Fortune Encourages You To Tell Your Recession Story

Fortune, like many publications recently published an article highlighting ten unemployed Americans, and their search for a new job “Fortune: The New Jobless“. (Disclaimer: I was one of the 10 featured in the article) Like most articles, Fortune included a link that enables readers an opportunity to “discuss” what they’ve read.

However, instead of discussing the stories that are contained within the article, Fortune opted to encourage readers to engage with the article, and publication in a different way: by sharing their own story.

To me, this creative use of social media enables users to engage with the content in a much more intimate way; and, in turn, creates much more genuine commentary.

After the jump? Snippets from Fortune’s “Talkback: Tell Your Recession Story”

Another Twitter Post — Crowdstatus

Looking to capitalize on Twitter as a news source? Why not give CrowdStatus’s NewspaperStatus a shot?

The site aggregates all of the current news tweets in one handy, post-it type layout, encouraging you to dip your toes in the news-media ocean (as opposed to the trickling stream you might get when you add each to your Twitter page).

The site is pretty comprehensive and incorporates almost all of the news outlets you would expect, and many you wouldn’t. Seems like a natural progression from old media to new media– it’s like your own personal news database.

For those of you not interested in newspapers, you can create your own crowdsource, and incorporate whatever tweets you might want to keep tabs on.

I can only imagine the total impact of a site like this within a crime fighting realm– think Amber Alerts gone global– the reach is much further than the signs on the freeway if alerts are sent straight to a user’s cell phone.

Digg-ing up Old Media

Tech Crunch reported today  that sites like Digg are driving more traffic to traditional news sites rather than blog and UGC news sites.

This research essentially validates the idea that consumers, no matter how tech savvy and “on the cusp” they may be, still trust traditional sources more than anonymous bloggers who might share relevant news.

With readership of formal news sites decreasing, what criteria must a current blogger or news site satisfy in order for them to be considered a viable news source? At what point does traditional media pass the torch, or, bridge the gap between new and old media.

Blogs are the first step, but what about unconventional partnerships? 

Old media eats new media for breakfast. And likes it.

Back when YouTube started you had to have friends who were “in the know” to know which viral vids were hot. Most of your time was spent filtering through crappy videos, campaigns, and lame flash sites, looking for the “next big thing”—early thrill seekers were pioneers and innovators in knowing what was hot.

Unable to effectively tackle the newest frontier, old media instead reported on the downsides of new media—security breaches, pedophiles, emotional disorders related to MySpace profiles, etc.  But it seems as though the tables are turning.

Old media pioneers (think: newspapers and magazines) have become heat sensors in their own right—scouring the net for what’s going to be the next big thing, and publishing short blurbs on it, rather than devoting full pages of investigation to the latest YouTube saga.

In the last two weeks, I’ve seen blurbs on: the girl who cried at Wall-E, Miley Cyrus’ dance-off, and the ball-girl video  – each of which are viral clips or phenomena that were brought to my attention not via a YouTube link, but instead, via a news link (what you see above).

This might not mean much, but to me, this means the industry is changing. “New Media” is quickly becoming more manageable, and “Old Media” giants are finally aware of the risks they face if they don’t embrace it.

It’s a slippery slope, but I can’t wait to see what happens next. 

Getting the party started

Almost a year ago I finished my thesis on UGC and viral media, convinced I’d update it regularly with new happenings and permutations of the industry. As you probably could guess, it didn’t happen, mostly because of the inherent irony in place.

Irony is: thinking you can write about a new media program in an old media space.
Irony is: realizing that the easiest way to tackle an academic subject is to remove the academia from the subject and shoot straight from the hip.

So here we go: my latest endeavor in front of me: a blog, instead of a wiki, instead of a thesis, on a supersaturated market in a saturated infrastructure.

Let’s talk new media.