Journalism and Social MediaBlogs, Tweets, Social Media, and the News Business'Merely because a technology is popular with some users and journalists doesnot mean that its use will be beneficial to the news enterprise as a whole.'BY ROBERT G. PICARDJudging from their widespreadadoption, it's hard to find a tech-nology that news organizationsdon't embrace. Read the Los AngelesTimes on Kindle. Watch ABC News onYouTube. Leave a comment on a blogabout media and marketing from theChicago Sun-Times. Listen to apodcastof "On Science" from National PublicRadio. Participate in adiscussion boardhosted by The Washington Post aboutcollege admissions. Receive SMS newsabout the Dallas Cowboys from TheDallas Morning News. Get featuresfrom Time on a PDA and tweets ofbreaking news from CNN.The mantra for news organizationsis to be anywhere, anytime, on anyplatform. But is this strategy really agood idea? In an era when the busi-ness models for news are stressed,hard thinking should be done in as-sessing the opportunities that varioustechnologies present. It isn't the timemerely to be copying what others aredoing.Tough questions must be asked tofigure out which of the new technolo-gies is beneficial for journalism andthe business of journalism. Is eachone equally useful? What are the realcosts in staff time and the operatingcosts to be on the various platforms?What is actually achieved for the newsorganization in beingthere? Does everynews organization need to be active onall of the platforms? Finally, how cana news organization achieve optimalbenefit across platforms?The answers we find might leadto deciding which of these technolo-gies to employ. Most importantly, thedecisions reached will vary for differ-ent news enterprises based on theircircumstances and needs.Determining Technology'sValueNews organizations are operating withconstrained budgets in highly dynamicmarkets.' Clear strategies must governall uses of journalistic, financial andhuman resources allocated for thesetechnologies. Merely because a tecb-nology is popular with some usersand journalists does not mean thatits use will be beneficial to the newsenterprise as a whole.Here's a sensible first question toraise: How will the use of a giventechnology generate money?And if its uses don't generatemoney—or, at the very least, pay fortheir full costs—one needs to have anexceptionally clear answer as to whyit is being used at all. Reasons can befound to use some without full costrecovery, but those should be basedon strategic thinking and informedchoice, not on technological hype andexuberance.In the decade and a half since theInternet emerged as a viable medium,and the decade since mobile communi-cations became practicable, questionsofhow content providers can effectivelyearn money from either have remainedprominent. The lack of truly effectiverevenue models to support the gather-ing and distribution of news has ledmany to argue that providing this servesother purposes, especially in creatinginteractions that strengthen the brandand form and maintain relationshipsthat bond users of various platformsto news organizations. If these arethe primary benefits of contemporarytechnologies, news organizations mustbecome much more sophisticated intheir thinking about them and howto achieve those benefits.Each platform requires clear anddistinct strategies, as does the overalluse of multiple platforms. If interac-tions are the goal, the reason for eachinteraction needs to be clearly delin-eated. And what should it accomplish?What messages and images should itproject of the news organization? Howare the benefits of those interactionsto be measured?Even if the value turns out not tobe measured in financial terms, cleargoals ought to be set fortb in termsof return on the investment—such asthe effect on brand equity, number ofunique users served, and the move-ment of nonusers to paid products.These goals should be articulated andpursued, and performance in reach-ing them measured. When formingstronger relationships is the goal,clear strategies need to be stated. Howpersonalizing communications acrossplatforms will happen also needs tobe considered.Methods for measuring and evalu-ating performance have to be devel-oped. These should be used to trackthe effectiveness of any of these newapproaches to determine whetherthe money spent and other resourcesIn the Winter 2006 issue of Nieman Reports, Picard wrote an article entitled "CapitalCrisis in the Profitable Newspaper Industry," in which he observed that this crisis hadarrived "at a time when the newspaper industry is struggling, too, to respond to changesin technologies, society and in how consumers use media." His article can be read atwww.niemanreports.org.1O Nieman Reports | Fall 2009Finding a Good Fitused were warranted and whether thetechnology was effectively used. Whatare the effects on the print product?With online content? With the newsorganization, as a whole? Have existingproducts been supported or harmed?Have beneficial business opportunitiesemerged?Such managerial challenges posedby these technologies should not detertheir use. There are, of course, risksalso associated with a decision not toengage in some or all of these tech-nologies. This is the time for neitherinertia nor indecisiveness when itcomes to making such decisions.Understanding the BenefitsClearly, there is benefit to a newsorganization in interactive commu-nication with users. By using onlinetools, journalists get information,ideas and feedback. And if they dointeract consistently with readers and\iewers, they develop a different typeof relationship than the arms-lengthconnection that traditional mass com-munication created.For users, social media and blogsoffer anyone the opportunity to expressthemselves and to connect with personsof like mind or interests. These digitaltools provide an easy (Httle to no cost)way for members of the public to takepart in discussion with larger groupsof people and draw attention to issuesand topics that traditional news mediamight have overlooked.For news organizations, however,this is a two-edged sword. In manyinstances, the content that newsorganizations produce (at a cost) isdistributed by others, thus removingthe need or desire for many peopleto seek out the original sources ofthe information. This circumstance,of course, threatens the commercialmodel because of its deleterious effectson revenue and cost recovery.M illions of people use new technolo-gies, yet in this time of