Love the model, great conclusions and idea. Running a company and making it into a real business is the hard part, but I think you guys are on the right track and I really wish you well.
Scott Karp
· 2 years ago
@Alex
Thanks. Indeed, writing the record-breakingly long post was the easy part. We're eager now to dive into the hard part.
Rick Klau
· 2 years ago
Scott - Congrats. Publishing2.0 has been on my short-list of must-reads for a while now, and I can't wait to see what you provide for the community. Best of luck!
Rich K.
· 2 years ago
I like a lot of this, am interested in the integration with existing tools like delicious, twitter etc....I can't start over again with a new bookmarking tool and even one extra click in the process will quickly force me to lose interest. Scott, you seem to realize this am looking forward to seeing what you've come up with.
That said, I WOULD be willing to consider Publish2 as the "home" or "hub" for my business social networking -- I think I need a hub even if my preferred architecture for sharing would ultimately be peer to peer.
Best of luck.
Mike Sabat
· 2 years ago
Scott,
I did read the whole post. I'm a big fan of the 15 second pitch. Can you post that?
Scott Karp
· 2 years ago
@Mike
"Publish2 is a social network and 2.0 platform for journalists (and independent "news bloggers," "citizen" journalists, student journalists, i.e. ALL journalists, BROADLY defined), which aims to put journalists at the center of news aggregation on the web."
"create a platform for journalists, giving them tools including book marking abilities, news aggregators and a publishing platform, and allow them to build a social network around these offerings."
Mathew Ingram
· 2 years ago
I had a feeling you were up to something, Scott :-) Best of luck with the new venture.
Tish Grier
· 2 years ago
Hey Scott! thanks for including us lowly bloggers/freelancers ;-) in on this! I'm thinking that it has the potential to develop into a network that links those of us with online chops with those in journalism who might need us--and for those of us onliners to be able to get some input from journalists. Right now, some of us use Facebook--but as you've pointed out, it's not all that great for targeted networking (personally, I like to keep it more social) Good luck to y'all! I'll be signing up for the Beta.
Brian Clark
· 2 years ago
>>I like the term “news blogger,” because it separates bloggers who are acting journalistically from bloggers who have casual, leisure intent
You're leaving out a lot of bloggers with that statement, or perhaps insulting them. As you've stated, news is pretty much a commodity unless you're actually breaking the story, which very few "news" bloggers do.
This looks like an interesting project though.
Tom
· 2 years ago
What is the pain felt by the customer and how does your solution directly reduce the pain?
How big is the market (# of users/customers)? What is so truly unique about your product that people will drop other services they use to go with yours? What is the compelling value proposition? How do you make money?
Saying something is a "platform" doesn't explain what the product is to me, why it's needed.
Dan Blank
· 2 years ago
Scott: Contrats! I can't wait to see more. I agree with a couple of the comments already made here. One, the pitch is not easy to digest without follow up paragraphs: "Publish2 will create the ultimate consumer news service by networking journalists’ news intelligence." To your point, Om did say it better. Also, Brian Clark's comment about defining bloggers and journalists: that can indeed be very dangerous waters. So much of what works about social media is its lack of definition, its openness, its ability to level the playing field and let the best and brightest rise to the top. That said, these comments are only after knowing about this for about 2 minutes. I will read, and reread the above post... thanks!
Scott Karp
· 2 years ago
@Brian Clark
First, you should know very well I have no interest in insulting anybody. Second, I'm using a very broad brush to define "journalist" and journalistic value creation -- but ultimately we're not going to arbitrate -- you are. The community of journalists will decide how to define itself.
Brian Clark
· 2 years ago
I didn't think you were trying to insult anyone, just that it could be taken wrongly. :)
I thought of Seth Godin... not a journalist or news blogger, but certainly a serious blogger.
Anyway, this looks really cool, and will be a welcome alternative to Digg et al if you can pull this off in the way I think you're aiming.
Max Kalehoff
· 2 years ago
Good luck, Scott! I wish you well. Max
Scott Karp
· 2 years ago
@Brian Clark
"serious blogger" -- that's exactly what we're aiming at. Seth Godin absolutely should be in. Copyblogger is another perfect example :) These blogs have transformed "trade journalism," adding vibrancy, dynamism, and, of course, personality -- and, yes, they are a huge new source of ORIGINAL information and news.
Eric Eldon
· 2 years ago
Congrats! This could be seriously good news for quality journalism.
Scott Karp
· 2 years ago
@Tish
I know that the "onliners" have much to teach the traditional journalists (and maybe just a tiny bit vice versa ;) and are already leading the way -- I'd love nothing more than to see cross-pollination and breaking down walls between those two groups.
@Tom
All excellent questions, which we will we address in due course -- this post was just intended as an introduction -- more to come.
@Dan
"defining bloggers and journalists: that can indeed be very dangerous waters"
Indeed, that's why we're aiming to facilitate an emergent, self-defining community, without any hard and fast definitions.
David Rodriguez
· 2 years ago
Digg blows with reporting news from all sides. Everday it has leftist stories and something new about a Apple product. Getting onto its front page is left to website owners using their large staff to Digg articles and then the Digg base takes a look into them. What was a good idea is now useless.
SamUK
· 2 years ago
Scott, your blog has helped me get up to speed on the new media landscape. I read it every day and now I'm really excited about what Publish2 can achieve. I hope this will help show journalism a way forward - at a time when it's facing so many challenges. Good luck.
Paul Ryan
· 2 years ago
Well done guys. This is a natural progression and exactly what's been missing.
It will be interesting to see how this evolves as you toe the line between elitism and digg-like populism.
I'm sure I speak for many when I say that I want to help you build something special.
barbara i
· 2 years ago
I like Digg, but it is serving a community and not necessarily the only community I want to "socnet" up to.
I think NewsTrust wants to do what Publish2 claims it will do in the nebulous future. I don't like NewsTrust's interface. It is too busy, a bit cumbersome. But I agree with other posters that the whole "it is coming soon" software announcement is not my favorite strategy.
I like NowPublic's interface. It is the easiest to post but they don't feature all categories of news. Ohmynews' reporter's desktop is still the ultimate for writing-editing-submitting stories and they do cover news.
If Publish2 can get lots of "content creators" whatever they may call themselves or each other, to contribute, it will be interesting. I wonder if it will share the same U.S.-centric bias that almost all American online news, especially the start-up, web kind shares?
I will try it out when it comes available and I really thank Scott for the intro about journalism and social networking. I take to the classroom again after Labor Day and I won't have talk, my students can read this and we'll launch discussion from there.
Ron Mwangaguhunga
· 2 years ago
Exciting!
Nico Luchsinger
· 2 years ago
Congrats, I like the idea a lot, especially the collaboration part. Journalists spend a lot of their time consuming other media, but they seldom share their knowledge. When I was working at a newspaper about a year ago, I tried to set up an internal blog where staff could post links to interesting stories. The project failed, however, because my coworkers were unwilling to spend extra time for writing the blog. If Publish2 manages to create a set of tools that make this kind of sharing easier, it really might be of great help.
maryn mckenna
· 2 years ago
Interesting. Myself and a bunch of friends/colleagues have been talking this week about how LinkedIn and FaceBook don't meet journos' needs. I'll try it.
lrpaul
· 2 years ago
Will you be optimizing the interface for mobile/PDA access? I feel like more and more people, especially in major cities (nyc, dc,philly,la, sf), are relying on their mobile devices for instant information access. I have also thought about how mobile device makers and their software partners should start marketing "affinity" devices that are pre-loaded with software/bookmarked sites geared to a specific audience. For example, if the iPhone were to offer a Journalist-Centric iPhone, Publish2's site could be pre-loaded for easy access (along the same lines as YouTube) in addition to other, useful Journalist-centric tools. Of course, non-Journalists will also be excited about Publish2's platform and philosophy for information retrieval and presentation.
David Hackett
· 2 years ago
The long explanatory post is both intriguing and confusing. I'd like to hear a more concise explanation but I admire your entrepreneurial spirit and look forward to seeing it happen.
Now, here's one high and tight. This sounds like us working for the good of journalism and career as you monetize content. How is it not that? If it is that, the appeal seems pretty thin.
Robb Montgomery
· 2 years ago
For almost four years journalists have been exchanging peer-to-peer knowledge, resources and experiences in a social network at Visual Editors.
VizEds is just coming OUT of beta. (Three years is about the right gestation period for an online community to mature into a viable entity)
Visual Editors is run by a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity - so there is no cost or barriers to access and it strives for many of the networked goals you state here.
The social network was originally formed to network newspaper designers but has grown to encompass the wider community of digital journalism .
All Comments
Thanks. Indeed, writing the record-breakingly long post was the easy part. We're eager now to dive into the hard part.
That said, I WOULD be willing to consider Publish2 as the "home" or "hub" for my business social networking -- I think I need a hub even if my preferred architecture for sharing would ultimately be peer to peer.
Best of luck.
I did read the whole post. I'm a big fan of the 15 second pitch. Can you post that?
"Publish2 is a social network and 2.0 platform for journalists (and independent "news bloggers," "citizen" journalists, student journalists, i.e. ALL journalists, BROADLY defined), which aims to put journalists at the center of news aggregation on the web."
Also, Om Malik had a nice distillation:
"create a platform for journalists, giving them tools including book marking abilities, news aggregators and a publishing platform, and allow them to build a social network around these offerings."
You're leaving out a lot of bloggers with that statement, or perhaps insulting them. As you've stated, news is pretty much a commodity unless you're actually breaking the story, which very few "news" bloggers do.
This looks like an interesting project though.
How big is the market (# of users/customers)? What is so truly unique about your product that people will drop other services they use to go with yours? What is the compelling value proposition? How do you make money?
Saying something is a "platform" doesn't explain what the product is to me, why it's needed.
First, you should know very well I have no interest in insulting anybody. Second, I'm using a very broad brush to define "journalist" and journalistic value creation -- but ultimately we're not going to arbitrate -- you are. The community of journalists will decide how to define itself.
I thought of Seth Godin... not a journalist or news blogger, but certainly a serious blogger.
Anyway, this looks really cool, and will be a welcome alternative to Digg et al if you can pull this off in the way I think you're aiming.
Max
"serious blogger" -- that's exactly what we're aiming at. Seth Godin absolutely should be in. Copyblogger is another perfect example :) These blogs have transformed "trade journalism," adding vibrancy, dynamism, and, of course, personality -- and, yes, they are a huge new source of ORIGINAL information and news.
I know that the "onliners" have much to teach the traditional journalists (and maybe just a tiny bit vice versa ;) and are already leading the way -- I'd love nothing more than to see cross-pollination and breaking down walls between those two groups.
@Tom
All excellent questions, which we will we address in due course -- this post was just intended as an introduction -- more to come.
@Dan
"defining bloggers and journalists: that can indeed be very dangerous waters"
Indeed, that's why we're aiming to facilitate an emergent, self-defining community, without any hard and fast definitions.
It will be interesting to see how this evolves as you toe the line between elitism and digg-like populism.
I'm sure I speak for many when I say that I want to help you build something special.
I think NewsTrust wants to do what Publish2 claims it will do in the nebulous future. I don't like NewsTrust's interface. It is too busy, a bit cumbersome. But I agree with other posters that the whole "it is coming soon" software announcement is not my favorite strategy.
I like NowPublic's interface. It is the easiest to post but they don't feature all categories of news. Ohmynews' reporter's desktop is still the ultimate for writing-editing-submitting stories and they do cover news.
If Publish2 can get lots of "content creators" whatever they may call themselves or each other, to contribute, it will be interesting. I wonder if it will share the same U.S.-centric bias that almost all American online news, especially the start-up, web kind shares?
I will try it out when it comes available and I really thank Scott for the intro about journalism and social networking. I take to the classroom again after Labor Day and I won't have talk, my students can read this and we'll launch discussion from there.
I have also thought about how mobile device makers and their software partners should start marketing "affinity" devices that are pre-loaded with software/bookmarked sites geared to a specific audience. For example, if the iPhone were to offer a Journalist-Centric iPhone, Publish2's site could be pre-loaded for easy access (along the same lines as YouTube) in addition to other, useful Journalist-centric tools. Of course, non-Journalists will also be excited about Publish2's platform and philosophy for information retrieval and presentation.
Now, here's one high and tight. This sounds like us working for the good of journalism and career as you monetize content. How is it not that? If it is that, the appeal seems pretty thin.
VizEds is just coming OUT of beta. (Three years is about the right gestation period for an online community to mature into a viable entity)
Visual Editors is run by a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity - so there is no cost or barriers to access and it strives for many of the networked goals you state here.
The social network was originally formed to network newspaper designers but has grown to encompass the wider community of digital journalism .
http://www.visualeditors.com