Audio interview with Daniel Victor about his Ning experiences
In my last post, I noted that Daniel Victor is moving on from his Ning network for his beat.
His experience setting up a social network for his beat hasn’t gone that well, but Victor is not giving up on using social and Web tools for his beat. This is just the beginning of his Web efforts and Ning has been a learning experience for him.
Listen to Victor discuss what went wrong, what went well and what he will be doing in the future with social networking for his beat:
Click here to stream the interview. Or click here to download the MP3.
Beatblogging success story: The “Open for Business” sign
From Daniel Victor’s personal blog.
“I love the beatblogging project because it’s innovation in real newsroom laboratories, as opposed to tsk-tsking and dreaming.
My foray into it has had its ups and downs, but I recently had a kind of success story that I didn’t expect when I signed up.
And it shows why I believe so much that social networking can revolutionize small-town beat reporting.
A woman in the town I cover believed that she had spotted an
injustice. (I won’t go into detail for competitive reasons, and because
my work on the possible story is ongoing.)
But she didn’t know what to do with this knowledge, so like any
other computer user, she turned to Google. She typed in the name of a
resident in town who her neighbors had recommended, a person who might
know what to do with this information.
One of the first results took her to The Hershey Home, the Ning network I set up for the beatblogging project. The resident she sought has been a frequent contributor to the network.
Once there, she strolled around the site. She read all of my
solicitations for story ideas, background information on stories I was
already working on, and feedback for stories I’ve already written. She
went ahead and e-mailed me to set up a meeting.
After she spilled the beans at our meeting, I asked her why she contacted me.
“I just read through your comments on the site, and you seemed like
the type of person who would want to hear this,” she responded.
Imagine that! I may have stumbled upon a high-impact story based on a tip from a person who isn’t even a member of the network.
She chose to contact a reporter because the network put up an “Open for
Business” sign, and revealed that I have a genuine interest in hearing
from as many residents as possible.
An obligatory listing of our e-mail address at the end of our
stories doesn’t invite our readers to contact us, it just allows them
to. Setting up this kind of network, interacting with people online,
and really advertising that we really, really do want to hear from
people can directly lead to stories.”
Twitter Can Build You a Network: But Don’t Take My Word For It
Read more below.
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Applying Beat Blogging Principles Elswhere – Wired and Patriot News
From Eliot Van Buskirk:
One beatbloggingish thing I’ve done recently though is ask the sf_indie email list what is so wrong with Pitchfork’s reviews. It didn’t come from my beatblogging network, but it utilized some of the same principles.
Related from Daniel Victor:
From my network I’ve made contact with people who have contacted me outside of the network to give me information.
ie: The network Daniel set up introduced him to new sources – the subsequent sourcing happened in a traditional one-to-one manner, but Daniel never would have met the new sources if it hadn’t been for his network.
A Beat Bloggers Dilemma: Signal versus Noise – Open versus Focused
We have several networks that are up and running within the last two weeks (links are being added to the right hand side of the blog as I get them).
Just yesterday Wired News music reporter Eliot Van Buskirk launched a private Ning network that already has fourteen members of high caliber.
I say “high caliber” because the members of this network are both on target – they live and breathe digital music and because, at least based on the percentage that uploaded photos, they appear to be tech-savvy and responsive to network calls of action.
Two other networks that have launched recently are Daniel Victor’s “Hershey Home” and Matt Nauman’s “Green Tech Beat,” which have 30 and 24 members respectively.
I started a discussion about growing their networks – asking if they had an ideal number, or how large they wanted these networks to grow. The response I recieved surprised me – but might come as a ‘duh statement’ to anyone who is a hardcore beat reporter.
I come from the frame of mind where more people can’t be bad: Nobody wants a closed network, they are like islands – and on the internet no island can succeed. To the contrary, as was pointed out to me, the beat bloggers aren’t concerned with the ultimate number of people who join but the quality. Matt Nauman put it best:
“My worry isn’t really about size, it’s the quality, type and participation of
members. Rather than a generic “green living” site, I’m doing something
specifically related to my beat here in Business, so folks telling me they
recycle or carry reusable bags to the market doesn’t get me anywhere.
I need folks to point me to good stories, and then help me ask good questions to make those stories better.”
As I see it – we have two forces pulling us in different directions. I come from the motto that all bugs are shallow: Get enough eyes on the problem and somebody will have the answer. If a network only has 30 members it might have been that theoretical 31st member that would have the information you needed for that story. The devil’s advocate, of course, is that there is signal and noise. Noise has little value – and the more people you have in a network, the more noise you add. In that view of things – having control over the network and keeping a tight lid on it is a boon.
What do you think? Is there an optimal number of people who should be a in a network? How do you balance noise and signal?
Making Roads In The Networked Beat
Daniel Victor has a growing network on his hands. The Patriot-News Ning site "Hershey Home" went public two weeks ago and has grown at a steady rate of a few people each day. Now, at 30 members, the conversations are beginning to pick up.
One particularly interesting function of the network (and perhaps a result of being picked up by the local high school’s alumni network, is piecing together where old high school jocks are now, like this picture of the 1963 Hershey Cubs. It’s fascinating that people are trying to piece together the people in the photograph.
A more detailed update from Daniel:
I think things are going well. It needs to be considered that this is,
frankly, a bit of a slow news period in Hershey. Not much is going on
on the other forums, either. I’m just encouraged that new members are
continually signing up — I’ve even had to deny three memberships when
they’ve refused to sign up with their names. I e-mailed each of them
individually kindly explaining that it’s necessary, but they haven’t
been willing to do that, apparently.The project has involved some interesting additions to the
reporter’s job description. One member e-mailed me to ask why he
couldn’t sign out, so I taught him how to delete his temporary Internet
files in IE (that fixed the problem). The president of the local AARP
called and asked how to join the network, and it’s been difficult
explaining to her how exactly it’s different than just e-mailing her
thoughts to me.Overall, the people I’ve talked to have said they’re very pleased
with it, and clearly some of them are really taking an initiative in
uploading photos and inviting others. The test I’m really waiting for
is when some kind of big breaking news story happens, or at least a
more substantive issue that attracts a lot of attention. We’ll see if
people immediately sign on then.
The Difference Between a Forum and a Beat Blogging Network
The Patriot-New’s reporter for Hershey has launched his network. In one week he has 23 members (and growing), all have been vetted by him and so far understand the rules he has set up to join.
Early on, however, someone took the network as a sign that the general forum was failing:
"Has it gotten so bad over there that Patriot News reporter Daniel Victor saw fit to set up a completely separate website at http://hersheyhome.ning.com/ or is there another reason?"
That’s a fair question, but the network Victor is setting up isn’t a forum. This is a tool for his reporting – one that the residents of Hershey can also use to inform themselves and converse with others on important issues.
Daniel handled the question very well: "
This is set up more as a laboratory to see if this kind of forum works, and to see how much it could improve The Patriot-News.
Also: Whereas the Pennlive forums are moderated by the people at
Pennlive (which is a separate company from The Patriot-News), I will be
the sole moderator here."
Online social network created for Derry Twp: Patriot News Launches Their Network
"The more reporters know, the better we write the stories you read."
That’s how a 10-inch column starts in today’s Patriot News, which introduces readers to the social network that Daniel Victor has set up in the hopes to become that better informed reporter.
I’ve spoken with Daniel and here’s the scoop.
About two weeks ago the Ning site was up and he invited some of the first members. He sent out his pitch (below) to eight potential members. Four signed up – giving him a 50 percent attrition rate, which is not that bad. But will it scale?
According to his editor, Tom Barstow, his goal is to end up with 35-45 members. If his beat was national, I wouldn’t worry about that mark at all. But because Daniel’s beat is local – he has a limited pool of people he needs to reach. Somehow he needs to tap into the neighborhood network, or what I would call "the mommy network" in my home town (where all the mothers new what all their children were up to before we even knew).
One thing I particularly like about Daniel’s Ning site, he created a welcome video. It has Daniel explaining to the new members what this site is about – he looks honest and conversational. Let’s see if he can get the word out.
Where Are They Now? An Update on the First Four BeatBloggers
As this project picks up speed, expect posts on a more regular basis. In this early stage, however, most of the beat bloggers are still plotting. One mistake we don’t want to make is sending out an invite to a group of eager sources to join our network, only to realize that we haven’t thought through how to build it or what we want from it. It’s an easy way to build false expectations.
I’ve had conversations with all 12 of our beat bloggers (number 13 is TBA and will have catching up to do) and wanted to give an update on the first four now. The remaining eight will be highlighted in subsequent posts.
Click to read more.
The Patriot-News
"Community is everything. We believe a town-and-school blog, especially in a community as tight-knit as Hershey, will generate sustained interest…."
The Beat: Hershey Pennsylvania. Covering the town in Hershey, central Penn. town.
The Reporter: Daniel Victor, staff reporter, The Patriot News.
Descripotion: David Newhouse, executive editor of Patriot News writes…
