If you want to see evidence of why blogs continue to grow as a source for news, while mainstream media (MSM) sites appear stagnant, you need look no further than the latest announcement by the New York Times.
That the NYT is adding news from other resources–including blogs–is not a big surprise. The newspaper is one of the few mainstream media sites that appear to “get” social media and are aggressively pursuing models that embrace citizen journalism.
Equally not surprising is the way other MSM sites have handled this announcement–they’ve not said a word. Looking at Google News, you’ll see that only blogs appear to be talking about the announcement. Isn’t that just indicative of all that is wrong with old-school media? Heaven forbid they link to an announcement by one of their rivals! Contrast that with bloggers. Marketing Pilgrim constantly links to sites that you might consider to be our competitors–TechCrunch, Mashable, SEL, etc–because we know that by doing so, we add value to your reading experience (plus, they’re great sites).
NYT is going to be a lone beacon for a while. Until other mainstream news sites realize that you have more to gain than lose–by linking to your rivals–they will continue to look like social media noobs!
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