Archive for the ‘media’ category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Digital Journal showcases power of user-generated media with global coverage of top stories in 2011

January 3rd, 2012

A press release from my company this morning announcing some great momentum going into 2012…

Digital Journal is winning praise for its role in covering major international stories throughout 2011. Leveraging both technology and a global base of contributors, the company played a big role in covering 2011′s top stories.

Boasting a network of more than 34,000 members in 200 countries, Digital Journal’s reach allowed the social news network to take part in and lead editorial coverage of 2011’s major stories.

From the tsunami in Japan, to the Occupy movements in multiple geographies, to protests during the Arab Spring, Digital Journalists published breaking news, featured stories, photo essays and video of important stories.

“Digital Journal has cemented its position in the digital media industry, earning praise for curating and nurturing high-quality user-generated media and for improving our platform to allow virtually anyone to take part in the news,” said Chris Hogg, CEO of Digital Journal. “Going into 2012, we’re excited to continue to lead in the world of user-generated media along with our world-class base of contributors and a platform that is unmatched.”

In addition to being a hub for top-notch reporting, Digital Journal also introduced several platform enhancements that have grown uniques by more than 75 percent. Pageviews have more than doubled.

“As a pioneer and leader in the world of user-generated content, Digital Journal has built a business around scaling content across several verticals and multiple geographies,” said Hogg. “Our content assignment tool and gamification project were game-changers for our business. Today we’re as much a technology company as a media company, which is a necessity for any media company that wants to be a leader.”

Some of the major international stories covered by Digital Journalists include:

  • The widespread London riots, from technology used to identify protesters to the thousands of arrests.
  • Tracking and reporting on the Occupy movement in cities such as Toronto, New York, London, Edinburgh, Oakland, Baltimore, Portland, Los Angeles, Seattle, Detroit, Halifax, and more.
  • Telling the many stories behind the Arab Spring protests, from Tunisia to Egypt.
  • In-depth coverage on the tsunami that hit Japan.
  • Reporting on protests in Greece and reactions from everyday citizens.
  • Reporting on the effects of the severe drought in Somalia.
  • Covering Hurricane Irene as it hit the US northeast.
  • Reporting on the tornados that ripped through Joplin, MO.
  • Photo essays covering the Vancouver riots after the 2011 Stanley Cup game.
  • Telling the untold stories related to the Royal Wedding, including the many fans lining up to get a glimpse of the ceremony.
  • Celebrity coverage from the Toronto International Film Festival, including photo stories showcasing many A-list celebs.
  • Covering the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and tributes staged across the United States.
  • Tracking the results of the 2011 Canadian federal election and providing breaking news on ridings and voting results.
  • Publishing breaking news on the recent shooting massacre in Belgium.
  • Writing on same-sex legislation passed in various U.S. states and foreign countries such as Malawi, including analysis of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal news.
  • Chronicling the intense flooding in the Philippines and the recovery missions.

“It’s amazing to watch the power of user-generated content as it scales across our global social news network,” said David Silverberg, Managing Editor of Digital Journal. “From editorial excellence to ongoing interaction between contributors, not a day goes by that we don’t marvel at the power of crowdsourcing.”

About Digital Journal:

Digital Journal is a global digital media network with 34,000+ professional and citizen journalists, bloggers, photographers and freelancers in 200 countries around the world. Regarded as a pioneer and leader in crowdsourcing and user-generated content, Digital Journal leverages its custom-built content platform and global reach to produce news and media content at scale in an environment that is built from the ground-up to be digital-first and social by nature. Digital Journal also consults and works with news organizations who want to leverage the power of their audience to acquire content, drive revenue and increase engagement from digital media properties.

1 comment »

Posted in citizen journalism, digitaljournal.com, media, technology

Tags:

Digital Journal November ‘Power User’ list features top contributors in monthly crowdsourcing project

December 7th, 2011

Today my company issued a press release that provides more info on how our gamification project has been working out. Details below…

—

Digital Journal, a global digital media network, today published a comprehensive list of the 20 most active contributors for November. The Top 20 list is published each month to report how Digital Journalists, bloggers and citizen journalists interact in an online media network.

“Digital Journal’s gamification project is hands-down one of our most successful technologies we’ve developed to date,” said Chris Hogg, CEO, Digital Journal. “We know right down to a granular level how people consume and interact with our media network and it has provided us with a true wealth of information and data.”

In September, Digital Journal launched a massive gamification project that tracks and reports the activity of contributors across the media network. Recording actions such as quantity of articles published, frequency of visit and how engaged members are, Digital Journal rewards points and badges to individual contributors based on the amount of their activity. The members who stay the most active in the month are then rewarded with a “Power Users” badge.

“Our contributors and members are highly engaged with our media network,” said Hogg. “We’ve proven that by giving people recognition for hard work, and by highlighting details of how people engage in an open news ecosystem, everyone wins. Contributors are rewarded for being really active, and the entire media network benefits with a huge increase in activity.”

In addition to creating incentive for contributors to participate in the social news network, Digital Journal’s gamification project aims to showcase talent and create a level of transparency that gives a completely open look at how people interact with a news organization and how user-generated content is valuable in the wider news ecosystem.

In no particular order, Digital Journal’s November 2011 Power Users include:

Digital Journal compiles data on a monthly basis and resets the points at the beginning of each month when a new competition begins. More info on Digital Journal’s gamification project can be found on the company’s website here.

About Digital Journal:

Digital Journal is a global digital media network with 34,000+ professional and citizen journalists, bloggers, photographers and freelancers in 200 countries around the world. Regarded as a pioneer and leader in crowd-sourcing and user-generated content, Digital Journal leverages its custom-built content platform and global reach to produce news and media content at scale in an environment that is built from the ground-up to be digital-first and social by nature. Digital Journal also consults news organizations on how to empower their audience to acquire content, drive revenue and increase engagement from digital media properties. For more information, visit digitaljournal.com.

No comments »

Posted in business, citizen journalism, digitaljournal.com, media, social media

Tags:

Steve Jobs: Fox News is a ‘destructive force’ in society

October 27th, 2011

Steve Jobs

Walter Isaacson’s biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was released this week and details are emerging about what Jobs thought about his industry and others. The media was a particular area of interest for Jobs, but not always in a good way.

Steve Jobs is all over the media these days, with the official release of his biography spilling dozens of interesting facts about the business visionary.

While Jobs is famous for revolutionizing several industries, from music, to computers to phones and tablets, another deep passion of his was media.

“I would love to help quality journalism,” Jobs told Isaacson in one of dozens of interviews he did for his biography before passing away. “We can’t depend on bloggers for our news. We need real reporting and editorial oversight more than ever. So I’d love to find a way to help people create digital products where they actually can make money.”

Jobs wanted to play a role in how news organizations brought their content to digital platforms, and the iPad was the solution.

According to Poynter, Jobs made friends with News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch when the two organizations started working on the iPad-only publication, The Daily, and Jobs played an active role in helping News Corp. develop the first digital-only publication for the popular tablet.

While Jobs and Murdoch hit it off with that publication, Jobs had harsh words for another News Corp. media property — Fox News. As Jobs and Murdoch got closer, Jobs did not mince words about Fox:

“You’re blowing it with Fox News,” Jobs told Murdoch. “The axis today is not liberal and conservative, the axis is constructive-destructive, and you’ve cast your lot with the destructive people. Fox has become an incredibly destructive force in our society.”

“You can be better, and this is going to be your legacy if you’re not careful.” Jobs said.

According to Isaacson’s biography, Jobs also believed Murdoch was not really happy with Fox.

“Rupert’s a builder, not a tearer-downer,” Jobs said. “I’ve had some meetings with James, and I think he agrees with me. I can just tell.”

According to Poynter, Murdoch responded to Jobs’ complaints about Fox News by saying, “He’s got sort of a left-wing view on this.”

[Originally published on Digital Journal]

No comments »

Posted in business, media

Tags:

Digital Journal launches iPad and PlayBook apps powered by Polar Mobile

September 20th, 2011

Digital Journal, a global digital media network with contributors in more than 200 countries, has launched two free news apps for the Apple iPad and BlackBerry PlayBook.

Partnering with Polar Mobile, Digital Journal is releasing free tablet apps that feature breaking news, blogs, image galleries and user-generated content submitted by more than 32,000 Digital Journalists around the world.

“Digital Journal is excited about the opportunity to continue working with Polar Mobile to showcase world class user-generated content on mobile devices,” said Chris Hogg, CEO, Digital Journal. “With the success of our mobile apps on iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Windows Phone devices, we’re eager to extend our mobile reach into the tablet space. Digital Journal’s tablet apps offer outstanding features with a sleek design, and the tablets themselves provide unique reading experiences we know readers are going to love.”

Digital Journal’s iPad and PlayBook apps showcase top news and commentary from tens of thousands of Digital Journal members across the world. The tablet apps also include blogs, special reports and image galleries featuring an up-close-and-personal look at communities, people and events from thousands of cities.

“We are excited Digital Journal has picked our tablet platform to further extend their presence in mobile,” said Jon Zifkin, Director of Customer Success, Polar Mobile. “Tablets will play an integral part in Digital Journal’s user engagement and monetization strategy.”

Digital Journal’s tablet apps boast an immersive and engaging reading experience with a stunning layout and social media features such as the ability to share content on Twitter and Facebook from within the apps.

The tablets apps also offer readers access to read and share Digital Journal’s Twitter and Facebook streams right within the apps.

Digital Journal’s iPad and PlayBook apps are available for download from the iTunes App Store (link) and BlackBerry App World (link) today.

This article was originally published on Digital Journal [Link]

No comments »

Posted in business, digitaljournal.com, media, mobile, technology

Tags:

Digital Journal launches Achievement & Badge program to showcase top talent

September 19th, 2011

Digital Journal, the parent company of Future of Media, today announced a new Achievements and Badge program designed to reward top members and highlight talent from the company’s 30,000+ members in 200 countries around the world.

Who is the most active member on Digital Journal? Who uploads the most original photography? Who comments most often?

Today Digital Journal is happy to introduce a new badge and Achievement program that showcases top talent and the most active members, giving everyone the chance to compete for top spots. Top contributors will be showcased more prominently across the digital media network and earn badges for reaching certain milestones and accomplishing various tasks.

How it works:

Digital Journal members can perform actions across the Digital Journal network such as posting news articles and blogs, uploading images and connecting to Facebook. Each member is given a certain number of points for completing actions and the people with the most points and who are most active can earn badges.

Also, every Digital Journal member is now ranked in order based on how active they are and how much they have contributed to the Digital Journal network. A leaderboard with the Top 50 members can be found here.

To view a person’s rank, points and badges simply click on their name. From here you can see how that person earned his or her points and who they are beating in the ranks. Points and Achievements are updated regularly to reflect activity in each calendar month and everything is reset at the start of the month to begin a new competition.

Digital Journal is launching its Achievements reward program with seven Achievements up for grabs, and the company will add more Achievements in the future.

Achievements

The following Achievements are being announced at launch (a full list of who has earned each Achievement is here):

(1.) Power User The most active Digital Journal members who have earned the most points this month. Points are earned from doing various activities such as uploading articles, posting blogs, connecting to Facebook and receiving “Likes” on uploaded content this month.

(2.) Top Editor Digital Journal members who have submitted revisions on news articles that were approved. These are the top editors with the most approved edits.

(3.) Top Photographer Digital Journal members who have submitted the most original photos this month.

(4.) Top Commenter Digital Journal members who have commented the most this month.

(5.) Top Blogger Digital Journal members who have published the most blogs this month.

(6.) Top Content Producer Digital Journal members who have received the highest number of Likes on their content this month.

(7.) Million Pageviews Given to Digital Journal members who have received more than 1 million pageviews on their content.

To see a list of how many points each action is worth, bookmark this page.

The most coveted Achievement is the Power User reward, an honour that identifies the most active and prolific Digital Journal members. Because the Power User spot is the most difficult to maintain and earn each month, Digital Journal will reward Power Users with the following additional benefits:

• A special Power User badge will appear on the person’s profile page.

• Digital Journal Staff will promote and profile Power Users.

• Power Users will be listed in the TopFinds roundup each week.

• Content uploaded by Power Users will be featured and promoted frequently via Digital Journal’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

• Power Users can participate in private chats with Digital Journal staff members to offer feedback, provide input on new features and maintain a direct line of communication with decision-makers behind the scenes.

• Digital Journal will issue a press release each month to showcase and promote Power Users.

• Power Users will be promoted and featured to new members when they sign up to the site as Suggested Users to follow.

• Digital Journal will also promote Power Users via the company’s sister site, Future of Media.

For Power Users, the above benefits will be given to Digital Journal members for one month after earning the Achievement (i.e. a person who earns a Power User badge in September will be given the above additional privileges in the month of October).

All Achievements will be reset each month to allow new people a chance to earn a badge for each action.

This article was originally published on Digital Journal [Link]

No comments »

Posted in business, citizen journalism, digitaljournal.com, media, technology

Tags: