This was the title of a recent article in the St. Petersburg Times. David sent this to our team and several others. This concept of ‘gossip sites’ has been a popular one of late. The ability to anonymously post to those sites or to anonymously comment on articles written creates this ‘instant’ viewer/reader interaction that our traditional media sources are craving.
Well, at a minimum, it’s the viewers or readers that they crave. Our current ability to digest content in rapid-fire fashion (and the preference that most have for the quick details rather than the ‘full version’) are, IMO, causing this reaction from traditional media sources in a frantic effort to maintain viewers or readers.
Our local news station has begun accepting Twitter responses to news stories and reading some of these comments on the air. Articles are easy to find that detail the job losses that these folks are facing. Yet, as one of the linked articles point out, the air time and amount of content is staying the same or even increasing in these times. This explains some of the reason why your ‘news’ stations and online newspapers are turning into interactive rooms full of, in many cases, drivel. Anything to keep them on your site rather than someone else’s.