Web Producer, Washington Week
WETA, Arlington, VA

Come be a part of WETA’s dynamic Washington Week team.  WETA,
Washington DC’s public broadcasting station has an exciting
opportunity as a Web Producer for its production, Washington Week with Gwen Ifill. Washington Week is PBS’ longest-running public affairs
series and features Washington’s top journalists analyzing the week’s
top news stories and their effect on the lives of all Americans.
Incumbent will maintain and support Washington Week website; and
develop, manage and implement digital media strategy and social media
activities.

Primary responsibilities include producing new content
(including video and text) for Washington Week website; supporting
development and implementation of a digital media strategy; and
developing social media strategy and manage and implement social media
activity for Washington Week. Must have knowledge of current events,
U.S. politics, geopolitics, history, and government/political process
and national news periodicals; knowledge of and proven ability and
success in web production and producing web content with digital media
technologies; and knowledge of social media sites/usage, Drupal or
similar and Final Cut Pro or other editing software.  College degree
in Journalism, or equivalent combination of education and experience
in relevant field.

Minimum three years of experience in news
reporting/producing either online, print or television.  Experience
should include two years of experience in web production, including
social media activities.

This position is currently funded through June 2012.
For consideration, please send letter of interest, salary
requirements, and resume to hr@weta.com or visit our website at
www.weta.org for the full job description and on-line application.
WETA is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

August 4, 2011

By Susan Older, Founder of Displaced Journalists and Real World Media

I refuse to give up on the journalism profession. I refuse to give up on displaced journalists, either. Not just the people in our Displaced Journalists community here on the Web, on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, but all journalists who can’t find a place where they belong anymore.

We need to reinvent our profession to keep good journalism alive.

Our society depends upon a free and vigilant press. It is a fundamental building block of our democracy.

• It provides citizens with the news and information they need to make their lives safer, easier, happier and more fulfilling.

• It gives citizens the comfort of knowing someone is out there looking after their interests.

• It provides the fundamental role of ensuring an informed electorate.

• It holds accountable the officials citizens elect at the polls.

Why is journalism broken? We all know the answer: It’s money. It’s not the Internet. It’s the lack of revenue models for both print and online news and information operations.

Only Steve Jobs has hit on a real revenue model. The App Store is brilliant, but it appears publishers who try to sell their content as apps will get only a small bite of the Apple – too little for sustenance. We need to think about how we could emulate that model without giving our product away.

We need to determine who will pay for quality content. I believe the demand still exists.

We need to restore citizens’ trust in the news they read and the journalists who report it. We can do this. The solution lies in getting the best and the brightest back to work and in a position to mentor young journalists, to pass on the mojo, the dedication, the ethical standards and the devotion to excellence that once defined our profession.

I propose a revolutionary solution to save journalism and journalists.

Real World Media.

It is a big idea and it will require serious funding. Can it be done? Absolutely. Can I do it alone? Of course not. We need help and we need funding. I do believe, though, that it is a start.

We must pose the question of how to find buyers for quality content. Let’s give it a shot. Let’s come together to devise a plan that will improve as it evolves. We need solutions that address the concerns of citizens of local, state, national and global communities. Let’s be realistic: globalization has changed the rules of the game. Almost all of the things we cover are playing out to some degree on a global scale.

So what is the future of journalism? How can we address these issues.

Real World Media: What is it? Why participate?

Real World Media is designed to be the first location-based (think FourSquare), mobile-device-driven global news web. It will provide tailored news and information coverage by top-notch, vetted reporters, photojournalists and news videographers who are already at or near the scene – and top notch editors who interact with these journalists and fine-tune their work.

Real World Media will provide journalists with the work they haven’t been able to find and the respect they deserve. Journalists will be paid fairly and immediately (think PayPal) – a rare occurrence for freelancers in the wake of our industry’s massive job losses.

Journalists will be associated with the best and the brightest colleagues – reporters, editors, photojournalists and news videographers – all of them drawn to Real World Media because it’s a prestigious, trusted network and it’s their best chance of getting fair compensation for a job well done.

The editorial board of Real World Media will screen journalists who seek to be part of its global network. Journalists who have the right stuff will start receiving assignments once it’s up and running. Journalists who don’t make the cut right away will be referred to customized training and performance-improvement solutions to help them qualify at a later date.

The first step in any new venture is to look at it from the point of view of the customer. Of course, this has always been the case for journalists. We’ve been trained to make coverage decisions based on what our readers want. I have always referred to this as the “what does it mean to me” factor. Readers didn’t subscribe to newspapers unless they delivered news and information that directly affected their lives. How can we make our coverage so good that readers or users will pay for it online? It’s a tough question, but we must come with a solution. We can’t just give up.

What about coverage of “what they need to know”? Yes, we’ve always done that, too, because the great thing about newspapers was that readers stumbled upon things they couldn’t have predicted they would want to read. It was serendipity. That’s something we’ve lost to varying degrees as news and information migrated to online sites. Now users tend to go to the sites that reflect their specific interests or views. Real World Media will offer engaging enterprise stories, photos and video designed to put the serendipity back into news sites.

What keeps Real World Media customers up at night?

Entrepreneurs in every field look for the “pain point.” They ask the question: “What keeps our potential customers up at night?” If they can’t answer that question, they need to go back to square one and figure it out.

Let’s look at our potential customers’ needs and address them as if we were speaking directly to them.

This is a sample scenario:

You are a managing editor at a news and information operation – either print or online. You have dismissed more of your staff than you knew was wise. You did it because, financially, you believed you had no choice. You or your publisher felt it was necessary to trim the budget to stay in business. Unfortunately, you got rid of the best and the most experienced journalists because their salaries were the highest.

Now you’re looking at a decimated newsroom and a big story breaks – one that directly affects your readers and your community. It could be floods, drought, and forest fires. It could be corruption in your local police department or city hall. It could be a scandal, playing out in Washington, one that involves local or state officials. It could be a story about a local military man or woman engaged in battle half way around the world. You want to cover these things, and you want the local angle, probably with photos and video, but you don’t have a staffer to spare.

What do you do?

• Do you send a journalist, possibly insufficiently experienced, to deal with a difficult assignment, bagging the important story he or she was working on before you had to shift gears?

• Do you resign yourself to using a wire service story, knowing that they are extremely unlikely to give you the local angle and that the same story will appear everywhere else?

• Do you call a freelancer whom you may not know? Are you confident he or she will get to the scene on time? Are they any good? Do you need to find a photojournalist or news videographer, as well?

• How much time can you afford to spend setting this coverage in motion?

You get the point. No matter what you do, you rob your readers of one thing to give them another. That hurts. You never had to make this tradeoff in the past. You once had a good and sizable staff that was capable of doing it all and doing it all well. Your newsroom ran smoothly – okay, as smoothly as possible. You could afford to take time lining up freelancers around the world for a big story, and once you did that you had a big enough staff to assign your own reporters to get the local angle.

Readers were loyal because you gave them news and information that truly affected their lives – their children, healthcare, family budgets, safety, schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, housing, etc. When it came to investigative reporting or breaking news coverage that affected your readers anywhere around the globe, you gave readers your best. Can you do this now, with sparse resources?

Real World Media clients: what we give you

So you decide to become a Real World Media client. Real World Media will provide a simple and affordable solution to the many problems brought about by staff shortages. You will get full coverage without breaking the bank. You, your publisher, your readers and great journalists can all sleep at night.

Real World Media takes your requests and uses cutting edge technology to locate journalists, photographers and videographers around the world to cover the story to your specifications. Maybe it’s a story breaking halfway around the globe, but it affects people from your town, city or state. Real World Media will cover the global and the local angles of the story.

You will pay Real World Media and its journalists well because you know they are worth it and you get what you need from them. Just think about what you once paid your most valuable staff members, the ones you had to dismiss as advertising dwindled and news and information took off into uncharted digital territory.

Real World Media is not designed to take jobs away from working journalists. We’re happy to see journalists working at all. As for jobless journalists, we genuinely hope they will find great jobs again. For now, though, why not tap into their talent and experience through a system you can trust. But let me be clear: Real World Media is not a content mill.

It’s a win-win for everyone. You will save on salary, benefits, travel expenses, and expensive equipment by using the services of Real World Media. Journalists will get what they need by joining the Real World Media network, which ensures that they will be paid fairly and rapidly. As our network grows, we hope to negotiate group rates on benefits such as health care.

Your readers will get what they want, whether it is international or domestic coverage with a community angle or an investigative reporting project right down the road that you cannot begin to staff. It might even be a feature story you just know your readers would enjoy, one that would enrich their lives.

As a client of Real World Media you  will have at least three options:

• You may make a special request for a local angle on any given story. Real World Media journalists will report it for you. This will serve your needs regardless of whether the story is happening inside or outside of your geographic community. It doesn’t matter. You will have the option of informing readers of more than what’s happening. You will tell them exactly what it means to them, with quotes from local citizens and local officials.

• You may request an exclusive story that will not be available or even visible to other clients on the Real World Media site. This will serve your needs if you want an exclusive on a breaking story or if you want a highly qualified team to handle an investigative project or local story that you don’t have the staff to handle.

• You may buy a story that appeals to your audience straight off the Real World Media site. This will serve your needs if you simply want the best possible coverage on an important story. This would serve your needs if you don’t need a local angle and aren’t concerned with exclusivity, but don’t want to run a wire service story identical to the one your competition carries.

Real World Media will run the network. We will find, evaluate and direct the reporters, editors, photographers and videographers. We will have layers of editors – all highly experienced, respected and trustworthy. We will maintain a website featuring synopses of all the stories available for purchase, the price, and the option to negotiate exclusive stories or big stories with local angles.

You will tell us what you need and we will find the best journalists for you. We will use cutting-edge, location-based, mobile technology to stay in touch with journalists (reporters, editors, photographers or videographers) who are at or near the scene and prepared to take the assignment. If another journalist is required to interview people in your community for a local angle, we will provide that service, too.

You will pay a fair price for stories produced by Real World Media’s global network of journalists because you know they are worth it. They will fill the void created when you laid off your best staffers.

Real World Media will charge for the story, the photos or the video you commission from our network of journalists. You will be obligated by contract to buy the assigned story, photos or video, regardless of whether you use it. You will pay more if you decide to alter your original request. Of course, good reporters, photographers and videographers think for themselves and are highly likely to deliver more than you asked for, simply because of the situation they find on the ground when they are in the process of reporting or shooting photos or video.

Real World Media will have a multi-layered network of highly experienced and vetted editors to ensure that customers receive professionally edited products.

None of this is carved in stone. In fact, this is just a jumping off point.

Please join the discussion and add you thoughts on this concept. I am working on the website and marketing materials now. I would love to hear what you think, here on the Displaced Journalists site, on the Real World Media Facebook page, or privately at susanolder@realworldmedia.org. If you have other networking ideas, let’s find a way to implement them.

____________________________________________

Editor’s note: You are reading this on Displaced Journalists, so you may be wondering why I chose to speak to the customer rather than directly to you about this idea I’ve been hatching for the past year. The answer is this: You can see your role as you read this. We need to draw attention to the concept and get customers and funding sources interested. All of the information I’ve come up with thus far is in this piece, except for how we will price stories and how much Real World Media journalists will be able to earn. At this point, I don’t know how much you will earn if we do get funding and this becomes a reality. However, I am devoted to ensuring that journalists are paid fairly. You will be part of the process as we begin to determine rates. In no way will this resemble a content mill. If any of you can offer your programming, design or marketing skills for the cause, I can certainly use them. I have no funding at this point, and, of course, Displaced Journalists has never been about making money.

– Susan Older

Editor’s note: The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., is taking applications for its August workshop in entrepreneurial journalism. I attended this workshop last July. I learned a

Poynter's Bill Mitchell engages journalism entrepreneurs at the workshop in July 2010. (Photo courtesy of The Poynter Institute)

great deal about starting my own business and how to make the most of my skills and ideas in the digital news and information marketplace. I reworked and refined my strategy for a new venture I’m building to take Displaced Journalists to a new level. I’m still working on it. Some ventures roll out quickly; others take time. Some require little funding; others require major funding. If you attend, you’ll come away enlightened and invigorated, with new tools, resources, strategies, game plans and perspectives. The colleagues I met at this workshop continue to serve me well as a sounding board and support group. — Susan Older

Workshop dates: Aug 02, 2011 – Aug 05, 2011
Apply by:  Jun 15, 2011

If you’ve launched an online news and information venture, let Poynter teach you how to use the right tools to help you succeed.

We’ll work with you to refine your business model and share tips and resources that are helping entrepreneurs around the country who have attended this popular Poynter workshop.

Here’s your chance to refine your strategies for creating content, engaging an audience and finding revenue to support your enterprise.

This seminar is supported by a grant from the Ford Foundation. Tuition and hotel costs are free. Participants pay other travel expenses, including airfare.

We’ll ask you to do some pre-work before you come, thinking through the business basics behind the site you’ve launched and reviewing case studies of others’ ventures. Then, in four engaging and jam-packed days, you’ll work with experienced faculty, outside experts and your classmates to:

•    Identify the problem your business hopes to solve, pinpointing the fundamental pain you’ll ease at the heart of your venture;
•    Apply a smart business model to your idea, thinking through customer segments, your key partners and resources, your value proposition and more;
•    Learn tools for understanding your audience and engaging them;
•    See new ways that technology can help achieve your goals;
•    Refine your revenue model;
•    Learn a framework for handling ethical dilemmas that arise as an online publisher;
•    Improve your “pitch” for telling others about your business;
•    Hear techniques for managing change and working in an entrepreneurial environment.

You’ll receive one-on-one coaching from our faculty including our two Ford Fellows in Entrepreneurial Journalism Teaching, Mark Briggs and Jeremy Caplan. (Click on their photos to read their bios.) And you’ll leave with a new network of entrepreneurs who can share ideas, encouragement and inspiration long after the course has ended.

Who Will Benefit:

• Entrepreneurs who have launched or are beta testing their idea for a new venture.
• News organization executives hoping to encourage “intrapreneurial” ventures or to partner with niche ventures in their community.

Position: Media Manager
Location: Washington, DC

The American Independent News Network (AINN) seeks a dynamic individual to manage the promotion of the Network’s amazing reporters and hot breaking stories to outside media, including to press and through social media.  The Media Manager’s job will be to spread the word far and wide about AINN’s journalism. This means developing relationships with producers, bloggers, reporters at other outlets, Twitter gurus, and others in the media world who can multiply the reach of our stories.

AINN is a nonprofit online news organization comprised of news sites in eight states and Washington, DC. AINN’s reporters once described themselves as “ink-stained wretches of the digital era.” They are a dedicated, hard-working team that breaks hot political stories nearly everyday: stories that impact public debate and advance the common good, stories that move readers to take action, stories that inspire readers to name livestock after our reporters.

Responsibilities

There are two primary areas for which you, as Media Manager, will be responsible: outreach to existing media, and managing AINN’s social media strategy. At times, if you are creative about it, the two areas will overlap.

You will be responsible for managing and implementing all outreach to relevant broadcast, print, and online press outlets, organizations, websites, and more.  This includes marketing our reporters and their pieces to various news organizations for media pick up.  You will work with the editorial team to ensure that stories are being sent to the relevant news outlets.  You will be responsible for managing and standardizing social media practices for and across the Network.  Wit, flexibility, and innovation are keys to success.

Additionally, as Media Manager, you will:

• Identify opportunities for outside media coverage of AINN and stories produced through the Network and secure appropriate coverage.
• Cultivate and maintain relationships with reporters, producers, and editors,
• Ensure the press database is up-to-date and well-organized.
• Identify new ways to promote the network and work through social media.
• Create and manage social media standards for the network.
• Research and implement new social media opportunities.
• Work within the publishing department to coordinate collaborative press and outreach strategy.
• Work with the editorial department to organize all direct and indirect press citations and appearances.
• Promote media appearances by Network representatives as appropriate.

Qualifications

A qualified candidate for Media Manager:

• Is an effective writer and communicator, understanding how to tailor messaging to different audiences.- has an existing active online presence.
• Works quickly to take advantage of opportunities.
• Collaborates effectively and understands why it’s important.
• Believes in the strength of online journalism.
• Has a college degree and relevant experience that translates to this position.
• Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience.
• This position reports to the Publisher.
• This position is based out of the AINN home office in Washington, DC, where there is a mini-cupcake maker and a combination egg poacher-toaster.

To Apply:

All interested applicants should email their cover letter, resume, and relevant samples of your work to applications@tainews.org.  Please use a subject heading that grabs our attention and makes us want to open your email.

About The American Independent News Network

The American Independent News Network is a non-profit and non-partisan organization that investigates and disseminates news that impacts public debate and advances the common good.  To accomplish its mission, we operate an independent online news network.   An informed citizenry is a fundamental principle of civil society and American democracy; in the words of the Supreme Court in Garrison v. Louisiana: “Speech concerning public affairs is more than self-expression; it is the essence of self government.”  Our reporting emphasizes the positive role of democratically elected government in securing the common good and social welfare, and the continuing benefits of our founding culture of egalitarian government by the people, for the people.

For more about The American Independent News Network, please visit tainews.org.

Contact:

Hanaa Rifaey
Publisher
T: 202.387.3670 ext. 224
C: 202.379.8184
hanaa@tainews.org

The American Independent News Network
americanindependent.com
coloradoindependent.com
floridaindependent.com
iowaindependent.com
michiganmessenger.com
minnesotaindependent.com
newmexicoindependent.com
txindependent.com
washingtonindependent.com

By Susan Older, Founder, Displaced Journalists

When journalists do their jobs – reporting, writing, editing, and shooting still or video images – they tend to turn to trustworthy sources among their own contacts or other well-known sources trusted by their colleagues.

That habit saves time, but it skews our coverage toward established viewpoints, when we all know that, in most cases, fresh perspectives would make for more balanced, interesting stories.

News Certified Exchange (NCE), an initiative launched in 2009 by veteran journalists, is offering an alternative – an online service free to independent or newsroom-based journalists, featuring an array of

Kathryn McManus

certified interview-ready sources in more than 1,000 specialty areas. Journalists pay nothing to use the service, which provides a page for each expert source profiling them in video, describing their background and listing their credentials and contact information.  Experts update their keyword tags and story pitches to maintain ongoing relevance to the news cycle.

The idea sparked in 2008 when NCE CEO Kathryn McManus was the head of CNN Japan.  “As a journalist, I would receive hundreds of solicitations a day from organizations highlighting story ideas and experts that I would promptly delete,” says McManus. “Then when I needed someone, I would scramble, trying to find ‘interview-ready’ experts (not generalists) who could comment.  The solution seemed so easy: a database of certified ‘interview-ready’ experts that the media can draw from when the need arises.”

McManus brought in another seasoned journalist as co-founder: Jerry Krieg, who had been CNN’s Senior Executive Producer. Together they reached out to journalists globally.  The response was overwhelming.  Krieg says journalist after journalist told him, “I wish this had been built yesterday. It would have made my life much easier.”  Then NCE asked the opinions of a wide variety of communications directors and business leaders to get their response. They were overwhelmingly in favor of the idea.

Based on the feedback they received from journalist colleagues, NCE created 23 “interview-ready” standards of certification.

What sets NCE apart from other source databases is the fact that veteran journalists screen potential sources for genuine professional expertise and media readiness.  NCE turns away non-experts and experts who are not “interview-ready.” Certification falls into three categories: print, TV and radio. All three categories play into the Web, so it doesn’t have its own category. There are icons on each profile indicating a particular source’s certification status.

NCE also has an editorial board made up of heavy hitting journalists to make sure that its journalistic standards are maintained.

NCE has gained the trust of journalists, communications experts and industry leaders. NCE has hundreds upon hundreds of experts, and NCE experts are quoted daily in the news.  Journalists from more than 250 news organizations tap into NCE’s database.  These include Bloomberg, The New York Times, NBC, CBS, PBS, MSNBC, USA Today, Reuters, Fortune, Vanity Fair, AP and The Wall Street Journal.

Experts can attend one of NCE’s “Influencing the Headlines” (ITH) seminar events for  $500. Attendance includes an executive media skills workshop (taught by broadcast journalists), lunch and a panel discussion with leaders of industry and media. There is an additional fee of $2,000 for ITH participants who wish to become certified and join the NCE database. The next event will be in Chicago April 8 at Medill, Northwestern University’s School of Journalism.

For non-ITH participants, the cost is $4,000.00 and includes a customized media skills session with a veteran journalist, an HD web cam for remote broadcast and positioning on NewsCertified Exchange for three years.

What’s in it for the experts? Exposure. Being on NCE furthers their career goals and shines a spotlight on them as individuals, but also on their companies, agencies or organizations. Experts, thus far, include authors, former statesmen, top medical and legal specialists and other thought leaders from around the world.

On the Exchange, journalists can decide for themselves whether someone is a good interview candidate. Experts’ online profiles feature video clips, professional experience and background information, social media links, and contact information. This is an enormous time-saver for busy journalists looking for fresh viewpoints. If an expert is used, NCE does not receive any kickback.

Journalists who register can log onto the site see a scroll bar of top stories. There is a featured “story pitch” – intended to be something that would be of interest to many reporters and editors. There is a search field for finding experts. For example, if you type in “nuclear” you will get at least three pages of experts you might not have known about otherwise. Journalists can also use the drop-down menu of areas of expertise for fast and easy identification of sources.  Additionally journalists and other visitors to the NCE site can search a database of expert-generated story ideas that offer unique perspectives and fit into the news cycle.

Website analytics document that journalists in 54 countries have searched the NCE database.  They are experiencing explosive growth with global intake daily.

Editor’s note: I attended NCE’s “In the Headlines” event in New York last month to get an idea of whether it would help people in the Displaced Journalists community. I was impressed. It’s a fantastic resource. Go to the site and register (no fee). You’ll see what I mean. In the interest of full disclosure: After NCE CEO Kathryn McManus and I met, she asked if I would be interested in serving as an expert in the journalism arena. One thing I have going for me: I am passionate about preserving and reinventing our profession. I’m going to try it, but I’ve never been a broadcast journalist, so I’m really counting on their coaching to make me “interview-ready.” Wish me luck! — Susan Older

By Farhad Manjoo
Slate.com

Are you wondering, “will AOL’s acquisition of the Huffington Post be successful?” I bet you are, as that’s been a common search engine query since the announcement earlier this week that AOL will buy the Huffington Post. Other ways you might phrase the question include, “AOL Huffington Post will work?” or “AOL and Arianna good idea?” But some people can’t spell, so it’s likely that a few are searching for things like, “AOL do I need dial-up to read HyffPo now?” or “Ariana Hiffington evil genius or just evil?” Well, any way you search for it, you’re in luck, because you’ve arrived at the best page on the Web to tell you all you need to know about AOL acquiring the Huffington Post—or should I say, AOL acquiring HuffPo. Or, that is to say, AOL buying HuffPo. (HuffPo being the short name for Arianna Huffington’s site, the Huffington Post, which has just been bought by AOL.)

Before I go on, let me stop and say a couple of more important things: Aol, Aol Acquires Huffington Post, Aol Buys Huffington Post, Aol Buys Huffpo, Aol Huffington Post, Huffington Post, Huffington Post Aol, Huffington Post Aol Merger, Huffington Post Media Group, Huffington Post Sold, Huffpo Aol, Huffpost Aol, Media News.

See what I did there? That’s what you call search-engine optimization, or SEO. If I worked at the Huffington Post, I’d likely be commended for the subtle way in which I inserted all those search keywords into the lede of my article. In fact, the keywords above are taken directly from HuffPo’s page announcing its acquisition, and my first paragraph is a rip-off of a search-engine baiting article the site posted on Sunday, “What time does the Superbowl start?” HuffPo’s facility with keywords seems to be one of the main things that Tim Armstrong, AOL’s CEO, loves about the site.

Armstrong, a former Google exec, can’t get enough SEO—according to an internal memo that Business Insider posted last week, he’s pushing for the company to use an “SEO checker” to look over 95 percent of AOL’s stories by the end of March. He believes this will yield a big payoff for AOL; 40 percent of its traffic, the memo says, will come from search engines.

I don’t blame Armstrong or Huffington for pursuing this strategy. Making a living off the news is hard, and if they’ve figured out a way to fool search engines into pushing visitors their way, I salute them. But there’s a long-term problem with their strategy: They won’t be able to fool the computers forever.

Not all SEO is bad, and not all HuffPo articles employ shady SEO, but some of the tricks that HuffPo uses to gin up search traffic are pretty sketchy. These tricks include: stuffing articles with strings of meaningless keywords (HuffPo does this on every piece), repeating potential search queries at the top of a story, and carefully engineering articles in response to rising search terms. These tactics exploit obvious weaknesses in Google and other search engines. If Google’s mission is to provide search results that you—a human being—find useful, then HuffPo’s keyword-glutted pieces don’t belong…. Read the rest of the story on Slate.com by clicking here.

EIGHT years ago Apple launched iTunes, a digital store selling music singles for 99 cents apiece. For record companies ravaged by piracy, it seemed like a good deal. Only later did many come to regret allowing another company to set retail prices and to get between them and their customers. On February 2nd Apple and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation launched the Daily, an iPad newspaper that will cost 99 cents a week. It will not dominate the digital news market the way iTunes came to rule the digital music market. But it sets a worrying precedent or two.

The Daily is a mixture of the newfangled and the old-fashioned. It has whizzy graphics, including video and “360-degree” pictures. Sport fans can receive the twitterings of their favourite players. Unlike most websites, though, the Daily is only available in America. It features outmoded things such as editorials and paid reporters. Although it can be updated to take in breaking news, it is primarily a daily, not an hourly.

In one sense it is a trailblazer. The Daily is the first product to offer recurring subscriptions through Apple’s store. So far most publishers have been obliged to sell single issues of newspapers and magazines on the iPad. As a result, sales are erratic: Wired, a technology magazine with a beautiful app, sold 100,000 digital copies last June but just 24,400 in December. The Daily’s sales model is better than that. But not much better.

Read the rest of the story at The Economist by clicking here.

By Elizabeth Wasserman
Inc.com

A great business plan is a living, breathing blueprint for your business that can help you navigate and manage your company while also helping potential investors, partners, lenders, and others understand your business strategy and your chances at success. A business plan is never quite finished because you’re always revising it, reviewing it, and building upon it. In fact, more important to your business’ future than having a written, 30-page, coil-bound plan to distribute is the business planning process that you undertake on a regular basis to hopefully keep your ship headed in the right direction without losing sight of your long-term destination.

”In my company, we’ve been working on the same plan for more than 20 years — we review it every month and revise it every year.  We’ve printed it out a dozen times and shined and polished it. We share it with the team constantly, but it is never done,” says Tim Berry, president and founder of Palo Alto Software, maker of Business Plan Pro software, who blogs at bplans.com. “When your business plan is finished, your company is finished.”

The following pages will help you understand why you should write a business plan, components to include in a business plan, and how to use the plan internally to meet your business goals.

Dig Deeper: Setting Company Goals

How to Write a Great Business Plan: Reasons to Write a Business Plan

For those of you just starting a business, writing a business plan is a crucial first step. It can help you describe your product or service, detail your marketing strategy, and lay out your sales and operational forecasts — including the ever important cash-flow projection so as to keep your business on track for profits. Putting these plans in writing can hopefully start a healthy business planning process that your business revisits on a regular basis, updates, and revises.

Read the rest of the story on Inc.com

By Audrey Watters
ReadWriteWeb
January 18, 2011

That old stereotype that Internet users are isolated and anti-social is getting harder and harder to justify. In fact, the latest study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, aptly titled “The Social Side of the Internet,” challenges this notion even further, finding that Internet users are actually more active in voluntary groups and organizations than non-Internet users.

According to the research, 75% of all American adults participate in some group activity. But the difference between Internet users and non-Internet users is rather striking, with 80% of the former and only 56% of the latter active in groups. The research found that social media users are even more likely to be group participants: 82% of social network users and 85% of Twitter users are, for example.

The survey finds that most Americans see the Internet as having a major impact on groups’ organization, communication, and effectiveness. 68% of all Americans – both Internet users and non-users – say the Internet has had a major impact on the ability of groups to communicate with members. And 62% say the Internet has had a major impact on the ability of groups to bring attention to an issue.

Read the rest of the story at ReadWriteWeb by clicking here.

By Brenna Ehrlich, Mashable

Remember how we were all freaking out on New Year’s Eve, 1999, convinced that the world as we know it would end — at the hands of machines, of course? Well, we weathered that storm and then some. Still, as we shamble forward into the next decade, it might be prudent to take pause and take stock of the years behind us. Translation: Back up your stuff.

Think of it as stockpiling food and building a fallout shelter for the 21st century. We have a ton of information, photos and memories scattered around the web that we would be loathe to lose, and while it’s unlikely that the entire Internet is going to come crashing down in the next week or so, it still might be wise to put some of that stuff in an iron box for safe keeping.

Read more here (on Mashable.com) to find out how to back up your Facebook traffic and photos, your Twitter activity, your Blog, your WordPress blog and your Flickr photos.