Archive for April 25th, 2007
Stephen Colbert has dropped the Google bomb, and it has worked. A search of the term “Greatest Living American” turns up Colbert Nation at #1 on Google. (He’s also the top result for “giant brass balls.”) How did this happen? It started with the visit of a search engine expert to the taping of an episode of the Colbert Report. One Q&A session later, and the Google bomb was dropped. Mind you - Google has changed its search software to try and stop Google bombs. (But try to stop Colbert!) Oddly, as is pointed out in several posts on this, a search for “Truthiness” doesn’t come up with Stephen in the top five. Explain that. First Wikipedia, now Google. Oh, that Colbert.
April 25th, 2007
The list is out for this year’s EPpy nominees, the annual awards given to online media sites. It’s a long list, but some of the items of interest: WaPo leads the pack with five nominations; New categories include The Knight News Award for Innovation, and an award for a Spanish-language media-affiliated site; and of the eight “Best Use of Video in a Web Site” nominees, only one (CNN.com) is from a conventional TV news outlet. The EPpys are sponsored by Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek, and the winners will be announced May 24 at the Interactive Newspaper Conference and Trade Show in Miami.
April 25th, 2007
Yahoo, The Huffington Post and Slate will jointly host two online-only presidential debates this fall. From Mediaweek:
The Web only debates, which will be hosted by longtime PBS host and former 60 Minutes correspondent Charlie Rose, will take place sometime after Labor Day of this year. During the two events – one held for Republican candidates and one for Democrats, Internet-users will be able to directly ask candidates questions, either through text or video submissions, and eventually vote on the debate performances of each participant.
What do you bet the questions - and answers - are better than the ones you get at the traditional debates?
April 25th, 2007
San Diego
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Allentown, PA
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Portland, OR
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Portland, OR
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It’s the Year Of The Cleanup here at LR. We’re making it a mission to get news sites to do away with the clutter and get back to the basics: local information and more local information. MTV.com relaunched this week, and the body of the site is clean, uncluttered and unafraid of white space. Just nine months ago, MTV debuted a new site done in Flash. It was, in their own words, “something of a headache for a lot of users.” Note: the skin around the page changes, too. We’re not opposed to cool design. We’re opposed to clutter. Here’s the top:
This may not be all that stunning to you. But look at that nav: a few simple choices with a big ol’ search box. That’s how we navigate: via search. Below the fold is where things get really interesting. By which I mean uninteresting. Which is really, really interesting:
Will you look at that? Easy. It keeps the user in mind. MTV is embracing simplicity of design online. It works. And they know a little something about marketing. So there you have it: if your site is busier than MTV, you know you have a problem. (via Rex)
April 25th, 2007
CNN.com has created an online memorial to honor the 32 victims of the Virginia Tech shooting. The memorial features photos, profiles and comments left by those who knew them. Plus, users can submit their own videos and photos through I-Report.
April 25th, 2007
Yes, Kate’s getting all the attention this week and rightly so. But Warley and I have been there with Cory at One LR, serving him since damn near the start. We may not look good in a dress, and we might not be “attractive” or even “mildly pleasant” but we are Cory’s Work Wives. Here’s a picture, just released by the RTNDA, of the Lost Remote panel at last week’s conference:
That’s Bergman on the left, obviously thinking more about his wedding than whatever it is that I (center) am over-emoting about. Meantime, Warley (right) tries out his new beard, taking it on the road for the first time.
April 25th, 2007
The Tribeca Film Festival starts today, and WNBC is taking a multi-platform approach to its coverage. There will be regular reports during the stations newscast, and there will also be online webcasts and podcasts along with an interactive feature that lets users vote on festival movie trailers. The website’s dedicated Tribeca Film Festival section also has an interactive map of the film festival locations and nearby restaurants and attractions, news about the festival, and gives users the ability to purchase tickets to festival movies. WNBC will also air a nightly, one-hour show during the festival on its digital channel.
ALSO:Yahoo will have a Tribeca Film Festival microsite (Mediaweek).
April 25th, 2007
One of the better debates here at LR is coming on the topic of branding. At the core of this question: should your website solely reflect the brand of your on-air newscast, or should it create all sorts of new brands that don’t need to reflect the news brand at all? We argue the latter, but there is plenty of good debate and that’s what we like most. My partner at AR&D, Terry Heaton, devotes his latest essay, “To Brand or Not To Brand,” to this topic. As Terry’s loyal readers may imagine, he is in support of local media outlets creating all sorts of new brands online. The crux of Terry’s argument: “The point is that pushing brands online also carries downsides, the biggest one being that if you can be anything you want online, why limit yourself to your brand?”
April 25th, 2007
