old media meets new media

Their are many ways people find the daily news, sports, weather, pre-organized free online tv, other random facts that interest them like (music, favorite artists, hobbies ect.) As the internet develops as a major media outlet I can't help but wonder where this fact serving outlet will lead us. Eight years ago the majority of the online population was still using dial-up, about four years ago social networks (like facebook) became mainstream, and today we have a full gamut of networks that can provide us with any kind of information our hearts desire –provided your willing to spend some time with your other buddy Google… searching for it.

To keep up with social media, social networking sites, bloggers, microbloggers, and the techno-savvy elite today's professional almost NEEDS to spend 15 minutes a day exercising web knowledge and running through the tubes in search of new ideas or reading what other professionals have to say about the industry that your in. Their are many places that offer this information practically on a silver platter for your web searching enjoyment such as mashable, technorati, digg, reddit or you could just join a popular social site that interests you– when someone puts out a feed about an interesting site. Check it out and when that site refers to another site you have never heard of– well you get the picture.

I personally do just that, spend a minimum of 15 minutes a day trying to find information that will teach me something new about search engine marketing, organic searches, online media, blogs relating to business, micro bloggers– or interesting people on twitter, and social networking sites that are trying to think outside of the 2 wire framed box. Today I found a blog in Boston (which is where the title of this article comes in) the post was by Media Nation. I have attached a link to their site below and the article (in case the page was to move ever). The post discusses a couple of top news papers reaching out to their consumers (readers) to directly interact with them. Thats the great thing about online isn't it? It's not static, not only does the environment change daily, but so can the content. Once you receive your daily newspaper the press has been edited and until the editor's response for the next issue comes out you can run out of pages to read. Interesting post at the very least, hope you enjoy:
The following information is thanks to: Media Nation called: The Boston Daily Blogger

Media Nation trivia: In the early 1980s John Wilpers and I were competitors. Back then he edited three weekly newspapers, including the Winchester Star, now part of the giant Fairport, N.Y.-based GateHouse Media chain. I edited the Winchester edition of Woburn's Daily Times Chronicle, still owned by the Haggerty family, among the nicest people in the news business. So there you go.Anyway, these days the much-traveled Wilpers is the editor of a nascent free daily to be called BostonNOW, which will compete directly with Metro Boston and indirectly with the Globe and the Herald. (The New York Times Co., which owns the Globe, also owns 49 percent of Metro.) Wilpers is working for Russel Pergament, a hyperactive visionary who founded the suburban Tab weeklies (long since subsumed into the chain that became GateHouse), was the first publisher of Metro Boston — owned by a European media conglomerate — and then started amNewYork, a freebie that (yes) competes with Metro New York.

It looks as though Wilpers and Pergament are looking to fill BostonNOW with gobs of blogger-provided free or nearly free content. Here's what Wilpers says on the BostonNOW blog:

This is your opportunity, as a local blogger, photographer, artist, or pundit, to get in on the ground floor and contribute. You will get to share your perspective on living, surviving, and thriving in this amazing city. Participation in the BostonNOW experience will give you massive exposure to a huge reading audience — your words in a daily newspaper going to tens of thousands of commuters and residents; your words on a website generating thousands of page views; your words syndicated worldwide with a share of any profits going to you.

The best part? You're already doing it on your blogs and websites. We want to give you the opportunity to share your insight with the entire city.

It's an interesting idea, and a way to distinguish BostonNOW from the generic, wire-heavy Metro. I'm skeptical of corporate-driven citizen journalism, of course, as schemes like this strike me as little more than an opportunity to exploit volunteer labor for profit. Handled right, though, BostonNOW could wind up being a better read than Metro. Then, too, I've seen cereal boxes that are a better read than Metro.

Pergament and Wilpers have invited bloggers to meet them on March 10. The details are in Wilpers' post. Wish I could be there. (Via Universal Hub.)