Last week BostonNow, a free daily newspaper, debuted a novel approach to print publications. In the first issue, the publisher wrote a note stating that BostonNow "will publish bloggers of all types in every section of the newspaper and on our website, and give readers the ability to comment on every piece". Essentially the progressive newspaper will combine traditional print media with consumer generated media in order to create more of an open discussion around current events. In addition to printing blogposts from their website, the publisher, Michael Schroeder, said the newspaper will maintain transparency by webcasting their meetings and allowing readers to offer their opinions via an online chatroom. Essentially BostonNow is attempting to involve their readers in choosing the content of the newspaper.
While this sounds like an effective way to combine traditional and consumer generated media, it has raised debate among some bloggers . One blogger on Boingboing.net mentioned that he heard Sean Bonner from Metroblogging say, "Print versions of blogs - their slogan should be 'Bringing you yesterday's news tomorrow". Therefore, there is some concern that consumer generated media will not trasfer well to the print medium.
Whether the newspaper flops or not, BostonNow is attempting to empower their readers by allowing them to provide the content for their newspaper. It will also raise the awareness of blogs to those who rely on traditional forms of media.
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Tags: WOM word of mouth Word-of-Mouth Marketing buzz marketing viral marketing marketing communication Northeastern University
1 comment:
This does seem strange--the idea of webcasting meetings and facilitating opinion-sharing online via chatrooms sound promising and like things more and more organizations are getting involved in, but publishing a blog in print sounds a little backwards. Maybe I'm not clear on how this will work, but it sounds ineffective to slow down real-time blogging to make it adaptable to print. At least this is a daily paper, and it does allow people who don't blog or read blogs for whatever reason to get in on the action, but I wonder if online bloggers will find it very frusterating.
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