Can you commit journalism while comparing your ex to an invasive species?
By David Poulson
I like to preach that journalism equals content plus engagement. I tell students that they can write an incredibly important story, but it isn’t journalism unless people - hopefully lots of people - consume it.
Important but boring is not journalism. Something no one reads but the writer is not journalism. That’s more like a diary entry - perhaps helpful to the writer but certainly not journalism.
Social media and other digital tools have given reporters new ways to escape that fate. Over at Great Lakes Echo we’re experimenting with Facebook quizzes. Recently we launched one that assesses which lake best suits your personality. The concept initially appealed to me as the engagement piece of the equation. My hope was that it would drive interest in and traffic to the site where readers could consume the other more serious content that’s already there.
But can a Facebook quiz be a self-contained unit of journalism - one with engagement and content? I asked a class that question recently. The reply: “Can reading the back of a cereal box be considered journalism?”
Maybe.
We just asked readers to help us create a new quiz: Which Great Lakes invasive species is your former significant other? Judging by private e-mails and the comments on the site we’re succeeding with the engagement piece. But just maybe we’re delivering content as well. Check out this comment on that post:
Spotted knapweed – a loner with a toxic personality – sucks the fun and energy out of life (poor palatability for herbivores and takes up all the water in the area, possibly releases a toxin that kills other plants), likes chaos and disorder (colonizes disturbed locations)
We’ll have fun with that and the other suggestions - there is a great one comparing an ex to the Asian carp poised to invade Lake Michigan:
He’s huge, gross-looking, and he frequently pops up when I least expect him too. I wish there was an electric fence to keep him away…
And we will research more ourselves, perhaps serving as a front door to more information that we link to.
It strikes me that at the same time we will be delivering serious content, perhaps raising just a bit the level of awareness readers have about important environmental issues.
I’m not exactly ready to petition the Pulitzer Committee to expand its categories to include Facebook quizzes. But it strikes me that there is something going on here that journalists should be exploring.
November 5th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Agreed. The engagement piece is critical. The folks over at Techdirt recently conducted an interesting experiment (for the music industry) on how to engage fans with content using the formula: CwF+RtB=$$$ or Connect with Fans (CwF) and give them a Reason to Buy (RtB). CwF+RtB=$$$
Definitely some journalism applications. (background: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090719/2246525598.shtml)
November 5th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Quite a sad realization on the reading population!!!Does this mean that the only way for readers to become engaged in a reading selection is to present the selection as a game (questionaire)? Does anyone read for the sure purpose/pleasure of becoming informed on a topic? And if informational writers change their presentation of their writing, does that further perpetuate the philosophy that nothing is worth reading unless the reader is entertained….and further developing a person’s short attention span. As a reading teacher of upper elementary/middle school students, I fight this philosophy in my students on a daily basis.
November 6th, 2009 at 3:05 am
[...] Cover the Planet » Blog Archive » Can you commit journalism while comparing your ex to an invasive… "I like to preach that journalism equals content plus engagement. I tell students that they can write an incredibly important story, but it isn’t journalism unless people – hopefully lots of people – consume it. Important but boring is not journalism. Something no one reads but the writer is not journalism. That’s more like a diary entry – perhaps helpful to the writer but certainly not journalism." (tags: journalism engagement style) [...]
November 9th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
I think what you are hitting on is so vital. While it sure would be nice for everyone to want to read everything about an issue, the reality is that the world is too complex with too many issues fighting for attention. So how do we gain attention for issues important to us? By creating unique ways of working with the material that is unexpected and gains traction with readers. You did exactly that and I am much impressed.