Stop Talking, Start Doing – My Conversation with Gazette Communications

Yesterday I had a nice chat with Annette Schulte, who is working on starting a community based site in Ceder Rapids Iowa.

The gist of that conversation can be found here.

One thing I would add, which was talked about on the phone: Don’t launch a community site and expect the community to appear on day one. Most citizen journalism sites take at least a year, if not more (emphasis on more) to really gain traction. I think this is a good thing: as far as filters go – it makes community sites unattractive for anyone looking to make a quick buck.

One more thing I’d add: Annette contacted me out of the blue. I love being contacted by people out of the blue who are truly interested in playing in this space. I’m not claiming that I’m some social media genius, but I’ve become confident in my little neck of the woods – and I love talking about it (and I can probably talk most people’s ear off). More than that – I’ve been very lucky in that I’m becoming well networked. This has afforded me the opportunity to assess ideas and startups quickly and perhaps connect people. I am as altruistic as possible in wanting to help – although I admit, I will benefit indirectly.

Update: My father particularly liked the following quote in my conversation linked above. Looking at it again, so do I: "Journalism will find a way to be sustained, but that’s not
a product. That’s a process. Newspapers might [survive], but they’ll be
completely different."