participation
- Intercede to minimize objectionable content
- Monitor and listen
- Consider revenue possibilities.

Here is Gordon’s presentation, worth reading for ideas on topics and interests for online communities and examples of news sites using social networking.

Gordon also put together The Online Community Cookbook for the Newspaper Association of America and it’s worth a read.

Like Gordon, Mary Lou Fulton stressed the importance of the “human need to connect and share.”

Bakersfield has gone big into social networking on multiple sites and its strategy has been “to find out where local can make a difference.” Bakersfield as 11sites that cater to different interests, including music, neighborhoods, moms, newcomers, and Latinos.

They officer these tools for self-expression:

- Profiles and social networking
- Blogs
- Comments, guestbooks, reviews
- Article creation
- Photo upload
-
Bakersfield built its own network several years back. But “there’s no need to build your own.  There are plenty of free tools available.” She recommends ning (I’m on groups on ning too and find it easy to use.)

“We’re making a difference out there in a different way than traditional journalism but in a way that matters,” Fulton says.

Here is Fulton’s list of areas where social networks might make sense in different markets:

Idea 1: News segmented by category or topic
Idea 2:  Geography
Idea 3:  Life Stages & Events
Idea 4:  Interests & Activities
Idea 5: Newcomers
Idea 6: Volunteering
Idea 7:  Faith
Idea 8: Arts & Music Scene
Idea 9: Local Business Reviews
Idea 10:  Local “Linked In”

There’s a lot more really useful detail in Fulton’s presentation.

Online community has not yet generated a lot of money, Fulton noted. But both Fulton and Gordon stressed the importance of social media as a way for people to get news and distribute it to their friends.

News organizations need to be in social spaces or someone else will.

Update: Steve Smith, editor of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, blogged this session as well.

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