SCHWARTZ CROSSROADS

From left to right: Whitmore, Knorr, Thomas, Fried, Patton

The panel generated an animated discussion about the changing face of the media industry. The panelists paid particular attention to the enormous pressures that journalists and their editors face to quickly post the news of the day, regardless of source verification or fact checking in order to drive page views that can be monetized. Over the course of the event, the panel discussion covered four main areas:

• Page views—It was no surprise to attendees that publishers are measuring page views, especially for online only sites. But as Thomas commented, you need to know your audience and have a clear vision of the audience you want to create. To illustrate the point, Thomas said that since joining VentureBeat as executive editor a month ago, he hasn’t checked the page views yet as he first focuses on refining his vision. See this mediabistro post for his thoughts on this topic.

• Audience creation—Today writers stand on their own, as audiences are no longer built-in like they were with print publications. Most traffic to stories is driven by stand-alone links, not the publication’s homepage. Some publications have a formal policy requiring journalists to tweet, as is the case with InfoWorld. Others like Fried aren’t required to use Twitter but do it automatically; creating an audience is what reporters do.

• Rise of bots—Bots make SEO critical. Knorr said “If you don’t optimize for SEO, you die.” Thomas said “Computers are making humans easier to use,” underscoring the idea that bots can control the exposure to certain thoughts humans put out there. Techmeme founder Gabe Rivera was in the audience and shared tips on how to be at the top of Techmeme:

-Identify the holes in what’s out there. If an article fills a void, it will generate an audience.

-Consider posting more thoughtful, analysis pieces on the weekend to avoid the competition with breaking news. By saving it for a slower time, it may reach more people.

-Titles must be clear to readers so they can scan online headlines and identify what is worth reading to them.

• Competition with newsmakers—The newsmakers today can publish direct and circumvent the news media altogether. Steve Jobs’ recent statement that outlines why the company would no longer offer Flash support is an example of this new competition.  As Thomas mentioned, Jobs’ Thoughts on Adobe quickly rose to the top of Techmeme and eclipsed “the news” of the day.

It’s a brave new world. Journalists—like technology executives and technology PR professionals—are learning how to use today’s tools to their advantage in telling important stories, developing their brand and creating audiences. They are sharing best practices at work and helping each other to figure out how to succeed in a dynamic environment. That said, it was clear from the discussion and audience Q&A that followed, the underlying foundation of good journalism remains unchanged. To paraphrase Fried: “a good journalist has to bring something new to the table.”

This is the same advice we give to clients every day who want to raise their exposure in the media: what insight on a particular topic do you have to share that is new, thought provoking and not just a rehash of what’s out there?  For journalist and clients alike, there’s always a place for quality content and fresh perspectives.