The change is drastic. The PI is one of the first major newspapers to make such a bold decision. The digital-only publication will struggle with revenue strategies, and The PI Twenty will have to become ironmen of multimedia, athletes proficient in beat blogging, social media, web video, photography and more.

As its former competition, The Seattle Times, is left with the burden of gathering “all the bright red boxes that held the product of its deceased rival,” skeptical journalists are placing bets on just how long the PI will survive.

The answer is easy. As long as the readers want.

Blog For Us

It all started back around January 2006. That’s when the Seattle PI began inviting readers to blog for them.

“The idea behind the reader blogs is simply to give readers a place where they can write about their passions,” said SeattlePI.com Executive Producer Michelle Nicolosi.

In three years the site managed to attract more than 150 readers to blog for the publication. For free.

“We don’t pay reader bloggers, but we do bring them other advantages,” Nicolosi explained. “There’s millions of people blogging in obscurity around the world. People who blog for us find an audience right away, because we put their work in front of our four million unique users every month.”

It’s no wonder the folks at the PI feel like they no longer have to cover everything themselves. They’re essentially running a journalistic Habitat for Humanity, encouraging volunteerism and community building. There are dozens of blogs for every niche from graceful aging, Seattle food, Washington trails and dogaholics to rebuilding the economy and garden photography. There’s even a blog called “Jobless in Seattle.” (Authored by a former PI staff member, perhaps?)

But is there such a thing as too many blogs? Too many niche topics? For Nicolosi, each one of the blogs isn’t designed to be read or liked or appreciated by everyone.

“Some people want to read video game reviews, some people want to read about cooking and fashion and being single in Seattle — some don’t,” she said. “What I’m trying to do is put together a great mix of content so that no matter who you are, there’s something here of interest to you.”

As for PI staff-produced blogs… there are only eight.

Once A Newspaper… Always A Newspaper?

The “Blog For Us” feature on SeattlePI.com may become a main source of life support for the 146-year old “paper.” Reader bloggers help the staff cover topics that they would not have otherwise been able to cover. But such a system raises questions about ethics, transparency and objectivity.

Should the PI thrive and turn a profit off of reader blogs? Should the PI even keep the same name? It’s a non-newspaper that hosts blogs run by non-reporters/editors.

Tim Shisler, multimedia travel journalist and adventure-enthusiast, speculated on his blog about citizen journalism and the changing landscape of media:

A majority of the thinking has been around one central thought: are citizen journalists really doing any reporting that doesn’t directly reflect their own personal agenda or interests? One of the greatest things about journalism is reporters are supposed to be objective, and even though they may hate going to city council meetings, they still report the news. So as the PI goes to an online only format and reduces it’s news staff from 165 to 20, I can’t help but wonder what the quality of news will be. I want to say great, but who’s going to ask, ‘what’s you’re agenda and personal gain if writing a free blog for us?’ They need the content too bad, and have no money to pay a reporter to get it.

“We have a fairly elaborate screening process,” Nicolosi said. “We ask readers to describe the blog they’re proposing, we take a look at their writing, we do a background check, and more. If it all looks good, we sign them up to blog.”

Background checks on hundreds of blogs? It’s mind-boggling to imagine the amount of requests that The PI Twenty receive on a daily basis from readers who want to blog. And yet, the PI claims it responds to every request. Every single one.

“We have an email set up for reader bloggers – blog@seattlepi.com,” Nicolosi said. “We check the inbox a number of times a week and follow up with everyone who writes in.”

This, by far, is the strongest evidence that the organization is no longer a newspaper, where such a promise would hardly last.

Trend Watch 2009

SeattlePI.com is not the only news site that boasts reader blogs. Nicolosi recalls the practice being encouraged as early as 2003 by Rob Curley, who was then still at The Lawrence Journal-World. And in 2005, Norwegian Daily Verdens Gang (VG), attracted over 25,000 bloggers. Today, newspapers like The Sun and The Telegraph offer readers the freedom to publish their own stories under the paper’s name.

Just last week, The Cincinnati Enquirer admitted it would have to rely heavily on the help of local bloggers to stay afloat. In return, the “Enky” would offer links and prominent placement in exchange for a partnership and/or ad-sharing. Their strategy, according to rival Cincinnati City Beat, is to have a “blogger pull plan” where local blogs are fed to the site not only to supplement content but also fill content holes (particularly in entertainment).

For those closely following the Seattle PI or Cincinnati Enquirer, a looming concern will be how the sites regulate misinformed or questionable content from reader bloggers. The Telegraph’s experiment with user-generated content, for instance, produced “some very unsavoury characters,” such as members of the far right, anti-abortionists, europhobes, and members of an anti-feminist “men’s movement.”

Moderators are the most predictable solution.

A Win/Win Situation

As of Sunday, March 29, SeattlePI.com’s page views have dropped 20 percent since the abolishment of its print edition. It sounds like failure, but to the The PI Twenty it’s a sign of success. “Experiment a lot, fail fast,” is their motto according to Nicolosi. Tumbling web traffic is expected and, frankly, a non-issue at this point.

Instead of fretting over stats and analytics during this transition period, the Seattle PI listens to what the reader wants. When the reader complains, that’s when they’ll start sweating.

“We had a party for our reader bloggers a few weeks ago to thank them for blogging for us,” Nicolosi said. “They’re a great group of people and a diverse group of writers.”

A chance to blog for a top newspaper website that gives you high traffic and invitations to parties?

No wonder readers love the Seattle PI.

It will be a new site, with a new vision. About 20 editorial employees and 20 advertising employees with run this new operation. They will attempt to remake what the P-I is:

We’re going to break a lot of rules that newspaper Web sites stick to, and we are looking everywhere for efficiencies. We don’t feel like we have to cover everything ourselves. We’ll partner for some content; we won’t duplicate what the wire is reporting unless we have something unique to offer; we’ll continue to showcase the great content from our 150 or so reader bloggers and we’ll link offsite to content partners and competitors to create the best mix of news on our front page.

We wanted to ask one of our favorite beatbloggers, Monica Guzman, what these changes would mean for her and the new P-I. Guzman will be staying on at the P-I and keeping her popular blog, The Big Blog. I also asked my network on Twitter what questions they would like to ask.

“The editorial staff will all do everything – write, edit, produce, take pictures … it won’t be your typical newspaper newsroom,” Guzman said.”

Without further ado, here is our extensive Q&A on the new PI.

Q: First, what was it like today for the staff staying with tomorrow being the last day of the print edition?

A: It was hard. It was really hard. Speaking for myself here, there’s something clearly exciting about what we’re about to do, but to look around and see the people, the passion, the talent that won’t be with us as we kick it off was painful.

Q: I realize that the closing of the P-I has been a reality for awhile now, but what was it like today when the news finally came down? What was it like when people found out that print was ceasing but the Web was staying?

A: People had an inkling that the print would cease and Web might stay for more than a week, since news about provisional offers to Web staff broke early. So that wasn’t a shock. What today brought was closure, a deadline, an end to all this swirling uncertainty. I can’t speak for everyone, but once Oglesby made the announcement, my heart started to beat fast and didn’t slow down much for the rest of the day. There was a lot to process. It had been such an emotional roller coaster the last two months, I was sure I was all cried out. But at about 1 p.m., I burst into tears talking to my editor.

The site is exciting, no doubt – but there’s nothing easy about saying goodbye to all these people who have made the P-I so great. I still get nervous talking to some of them ’cause I’m such a small-time rookie runt next to so much talent. Why are they leaving and I’m staying? It doesn’t make sense.

Q: What was it like for those leaving?

A: You’d have to ask them. One person I talked to said she was glad to have some closure, and was on her way to a nearby bar to commiserate with other colleagues.

Q: Are all 20 editorial employees from the P-I and what are their backgrounds?

A: As far as I know, all 20 are from the P-I. A handful are columnists, another handful hard news reporters. A couple were editors. Cartoonist David Horsey is staying on through Hearst, and we have one photographer – Josh Trujillo

Q: This is an online-only operation. Do all these journalists have the necessary Web skills to thrive on the Web?

A: Does anyone have all the necessary Web skills to thrive on the Web? If anything, we come with different specialties, and we’ll learn from each other what we need to become more well-rounded online journalists. I’m pretty excited about being trained on a high-end camera to take high-quality photos.

Q: You mention that you’ll be getting new training. How will your role be changing? Will The Big Blog still exist?

A: The Big Blog will still exist, so my job will resemble what I’m already doing. I can’t say I know how it’s going to change otherwise. This is an experiment, and an evolving one, so I can only guess that my job will change quite a bit, by increments, as it goes along.

Q: Can you give us a vision of what this new, online-only Seattle Post-Intelligencer look like? What’s it new mission will be?

A: For that I have to defer to what its executive producer, Michelle Nicolosi, wrote about it today: http://www.seattlepi.com/business/403794_newseattlepi.com16.html. She puts it really well.

Q: What role will beatblogging play on the new P-I Web site? Will you have more beatbloggers on the new site?

A: Hmmm … good question. I’ve always advocated for more engagement with readers, a fuller use of what the online medium and the blogging format allows – so I hope some of that can happen here.

Q: Will staffers be utilizing social media and two-way communication like you do? Will that be required?

A: My sense is that that’s one of the tools staffers will be able to experiment with. Don’t know what the policy will be regarding use by each staffer.

Q: This brings me to a question that Howard Owens submitted. @howardowens asks do P-I staffers understand that the Web is different? Transferring newspaper journalism to Web won’t work.

A: Good question. I think so. I think a lot of journalists understand that, no matter where they are, more and more. It’s not just about mindset; it’s also about what your organization allows and enables you to do. Since the P-I site is in large part an experiment, innovation and new thinking will, I think, not only be tolerated but encouraged.

Q: I think that answer dovetails nicely with another question from Twitter. @lectroidmarc asks now that you’re not tied to a print product, how will the P-I change its approach to the web?

You’re completely free now that you don’t have the print product. What does this freedom mean?

A: I think the next couple months will be all about answering that question. We’ve never been in that situation, so we can’t know! The hope, I think, is that we take full advantage of that freedom where it serves our readers.

Q: When you go into work tomorrow, will you feel any more free? Will you feel different?

A: You know, I’m not sure it can be that sudden. What happened today hurt. A lot. Even though I knew it was coming. I can’t know for sure, but I’m betting it’s going to be a more complicated process. But I’m a special case; I haven’t written for the paper since June 2007, so I’m not as attached as other reporters. For them, the difference might be more striking.

Q: @mathewi asks what are some of the new things the P-I is planning to do online that are different than existing paper sites?

A: The site will have columns from people in the spotlight – like former mayors, governors, a former police chief, etc. It will also link to content from other news sites probably a lot more than newspaper Web site readers are used to.

Q: This next question from Twitter is one of the big questions: @eyeseast asks how will relationship with readers change? Are staff open to a changing relationship?

You have a chance to make a new bargain with readers. A bargain newspapers weren’t willing to make.

A: Very true. Again, I can’t say for sure what the plan is, ’cause this is new, and I don’t really know. I think it’s becoming more and more clear, though, that that’s one of the things readers want, and one of the things that can help make journalism better – forging a stronger, more engaged relationship with readers, thinking of them as active collaborators, not members of a passive “audience.”

“Are staff open to a changing relationship?” I guess we’ll find out.

Q: @rsylvester asks how will the P-I’s tradition of investigative reporting carry over with a smaller staff?

A: I really don’t know – but that’s a big question. One of the biggest. I have no doubt we’ll do the best work we can. Time will tell how it compares to what the larger P-I did.

Q: @jayrosen_nyu asks will Hearst management be sharing key data of all kinds with staff?

A: That’s something I’ll have to ask myself! I know it’s helped me plenty to see real-time data on my posts, so it’d be a great idea.

Q: I gather that Hearst’s ability to share data will be critical to the new PI. I think you need to know what users and advertisers like. You’re going down an unfamiliar road.

A: Indeed. Here’s hoping for the best!

The Big Blog has updated its design — specifically the middle sidebar — to encourage user engagement and conversation off the blog.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has embedded a Twitter feed into the sidebar, added links to The Big Blog’s Facebook page, made it easy for people to embed and get Big Blog headlines elsewhere and added other new features.

To some — particularly old-media types — this may sound counter intuitive. Why would you want people to have conversations away from your core product?

“I think it is important that you reach people where they are, instead of demanding they come to where you are,” lead Big Blogger Monica Guzman said.

On the Web, you can’t force people to come where you are. By reaching out onto Twitter, Facebook and other platforms, Guzman is hoping to build The Big Blog’s brand and user base beyond just the blog itself.

“There is always a venue to come back to The Big Blog,” she said. “As long as it exists, it doesn’t really feel like letting people leave. Or if it is linking or getting people off the site, it is with the knowledge that thanks to us, they got there. There is a sense in which you build the blog’s reputation and the blog’s usefulness on other channels.”

Guzman regularly links out to other content and doesn’t cling to outdated beliefs that sending people to other Web sites is a bad idea. Guzman wants The Big Blog to be the place to go to find out what’s going on in Seattle, and that can mean sending people to other places on the Web for more information. She acts as a guide, mixing in original content with links to other quality content.

The Big Blog utilizes two Twitter accounts. One for Big Blog headlines and alerts. Guzman has regular meet ups and office hours and she posts on The Big Blog account about these. The other account is her personal account, where she shares her thoughts throughout the day, which posts she is working on, etc. Her three most recent tweets from her personal account are embedded onto The Big Blog.

Another new feature is The Big Blog’s “Featured Comment.” This feature doesn’t send users off site, but it is designed to further foment engagement.

“Whenever I see a comment that, in my mind at least, really contributes to the debate, without further dividing the two sides, I put it up there,” Guzman said “Or when it shows a particular bit of insight from a reader. I hope that encourages better conversation.”

This  time Guzman and I are talking about newsroom culture. She thinks many young journalists are looking for the door, especially in the Seattle area.

Seattle is filled with tech companies and startups. Those companies embrace change and failure

“Two things newspapers don’t do,” she said. “It can be really, really frustrating to have a good idea, or hear of another paper with a good idea, to propose to whomever and just be told, ‘it’s not important, we can’t do it right now,’ or, the No. 1 thing, ‘we just don’t have the staff.’”

That being said, she doesn’t think being averse to change is all about age. Many veterans journalists take to online quickly, while other young journalists just want to write in print.

“I think the main characteristic is just being open to change,” she said.

Guzman said her editors and her started with the “stupid assumption” that they could dictate what The Big Blog would be like and that it would be successful. She said that newspapers think they know everything about what readers want, and much of what they thought readers wanted was dead wrong.

“It’s 100 percent about the readers,” Guzman said.

Comments allow newsrooms to make better products. Guzman found out that the original idea for The Big Blog wasn’t what readers wanted, and with reader feedback she has changed the focus of the blog.

“Readers have opened the door to the clearest path [of success] every time,” she said.

Guzman said the No. 1 obstacle in newsrooms in today is attitude.

“Newsrooms are very sad places,” she said. “It’s hard to get people excited.”

Click here to stream the interview. Or click here to download mp3.

For Monica Guzman, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s first online reporter, empowering people is a major way to cultivate comments and build a community. She runs The Big Blog, a blog dedicated to keeping tabs on what’s happening in Seattle and the Seattle blogosphere.

“I’m convinced that newspapers need to rise up and take responsibility not just for the quality of the news, but for the quality of the conversation,” Guzman said.

Guzman believes newspapers need to cultivate comments. She is a fan of hoisting comments and is working on implementing a comment of the week feature.

“It tells readers that you are listening,” Guzman said about hoisting comments. “You’re actually watching what they say. And it rewards readers for being smart and actually taking the time to make their comments useful and intelligent.”

Guzman is surprised about how much people care about the news.

“As soon as people are empowered with their own tools like blogging tools and a publishing platform like the Internet, [it's amazing] to see how many people will take the opportunity to become reporters for their own blocks,” Guzman said. “And I just think that’s a beautiful thing.”

When she first started there were a handful of community blogs, but now a new one pops up every month. Part of what she does is link to other bloggers and keep tabs on the blogosphere.

Guzman knows that some of her editors are uncomfortable with the ethic of collaboration. Many journalists are still stuck in the competition mindset.

“I love the blogging ethic of collaboration and I hate the ethic of competition,” she said.

One time Guzman wanted to link to a Seattle Times story because her paper didn’t have the story. At first her editors didn’t want her to do so because that was the competition’s work, but she insisted. Her editors eventually said if the PI doesn’t have a story, she can link to the Times as a last resort.

“When it comes down to it, sometimes your competing paper will write a good story that you didn’t write,” she said. “I wanted to become a trusted guide for my readers for what’s interesting going on in Seattle. How can I be trusted as a good guide if there is some sort of curtain over our competitor?”

Can you imagine a blog without links?

Much more is tackled in part 1 of my interview with Guzman.

Click here to stream the interview. Or click here to download the MP3.