Everyone is always on the lookout for the next big thing on the web but over Christmas I reflected on one social network which is standing the test of time, Flickr.
The photo sharing site was launched in 2004 and Yahoo! soon snapped it up in 2005. It allows anyone to upload their photos, add detailed information and share them with the world. In the last 7 years it has grown to claim more than 51 million registered users and in August last year it claimed it hosted more than 6 billion images.
The key thing for me is that Flickr has built a smaller, niche but very engaged network of photographers – accessible to professional, amateur and wannabe professionals.
For me, Flickr is a perfect fit with the growing area of hyperlocal news sites and existing local news sites and 2012 should be the year, eight years after it started, that we re-connect and re-consider how we work with it as journalists and media organisations.
Despite the shift to mobile, multimedia and even more impressive download speeds – it is still words and pictures which drive the web. Just look at the 2011 most shared stories, it is the picture which very much makes the story and I suspect increases the ‘WOW!’ factor and makes people want to share it with their friends.
Just thought I’d flag up this video from the Media Trust, which gives an overview of Blog Preston.
The site was started by myself in January 2009 as a place for news and information about Preston, after the Preston Citizen (weekly paper) withdrew from the city.
Joseph Stashko is co-editor of the site and gives an insight into what his role involves, how we live blogged the general election, cover stories and much more.
It’s worth a watch to help understand how a community news site goes about operating and how ‘hyperlocal’ is measured by us.
Earlier this year I was at a journalism conference in Perugia and on one of the panels was a chap from the Huffington Post. He described how during the 2008 Presidential campaign they’d had a massive scoop when one of their contributors caught a candidate gaffe on video, it was uploaded and within hours it was leading most international news sites and the talk of the day on Twitter, Facebook and more.
Our panel discussed the implications of this on the media, and I said we’re living in a golden age of social media stupidity. Why? Because at the moment you can find copious amounts of information on people, their activities, and much more – but you can also find it very quickly.
I was reminded of this by Alison Gow’s excellent post on How to (Not) kill Journalism and how the web represents such an opportunity, particularly being able to crowdsource direct with your followers. Read the rest of this entry »
Took a trip over to Portcullis House last night for an event titled ‘Parliament and Online Communities’ (part of Parliament Week) – it brought together a mix of people who run independent local news sites in South London, large online communities and messageboards like Mumsnet and interested government open data types.
The question we had to mull over was essentially how can Parliament engage more with online communities, and both make itself more open and also get good quality information from its select committee inquiries on a whole range of different issues.
Parliament faces a big challenge, as outlined by Matt Instone – its head of online engagement – how does it take the mass of information which is being produced by the institution and make it accessible to the general public, and at the same time make people aware of what Parliament is and what it does. And crucially, how it is different from the government.
The BBC has revealed figures for how much traffic it drives away from its site to others, and how this has grown rapidly in the last 12 months.
While the figure of just over 6 million referrals should be applauded, and it’s promising it’s going up, I question what the BBC’s policy is for inserting these links? Read the rest of this entry »
Twice I’ve tried handing over the reigns of Blog Preston – a site I set up in January 2009 to be a hub of community news, views and information about Preston in Lancashire – to someone else, and twice I’ve had to get back involved. I thought I’d expand on Will’s points about how you can find continuinty for your hyperlocal site and keeping it going. Read the rest of this entry »
It was only a matter of time, but a London theatre group are going to be putting on a show inspired by the phone hacking scandal.
There’s no Murdoch’s in sight but it’s an interesting concept they’ve come up with, their team of writers will listen to a volunteer’s voicemail and spin a tale based on what they hear. Read the rest of this entry »
While having breakfast last week I was leafing through a copy of my local weekly paper, the Wimbledon Guardian. I’ve read this paper since I was about 10, my mate used to deliver it and I did some work experience there a very long time ago.
My previous post about the Local TV plans proposed by Jeremy Hunt caused quite a debate and as the plans move forward and Mr Hunt takes his roadshow around the country I thought it would be interesting to hear from someone on the ground who is actually making some of this ‘hyperlocal news’ on a regular basis.
The blog post below is from Richard Jones who runs Saddleworth News, a consistent and quality local news site in Saddleworth (that’s near Manchester for those who aren’t too good on geography). He’s tried doing local news video, in partnership with a local college, so is well placed to analyse what Mr Hunt’s plans really mean for small communities and larger urban areas. Read the rest of this entry »
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