All Companies are Publishers Now- Are You Making News?

Have you really taken to heart the idea that social media channels require new kinds of content? Are you really making an effort to create stories that people will value, or are you still just tweeting your press releases?

You (and your company) are a publisher now...don't believe me? Do you believe the New York Times?

Read, Blogging Site Tumblr Makes Itself the News, by Brian Stelter.

The takeaway?

By creating in-house content, social Web sites can increase the amount of time that users spend on their sites, thereby increasing their value to advertisers.

Andrew McLaughlin, a vice president at Tumblr, said that in telling stories about its users, the company wanted Mr. Mohney and Ms. Bennett, the only two hires for the time being, to “do real journalism and analysis, not P.R. fluff.”

“Of course, it’s obviously in our self-interest as a company to surface more compelling stories about creators on Tumblr; at the same time, though, we think Chris and Jessica will be able to do so in ways that embody professional rigor and first-rate writing,” he said in an e-mail message.

In the savage battle for mindshare, web traffic and influence, do you have ex-journalists and editors crafting professional stories, or did you assign that job to the twenty-something who is on Facebook all day?

Something to think about...