"Community" creation for newspapers

Oct 27 2008 1:00AM EDT (Porfolio.com)
FT.com Gives Readers a Seat at the Table
If there's a buzzword in the newspaper industry these days -- apart from "downsizing" -- it's "community." The New York Times recently took a step towards getting its readers involved with its new TimesPeople program, The Wall Street Journal made similar overtures with its recent website makeover, and now the Financial Times is getting in on the action with a new area of its popular Alphaville blog where market professionals can hold their own discussions about the day's news.
Called Long Room, the new offering is named after a famed London restaurant that was once a prime venue for financial chatter. "What we're trying to do is allow our users to have that kind of forum for gossip and discussion and debate in the digital world that they used to have in the real world," says Rob Grimshaw, managing director of FT.com. Continuing the metaphor, discussion will be divided by topic into "virtual tables," with users free to start their own new ones.
To ensure a high quality of discussion, participants will have to be approved by FT.com editors. That vetting process, says Grimshaw, will minimize the risk of users posting rumors of the sort that could have ugly legal ramifications or have a dangerous effect on markets -- rumors like the one about Steve Jobs' supposed heart attack that appeared on CNN's iReport site. With Long Room's relatively stringent membership policy, Grimshaw foresees a minimal need for moderation: "We are going to be pretty free in terms of how we allow users to use this room."
FT.com's foray into community comes a year after the site switched over from what was essentially a subscription-only model to one that enables users to view a certain amount of content for free. Grimshaw says the new model has been a success: The site now has 750,000 registered users, up from 150,000 at the end of 2007, and it retains a subscriber base of 100,000.
"It's an interesting time in media right now," he adds," because all the other publishers who decided they should just give away their content entirely free of charge might be feeling exposed as the online ad market seizes up a bit. We've got a lot more options in terms of what we do over the next couple years."

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Problems with Citizen Journalism (CSM)

I have been talking about the number of foreign bureaus newspapers have versus the wires, but I hadn't realised until I checked out the article below, that the CSM has 19. Which isn't too shabby.

But having just got involved in TimesPeople, that allows me to recommend content, not add it, this article caught my eye.






New media feels heat after Apple misstep
CNN's citizen reporters sent Apple stocks plunging Friday with a false report on Steve Jobs.
By Ben Arnoldy Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the October 8, 2008 edition
Oakland, Calif. - A promo for CNN's citizen journalism site, iReport.com, reads: "You won't believe what people are uploading." Maybe readers should take that literally.
An anonymous writer posted a false story to the site claiming that Apple Inc.'s CEO Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack, sending the company's stock tumbling Friday. The Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed Henry Blodget Monday that it was investigating the circumstances surrounding the article.
Unlike stories on CNN's main site, most content on iReport.com can be uploaded by anyone, without editing. The erroneous piece stayed up for more than three hours – long enough to bounce around the blogosphere – before an Apple spokesperson quashed the rumor.
Citizen journalism, or user-generated content, has proved successful enough to argue against abandoning it over snafus like this, say new media experts. Rather, the episode serves as a public reminder that "news" now includes both traditional journalism and a crowd-sourced model that treats verification as a public process, not a prerequisite for publishing.
Both models have their place, says David Ardia, head of the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, but users must give the crowd-sourced model time to work. "If you are consuming this news when it first comes out, you have to recognize that the fact-checking function hasn't happened yet."
That process took a few hours in this case but clearly some investors didn't wait. Apple's share price lost nearly $12 before rebounding when the truth emerged.
The incident is a cautionary note for readers but has lessons for those involved in guiding user content, too.
One lesson may be that community policing of content can help bury bogus reports. The Steve Jobs report was submitted to other websites including Digg, says Arnold Kim of MacRumors.com. Digg relies on user input to raise or lower the prominence of stories, and it was users who kept this story off the front page, writes Mr. Kim on his blog.
By contrast, CNN's iReport is less mediated by human input. The most recently uploaded stories show up on the home page, as well as the "newsiest" stories as determined by an algorithm that factors in user opinions. CNN spokesperson Jennifer Martin says the Jobs story never appeared under "newsiest."
The filter of peer ratings works well for Helium, another site that publishes user-submitted writings. Submissions go through an automated plagiarism check and are then reviewed by the site's community of nonstaff writers. The top-rated articles rise to highest visibility.
"What it tends to do is discourage the bad actors over time because they get vetted out," says Peter Newton, vice president of business development.
Another way to minimize potential misinformation, says new media guru Jeff Jarvis, is for websites to nurture relationships with trusted news gatherers and give readers clearer caveats. "We thought we were in the business of saying what we know in the news. But we're more in the business of saying what we don't know," writes Mr. Jarvis at buzzmachine.com.
That's the approach taken by tech website Silicon Alley Insider. Editor Henry Blodget flagged the Jobs iReport, said he didn't know if it was true, and published the post before hearing back from Apple.
That decision sparked complaints. Even Jarvis – who expresses exasperation with professional reporters wanting to pounce on citizen journalism – says this particular story should have been relayed with more sensitivity than usual.
Defending his decision, Mr. Blodget wrote that the site doesn't view its role as a gatekeeper but takes advantage of the "immediate feedback loop" of its readers. In this case, the crucial feedback came from Apple's spokesperson, whose denial Blodget claimed as a scoop.
Silicon Alley Insider can plausibly distance itself from traditional reporting expectations, but can CNN?
The iReport site has its own URL and the tag line, "Unedited. Unfiltered. News." It also has a disclaimer that "CNN makes no guarantees" about its content. CNN producers pluck some of the material, vet it, and use it on cnn.com or CNN TV. The Jobs article was not picked up.
The iReporter could face charges under securities laws if he or she knowingly published false information in connection with buying or selling Apple stock, Mr. Ardia says, while CNN and Silicon Valley Insider probably are safe under the Communications Decency Act of 1996.
CNN is not changing policies after Friday's incident, says Ms. Martin.

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TimesPeople: I'm now one, but I don't know any others.

TimesPeople? So what's it all about? Time to find out.

Share and Discover the Best of NYTimes.com

TimesPeople is a new way to discover what other readers find interesting on NYTimes.com — and to make recommendations of your own. With TimesPeople, you can share articles, videos, slideshows, blog posts, reader comments, and ratings and reviews of movies, restaurants and hotels.

Getting Started
Join the TimesPeople beta and see what the members of your network are sharing on the TimesPeople toolbar, which will appear at the top of every page of NYTimes.com. Your personal TimesPeople page allows you to review the activities of everyone in your network.

TimesPeople does not monitor routine site activity, such as reading articles, clicking links or viewing graphics. Your private activities, such as e-mailing an article or video, stay private.
Any registered member of NYTimes.com is eligible to become a TimesPeople member. After you sign up for TimesPeople, you may opt out of sharing your activities with the TimesPeople community at any time.

To learn more about TimesPeople, read the FAQ, or just sign up and start using TimesPeople (by clicking here or by using the button above). Please send comments and suggestions to timespeople@nytimes.com.

So being a signed up NYT.com user I clicked on start, put in a user name and location and then.....I didn't know what to do.

I could import email contacts (no, don't want to, because I don't have any who I know are regular NYT readers and who I want to bother with this) OR I could "expand my network" by being put in touch with 'suggested readers'.

So I went for option b where I received this response:

Looking to expand your network? We have no suggestions for you right now. Click Import to add your e-mail contacts to TimesPeople.

That's not a good idea, offering something you can't deliver.

Now that I am a TimesPerson, have the user name www.ihtreaders.blogspot.com and have given my location as France, perhaps TimesPeople can use me as a suggested person. They're welcome to.

In fact I'll drop Rich Meislin a line because I don't really know what to do with this wonderful new tool.

Bottom line: yes, I want to be part of TimesPeople but how do I do this if I don't know any?

So in the meantime I went to the settings and uploaded an image, which took a really long time and then failed because it forgot to remind me before uploading, like for example blogspot.com does, the size of the photo I could upload. Yes, that was dumb of me, but a little text reminder here up front would be smart to avoid me waiting for this:

Your image must comply with our Member Agreement. By clicking save, you certify that you have the right to modify and distribute this image.

So I tried again, not checking the Member Agreement because I'm in a hurry and using a resized photo.

Of Jeremy Irons which is clearly in breach of their agreement.

So now I'm stuck with a picture of Jeremy Irons, and I want to change it.

So I click Change Image, and nothing happens, so I quit and go back and try again, but when I do so, there is the picture of Mr. Irons which I don't have the righ to modify or distribute, but I am only offered the Save function which will certify that I do, which I don't.

Nevermind. I'll change it, which I then immediately do, selecting a jacket image from a book I wrote. All good.

One would think.

But now I have two images for me, the jacket image and still Mr. Irons. This is getting annoying. I click save again hoping this will resolve the problem.

(btw I'm not against using a small size photo of myself, I just can't remember where it is on my P.C - not trying to be difficult, just rushing. Who isn't these days?)

Again it's taking a very long time to load. After about 5 mins of nothing, I give up. I go back to settings, again look for that picture of me, can't find it, so use one of me in Iraq. This loads nicely because it is the right size.

However, I know have three images for my I.D - Mr. Irons, my book cover and me in Iraq.

I can't delete any of them, so, with some frustration I was about to log off, not having found and entered a network of TimesPeople (I guess I'm just a 'foreigner') and elected to email a link to this posting, with these questions:

Q. What do I now do to remove my book cover, Mr. Irons and me in Iraq and start all over and load a picture of myself? Help please.
Q. Will you please make me a suggested reader so that other lonely souls can join my network?
Q. Will there by IHTPeople when http://www.iht.com/ migrates to http://www.nytimes.com/ because, no offence to TimesPeople the people I want to network with are non-American, not living in the U.S.A., readers of the IHT or http://www.iht.com/.

I look forward to hearing from TimesPeople who can be reached at timespeople@nytimes.com

However, just before logging off, I clicked on My Activity and clicked on to Following which allows you to enter the names of people you think might be TimesPeople and follow what they're looking at.

Some names did come to mind:

Michael Golden, VP
Bill Keller, Editor
Rich Meislin, Tech Editor
Tom Bodkin

And sure enough, I can follow them. Rich has already recommended to me, as I type, an article: A Power That May Not Stay So Super. The others are yet so to do.

Mr. Sulzberger and Ms. Robinson I can not, although there are 11 Robinsons I can follow, of which all are in the U.S.A except Drew in Perth, Australia; Guy in London and Peter in Berlin. All, with the exception of Toni, are men, and only one, Drew in Australia, has posted an image of what appears to be very likely to be Drew himself.

I searched for a good many of the IHT's masthead, but was unable to find any of them. Could it be they don't see themselves as TimesPeople yet? This would be problematic for them but perhaps, like Mr. Sulzberger, but unlike Mr. Golden, they are yet to come out of the closet.

I think this could be kind of fun, and quite interesting to see what Bill Keller recommends from his own newspaper, and why Mr. Sulzberger is not willing to identify himself as a TimesPerson and let us see what he likes.

In fact, it's so interesting, that I am going to start visiting NYT.com on a daily basis to see what my 'network' is up to and I only visit the NYT site when I have to, preferrring IHT.com.

So thus far, I am giving it 5 out of 10, the score no doubt to rapidly increase to 6 when I get this image problem sorted, 7 when the hopeless navigation is resolved, 8 if I can recommend IHT content (were such a think to exist, but we all know what I mean: people who write and work directly for the global edition of the NYT), 9 if I can recommend non-NYT comment (there's a thought) and maybe even 10 if Mr. Sulzberger comes out of the closet as a TimesPerson.

Rich is recommending all the time and it's a little 'try hard' as I struggle to find a narrative in his recommendations; Mr. Golden about NYT's journos in jail in Zim, and Mr. Keller about all sorts (his last recommendation was September 30th, a blog post http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/name-this-restaurant/?src=tp) and Talk to the Newsroom.

I never knew about Talk to the Newsroom and I'm off to check it out.

(Example of hopeless, homeless navigation: there I am in TimesPeople adding people to follow, I get bored and want to go to the nytimes.com home page. Can't see a way of doing this.)

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Long over-due: NYTimes.com's New Social Network TimesPeople Launches in Public Beta

Now this is long over-due. I always wanted to do this for IHT readers, who are far more dispersed and would actually benefit much more from this than a NYT reader.

I'll sign up, give it a whirl, but who needs more time on the Net. Not me.



NEW YORK, Sept. 23, 2008 – NYTimes.com announced today the public beta launch of TimesPeople, an opt-in social network that connects The Times’s unique and influential audience through shared interests in news and information. TimesPeople provides NYTimes.com readers with a way to share their thoughts and recommendations about The Times’s content with other readers, making their public activities on the site more open.
Members of the TimesPeople network can share recommendations and comments and view the public activities of other members. Members can also share ratings and reviews of movies, shows, restaurants and hotels.
TimesPeople activities are visible to members in a toolbar at the top of most NYTimes.com pages. Members also have profile pages, which display their public actions and the public actions of other network members, and list their followers.
“We created TimesPeople as a community built around sharing news and information, giving our readers a way to connect with other like-minded readers,” said Marc Frons, chief technology officer, digital operations, The New York Times. “TimesPeople is a great way for our readers to discover content on the site they might not have otherwise.”
TimesPeople members can sign up for RSS feeds with the latest activities of other users in their network and sync their updates to their Facebook news feed through a TimesPeople application available at http://apps.new.facebook.com/timespeople/.
New users can sign up for TimesPeople on the homepage of NYTimes.com or at www.nytimes.com/timespeople. Existing Firefox beta users will not be affected by today’s public beta launch. TimesPeople is free.
The public activities included in TimesPeople are readers’ comments, recommendations, reviews, ratings and other actions they take on NYTimes.com that are intended to be visible to other users.
TimesPeople FAQs.
According to Nielsen Online, NYTimes.com had 19.9 million unique visitors in August and is the No. 1 newspaper Web site in the United States, a position it has long held.

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