Chat with a producer, beat writer or editor these days about what they’re interested in and the first word you’ll likely hear is “exclusives.” The “background” conversation usually goes something like this:
Executive or PR Guy: So what are you really following these days; any ideas what you may be looking at in the near future?
Pay-by-exclusives Reporter: What I’m really interested in right now is exclusives.
Executive or PR Guy: Great, yeah, I’ve seen a few of yours. You following the high speed Internet race?
Pay-by-exclusives Reporter: You have exclusive information there?
Executive or PR Guy: No, no inside information here or anything to announce, but what Google is doing will certainly shake-up things.
Pay-by-exclusives Reporter: “Google planning to shake-up telecom industry,” I may run with that on wire. You haven’t shared with others right?
Executive or PR Guy: Umm
Pay-by-exclusives Reporter: Don’t worry, you can trust me, how do you think I get all these exclusives? Going to chat with some other folks now before I file, thanks.
Albeit a bit exaggerated, it gives you a look at the extent of focus on exclusives these days (even if they’re not necessarily real yet) at all the major news services: Dow Jones, Reuters, AP and Bloomberg. Flatly, if they’re not breaking news, it’s not news. And if you’re (reporter) not producing news – you’re fired.
I’ve covered it before, but what is really changing is how tightly intertwined breaking news stories are with compensation and job safety.
And as Gawker covered this morning, it’s coming to a head within the walls of these news organizations. Following in the footsteps of the “breaking news points” system established by Bloomberg, the competitive field has established similar standards.
However, Gawker is reporting that AP staffers are planning to fight back against this “culture of fear.”
Our AP source says a majority of the staff — 90 percent, this person claims — are about to send a jointly-signed letter to Business Editor Hal Ritter accusing him of “installing a culture of fear.”
Will it help? Probably not. It’ not the management of these news organizations that are making these rules, it’s the market. Speed of “important” information, is the only revenue driver news organizations have left on the Web (unless they put up that wall). You can’t put the genie back in the bottle at this point. Unless these news organizations move towards some sort of non-profit model, it will only get more competitive and more fearful for the paid-journalists that remain.
Via the guys at PRNewser, here’s a video of AP planning editor Jon Resnick and Associated Press Editor Donna Cassata talking about what it takes to pitch a news story to the AP.
Last year at Fortune’s Brainstorm: Tech I watched News Corp. digital czar Jon Miller talk almost glowing of the new talent News Corp. was bringing into MySpace. It was just two months after the hiring of Facebook’s Owen Van Natta as CEO and without mentioning him by name, Miller appeared to lay out the case for why Van Natta was the man to lead MySpace forward:
“You can’t do everything and you can’t do it all yourself. You have to look outside in addition to within. You must be focused. We are focused on music, games and video. You can’t play catch-up. It requires a top-to-bottom (culture) shift. Part of the idea of bringing in the new team was to make this shift. We’re going to make a culture that is product focused, entrepreneurial and dedicated to continued innovation.”
However, maybe it was telling that Miller refereed to “them” as a team and not Van Natta as the lone savior. Because now, only 6 months later, Van Natta is out of a job and MySpace COO, Mike Jones, and chief product officer, Jason Hirschhorn (both handpicked for the “team” by Miller) appear to be at the helm of a still-teetering ship.
Kara Swisher of All Things Digital (a News Corp owned publication)reports that contrary to public statements, Miller fired Van Natta after all day meetings on Wednesday. In his internal memo to staffers, first picked-up by PaidCotent (in-full below), Miller noted that Van Natta was “stepping down,” while praising the efforts of Jones and Hirschhorn.
He did however, give some credit to Van Natta for a slight revival for MySpace, noting “We added over 1.5 million users and grew significantly in time spent last month – as a result of many of his efforts.”
So why the abrupt exit if they were headed in the right direction? One obvious reason is that Rupert Murdoch is still not happy where MySpace is. He publicly noted in a recent earnings call that “It’s (MySpace) not where we want it.” During that same call, the company highlighted that its digital media group dropped $32 million from a year earlier – largely due to marketers moving away from MySpace and into Facebook. But what can they do with it at this point?
The new team’s vision appeared to be focused on music and gaming. MySpace still has the in into Hollywood and New York. But with shrinking traffic, can they build subscription services into the mix? There have been rumors about a music subscription service but nothing has been announced publicly. Without that, the site appears to be a niche site that won’t be a revenue maker for the company. Could they on-load it? Maybe a Russian investor like Digital Sky Technologies (investor in Facebook) would be interested speculate media insiders, but I’m not sure what other appetite is out there for MySpace in its current state.
But perhaps the bigger question is where will Van Natta end up? Perhaps, Twitter?
Today we announced that Owen Van Natta is stepping down as MySpace’s CEO. Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn, who have each done a great job from both an operational and product perspective, are being elevated to co-Presidents and will assume Owen’s responsibilities. While this may be a surprising turn of events for some of you, I am absolutely confident that this change is best for all parties involved and – most importantly – the MySpace business. Owen took on an incredible challenge in assuming leadership of MySpace during a difficult period. He has worked to refocus and revitalize the company, and I believe MySpace is pointed in the right direction and gaining valuable momentum – we added over 1.5 million users and grew significantly in time spent last month – as a result of many of his efforts. However, in discussing with Owen his priorities for the future both personally and professionally, we both agreed that it was best that he step down at this time. I am grateful to Owen for his hard work, and I ask that you join me in wishing him well in the future. His departure is effective immediately, as are the appointments of both Mike and Jason.
I will leave it to Mike and Jason to communicate to all of you their excitement about the future and their priorities for the business going forward, but I would like to express my confidence in their ability to lead MySpace into this new and promising chapter. Since joining in April, their efforts on both the operational and product development fronts have been vital to our recent progress.
Thank you all for your continued hard work, and please join me in congratulating Mike and Jason on their new roles, and in wishing Owen all the best in the future.
Best,
Jon
Office of Jonathan Miller
Chairman & CEO, News Corp. Digital Media Group
Chief Digital Officer, News Corporation
Now that we’ve had almost 48 hours to recover from the Superbowl and a full share of the “Manning face,” it’s time to take a look at the very best commercials from the big game. After all, it is the only three hours of television that isn’t skipped over these days thanks to TiVo and DVR.
Below is a list of our top 10 favorite commercials divided into three categories. Tell us what you think – what was your favorite commercial?
Today Facebook turns 6 years old. While most 6 year olds are navigating the perilous world of first grade and still learning to dress themselves, Facebook is a prodigy.
It’s hard to remember a time when Facebook wasn’t a part of our every day lives. Now when you meet someone new, you “friend” them. When you want to keep someone from knowing what’s happening in your life, you “defriend” them. When you take pictures at a celebration or on vacation you exclaim, “Don’t worry, I’ll tag you!” When you want to wish a friend a happy birthday, you post to their Facebook wall, maybe you even send a Facebook gift (maybe you even rely on Facebook to tell you when their birthday is).
It’s hard to recall those early days when you had to be a Harvard student to access the site. The gates slowly began to creep open allowing other Ivy League students, and finally anyone with a college email address. Now people of all ages, across the globe need only their email address to access the world’s most talked about social networking site.
What is perhaps the most surprising development in the past 6 years is the way Facebook has impacted business. If you are a consumer facing brand and you do not have a Facebook group or fan page, you do not exist. Consumers are searching for companies and services via Facebook because that is where they spend most of their time online. Businesses have begun to push out major news via Facebook, drive traffic to their Facebook page via television commercials, and even offer special Facebook-only promotions.
Technology writer Jessi Hempel wrote a superb piece for Fortune Magazine, “Facebook Turns 6!” on the six ways Facebook has dramatically impacted our lives.
What is your topic pick for how Facebook has changed the game?
Jonathan Schwartz was a trailblazer in leveraging the Internet as the platform for influencing others with his ideas. As CEO at Sun Microsystems, he was the first Fortune 500 CEO to open up his own blog. It seems fitting then that he’s the first Fortune 200 CEO to resign via Twitter.
His short Haiku tweet (pictured above) illustrates both the good and bad of having visionary leaders at the control of their own digital communications. In one sense, it’s incredibly authentic for his former employees and customers. On the other hand, the communications folks at the newly merged Oracle-Sun are probably less than pleased that Mr. Schwart’z haiku beat an amicable separation statement.
As the Internet continues to push ahead as the leading thought leadership platform for both Internet visionaries (have you seen The Gates Notes?), and those looking to leverage the Internet for more power, the question remains – what role do communicators play? Would Schwartz have benefited from communicators that could contribute, shape context and augment his opinions? Maybe and maybe not (At least up until his last tweet). However, there aren’t too many CEO’s willing and able to take the time and effort needed to build the following that Schwartz did online.
Yesterday Boston Celtics forward Sheldon Williams sent out a tweet with very little information: “Man when it rains it pours!!! Yall will find out what I mean soon!!!!”
Within minutes, NBC and Celtics blogs began speculating what he could be talking about. The first assumption that quickly picked up steam and David Aldridge of NBA.com soon reported that Paul Pierce had a broken foot and would miss a large part of the remainder of the season. People on Twitter were RT’ing each other recklessly, blogs were posting this information at reckless speeds, and this had all come from one very vague tweet.
The something happened – the Celtics put out a statement contradicting the Twitter buzz. It said that Pierce strained his foot and was listed day-to-day. This news was quite different from what was being circulated on the Internet.
Maybe Sheldon Williams was indeed talking about Pierce’s injury – just for the mere fact that he was hurt. Maybe he was talking about something else basketball related, or maybe it was a totally separate subject. In any case, many media members have become so focused on breaking the story first that the accuracy of what they’re reporting suffers.
I don’t blame the reporters for this – they’re just trying to earn a living and make a name for themselves. It’s the structure of reporting that has initiated this change. Twitter’s popularity and 140 character posts have simplified reporting to quick announcements that don’t need sources attached to them. It’s allowed reporters to broadcast news to a large audience quickly and claim their dominance of the story before getting into the details and writing a full article. Often times this is great – it enables people to get information so quickly, like during Apple’s iPad announcement. However, as we saw in this case yesterday, it also increases blind assumptions sacrifices accuracy.
In what may be a sign of things to come, Inc. magazine is leaving its plush Greenwich Street digs in Manhattan (which includes one of the best views on the island), and hitting the virtual road – at least for the foreseeable future.
In what the magazine is promoting as “a little experiment” to see if an established business can become a virtual office, Mansueto Ventures (parent company to Inc. and Fast Company) is kicking its Inc. staffers to home or nearby hotels.
One wonders if the move is really “a little experiment” to see if a virtual news room can work; with an eye towards ridding themselves of what must be very expensive property in Wall Street. However, there is no word of Fast Company staffers making the move as well (they share the space).
Mansueto isn’t the only media owner conscious of high-figure “space” costs, which can no longer be offset by media revenues. Steve Forbes just unloaded Forbes iconic 5th street offices to NYU and the New York Times has been executing on sales-leaseback plans with its new New York Times building.
Although it puts a damper on desk side chats and media tours, fans of the Inc. (like myself) should root for the experiment to succeed. If they can’t make it outside New York, they can’t make it anywhere.
In addition to his post as Chief Executive Officer of a major teaching hospital in a world renowned medical hub, he is also the founder and author of a health care blog called Running a Hospital and is an active Twitter user from the handle @PaulFLevy.
We met with Paul yesterday afternoon to hear about his social media success and naturally, to pick his brain.
Paul began his talk by saying, “All communications from a company should reflect that company’s values.” Agree.
He went on to say that, “At our place, the mission is to treat our patients the way we would want a member of our own family treated.” Agree again. As a side note, Paul continually referred to BIDMC as “our place,” giving a sincere sense of responsibility, community and family to the place he drives into each morning for work.
Given his position on corporate communication, and his company’s mission, in 2006 he decided he’d like to start a blog; a blog that reflected the company’s values and furthered their mission. Thus, Running a Hospital was born.
One of the first blog posts Paul published that caused quite a stir, publically disclosed central line infection rates at the hospital. The hospital staff had set a goal to lower infection rates, and Paul wanted to share their progress. He didn’t ask permission, he just posted it. Does that make you nervous?
The response did something miraculous. Knowing that their success was being publically documented, the medical staff felt an additional resurgence and enthusiasm for meeting their goal. Paul said, “That was the moment I like to say I invented transparency as a management tool.”
Not only did he see the blog as opportunity to motivate and reward his staff, but he had another idea. What if all the other areas hospital also posted their infection rates? Let’s just say, the response was not positive. I believe the word Paul used was “hostile.” No surprise here, as the BIDMC team committed to reducing their rates and sharing their progress, other hospitals felt threatened and exposed. Hello, competitive edge.
While they may have started to position themselves uniquely from the other local hospitals by sharing information on the blog, did it impact their business and revenue?
You bet it did. The Vanguard health system began to send its patients to the BIDMC emergency room instead of a competitor they had long been referring their patients to. This referral shift caused a 10% increase in patient volume. Not too shabby.
You bet. When speaking to reporters at the Boston Globe, New York Times and Wall Street Journal, Paul will frequently begin to tell a story and the reporter will interrupt and say, “I know, I read it on your blog.”
When I asked why he chose to communicate through a blog, Paul asks, “Why wouldn’t I use a tool like this? I can share my point of view with a much larger audience than I ever could via a medium like say, the telephone.” He also goes on to say, “A blog is a lower risk method of communication. There is no risk of being misquoted.” If you are wondering if he really writes each post himself, he says, “I assure you my media team does not write these posts, in fact, I get in trouble for scooping reporters on stories without knowing it! I get the idea to write about something, and I do.”
When asked how patients have responded to the blog, Paul shares that, “Patients seem to enjoy the blog. Several of them have sent me their personal stories and when I ask permission to share the stories via the blog they always say yes. Then they forward it to everyone they know.” I think we’ve all been guilty of that type of family email!
Paul’s social media reach extends far beyond the blog. He is an active Twitter user with over 2,900 followers. He only follows 170 people which he explains are, “people I trust and who I am interested in. Their tweets have become my news stream. Twitter has become my librarian.”
Paul is also an active user of Facebook. In fact, during his talk he encouraged everyone in the room to “friend” him. He shared that he receives comments and messages from employees and friends in their twenties who he would otherwise never hear from via corporate email. He is on Facebook to reach people where they are, via the mode of communication they identify with.
Paul has also worked with his team on pages on the social networking site Grateful Nation. They have an employee challenge to see who can raise the most funds for relief efforts in Haiti. They also have a team running the Boston Marathon and that team has put their fundraising pages on Grateful Nation.
Paul Levy is a man who rather than fear the uncontrollable nature of social media has decided to dive in, learn, create, and share via the myriad of available social media tools and networks.
He has inspired his staff both inside and outside the workplace, he has challenged his competitors, and he has positively impacted his business’ bottom line. Now that’s called running a hospital.
