links for 2009-05-06

Instead of hoping that people will go to their website to read or watch the news, journalists will need to take their stories out to where the readers and viewers are. Today, that means publishing stories on Twitter, on YouTube, on Facebook, as podcasts on iTunes, and so on. In ten years' time, those platforms might be different, but the principle will remain – journalists will have to take their stories to where the audience is.

Technology does not create community

Community is about people and relationships, not technology. The technology is the easy part. You can have a forum like Vanilla up and running in minutes, but it will take months of hard work to build a vibrant community.

“Twelve or 18 months ago it was all about getting stories out but now it’s about how we tag, organise and curate those stories, how you combine them with info-graphics or SEO. That’s the key to the future of news on the web, and how you build the long tail.

Speaking at the same session, chief executive of India Today Group Aroon Purie, said: "The digital model being followed by media in developed countries is a pretty dumb model. You have a monopolistic newsstand like Google putting your content out for free, competing for selling advertising with you and your digital sites.

"We are not going to spend any money on this digital business because we don't see any money coming in. There are 320 million mobile phones in India. That for us this is the future."