BuzzMachine

The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.

Tag: Weblogs

  • Agents for all

    2 comments on Agents for all
    , ,

    Scoopt wants to represent citizen journalists when they witness and record and event and want to sell their images to big media for big bucks. B&C writes about it today. A reporter from elsewhere asked me about it; his story didn’t appear when I thought it would, so here’s what I said about the notion of Scoopt.

    I’m not sure this will work because I think we are seeing a culture shift in the ethics of news, from the proprietary to the shared, from closed to open.

    I am all for citizen journalists making a buck (having made a few as a journalist myself). But…

    I wonder whether there’s a conflict between the inherently open and immediate world of citizens’ media and the closed, exclusive-addicted world of big media: Will citizen journalists decide not to share what they see so they can sell an exclusive to a paper or TV show? If they share their material online first, doesn’t that lower the value of what they’re selling to media, because it’s no longer exclusive.

    But then one needs to wonder whether the age of the exclusive is over, now that we live in a world where every witness can be a reporter. That affects not only the citizen journalist — because while you’re trying to negotiate a high price for your images, the next guy with the camera phone is ready to sell his — but also the professional journalist, who now finds that his eyewitnesses are his competitors. The internet is a scarcity killer: Online, there is always somebody else who can tell the story, somebody else who can publish the story.

    Note that in the London bombings, the Guardian, the BBC, and other outlets asked for people to send them images — free — and they did. Many of these became iconic images of the event. Now if people hold back those images in hopes of selling them, they lose their immediacy and thus some of their value.

    I think that in major news events, the ethic of the web will prevail: People will share what they know.

    However….

    One place where money will be spent by big media is for pictures of celebrities taken by citizen paparazzi. A good shot of a kanoodling couple of stars on the beach will always be a scoop worth paying for.

  • What A list?

    31 comments on What A list?
    ,

    Nick Douglas at Blogebrity said it:

    What is “sucking up to the A-list“? What game does Lisa Stone of the BlogHer conference think bloggers have to play? Why do people bitch and moan about lists of popular bloggers, then grumble “but you have to do what they say”?

    What’s to suck up? Technorati’s top blog, Boing Boing, permanently links to one blog: Fark, hidden in a text link below a stack of ads. You can only earn temporary links from BB, by sending them something cool. Just find something they might like, and fill in “Your Website” on the suggestion form. Sometimes they’ll come around and find you; most likely if you’re also a coolhunter or techie or both. And if you’re not, why do you want Boing Boing readers anyway?…

    Building a reputation in blogdom isn’t about sucking up to an A-list. It’s about sharing tidbits with other bloggers, blog readers, forum members, and chatters who might enjoy them….

    You won’t build long-lasting fame and influence with a few blogroll links and a lucky meme find. You’ll build it with interesting, relevant discussion. And, as always, by writing something worth reading.

    The irony of complaining about “the A list” is that it gives that list value it doesn’t deserve. That is the point of this world:

    There is no A list. There is only your list.

    Sure, I’m glad to be on the Technorati top 100 — well, topo 50, by the skin of my teeth, actually, but who’s counting? Well, I am. Not that I’m bragging, though I am…

    But seriously, folks: It’s not the list that makes me happy. It’s the links. And though I’ll eagerly gobble up an Instalanche, it’s more rewarding to find someone new linking to me with something interesting to say or vice versa.

    It’s not about lists. It’s about links.

    And who made Technorati’s list the A list but the people who complain about it? Dave Sifry, who did indeed create the list based on his link data, emphasizes that by far the most links and traffic and conversation happen off of it.

    Nick started Blogebrity, remember, to poke fun at the list lust in blogs. He made up lists out of thin air and then watched people debate them as he sat, smirking. He did it to make a point.

    The worst thing about old media is that it is a closed club. We shouldn’t be making this new world into a collection of clubhouses.

    : Correction: Nick did not start Blogebrity. But he supped of the Kool-Aid.

    : LATER: Halley Suitt, who copresented the keynote Nick wrote about, scolds me for not linking to her about this. Well, I was reacting to Nick’s point. And besides, she did not even post about her own keynote until after she scolded me. Jeesh. Can’t win. All she said was this: “This thing just so rocks and is so fun. I am not gonna come close to describing it.” Rah Rah. Well, now that she did put up her notes, here is the link.

  • Dell hell: by the numbers

    60 comments on Dell hell: by the numbers
    ,

    Matt Galloway tries to do some analysis of the blog bitching about Dell after I started complaining about my lemon.

    dellgraph

    Says Matt:

    The interesting thing here is that once Jeff started attacking Dell – and others started talking about Jeff attacking Dell – the number of people that wrote post about Dell including at least one of Jeff’s negative words increased. Furthermore, these are generally not posts that are talking about Jarvis!

    In other words, he says that it contributed to bad buzz about Dell. Of course, there could also be other coincidental factors (like Dell closing a customer forum). And I think that a blogger bringing up a complaint you already have gives you the peg to mention that complaint yourself.

    Matt concludes:

    So is Jeff Jarvis bell cow or bellwether? Either way, I think Dell would be better off doing more that just listening.

    It’s cow week here at BuzzMachine.