How TBD Web news startup in the D.C. area will work with affiliate bloggers
How will TBD.com, the Web news startup in the D.C. area, work with the more than 90 independent bloggers in its network? The TBD blog has some details, although I don’t notice any huge surprises, just good common sense in the post by Community Engagement Director Steve Buttry.
For example: “We will provide headlines and links, sending TBD visitors to the network members’ sites if they want to read the full story…
“When a network member posts an article, photo, graphic, video or any type of content worthy of top-story play on our home page, we will feature that contribution as a top story, just as we would if a TBD staff member had produced it.”
Home-page feeds for home or work locations of interest to readers—note the plural “locations” since you’re not limited to one—will include geo-appropriate items.
Ideally TBD will team up with independent affiliates to encourage in-depth coverage of individual communities, via such sophisticated tools as databases, not just traditional methods alone. Meanwhile TBD’s systematic distribution of affiliates’ offerings—on the Web and through social media like Twitter—will be a nice start. I also like the use of GrowthSpur to help the affiliates learn how to sell ads. While I doubt that the typical affiliate bloggers will end up with heaps of cash, I am rooting for enough money to come in to help them maintain their interest.
An aside: Kudos to Steve for his fight against paywalled obits. Hey, Steve, I’ve been on this one since 1996, and in a related vein, I complained earlier this spring about the S.F. Chronicle’s death notice gouges. Keep up the good work!
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July 14th, 2010 - 13:52
Thanks again for your insightful posts about our ongoing work at TBD. We aim to get a lot of new readers on the home sites of our community partners — and a lot of that will be determined not only by the quality of content, but also on the amount of involvement each individual partner wants to have with TBD’s ongoing news process.
July 14th, 2010 - 15:09
Well, best of luck to TBD on the partnership front, Mandy—and with databases. It all ties together. Relevant and well-stocked databases could mean more resources for civic-oriented partners to mine for news. And that in turn could lead to heavier involvement with TBD.
Stay tuned for a post telling what I’d do in the W. Post’s place. While maintaining neutrality, I’m exploring these issues from different perspectives—which is to everyone’s benefit.
David