"Micropersonal" is news, too
Steve Outing's latest E&P column sounds a theme that resonates with Newspaper Next 2.0 and should be required reading for everyone who's trying to figure out the future of newspaper companies.
His headline says, "Newspapers First Need to Redefine 'News' to Move Forward Online." Redefine it how? By realizing that, for consumers, the "micropersonal" is a very important part of the news they want and need.
Providing social networking tools enabling local people to stay in touch with their friends is a perfect fit with the core message of Newspaper Next 2.0: There are huge opportunities in local communities for newspaper companies beyond the traditional boundaries of news.
Outing's message is that social networking can meet the need for micropersonal news in local markets, and that newspaper companies should be hurrying to add it to their suite of tools and platforms. Here's an excerpt from deep in the column:
"Newspapers can -- and should, in my view -- aim to serve the complete news needs of consumers, all the way from the big-picture events of the day down to what kind of car your high school friend just bought and how she just broke up with her boyfriend. Yes, the latter IS 'news' when it comes from within your social circle or social network."
He's right -- and social networking is just one of the ways that "companies formerly known as newspapers" can fulfill a much broader range of local consumer information needs than their newspapers ever did, or ever could.
As the N2 2.0 report puts it, what once was a newspaper company should be striving to become "the leading local information and connection utility" -- the automatic, go-to choice for any consumer who needs any kind of local information, or who wants to engage with other community members in discussions and information-sharing on a vast range of topics.
The N2 2.0 report describes these and other opportunities in much more detail.
