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Let’s step back and look at an old-school device: the police blotter. Many newspapers have de-emphasized it, yet these short crime-related items are consistently among the most read, most talked-about stories in print and online. Of course, the blotter is hardly a creative offering, but it would be wise to consider these blotter qualities and adapt them to your own work:
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Since journalists don’t make tangible objects, the product is defined by the user’s experience. It’s whatever the user interaction with the news is. It’s picking up the paper at breakfast, or watching CNN in bed, or waiting for your mobile app to update the headlines on the bus. And yes, the product includes the stories delivered by the medium, but those stories alone are not the product; they never were.
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“Hate it – it’s mercenary, manipulative marketing at its worst. It’s a social network, not an automated one. People are the beating heart – millions of conversations prompted by an emotional response to a real-world incident or real-world tweet.”
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Personally, the grey areas of law trouble me and I don’t think there could be enough support: I’d like to see more organised structures for legal help, a sort of Citizens Advice Bureau for bloggers, if you like. Informal advice is already spreading via social networks, as lawyers increasingly use Twitter and blogs to join the conversation.
Dim Sum Digital 