Earlier this year, a 28-minute film about the plight of children in Uganda at the hands of warlord Joseph Kony spread like wildfire on the Internet, striking a powerful chord with young Americans in particular, most of whom had never heard of him. However, not everything in the film was accurate, exemplifying the pros and cons of social media in the 21st century.
Despite its flaws, the Kony video is a leading indicator of where American journalism is going. So said Ben Smith, former Politico contributor and current political editor of Buzzfeed. He maintains that this is mostly a positive development.
Smith was one of a cavalcade of media heavy hitters who addressed the approximately 100 people assembled at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg June 1, each paying $50 to attend a daylong TEDx forum labeled “Finding the Future of Journalism.”
Smith quoted his boss at Buzzfeed, Jonah Peretti, who once said that Twitter is for your head, while Facebook is for your heart. Smith said that reporters love Twitter because it enables them to break news and get immediate feedback from their readers. Facebook, on the other hand, is more frustrating, but it’s also a much bigger platform, with huge traffic that can be tapped by media websites.
Facebook sharing is still preferable to the early days of Internet journalism (just a few years ago, really) when journalists were forced to focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), a strategy that rewarded imaginative headlines and posts about sex by driving readers to a particular website. (Check out Huffington Post any day of the week to see this strategy in use today.)
Later in the day Elissa Nauful, the founder and CEO of Ballywho Social, based in Wesley Chapel, picked up on the importance of Facebook in spreading good stories. She says that, while online stories are still measured by number of page views and clicks, the true value of reporting derives from stories going viral and spreading through cyberspace — not that there’s any proven formula for making that happen.
“We need to measure success in share-ability," she declared. “It isn’t about money at all. It’s about how much people feel compelled to share information in their sphere of influence.” For that reason she decries pay walls, currently used by enterprises such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Financial Times.
Left unsaid, of course, is the magic bullet that creates such “share-ability,” other than solid reporting and writing — and sometimes even that’s not enough.
The headlined speaker was New York Times media columnist and reporter David Carr, who was already somewhat of a legend in media circles before his featured role in the 2011 documentary Page One about life at the Times.
With so much emphasis on smartphones and digital news, Carr began his address by playing the contrarian, declaring, “The most interesting device is the person sitting next to you.”
Strolling back and forth on the stage at Poynter’s Barnes Pavilion, dressed in T-shirt, jeans and a sports coat, he added, “And the most dynamic form of social media is the conversation with the person next to you.”
The Tampa Bay Times’ PolitFact editor Bill Adair declared that American journalism is suffering from a lack of imagination. Discussing how the Web and mobile phones present new ways to present information, he decried the fact that stories are still being told in conventional ways and called for inventing “new units” of journalism.
Saying publishers don’t provide enough opportunities for readers to explore, he said the genesis of a bill in a state legislature is a classic example of a story that could benefit from a new approach.
“You could start off with explanation of [the] bill, what would it do, who's for it, who’s against it, then updates, hearings, floor debate, passage, enactment.”
Freelance music writer Jessica Hopper talked about how old-fashioned print products can distinguish themselves from their Web brethren through presentation. She specifically zeroed in on the revamp of Spin, the 27-year-old music magazine that is now publishing bi-monthly, on heavier, higher-quality paper stock.
Calling it “gorgeous-looking,” Hopper, who has written for the publication, said the new Spin feels “substantial, not disposable, and it’s collectible.” The new layout allows the mag to run longer features and better showcase its photography.
“If music journalism matters to you, you’re certainly picking it up,” she says.
For those of us laboring in print journalism world, those are still the magic words.
This article appears in Jun 14-20, 2012.