They're punks, and we're not (but we have to be)

I'm mere pages into the Richard Laermer/Mark Simmons book "Punk Marketing" and so far, it's well worth the read.

Now, the book relates to audience segmentation via new media and how it affects the business of marketing, but the principles also can apply to the journalism, which is facing the same problems re: saturation of the market and the rapid development on niche publishing that's stealing market share from the mass-market-friendly print publications.

Long and short of it: Bloggers and other online upstarts are the Sex Pistols. Us? Think Barry Manilow. Or maybe, if we're being generous, Donna Summer.

In the late seventies, punk was a shot heard around the radio as a beyond-refreshing change from the tired old formulaic music of the time. It was a call to action, a demand for revolt delivered in our own language. The punk rock that burst rudely onto the scene ... was replete with energy and vitality and shook the complacent music industry to its core and scared the crap out of disco-infused freaks that were running/ruining the whorish record business.

The records were raw and unstructured and had the unmistakable feel of something created with glee by the people for the people.

A few important pieces from these two simple paragraphs:

• "A demand for revolt delivered in our own language": Blogs are written in the plainest of language, often in short, easily-digested bites, and they are — truth told — often a bit profane. (Or at least PG-13.) In other words, they read like a lot of people talk.

Contrast with even the best daily journalism, which is written in as neutral a tone as possible and then thoroughly edited, often by 2-3 ever-more-cautious editors, usually with an eye toward not offending anyone ...

The result? The stories don't sound like people talking. They sound like stereo instructions.

• "Energy and vitality": This is, at least in part, another by-product of the above.

Bloggers tell you what they know when they know it. They go back and add stuff as they go, correcting errors (and providing clarification) where necessary.

Traditional reporting involves gathering all the facts, checking them, then putting them through the editing process.

Safe, to be sure, but the end product is often lacking in both energy and vitality.

• "Complacent music industry": I'm using this more as a backhanded swipe at the news industry, which (as a whole) indeed did slumber through most of the Web's earliest stages of development ...

Even today, many papers seem more concerned about protecting their own turf than blazing new trails.

Bloggers (and other new media types) have no such concerns. They can try new stuff constantly, and they'll figure out what works ... even while the rest of us are just creeping into the game.

• "Raw and unstructured ... created with glee": The enthusiasm many of these bloggers bring to the party can't be matched by something as mundane as professional obligation.

That comes across in the writing every bit as much as in the content.

A shorter way to put it: Blogs can be fun. Even blogs about wonky/serious stuff.

Why? Driven by their own passions, the bloggers make it that way. (See, also, the aforementioned ability to experiment and try new things.)

In traditional newswriting, fun has its place ... but it's a fairly limited, even segregated place.

ALL THAT SAID, as a metaphor, this "punk rock" thing has its flaws.

Punk wasn't the first "for the people" music form to come down the pike ... although, arguably, the loudest ... and it wasn't even the most recent. (Rap, anyone?)

I would argue the online revolution is significantly more profound, in ways we haven't even imagined yet, and the bloggers are just the first wave of whatever's coming next.

But, hopefully, this thing can help you sort of frame exactly what we're up against here, and why now, it's more important than ever that you start to understand blogs, and what makes them tick.

• "Punk Marketing"

Learn a little HTML ...

Pat Thornton, who like me is a native of the Cleveland area (although he was born while I was in high school), publishes a blog under the name "The Journalism Iconoclast."

Today's topic is A little HTML never hurt anybody, and I heartily second that.

His contention is that journalists should, at a minimum, know how to bold-face, italicize, and embed links.

But of course, y'all know how to do that, right?

Summing up his post: "Many journalists are already being asked to blog. Can you imagine blogging without knowing how to make a proper link?"

I'm resisting the urge to make a snarky comment, so let's shut it down for the week.

Talk to y'all later ...

• A little HTML never hurt anybody

What's Fair Use?

MediaShift Idea Lab has posted an overview of what constitutes "Fair Use." The fuller version of what they're overviewing can be found at the Citizen Media Law Project blog.

To boil it down further, here's what appears to be the nut graphs:

While there is no definitive test for determining whether your use of another's copyrighted work is a fair use, there are several things you can do to minimize your risk of copyright liability:

1. Use only as much of the copyrighted work as is necessary to accomplish your purpose or convey your message;

2. Use the work in such a way that it is clear that your purpose is commentary, news reporting, or criticism;

3. Add something new or beneficial (don't just copy it -- improve it!);

4. If your source is nonfiction, limit your copying to the facts and data; and

5. Seek out Creative Commons or other freely licensed works when such substitutions can be made and respect the attribution requests in those works.

It's good to keep these things in mind.

• MediaShift Idea Lab
• Citizen Media Law Project

No more training?

Yoinks.

Actually, the part of the post by Paul Conley (from his blog about business-to-business journalism) that really grabbed my shirt collar was a recap of a posting he made two years ago:

at this point, you can't blame the boss for not teaching these things. The difficult truth is that people who can't insert a hyperlink, who won't read a blog, who don't know how to work with Photoshop and can't upload a video file just aren't worth having around anymore.

He decries the fact some journalists don't seem eager to explore the Web on their own, and that if you're not eager enough to learn on your own, you don't belong anymore.

And, in a manner of speaking, I can't argue with him. Teenagers (and tweens) learn this stuff on their own in bedrooms around America. Who are we to complain that — because we don't have a formal training room established complete with a syllabus and someone to hold our hand — we can't figure things out?

Now, even he concedes that training is helpful, but what really comes across in his sense of urgency. I don't think he's panicking.

Far from it.

• Fighting Hole Tactics: Part One -- No More Training

• Teaching Online Journalism: No room for Web newbies?


(UPDATE: Steve Yelvington weighs in)

This is belated, but ...

This was posted on numerous sites, so there's a chance you've seen it already, but I really like the spirit behind this list, posted on howardowens.com, that aims to jolt your more traditional print journalists into the digital age.

Since y'all are reading this here, I'm presuming you've already taken care of item No. 1, but the rest of the list is pretty awesome, too.

(I'd especially pay attention to Nos. 6 and 7 ... social bookmarking and RSS readers are going to be a big part of what comes next, and the sooner you start understanding these things, the better.)

• 2008 objectives for today’s non-wired journalist

So, why exactly are we doing this again?

This one's primarily for the newspaper side bloggers, but it's probably a question everybody has to ask from time to time.

Why are we blogging?

It's not usually framed in that fashion. More often, it's a reaction instead of a question. It usually comes from someone upset with pageviews, or general public reaction (or lack of it), and said person reacts with the "This isn't worth my time" matra.

Let me be clear on this, as clear as I can be: Even if nobody reads your blog, even if the audience just feels like it's not there and there's no point to this, IT IS WORTH YOUR TIME.

Why? I could go into a long diatribe about "Long Tail" economics and the new media world ... and all that would be valid ... but this post is going to be long enough already.

Instead, I'll push THIS concept: Because we learn by doing.

And, to paraphrase a quote I heard last week, understanding blogging is to understand the direction journalism is going.

Let's break down a list of what people are expecting more and more of as they grow accustomed to getting their news online. All of these are items that a well-executed blog is already providing:

Speed: People aren't waiting until 5 p.m., let alone 6 a.m. anymore to get the details to the stories they care about. Well-executed blogs operate in that fashion, quite often providing information as it's coming in ... providing transparency about where the information is coming from ... and updating as needed.

Choice of Delivery: Mark this down: The ability to choose how news and information is delivered to oneself is going to be a key issue within the next few years ... if not sooner. RSS feeds and other forms of aggregation are only going to become more important as we progress.

Don't understand RSS? Figure it out. Now. I use reader.google.com. I recommend it.

Interaction: The era of "We talk, you listen" is over for journalists. People are going to be more and more inclined to leave their two cents. Respect it or not, reader commentary is only going to grow. (Certainly in some markets faster than others, but best to grow accustomed.)

Specialization: With mass media facing troubling times, people expect to know more about the things they care about. It might not yield massive pageviews, but a narrow focus — in popular parlayance, your niche — is a stronger way to connect with people. In my experience, the people who are blogging about things I never thought anyone would care about tend to get more personal feedback than people who are blogging about more general, popular items.

Thoroughness: Even while people want more specialized content, they want pretty much everything they can find about it. If you don't have it? Link to it. Where it's coming from is of less concern than finding it. If your source is a reliable, updated source for info, they'll revisit you (or subscribe to your feed), even if you're not the one doing all the heavy lifting each time out.

Intimacy: As a collective effect from the other items on this list — and as a definite by-product of the growing strength of social networking sites — people are expecting a more personal, one-to-one experience in media.

This is far from an exhaustive list, but ... again ... if you learn how to blog, and blog effectively, it's going to be easier for you to deal with these various trends, no matter the medium in which you're operating down the line.