New Media Notes

Recently had a look at the Ellington CMS which is built on the open-source framework Django. A very slick CMS with many of the features that our news org is looking for. However it is a bit out of our price-range. Granted our price-range is pretty close to single digit. As in $0. Not really but you get the idea.

Also got a chance to see their business directory product called Marketplace. Again a very slick product. Looks to be very user friendly on the customer side and very easy on the business/vendor side. When a local business buys a listing they get a user-name and password that allows them to add as much or as little information about their business as they want. And they can update the information as often or as infrequent as they want. They can also upload photos/videos of their products or services. They can post coupons and information about ongoing sales. How about adding a customer service component?

It got me thinking about Twitter. Recently it doesn’t take much to get me to think about Twitter but this particular thought about how to integrate Twitter as social media/customer service platform into an online business directory. How about if Twitter or CoverIt Live was integrated into the business listing. Or how about a live video stream using Mogulus or Ustream. It would add a human face to the business. Maybe the business can set up a schedule when someone would be available to answer questions - “Customer service avalable Mon, Wed., Fri. 2-3 p.m. Sure individual business owners could set up their own Twitter/Mogulus accounts separate from their business directory listing. But many small businesses have a hard enough time updating an online directory listing or a website much less have the time or inclination to create yet another account on some web service they know very little about. This way it is already built in.

Would that be attractive to local businesses? Would it be added value to their basic listing? Perhaps someone is already doing this?

New years’ resolutions. We all make them. I’ve made my fair share of them and I’m pretty sure my success rate is in the single digits percentage-wise. But that is not going to stop me this year. This year I’ve got 3 sets of resolutions - family, personal, work. My family resolutions mean the most to me and are the most personal (yeah even more personal than my “personal” resolutions) so I’ll keep those private. But I’ll share the others.

Personal resolutions for 2009

• Work out and lose 10 lbs. In actuality, I should lose about 15-20 lbs but 2009 isn’t about torturing myself.
• Blog/Podcast at least 3 times per week. That includes this blog and a couple others I’ve floating around.
• Complete one creative project per month. That would include: screenprinting, music, video and writing.
• Read 2 books per month. At the very least, read one per month. We’ve got a bookcase full of Maria’s books that I should dive into.
• Join at least one adult sports league. I’m looking at you basketball. 

Work resolutions for 2009

• Grow our Walla Walla social network to 1,000 members by the end of the year. We are currently at 35. So ….
• From the social network spin off a Walla Walla Wiki page.
• Drive more traffic (a lot more) to our online sports content. It drives me mad how little traffic it currently generates. That means expanding our coverage to include “live” score updates from games.
• Help move the newsroom to more mobile reporting. That means laptops, text messaging, Twittering, live video. Which means using services such as Twitter, Seesmic, CoveritLive, Flickr, Ustream, Twitpic and others.
• Increase traffic to ubvideo.tv by 25-30% by year end. More quality, engaging, informative, and yes, entertaining videos with better promotion.

So there they are. There they are indeed. The difference this year with my resolutions is that I am broadcasting it to the world. In the past I could eventually “lose” my list and therefore not feel obliged to complete any of them.

Paul Bradshaw asked if I’d like to share some thoughts on what I’ve learned managing online communities as part of his ongoing series Lessons in community from community editors. 

Here’s an expcerpt:

3. Do not think of the social network as an extension of the company.

It’s not. If it is, then it isn’t a social network. Be willing and ready to give up the reigns.

If you are lucky this will happen quickly and you will have a core group of users that will steer it responsibly. This is a sign of success.

Any thoughts on this? What are some things you’ve learned either managing a network or being part of one?

We recently relaunched our blogs over at Union-Bulletin.com. Our initial go at it was rather unsuccessful - poorly promoted, not easily found, not updated enough. We relaunched using Wordpress and promoted better and mad sure all bloggers understood the need to post frequently. The traffic to the blogs has increased significantly, especially Sheila’s - From The Storage Room.

Sat down with her to discuss her experience and to find out what she has taken away from blogging.

Added:

Sheila and I briefly touch up on the fact that to be truly successful you need to engage the public. Seek out other bloggers. Link to them and they will reciprocate. Or as Pat Thornton says:

All fine, but if you really want your blog to get noticed (especially if it’s an independent blog), you need to join the community. If you’re blogging about journalism, start mixing it up on other journalism blogs.

I’ve been administering a community social network hosted on Ning for the past 3 months. It has only been promoted to people who follow our newspaper’s Twitter feed and to members of our Flickr photo pool. It hasn’t grown the way I had hoped. There has been very little content, other than photos, posted by the members.

However, I don’t consider it a failure. Through it I have made connections with some of the members that have led to other projects. In particular, I will be collaborating with a couple of members on niche video podcasts. And recently a new member directed me toward another local social network aimed at dog owners. Guess what, the newsroom is currently working on a series of articles on local pets and their owners. Walla Walla Dogs will be great resource.

The networks exist. Even in our small town. They are a great resource to the communities they serve and they could/should be a resource for journalists.