I like to hear what Nick Denton of Gawker Media has to say. The guy pulls no punches, and he often delivers the exact insight into digital publishing that I’m looking for.
Let’s examine one of the nuggets he just shared with Michael Learmonth of Ad Age:
When Gawker started, there was a surfeit of information and not nearly enough context — so we provided that, in the form of links and occasionally snarky commentary. But now the balance has shifted. There are pointers to articles on the blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Digg. And all these intermediaries are looking for something to link to. If a good exclusive used to provide 10 times the traffic of a standard regurgitated blog post, now it garners a hundred times as much. (emphasis added) That should be reassuring to people. The content market is finding its new balance. Original reporting will be rewarded.
As usual, Denton is right about this. And when I look to my left and then to my right at the ad blahgs of record, there is nary a whiff of reporting going on. Some ad blogs more popular than this one simply share creative, replacing the spot once reserved by Lürzer’s Archive. Others offer snark, and others still provide analysis of some of the denser movements now afoot in marcom circles. AdPulp tends to do all of the above. But as we move forward, original reporting will be a much higher priority.
So, what scoops are you sitting on? What stories need telling? I have my own ideas, of course, but I want to hear from you.