‘At what point does this become our problem?’
Found randomly, read with pleasure:
It’s time for a new plan. What about allowing subscription cell phone updates for our best apps, or a choice for ad-supported and free? What about harvesting user information and allowing for targeted, premium advertising (the Facebook model)? What about sponsorship?
The journalists who are doing this kind of work are spilling over with ideas. We’re passionate. We love what we do and we want to keep doing it. And I honestly believe that if we started thinking about this, from Project Day 1, we’d come up with something that could work.
(From Matt Wynn, the data editor at the Springfield [Mo.] News-Leader.)
Categories: teaching
What about allowing subscription cell phone updates for our best apps, or a choice for ad-supported and free? What about harvesting user information and allowing for targeted, premium advertising (the Facebook model)? What about sponsorship?
Um, those would have to be some REALLY good apps. The Facebook model would also require a huge scale, and witness the blowback when Facebook tried to launch Beacon.
The sponsorship model (a la NPR/PBS) is probably the most likely to see some success in the long run, but it requires a higher commitment level from local readers/sponsors. Given the constant cuts in newsroom jobs at a lot of larger local newspapers, it’s going to be a tough sell.
But I’d love to see someone try all of these things and report back to us all.