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 »
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 »
It’s not often your boss gives you a book to read so it was with some surprise when my superior slapped a copy of Creative Disruption on my desk and wholeheartedly recommended it.
Normally I imagined work book clubs to be about discussing the latest chick-lit novel over the water cooler or a cup of instant coffee, but to have something stimulating to get my teeth into during the commute home was a welcome challenge.
Creative Disruption is an excellent book, it grabs the digital age head on and dismantles it for all to see. It pulls no punches about how the internet has transformed our lives since the early 1990s and fundamentally changed the way we do a lot of things, most of all, how we do business. Read the rest of this entry »
This of course caused the obligatory calls of “unfair” from areas which were not allowed to bid (and there were some pretty large urban areas not allowed to bid), but moving away from the local politicing I’m not sure the idea of local television can really work.
I don’t doubt the local bit, we know there is interest in local affairs, issues and sport. Just look at the passion with which people support their local football teams, get outraged at their local council and turn out to sweep up the mess when riots tear apart their high streets. People do still live and care locally. Read the rest of this entry »
What is the recommended button there for? The equivalent of a Facebook like? A chance to show you appreciate the story, the author or the subject?
I’ve spotted a trend on WalesOnline, whenever we report the death of a young person – again, the one below is for a teenage boy drowning in a river in Carmarthenshire – we don’t get comments (very rarely) but we do get a lot of recommendations. Constantly in the most recommended lists, knocking rugby stars and political debates down a peg or two. Facebook is for posting the RIP messages and joining groups expressing your sorrow, sharing that grief with your friends, but local media sites are the way to show the wider world (outside of the Facebook login) that the death of a friend/relative is important to the community. Read the rest of this entry »
Updated: Paul Bradshaw has blogged a great set of ideas and tips for live blogging, he even referenced this post. Please do check it out for even more ideas.
Last week we live-blogged the Assembly election in Wales and the AV Referendum results in Wales – for nearly 24 hours.
Live-blogging is becoming an accepted part of the online journalism toolkit, with the likes of Andrew Sparrow at The Guardian being recognised for his political live-blogging, sports journalism embracing the concept for updates from matches – in particular in cricket and the Test Match Special Team for the recent Ashes series in Australia, and local media groups committing to provide live coverage of council meetings.
I thought I’d explore in this post what makes a good live-blog and some hints and tips for making a good one. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s not often your boss gives you a book to read so it was with some surprise when my superior slapped a copy of 
Recent Comments