Guest post: There is no rule book for online news
By Jason Preston, Eat Sleep Publish
When you’re looking at making the transition from print (as a medium) to the internet (as a medium), one of the most important things that you can wrap your brain around is the concept of failure.
Online, failure is not only common, it’s celebrated. Just recently the New York Times ran a short spot on Evan Williams, one of the founders of Twitter, and about his record of failed or errant startups.
Speaking of the New York Times, does anyone think much worse of them for having tried Times Select? Although they might mince words saying so, it was a failure.
Are Facebook users leaving in droves after the recent outcry about the unannounced changes in their terms of service? Nope – in fact they’re signing up at the rate of 1 million per week.
All of this is to say that there is no rule book online. There are no pre-set Right Ways and Wrong Ways. There are literally thousands of people who will charge you lots of money to tell you what you should and shouldn’t do online. Screw ‘em.
Here’s what you should do: jump.
The internet is not a kitchen appliance. There is no manual that tells you where not to stick your fingers, and how to set the clock. Even better, there’s no risk of electrocution.
If you can embrace this spirit of experimentation, then you are a new media pioneer.
That’s all there really is to it – a willingness to sign up on a new service, click on links and buttons, and see what happens. Think about how it might work for journalism. Think about how it might work for you.
Jason is the founding editor of Eat Sleep Publish, a blog about the future of publishing. You can subscribe to his RSS feed here.
“Here’s what you should do: jump.”
I couldn’t agree with you more. The rewards are out there for those brave enough to take them! The most exciting thing about the digital age is none of the rules of the past need apply.
Agreed. If there’s one medium where users can think outside the box, it’s the Internet. All it takes is a little imagination combined with innovation.
Adam – True! Although I would caution against the sentiment that none of the rules apply; certainly some do – but they apply to the *writing* process, not the the *publishing* process (i.e. grammar, accuracy, accountability…)
Walter – I think we haven’t gotten anywhere near to the limit of the kinds of innovation we’re going to see in journalism once the really smart minds start to wrap around the concept of the medium.