Can Web Innovation Save Media?

By Tara Lane, Staff Writer

Recently, we have seen magazines run out of business due to low readership and a failing economy. While some industries and media outlets have yet to fully adapt to digital media, there are many more who are getting ahead of the curve. To do so, they’re reinventing their brands and adapting to the digital trend through social media and digital tools. They are developing new ways to host and produce content that is not only accessible, but also appealing to viewers and users of all ages.

Typically, we think mainstream media is clunky and not digitally savvy – and for a while, this was true. Major news outlets were late adopters to the digital trend, and it has shown for many of them. Still, The New York Times is a top social influencer. It’s now clear how they quickly adapted to new technologies to innovate and reinvent the art of journalism and reporting. We’ve studied the top media outlets from our social media influencer report – CNN, The New York Times, and NPR – to see what they’re doing to stay ahead of the curve.

CNN
CNN was the first major broadcast network to start using Twitter, and they’ve leveraged this lead to their advantage. The network has been praised for their ability to adapt to social media, encouraging viewers to give feedback on news reports through Twitter. CNN’s heavy use of the popular microblogging site has drawn more than 2 million Twitter followers to the main channel, with additional followers on more specialized channels and personalities such as Anderson Cooper. They promote Twitter on news broadcasts, through user commentary flashing on the bottom of the screen, and live video streams and commentary from reporters on through the service as well. Their popular iReport platform allows users to send in their own content for publication, including videos and photos featuring local perspectives. Some of this content helps to spark national coverage, and is linked from CNN’s main web site. They’ve allowed users to help make the news, something that other networks haven’t quite grasped.

The New York Times
The NYT utilizes social media unlike any other major newspaper. From Twitter to Facebook to YouTube, they are present in every corner of social media. They receive little credit for their efforts, however. This may be in part to their nickname, “The Gray Lady.” In May, the paper created a new position for a Social Media Editor in a move to consolidate and study social media efforts–a move that was criticized by a number of major blogs. Why are people so critical, and why isn’t the NYT being recognized? It may be because they’ve been cited as not tech-savvy enough in the past, or that they’ve been such an institution for so long, it’s difficult to embrace such a modern change.

Still, much of their appeal from other social media users is their content: well-written blogs, interesting videos, and stories that apply to people all around the world. The blogs offer perspective and peel back the many layers of a news story. Twitter updates from various topics: books, arts, global, photo and more allow users to pick and choose their content without being overwhelmed. Best of all, their content is still provided free of charge, despite the major move to digital.

The Huffington Post
Dubbed “The Internet Newspaper,” the Huffington Post aligns their organization with the same guiding principles that accelerated the growth of the web: crowdsourcing. This innovative approach to content development has catapulted the four-year-old web service to number two on our social influencer list. Though the Huffington Post has a core of approximately 60 journalists on staff, they rely on their vast network of influencers and fans to keep the online news site ahead of the curve. With over three thousand bloggers on hand, including icons such as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to Neil Young and Kenneth Cole, The Huffington Post leverages their network to gain credibility and authority in the online news and politics community.

Recently, the Huffington Post has been pushing to engage with their community through Facebook Connect. The Huffington Post has already cultivated a sizable community, however. Besides being the darling of the Digg front page, The Huffington Post has an estimated one million comments every month.

Though there may be stories of how mainstream media isn’t adopting social media, we’ve found that it’s quite the opposite. Though it has taken them longer, it’s easy to forget that it’s always a much longer process for large media outlets to innovate and adapt to anything new. If we allow them the time to find their footing, we’ll be able to reap the benefits in the future.

Read the full Digital Influence Report (PDF)

Photo by James Stratton from Stock.Xchng

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