Live Blogging Media ‘08: Kevin Anderson
Thursday, March 6th, 2008Kevin is the Head of Blogging and Interaction, The Guardian (London). He spoke really fast — I did my best!
Great presentation on the ways in which Old Media doesn’t get it and appropriate ways to tap into the new model.
Social media faux pas: focus on celebrity not engagement, not know the difference between provocative and thought provoking, focus on network of free labor rather than relationships
Do you want your pub to be Cheers where everybody knows your name, or the Sky News Inn, filled with naked aggression?
If you build a boxing ring, people are going to fight — Tom Steinberg
Connection, not just crowd-sourcing.
The old model: publisher creates content, audience reads content and reacts.
The new model: Showed a slide from Microcontent News demonstrating the interactivity of the current model.
The User Engagement cycle:
- Casual (bookmarking, tagging, adding to group, attention data)
- Connected (commenting, rating, voting, endorsing)
- Committed (UGC, SOulmates, tools for content & users, social site skills, profiles)
- Catalyst (networking tools, blogging tools, networked journalism)
Social media editorial strategies: open up to audience, involved the audience, tap into the wisdom
Showed how he used Seesmic to get some video response about what people think about the US elections — I’ve got to get on Seesmic.
Got information from people all over the world within half an hour from his desk in London.
There’s a poverty of riches - the technological challenges aren’t that big; the cultural challenges are.




