It’s interesting to be on the other side of the media. It’s not surprising that the NY Times article on spot.us got a lot of attention and kudos, etc. etc. Again – my immediate response has been “does spot.us really deserve the attention yet.” It’s very welcomed – but I honestly want to scream at the top of my lungs “come back in the Fall!!!”
And that’s what I’m starting to tell other news organizations. Since the NY Times piece a slew of them have contacted me wanting to do their own follow ups. The media attention is great – because the media can bring crowds of users, but it does Spot.Us no good right now. We simply aren’t ready to do community organizing. And community organizing is crucial to the spot.us process of creating media.
If I could go back, I’d consider telling the NY Times to wait until AFTER we launch. I hope in 3-4 months when the site is up and running it’s still worth being covered – because the fact is the visitors that came to spot.us via the NY Times or Romanesko this weekend probably left immediately afterwards, unimpressed with the site as it is.
Perhaps I’m being cynical. I just hope that in a few months when the site is ready (preliminary designs here) that we will still be able to get the kind of media attention we’ll need in order to get a crowd.
It’s also interesting to see the power that the NY Times still has. Since that article has come out I’ve been contacted by Australia and Seattle’s respective NPR’s, Fox News and a few other news organizations. My standard line right now is: please cover us AFTER we launch. I think that’s understandable and besides – it’ll be more newsworthy then. Right now the site is just a wiki – any 26-year-old could duplicate what I’m doing. In fact – I would encourage it.
One week left on the SF Election Truthiness Campaign and we are $200 shy of our goal.
Update: One comment asked how the whole NY Times article came about. It went roughly like this. As many know, I was the research assistant for Jeff Howe who has a book coming out on Crowdsourcing. The reporter was focusing in on crowdfunding and was going to highlight the book, but her research led her to spot.us.
We talked on the phone and I had been under the impression that the story was going to focus on crowdfunding in general and Jeff’s book. I found out late Friday that actually Spot.Us was going to be the focus (when she called to do some fact-checking on our first conversation). I still think the Times coverage is great – it’s a great article and I hate to sound un-appreciative. But now I just hope we can duplicate that kind of attention in a few months when the site is ready.
For now… ONWARD
I haven’t had a chance to read the NYT article yet, but I’m planning on it. I’ve visited Spot.us a few times but haven’t really explored the site. I remember back in the spring when you talked with our class (I’m a former student of Kathy Gill’s) via Skype and you were telling us about your vision for Spot.us and I just have to say that I think it’s brilliant. I know that you’re focused on the San Francisco/Bay Area, but I was just curious about your thoughts on expanding.
Can you tell us how the whole NYT story came about? How did they find out about Spot.Us? Just curious.
It’s not cynical. It’s like getting your first apartment and not having any furniture.
You don’t want anyone to come over just yet.