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City Reader Offers Respite For Journalists, PR Professionals

Our recent Facebook post about The Oregonian’s move to cut their weekly community section inspired some raucous debate about the state of the media in America. Most of us seem to yearn for a golden age of journalism when newspaper rooms bustled with chain-smoking overcoat-clad reporters who weren’t constrained by advertising dollars or internet measurements like clicks – and who had more bandwidth (and salary) to craft in-depth original reporting.

broken heart fix
While the recent online debate grew heated and participants grew frustrated it became increasingly clear that change causes a torrent of emotions that can become difficult to navigate. It’s no wonder either, because if you think about it too much, the future of the media can seem quite bleak. Consider for a moment that Dennis Rodman is still able to command headlines across the country for being an arrogant drunk, and pop culture icons (*sigh*) like Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus can earn tens of millions of dollars in ad equivalency by having identity crises or drug-fueled meltdowns.

To those suffering from media inspired anxiety, worry, fear and depression – I offer – a tonic.

 

karin city reader portlandWhile on a walk last week with my dear colleague Alexis, we came upon a woman named Karin who has recently started a magazine stand, located in the new D Street Village Development on Southeast Division Street. A magazine stand! With a handmade sign that reads “The City Reader” and an enthusiasm for selling her product, Karin was refreshingly excited about her media collection, and upon further discussion, it was clear that she had personally curated her entire selection. She enthusiastically answered my questions as I fished for leads on undiscovered publications that might aid in my PR efforts. It was clear too that she was inspired by a classic era of journalism, and she was doing something about it. I ended up buying two magazines.

 

city reader standTo me, Karin’s business is just one symbol of la resistance to corporate-controlled media in the internet age, and an inspirational serum for all ye dour, downtrodden diggers of the truth. If you keep your eyes peeled there are other green shoots sprouting from all corners of the digital media landscape. That’s one of the great things about the internet, isn’t it? Check out Medium, Quartz, Grist or eBay founder Pierre Omidyar’s new project “The Intercept” by whistleblower Glenn Greenwald. Check out Seattle’s Crosscut, or closer to home, check out OPB’s special reports, or the latest pieces by Nigel Jaquiss, Richard Read, Jeff Baker or other key figures in the local rebel movement (my words, not theirs). Our traditional media model (which had its own long list of problems) may be dying, but its death will only serve as fertilizer for the next generation of muckrakers and entrepreneurs.

So next time you’re feeling down-in-the-mouth about a local paper that outsources much of its content, or you’re driven crazy by Facebook friends who are sharing posts from so-called “trusted” media sources on topics like FEMA Death Camps, just remember that you can do something about it. Change can be a little messy sometimes, and it may take awhile to see who the winners are, but you can influence the winners pool with your dollars. Donate money to your favorites, and if you’re in need of a quick-fix palate cleanser, go buy some magazines from Karin this weekend.

Medium: A blogging platform for writers

Last week I learned about a new social media platform called Medium and was given an exciting directive to explore their new website and report back to the rest of the team. I didn’t know much about Medium going in, other than it proclaims to be based on the belief that the sharing of ideas and experiences is what moves humanity forward. Sounds great!

Truth be told, after several days of exploration I’ve come to the conclusion that Medium is my kind of platform. It’s for the 1% of us that like to write opinionated quasi-intellectual notes on Facebook that unintentionally alienate half of your friends. The best part is that your parents, employers and colleagues haven’t discovered Medium yet, so it’s like Facebook circa 2006 when you could still get away pouring your heart out over the course of an evening (and a bottle of Chianti) with no repercussions.

Medium is currently in über beta start-up mode, but I thought it might be fun to poke and prod around their website with the proverbial stick. The following is what I’ve discovered.

Blogging Platform Reimagined

When I went to explore Medium, I did it from the perspective of their motto, ie, someone trying to move humanity forward, and I was immediately drawn to this post: Stop working (so hard).

medium logoYou don’t have to worry about that, Medium.

But in all seriousness, from what I understand, Medium is trying to reimagine the concept of a blog by making it more socially interactive than current designs allow and by facilitating longer conversations and extraneous dialogue in the process.

It became immediately apparent that this platform is geared towards a certain type of person. You know the Facebook friend who posts cute kitty photos and gets all twisted whenever someone talks about politics, science or demonstrates critical thinking? Yeah, this site is not for them. Medium is more accurately for people who like to write, or those who like to critique what other people write.

Comment Makeover

In a typical blog format (Tumblr, Facebook, Blogger, WordPress) all of the comments on a given post are archived at the bottom of each post. With Medium, the comments are displayed to the right side of the post, which results in a more fluid interaction. When you comment on a given post you can highlight the exact word or phrase you want to comment on, and subsequent users can comment further. This feature makes for more functional interactions with a post, and I like it.

Check this out:

medium image

Formatting blogs

Do you remember how crazy Myspace got when people could add pink backgrounds and floating sparkles and snowflakes to their landing pages causing your Pentium III computer to freeze up? Do you hate it when you arrive at a blog with an orange background with white typeface? Medium has simplified the way people format their blogs by eliminating choice, essentially subtracting a lot of the functional ability and formatting options that you may be used to with other platforms. They also allow only a single headline image for each post. I think this works because it makes their blog system cleaner and easier to read.

Here is an example of what I mean:

medium image 2This is what the blogging tool looks lik

medium image 3You’ll notice the following:

  1. You can only add one image
  2. Your title is large and bold
  3. The body of your writing is in smaller font

That’s it. You cannot change the font, add italics, underline things, create orange backgrounds or add snowflakes to accentuate a wintry theme. This is blogging simplified.

Categorizing Blogs

In the following image you can see that Medium allows you to review posts, and collections of posts (demonstrated below).

medium image 4

You can customize your own collection of posts under the heading “Collections” or if you don’t want to go with the ones that they select for you, you can create your own, which could be a fun way to stimulate conversations about topics that are relevant to you personally. My favorite category is “Armchair Economics” because the topics flatter my unquenchable thirst for knowledge and/or ego.

Who should use Medium?

I’m answering this question wearing my PR professional hat as clients are often asking for the return on investment (ROI) on social media platforms. I haven’t done enough digging around to fully understand Medium’s policies, but if you have a business or a brand that relies on the dissemination of ideas and information to relevant communities, Medium may be a good platform to keep your eyes on.

I’m a little conservative when investing too much time in new platforms – I like to watch others jump in to see how they may be benefiting before I invest my most precious commodity, time. It is unclear to me if writing a blog-like post in Medium will create any less or any more SEO for your brand.

Medium challenges the notion that attention spans are getting shorter or that people require all information to come in 140 characters or less. Medium is embracing the idea that everyone can write long, drawn-out prose, and that there are people out there that want to read your meanderings.

Go ahead, check it out and explore for yourself.  http://medium.com