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Tuesday, July 8th, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 01:17:38 pm
This ran in today's paper. It would be funnier if it didn't hit so close to home. ;)
Categories: TheNewsTribune.com
• 1 comment
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 09:15:07 am
If you have visited the comments on our stories recently, I apologize. This is not what we had in mind. At their best, story comments add layers to a news story that a newsroom simply can't. Local expertise, interaction, discussion and a healthy exchange of ideas based on the news in the report. At their worst, story comments are nothing more than senseless drivel. Mean-spirited personal attacks between people who know each other's screen names intimately but know very little about their adversaries in real life. A few years ago, just when blogs were really taking off and hitting mainstream awareness, we started talking about allowing comments on our news stories. Around the same time, we had a focus group of younger readers tell us they would love the opportunity to interact with the news through comments. They said, "We want to play, too." We welcomed the idea of allowing readers to hold us accountable, just as we try to hold those in power accountable to our community. We looked forward to the exchange of ideas around our news stories between locally interested citizens. But we also knew that some moderation would be critical; a truly open forum could potentially devolve into a cesspool of personal attacks and bitter name-calling (human nature being what it is). And we didn't accurately forecast the volume of comments that we would receive on a daily basis, let alone those that are posted at all hours of the night. So our minor commitment to foster this community – including the ability for users to "flag" comments they deem inappropriate – has proven to be insufficient. We now find ourselves at a crossroads. The comments on our stories are marred too frequently by back-and-forth attacks between a small number of regulars who accuse one another of past transgressions and posing as alternate identities. We receive complaints that many of the commenters are, in fact, the same person holding court with himself or herself for all to see. And we are not alone; most news sites that allow comments have even worse conversations running on their sites. From what I hear from online editors around the country, we're actually pretty lucky (which is really scary).
Categories: Local Webosphere
• 10 comments
Monday, June 30th, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 02:34:15 pm
KUOW's excellent Weekday program featured a few local bloggers today who discussed several issues related to the challenge and opportunities for hyperlocal online publishing. The West Seattle Blog and OlyBlog were included among the guests, but surprisingly (to me, anyway) no one from T-town was on the list. Seems like Derek Young or Kevin Freitas would have been able to offer some interesting perspectives. But the session also illustrates the active local online communities growing in locations outside the 253 area code. Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 11:13:56 am
Categories: Local Webosphere
Friday, June 13th, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 05:33:20 pm
A few weeks ago, you might have noticed a new advertising feature on thenewstribune.com. Just below the navigation bar near the top of the page, a large billboard ad would appear and expand vertically down the page, pushing the news and photos down with it. This is a form of interruption advertising which, of course, has been around for decades (and it most popular on TV). It really only works if the interruption isn't so great that it aggravates the audience and drives them away. So we agreed that our new expanding billboard ads would come with limits: no visitor to the web site would more see than two per visit. The problem was the ads were scheduled incorrectly and there didn't seem to be any limit. Naturally, this frustrated many users and we received about a dozen emails complaining about the intrusion. To further the problem, the "Close" link on some of the ads didn't work properly and sent visitors to the advertiser's site instead of closing the ad. This resulted in more frustration. I'm happy to report that both problems have been fixed. So, while you'll still see a couple expanding billboard ads on our site each time you visit, we hope you understand that we will continue to look for new ways to deliver attractive audiences (that's you!) to our local advertisers and support the news gathering and web publishing operation here. We just need to work harder to do it right the first time.
Categories: TheNewsTribune.com
• 6 comments
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 04:14:51 pm
Steve Rubel pointed out the potential of FriendFeed today, which takes the content stream concept to a whole new level. I've been meaning to check out FriendFeed for a while, but it took Steve's blog to get me to go sign up. Rubel writes:
So while we can't see where all this is going or how it will affect news consumption, it's important for news publishers to be involved in the exploration and experimentation, not just waiting on the sidelines for the early adopters to figure it all out. So what do you think about Twitter? Game-changing communication technology or flavor-of-the-month fad? Friday, June 6th, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 11:57:01 am
Just a quick note to let you know about our latest addition to the TNT blog lineup: GO Arts. Rosemary Ponnekanti, who follows the local arts scene, will keep readers informed on galleries, theaters, classical music and more (with a little help from other TNTers).
Categories: Local Webosphere
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 04:25:46 pm
Joining our usual suspects of sports and crime stories on the most popular list from May are a pair of stories about bikini-clad baristas. Do you think we would have known how popular those stories would be prior to the internet age when we can track everything?
Most popular stories: Most popular blogs: 1. Seahawks Insider Most popular multimedia:
Categories: TheNewsTribune.com
Monday, June 2nd, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 11:08:30 am
The Seattle Times published an interesting editorial Sunday, cheering on a group of French-language newspapers in Belgium who have filed suit against Google. The Times editorial writers suggest the surging stock price of Google and the plummeting stock prices of newspaper companies are evidence of the need to change copyright laws. The store shelf metaphor doesn't work for me, however. This is about a new era of information and access and we can't try to force our previous models to fit. The fact that newspapers are struggling financially to evolve (along with many other industries) doesn't mean the rules need to be changed just because the game has. All I know is that I wouldn't want to try to ramp up a business model for news online without traffic from Google. And if this lawsuit is successful, then Yahoo must be sued, too. And other news aggregators after that. We should be focusing our energy on innovating and taking advantage of new possibilities, instead of hoping that the rules will change so we don't have to.
Categories: Online journalism, Web 2.0
Thursday, May 29th, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 05:42:41 pm
We're taking the suggestion and acting on it. We've ordered a Kindle and will begin to experiment with how to deliver news and information on this new platform, not fully knowing whether this device is more iPhone or Newton. Tuesday, May 27th, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 08:58:56 am
Filed under "how cool is that?" I offer the latest advancement in web video. It's a technology called DimP, which stands for Direct Manipulation Video Player, meaning the user can control subjects in the video. Check out this demonstration: More information and a longer video is here, and you can read the Techcrunch take on it here.
Categories: Local Webosphere
Friday, May 23rd, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 09:23:27 am
One part of my job here is to advise the reporters who use blogs to cover their beats. Which can be a little tricky when I don't spend much time practicing what I preach. But I like to think I'm a better coach than a player, so occasionally I'll forward some insight or information that I think will help them improve their blogging. Since a fair amount of the readers of this blog also have their own blogs, I thought I'd share my latest offering. It's from Mike Davidson, the founder of Newsvine, who dissects a prototypical linkblogger named Jason Kottke to highlight what makes his work so compelling.
A linkblogger, for those not familiar with the term, is someone who is fanatical about scanning the web for interesting news, comment, photos and video and then shares the best of what they find with their blog readers. The posts can be short and only provide a link, or the linkblogger can provide analysis and context and tie together seemingly separate links in a way that adds value for the blog reader. All bloggers link to other material in some fashion and with some frequency, so even if your blog is not primarily a linkblog, you will benefit from Davidson's analysis. "Linkbloggers remember," he writes, "The setup is everything."
Categories: Online journalism, Web 2.0
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 09:31:26 am
That is the question that a group of driving instructors, State Patrol troopers and volunteers will put to the test this week, according to this article on the P-I's web site. Personally, I think so. But it probably has more to due with the volume of cars on the roads in Seattle vs. Tacoma, and not necessarily with personal driving talent or disposition. The more cars on the road, the more chance of someone cutting you off. And only Seattle has the triple-lane-change move required to get to the Mercer exit from 520. We've been writing a fair amount about cars on the road lately, including Sunday's story on the 10 intersections with the most crashes (not coincidentally, the intersections with the most cars) and a piece a few weeks back about road rage in Pierce County. As gas prices continue to rise and tempers flare, maybe we should all just take the bus like Andrew. UPDATE: We've posted our own news story now. UPDATED UPDATE: And the results are in.
Categories: Local Webosphere
Monday, May 19th, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 09:20:06 am
Reporter Ian Demsky, who wrote our big Sunday story this week on Tacoma's terrible intersections, had a great idea to use the web to invite feedback and interaction on the story. So he worked with our resident computer whiz kid, Aaron Ritchey, to produce this interactive map that allows anyone to mark an intersection that drives them made and explain why it's so bad. So we will add the bad intersection map to our growing list of other interactive maps, that include free wifi hotspots, TNT readers traveling abroad, environmental stewardship projects, places to buy the newspaper, skareboard parks and hiking trails. Do you have an idea for our next map project? Let me know with an email or comment.
Categories: TheNewsTribune.com
Thursday, May 8th, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 03:09:30 pm
 One of the cool demos I saw last week at the Kelsey Conference in Seattle was from Microsoft's Live Maps team. The team has done serious work in trying to close the gap with Mapquest, Yahoo and Google with its new mapping service. (Side note: Doing a bit of research for this post, I was quite surprised to learn that Mapquest commands more than 50% of the market share for online maps (while Microsoft has less than four percent). Personally, I thought Mapquest went the way of Alta Vista and Netscape. I haven't used it in years.
Mashing up data from different sources is not new on the web. But I expect to see more efforts like this that do it in a scalable and useful manner. What's your favorite data/map mashup?
Categories: Local Webosphere
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 04:20:04 pm
Congratulations, Ed!
Categories: TheNewsTribune.com
Monday, May 5th, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 04:30:52 pm
Here's a breakdown of the most popular content on thenewstribune.com last month: NEWS STORIES MULTIMEDIA
BLOGS 1. Seahawks Insider
Categories: TheNewsTribune.com
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 12:35:34 pm
"Newspapers that are poorly run are going to fail, and that's going to create a tremendous business opportunity for everyone here." That was the message from Merrill Brown, who helped launch MSNBC.com in 1996, during a morning session at the Kelsey Group's Local Marketplace conference in Seattle today. "Newspaper, TV and magazine companies are some of the saddest places you can walk through these days," Brown said. "The death of the American newspaper is the elephant in the room. We are about to enter an extraordinarily turbulent time in American media, not unlike what the American auto industry - among others - has gone through. And, it may not be a surprise, but the U.S. newspaper business isn't covering this news very well." Brown said this is a time of "extraordinary change" that presents "extraordinary opportunity" for local online companies, which 20 years ago was limited to yellow pages and newspapers. Now, of course, the web has opened up this market to a dizzying number of players and both yellow pages and newspapers need to adapt. The yellow pages companies were at this conference, learning about new ideas and business models. But where are the newspapers (and other local publishing and broadcast companies)? Conference organizers told me that 475 people attended this week. I glanced through the attendee list and found FIVE newspaper brands/companies represented (that were not journalists covering the conference, like John Cook whose excellent coverage can be found here). This is where the new business models are going to come from, and yet only 5 newspaper companies are engaged in this conversation? All the competition is here (Google, AutoTrader, etc.) but other than panel presentations by the Seattle Times and L.A. Times, all the talk about newspapers echoed what Brown was telling the crowd: newspapers are going away, so who's going to replace them? The pace of innovation on the content side of the news business seems to be far outpacing the pace of innovation on the business side. And that doesn't bode well for the business as a whole.
Categories: Web 2.0
• 6 comments
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 04:49:31 pm
I'm at the Kelsey Group's Local Marketplace conference in Seattle today and one of the speakers is Patricia Lee Smith from the Seattle Times Co. She talked a lot about the newly redesigned nwsource.com web site and said something that caught my attention, light of some recent discussion on this blog. "Targeted advertising is content to (readers) and they welcome it," Lee said. I tend to agree, but most of what we hear from readers is that all advertising online is created equal (and is evil). We don't receive many complaints about advertising in the newspaper, of course, but many people still feel that content wants to be free - and free of ads. What do you think? Will you welcome advertising on our site - and other local sites - if it is local and relevant to where you live? (I hope so.) Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
Posted by Mark Briggs @ 05:15:25 pm
Seriously though, I think most of those who attended appreciate the control over their events they will have with our new system. Plus, their event will be listed almost immediately online instead of having to wait for the once-a-week GO section to be printed first, where their event make not make the cut due to space constraints. (The online database feeds the print GO section, by the way.) A question that came up during the session that might also be worthwhile knowing for those of you who use our online calendar to find events, too. Someone asked how the events were listed on the site if a user is browsing by date and/or category (if you search for events, then the relevance of your search keyword determines the display). So we asked the folks who power the site for us (a company called Zvents), and I'll try to translate the explanation: Essentially, the events are ranked based on page quality and popularity. The most important factor is the popularity of a listing, if the listings have received a substantive amount of clicks. After that, it's page quality. What determines "page quality" you ask? Basically, if there is more content, it has a higher page quality. This would include a fuller description, media reviews, user reviews, all fields filled in (price, web site, etc), pictures, etc. If you missed yesterday's demonstration and want to know how to submit an event to our calendar, download this PDF tutorial and submission guide.
Categories: TheNewsTribune.com
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Like many other news organizations, we've been experimenting with 
The demo I saw last week featured lots of little extra features on the Live Maps service (although I still don't get the whole "Live" branding). My favorite was a layer of traffic flow data that can be applied to any map which gives the user a key piece of information. So the search I ran for "barbecue" in "Tacoma" (see above screenshot) not only produced 21 locations, but could also be drawn with traffic flow information that would help me figure out how long it would take to get to one of the locations. A user simply needs to click "Traffic" from the tools menu (see inset).
Ed Murrieta's 
Mark Briggs is editor of thenewstribune.com, the flagship web site for The News Tribune newspaper in Tacoma, Wash. He has worked in new media for newspapers since 2000 and has contributed to workshops, seminars and textbooks on the topic. He will use this blog to track the evolution of the local webosphere and other emerging trends that are important to the South Sound region. 
