4 ms·

Social News Fail: Great local journalism goes unnoticed on major social news sites

24 points by brandnewlow 18y ago

jerryji 18y ago
Semantically/Geographically hierarchical category ranking is exactly what I've been working on.
shafqat 18y ago
Brad Flora has done some really great work here. He always has interesting things to say. I'm really curious to see how his efforts to find a commission-only ad-sales guy for the WindyCitizen on Craigslist panned out. Has anyone else tried to hire sales people via Craiglist? Any success?
- brandnewlow 18y ago
  You and me both! By the end of next week, we hope to have some results to report back. Media Kit? check. Spreadsheet of leads? check Salesperson who knows what they're selling and is pumped about it? check Time to start hitting the phones...
ggchappell 18y ago
How refreshing. As a recent refugee from Reddit, I've seen far too much of the tiresome practice of using "fail" to mean "let's belittle & humiliate someone". So I was a bit worried when I saw this on the front page of HN. It's nice to see the word used to mean "this didn't work well; how can we do better?".
- brandnewlow 18y ago
  Thanks. The word "fail" is actually an allusion to the parking meter story, which used it to great effect. I am a huge Reddit/Digg fan (though the new Digg bar is indefensible.) I think what those two sites have done is unleashed a generation of writers and publishers, confident that they now have a tool to find an audience when they make something really great. But for those writers who want to dig into local issues, there is no tool like that. When I came to Chicago for j-school and was pumping out stories every day, I had no way to put them in front of people. And my stuff died a quick death on Digg because it just didn't belong. That's not a bad thing, it's just how it is. So I've spent the last year creating a solution in Chicago. This post was written to celebrate a bit of a milestone and also to point out to local publishers that they should stop chasing the fools gold of Digg's front page and come join up with us. :)
- jrmurad 18y ago
  I'd prefer to see it as "failure"

24 points by brandnewlow 18y ago

Semantically/Geographically hierarchical category ranking is exactly what I've been working on.

Brad Flora has done some really great work here. He always has interesting things to say. I'm really curious to see how his efforts to find a commission-only ad-sales guy for the WindyCitizen on Craigslist panned out. Has anyone else tried to hire sales people via Craiglist? Any success?

brandnewlow 18y ago
You and me both! By the end of next week, we hope to have some results to report back. Media Kit? check. Spreadsheet of leads? check Salesperson who knows what they're selling and is pumped about it? check Time to start hitting the phones...

ggchappell 18y ago

How refreshing. As a recent refugee from Reddit, I've seen far too much of the tiresome practice of using "fail" to mean "let's belittle & humiliate someone". So I was a bit worried when I saw this on the front page of HN. It's nice to see the word used to mean "this didn't work well; how can we do better?".

brandnewlow 18y ago
Thanks. The word "fail" is actually an allusion to the parking meter story, which used it to great effect. I am a huge Reddit/Digg fan (though the new Digg bar is indefensible.) I think what those two sites have done is unleashed a generation of writers and publishers, confident that they now have a tool to find an audience when they make something really great. But for those writers who want to dig into local issues, there is no tool like that. When I came to Chicago for j-school and was pumping out stories every day, I had no way to put them in front of people. And my stuff died a quick death on Digg because it just didn't belong. That's not a bad thing, it's just how it is. So I've spent the last year creating a solution in Chicago. This post was written to celebrate a bit of a milestone and also to point out to local publishers that they should stop chasing the fools gold of Digg's front page and come join up with us. :)
jrmurad 18y ago
I'd prefer to see it as "failure"