The Christian Science Monitor is being faced with the same choice that the New York Times is facing: change or adapt. They’re wisely choosing adaptation, as word filters down through the blogosphere that the last print edition of the 100 year old national newspaper will soon come out.

The question remains as to whether they’ll be able to sustain their current staff and editorial output under the new format. The Christian Science Monitor’s website is sharply growing, and has substantial readership, but by no means is one of the leading outfits for online news.

The Monitor has always been a news outfit I’ve respected for their bias and aherance to their ethos to “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” Very few news organizations in any genre have remained steadfast to any guiding ethos, though the cynic might say that has been part of the downfall of the organization. There is no doubt that their aversion to scandal might cost them pageviews, but in a day where much of the much more visible news organization online and offline are becoming more known for pandering to the viewers than providing actual news, they might see a measure of success in staying the course.

How Do Their Numbers Look?

For some time, their online viewership has outstripped their hard-copy circulation. The Wikipedia reports that their circulation was only 56,083 for the daily print edition, where Quantcast puts their monthly pageviews at at two million, and unique visitors at over one million.

In terms of a general content strategy, it seems that they’re more or less on the right track, though if the focus is going to be for online only content, they may need to step up their efforts a bit in the social media department. They currently offer a variety of RSS feeds, including daily audio podcasts feeds as well.

Looking to promote themselves on social news services like Digg, Twitter and FriendFeed would serve them well, but we’ll give them a minute on that since they’re just now getting the hang of being an online only orgainzation.

Headcount and Other Costs

What’s likely to be of more importance is the headcount at the organization. Just as important for a New Media organization (which is what the Monitor should now be considered one of) as the the format is the organizational structure.  In general, Heritage Media organizations and newspapers in specificity have a very top-heavy editorial board.

The structure and staff of the Monitor isn’t published in fine detail, but based on what little they do let out about the structure, it appears that the staff of the organization is fairly lightweight as compared to most New Media organizations of similar size, though their writer compensation levels indicate that they’re definitely over-paying compared to your typical “A-List” blog.

According to ReadWriteWeb, the average top-tier blogger is paid between $10 and $200 per post, but according to the Monitor’s guidelines, they pay between $150 and $225. As they settle into the online space as a recognized name, they may see these rates decline a little, but they aren’t too far out of whack for an organization of their size.

They’re Gonna Make It After All

Given what they’re doing and their willingness to continue to push the edges of what’s possible for an online publication, it’s my opinion that we’ll be seeing quite a bit more of this news organization, and that they’ll be around for quite a while in their new format. It’s a little to early to say that they’re going to be the model of what a newspaper should look like as it makes it’s transition to New Media organization, but for those interested in this arena, this is definitely an organization to keep an eye on.

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People often speak of old and new media as a dichotomy, with stodgy network television channels and traditional newspapers on the one hand, and hip, technologically sophisticated youth on the other. But recently, old media –- in particular, large television outlets -– have been catching on. A recent post on Mashable noted that CNN is using Twitter to interact with viewers. I commented that Fox News Channel is also using Twitter and Facebook. Many traditional newspapers, national and local, are also using Twitter and other social software to various degrees.

Because I use my Comcast Cable DVR to watch shows on delay about 75% of the time, I found myself this morning viewing a national news show and realizing that I couldn’t interact with the hosts via Twitter, because I was an hour too late. Show hosts asking viewers to “Twitter your comments” is clearly the modern version of “calling in with your questions for our guest.” The key question I asked myself was, as more television media master their new media brands, will we find ourselves more likely to tune into their shows in real time?

The financial consequence of not using DVRs, or downloading the shows from a third-party website, or other new options, is that more people watching the real-time version means more viewer share, which in turn means more advertising revenue. People are more likely to engage the show in real time and therefore more likely to see traditional commercials. I don’t know if the gurus at television networks or advertising firms they work with are thinking about it this way yet, but it seems like a truism to me.

So what might be a strategy going forward? As an avid watcher of television, particularly political news, complex dramas, and reality shows, I could imagine many scenarios in which incentives are created to watch shows in real time – viewers pose questions for the guest, guide alternative dramatic scenes, or decide what challenge the players have to perform. How cool would it be to watch Donald Trump, Sr. using Twitter on a BlackBerry in the middle of the live Apprentice finale? And the advertising underbelly is that you are statistically more likely to purchase paper towels, basketball sneakers, or a dream vacation cruise.

With the increasingly “long tail” of niche television channels, magazines, and similar outlets only becoming more prevalent, it might behoove the “blockbuster” organizations like NBC to become the leaders in “old new media” to win some of that viewer share back. This summer, the startup social network and search site Searchles inked a deal with the venerable Washington Post to create social networks among people with common reading interests. Why not similarly network all the people who voted for Clay Aiken, are fans of Gossip Girl, or hate The View?

Mark Drapeau is an Associate Research Fellow at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy in Washington, DC. These views are his own and not the official policy or position of any part of the U.S. Federal Government.

(Image via Flickr/ dailyinvention)

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In another interview from the Los Angeles stop on the SummerMash tour, Aaron Novak, the host of all the on the road interviews, brings us a short conversation with Apple Levy from TheGreenGirls.tv, a new ecoblog centered in LA, but covering the worldwide green movement.

Her blog tries to put an entertainment spin on the green movement, covering the news and views from greentech, eco-friendly companies with the purpose to inspire folks to live a more ecology conscious lifestyle. Features on the site include not just the typical blogging fare on what’s new in business and the non-profit world, but features like a weekly video wrap-up, the eco-hottie of the week and tips for organic and healthy living.

Watch the interview by playing the embed below or downloading the MP4.

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It’s not often I say this, but Steve Rubel is onto something in his latest blog posting.  Most often when I write something about a post by Rubel, it involves hyphenated words “Kool-Aid”, “skunk-drunk”, and “off-base.”  Today, though, he’s struck up a meme on the changing role of the Public Relations person.  He bases his post off the supposition that we as bloggers simply don’t care to have our news spoon-fed to us any longer:

It’s my view that increasingly, bloggers (and maybe journos too) simply don’t want our help. Many bloggers - particularly those who cover tech - love to discover new things and experience them on their own, unaided by PR. Exhibit A: Robert Scoble. Note the joy of serendipity in his post. However he’s not alone by any means.

I know that when I write about news (which is not as often as I used to), I mostly do so if I discovered it on my own - as I did twice over the weekend. If I didn’t find it on my own or stumble upon it early myself, I don’t bother. I actually like the thrill of the chase and serendipity. I want to be first. This is something that has fueled the egos of reporters for years - partly because it sells. Heck, count me in.

He’s right.  Very often I get press releases that lead me to discoveries of my own, and the articles I write end up being far different from what the PR folks often wanted (much to their dismay, occasionally).

But Rubel then asks the question: “..what then for PR?”

I think I have the answer, or at least a observations from my recent interactions with PR folks on a regular basis. They’re serving as connectors to the businesses that employ them, it seems, as well as to the journalists they use to propagate their message. Instead of being sent press releases by public relations folks, I’m receiving friendly emails and phone calls letting me know about upcoming interesting tidbits of news, and increasingly I’m striking up conversations of a friendly nature that often have very little to do with what sort new thing their client may be doing.

It’s leading to all sorts of beneficial things that work towards advancing my goals as a journalist as well as for me as I wear my entrepreneurial hat. PR folks are in the business of knowing folks, and when I as a blogger and member of the press am able to establish good relationships with them, I’m able to not only hear about stuff from their clients, but ply them for information on general trends they may be seeing, or contacts at other relevant companies for stories I may be investigating.

It’s odd, because before coming into contact with so many PR professionals, I never would have imagined them as much of a resource for information other than the company lines of the organizations they represent. Those that position themselves in the mindset that they aren’t gatekeepers for information but connectors for entrepreneurs and resources for journalists will achieve the most success for the clients they do represent.

Not being gatekeepers means thinking less about the press release and more about the RSS and OPML file.  Being a connector is thinking in terms of what the public wants to hear and what the journalist likes to write as opposed to what shape and spin the story should have.

I won’t say it’s quid pro quo (you do me a favor on this story, and I’ll cover your client), but PR professionals who avail themselves to me definitely makes me more inclined to listen to the pitches they end up sending my way. Chances are, they’ll better understand the type of beat I’m most interested in covering and the pitches they send me will be actually, you know, targeted (as opposed to the scatter-shot of press releases most of us bloggers are used to).

It’s definitely becoming a new landscape, the further we tread into this whole New Media thing, and perhaps I’ve been lucky enough to assemble a set of contacts in the PR business who are a cut above the rest in their savvy, but their industry from my perspective seems to be evolving step for step with the changing nature of media itself.

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Let’s face it: Social media has become one of the hot buzzwords in tech circles. It used to be Web 2.0 and social networking, but now we have moved on to a broader term that encompasses not only social networking, but blogs, podcasts, user-generated content, social bookmarking, microblogging, and lifestreams. The rise of all these forms of new media has also created demand for people who can help companies position and market themselves within this new realm.

Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester Research has been compiling a list of people who hold social media jobs. The list is nowhere near comprehensive, but the company hiring social media marketers, community managers, strategists, specialists, and consultants is impressive. Microsoft, IBM, Intel, GM, Cisco, AMD, Nationwide, MTV, and Google are only the beginning of this list. Companies big and small are hiring people at a rapid pace for social media roles.

But a year or three from now, will companies still be hiring for these positions? Should you be adding to your credentials so you can market yourself as a social media expert? Are social media jobs a fad or are they here to stay?

To answer that question, you really to have ask a different question: What’s the point of a social media job? Read the job description for any social media job listing and you’ll come across evangelist, community, marketing, engagement, and viral quite often. The jargon, though, can be summed up in two words: retention and growth.

Companies generally have one overarching goal: to increase profits. And anyone can tell you that keeping current customers (or users) and adding new ones is directly related to that single goal. These two things, keeping current users happy and adding new users, are the purposes of social media jobs.

And that’s why these jobs are here to stay.

Social media allows people to spread their message to hundreds, if not thousands, of friends, followers, and strangers. Some companies can only dream of that kind of reach, while others pay millions in advertising for the same effect. Digg allows a website to emerge from obscurity to prominence and Twitter allows a company to respond to customer complaints quickly (I’ve had personal experience with Comcast’s Twitter account).

As more social media tools pop up and current ones expand, the need to respond and promote to a growing online community will only grow. Companies that simply ignore the blogs and social media risk huge public debacles and lost revenue (just ask Sony how bad it can get).

Even if the title changes, the role of the social media marketer or manager is not going anywhere. Building community, reaching out to potential customers, building stronger relationships, creating buzz - they are fundamental goals to every company. So long as people use social media to share their thoughts and their complaints, the need for people to fill social media jobs will continue to grow.

And the companies that fill those roles now will be ahead of the game.

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As far as content management tools go, CushyCMS is rather new to the scene, having […]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “CushyCMS Adds Pro Accounts, Upgrades Free Version”, url: “http://mashable.com/2008/05/19/cushycms-pro-accounts/” });

Source:Mashable!
A lot of folks would preface an “I told you so” with “I hate to say it.”  I love to say it, particularly in this case.  I’ve been beating silly the New Media pinata, and things are really starting to fall out of it.  I’ve been hearing a whole lot of positive news regarding payment […]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “TV Viewers Go Online: See, I Told You So”, url: “http://mashable.com/2008/05/19/new-media-pwn-old-media/” });

Since their introduction, social network sites (SNSs) such as MySpace, Facebook, Linkedin, and Bebo have attracted millions of users, many of whom have included these sites into their daily practices. As of this writing, there are a number of Social networks with various technological affordances, supporting a wide range of interests and practices, I have written for. But the more I wrote the more I realized there is much to mention.

Today each and every one of us is more or less a part of different social networking sites. Did we ever imagine that this social networking model will be part of social communities to such as extent that it would consequence the way most of the companies and individuals function today?

Let’s take a look at how Social networks emerged on web.

From the year 1997 to 2001, a number of community tools began supporting various combinations of profiles and publicly articulated Friends. AsianAvenue, BlackPlanet, and MiGente allowed users to create personal, professional, and dating profiles—users could identify Friends on their personal profiles without seeking approval for those connections Likewise, shortly after its launch in 1999, LiveJournal listed one-directional connections on user pages. LiveJournal’s creator suspects that he fashioned these Friends after instant messaging buddy lists on LiveJournal, people mark others as Friends to follow their journals and manage privacy settings. The Korean virtual worlds site Cyworld was started in 1999 and added SNS features in 2001, independent of these other sites.

In particular, the people behind Ryze, Tribe.net, LinkedIn, and Friendster were tightly tangled personally and professionally. They believed that they could support each other without competing. In the end, Ryze never acquired mass popularity, Tribe.net grew to attract a passionate niche user base, LinkedIn became a powerful business service, and Friendster became the most significant, if only as "one of the biggest disappointments in Internet history".

Later Friendster, MySpace, and Facebook stood out as three key SNSs that shaped the business, cultural, and research landscape.

How did Social Networking sites hit the mainstream? 

Year 2003 saw the launch of a number of social networking sites. Most of them were more profile centric, trying to replicate the early success of Friendster. While socially-organized SNSs seek broad audiences, professional sites such as LinkedIn, Visible Path, and Xing (formerly openBC) focus on business people. Young and passion-centric sites SNSs like Dogster helped strangers connect based on shared interests. Care2 helps activists meet, Couchsurfing connects travelers to people with couches, and MyChurch joins Christian churches and their members. Furthermore, as the social media and user-generated content phenomena grew, websites focused on media sharing began implementing SNS features and becoming SNSs themselves. Examples include Flickr (photo sharing), Last.FM (music listening habits), and YouTube (video sharing).

With the surplus of venture-backed startups launching in Silicon Valley, few people paid attention to SNSs that gained popularity elsewhere, even those built by major corporations. For example, Google’s Orkut failed to build a sustainable U.S. user base, but a "Brazilian invasion" made Orkut the national SNS of Brazil. Microsoft’s Windows Live Spaces also launched to lukewarm U.S. reception but became extremely popular elsewhere.

While MySpace was not launched with bands in mind, they were welcomed. Indie-rock bands from the Los Angeles region began creating profiles, and local promoters used MySpace to advertise VIP passes for popular clubs. Intrigued, MySpace contacted local musicians to see how they could support them. Bands were not the sole source of MySpace growth, but the symbiotic relationship between bands and fans helped MySpace expand beyond former Friendster users.

Social Network’s impact on New Media

Social networking sites are one of the main reasons why New Media is becoming so involved in our everyday lives.  This is because within these sites, media outlets are able to direct Internet users to their specific websites, as well as being able to advertise in a more dynamic and interactive manner.  Social networking sites are also the main reasons behind the new phenomenon of internet celebrities.  It is easy to say that without social networking sites, New Media wouldn’t be as involved in our everyday lives as it is today.  New Media is an ever evolving method, and with the introduction of social networking sites into our daily online lives, media is now beginning to transform once more.  It seems that with every new online innovation, the way the media reaches out to its public changes, and this is true with social networking sites.

Think of this way, what if we create a Daily soap with viewer voting. What if they are produced solely by the capabilities of the contestants themselves, without the expertise and talent of the show’s producers, directors, writers, etc. As talented and entertaining as the contestants are, the resulting production quality, the level of emotional engagement, viewership/ratings and monetization potential of the full package would likely be far inferior to what we all see on the air today. Well, social networks should be seen in a similar way, people want to express themselves and the platforms that allow them to do so with the most creativity and production value, are the ones that people will flock to.

I believe that the New Media will soon see a true advancement though social networking sites In the years to come. After writing this blog on emergence of Social networks and New media, Im sure I have had an opportunity to create a special-interest on this concept.

I believe that new media is correct in identifying the social networking trend as the next important opportunity they can grab. And though not all the sites are blockbuster hits, they still could serve a very important purpose within online social community and make some money while they are at it.