Online news aggregation service Publish2 announced yesterday that it intends to challenge the AP newswire with a new product that it claims will be more open and more efficient.

The start-up realises that the only way to disrupt the monster co-op is by offering a completely scalable substitute. Here’s basically what the company hopes the Publish2 News Exchange will do to the AP: ‘Craigslist it’.

As in, kill the AP’s main income stream by offering an open, efficient alternative.

And my educated guess is publishers are going to love this.

Full story at this link…

• Steve Outing: An open letter to Craigslist on behalf of the newspaper industry
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• TechCrunch: All eyes on the Daily, but watch out for News.me
• How to publish Twitter streams on news sites?
• ‘Apptop publishing’ technology targets bloggers and independents

This is an update on a post I wrote at the beginning of last year – Ten things every journalist should know in 2009. I still stand by all those points I made then so consider the following 10 to be an addendum.

1. How to monitor Twitter and other social media networks for breaking news or general conversations in your subject area using tools such as TweetDeck. Understand and use hashtags.

2. You are in control. Don’t become a slave to technology, make it your slave instead. You will need to develop strategies to cope with information overload – filter, filter, filter!

3. You are a curator. Like it or not, part of your role will eventually be to aggregate content (but not indiscriminately). You will need to gather, interpret and archive material from around the web using tools like Publish2, Delicious and StumbleUpon. As Publish2 puts it: “Help your readers get news from social media. More signal. Less noise.”

4. Your beat will be online and you will be the community builder. Creating communities and maintaining their attention will increasingly be down to the efforts of individual journalists; you may no longer be able to rely on your employer’s brand to attract reader loyalty in a fickle and rapidly changing online world (see 7).

5. Core journalistic skills are still crucial. You can acquire as many multimedia and programming skills as you want, but if you are unable to tell a story in an accurate and compelling way, no one will want to consume your content.

6. Journalism needs a business model. If you don’t understand business, especially the business you work for, then it’s time to wake up. The reality for most journalists is that they can no longer exist in a vacuum, as if what they do in their profession is somehow disconnected from the commercial enterprise that pays their wages (one side effect of journalists’ attempts to ‘professionalise’ themselves, according to Robert G Picard). That does not mean compromising journalistic integrity, or turning into solo entrepreneurs; rather it means gaining an understanding of the business they are in and playing a part in moving it forward.

As former Birmingham Post editor Marc Reeves said in his excellent speech to Warwick Business School last year: “You cannot be an editor in today’s media environment without also being a businessman. It might say editor on my business card, but really, I am in the business of making news profitable and budgets, targets and performance are as important to me as words and newsprint.”

OK, you may not be an editor yet but that is no excuse, and it is probably easier to innovate while you are still working on the coalface without managerial responsibilities. Plus, in some cases, your editor may be part of the problem.

7. You are your own brand – brand yourself online! I’m not talking bylines here – you need to build yourself an online persona, one that earns you a reputation of trustworthiness and one that allows you to build fruitful relationships with your readers and contacts. You can no longer necessarily rely on having a good reputation by proxy of association with your employer’s brand. And your reputation is no longer fleeting, as good as your last big story – there is an entire archive of your content building online that anyone can potentially access.

Obvious ways to do this: Twitter, Facebook, personal blogging, but you can also build a reputation by sharing what you are reading online using social bookmarking sites like Publish2 and delicious (see 3).

8. You need to collaborate! Mashable suggests seven ways news organisations could become more collaborative outside of their own organisations, but this could also mean working with other journalists in your own organisation on, for example, multimedia projects as MultimediaShooter suggests or hook up with other journalists from other publications as Adam Westbrook suggests to learn and share new ideas.

9. Stories do not have to end once they are published online. Don’t be afraid to revise and evolve a story or feature published online, but do it transparently – show the revisions. And don’t bury mistakes; the pressure to publish quickly can lead to mistakes but if you admit them honestly and openly you can only gain the respect of your readers.

10. Technology is unavoidable, but it is nothing to fear and anyone of any age can master the basics. If you do nothing else, set up a WordPress blog and experiment with different templates and plugins – I promise you will be amazed at what you can achieve and what you can learn in the process.

Learn more practical advice on the future of journalism at our news:rewired event at City University in London on 14 January 2010.

• Editor&Publisher: Bill Keller says future of NYTimes’ public editor still ‘much debated’
• Ten things every journalist should know in 2009
• Update on Wired Journalists’ new look; Publish2 claims it now has 20 per cent of all journalists in the US
• Q&A with Vikki Chowney: Centaur’s new site Reputation Online
• Journalism Daily: Guardian Q&A, Wired Journalists’ new look, Google News re-indexing

A daily round-up of all the content published on the Journalism.co.uk site. Additionally, you can sign up to our e-newsletter and subscribe to the feed for the Journalism Daily here.

News and features:

• Wired Journalists community acquired by Publish2
• Event: Guardian hosts live Q&A on careers in online journalism
• Smart Moves: Rich Sutcliffe to edit Brand Republic

Ed’s picks:

• Lost Remote: How WCCO broke a story on Twitter
• Reuters: Independent News&Media likely to agree bond extension, says source
• Search Engine Roundtable: Google News now re-indexing with latest version
• CMLP: Anonymity of online speakers protected in District of Columbia Court of Appeals

Tip of the Day:

• Getting rid of spam followers

#FollowJourn:

• @kristinelowe/media journalist

On the Editors’ Blog:

• Update on Wired Journalists’ new look; Publish2 claims it now has 20 per cent of all journalists in the US
• CUNY New Business Models for News, as seen in Aspen

• Search Engine Roundtable: Google News now re-indexing with latest version
• Update on Wired Journalists’ new look; Publish2 claims it now has 20 per cent of all journalists in the US
• Reuters: Independent News&Media likely to agree bond extension, says source
• Tool of the week for journalists – Greplin, to search your private files and profiles
• UK national newspapers neglecting sitemaps for better search indexing

As reported on the main site, the social network Wired Journalists is now looking rather different; it has been incorporated into Publish2, the social journalism venture based on a belief in the link economy. Since no terms of the deal were disclosed in the announcement, Journalism.co.uk was keen to know more. Publish2 CEO Scott Karp didn’t reveal the details of the agreement but added this statement:

“Creating a social network for our journalist community within P2 was always on our roadmap, and WiredJournalists presented an opportunity to buy instead of build. It was a great fit. WiredJournalists grew from nothing to more than 3,000 journalists in 18 months.

“The frontline web producers, reporters, and editors using Wired Journalists are exactly the journalists we’re bringing together at Publish2 to collaborate and share links with each other and their readers.

“With this deal, Publish2 now has the equivalent of 20 per cent of all journalists in the U.S, since launching less than a year ago.”

• Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – build your own social network
• @press_freedom: a new Twitter service from Journalism.co.uk
• BeatBlogging.org: Wired Journalists creator on how to get to grips with Ning
• DEN: Patrick Altoft on news organisations and social media
• Journalism Daily: Guardian Q&A, Wired Journalists’ new look, Google News re-indexing

Proponent of link journalism Publish2 has introduced a set of new features aimed at ‘curating the real-time web’ for newsgathering and news coverage.

Referring to recent coverage of the Iranian election protests and the growing use of tracking news on Twitter by monitoring hashtags, Publish2 now allows uses to aggregate, tag and repurpose Tweets as a widget or feed.

“Social Journalism has clear value for breaking news, to curate what’s already being shared on the real-time web,” writes founder Scott Karp.

Full post at this link…

• Win a job in journalism! Yes, really. A whole real job up for grabs…
• Update on Wired Journalists’ new look; Publish2 claims it now has 20 per cent of all journalists in the US
• Publishing 2.0: When a newspaper stops publishing in print, what happens to the advertising dollars?
• Karp on the theory behind the Publish2 contest
• Tool of the week for journalists – WhenToTweet

Former WSJ.com managing editor Bill Grueskin looks at ‘link journalism’ venture Publish2 and the recently launched Journalism Online, whose founders include an ex-WSJ publisher and the founder of American Lawyer.

Can Journalism Online’s founder translate their wealth of ‘traditional media’ experience online?

“One new firm seeks to generate much-needed revenue by building a platform for subscription services, another seeks to generate new forms of journalism with a platform to share and distribute content. It’s hard to reconcile those two visions of journalism’s future,” writes Grueskin.

Full post at this link…

• AllMediaScotland: Glasgow local paper closes after 14 years
• French newspapers in cahoots over pay system to rival Google
• BBC Trust launches ‘its largest’ TV service review – into BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four
• ReadWriteWeb: CNET signs up for Open Calais
• Innovations in Journalism – Seesmic.com

Looking for news and information about news trend as big as the swine flue outbreak can be a daunting task – while the introduction of hashtags, for example, can make this easier online, how can readers and journalists filter the facts from the disinformation, asks Ryan Sholin.

Full post at this link…

• Ryan Sholin’s five tips for hiring developers
• PDA: Journalists and developers join forces for Guardian Hack Day 2
• BeatBlogging.org: Wired Journalists creator on how to get to grips with Ning
• Wired Journalists: The #followwomenjournas movement
• Ethan Zuckerman on hashtags, breaking news and disinformation

Publish2 – the link-sharing website exclusively for journalists – is running a promotion to reward members who invite other journalists to join the site.

The prizes include a $25 gift card redeemable for training at Mediabistro.com and a prize draw to win a MacBook Pro and a trip to the Mediabistro Circus conference in New York City.

Members can opt for a choice of three gift cards for the first 10 journalists who register with the website by March 31 following their recommendation. All journalists who get a recommendation to register will be entered for the prize draw.

Publish2 launched publicly last October and allows users to share website links on Twitter and delicious.

• Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – get linking
• Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – use Tagth.is to send Tweets to your social bookmarks
• Delicious users have until July to transfer to new owners
• StinkyJournalism.org: Do US citizen journalists have to pay gift tax?
• Win a job in journalism! Yes, really. A whole real job up for grabs…

Just as that last post, on how to bag a new job in journalism, was published Publish2′s co-founder and CEO, Scott Karp, sent Journalism.co.uk some extra information. Here, Karp explains in more depth the rationale behind the contest:

“We’re a startup with a pioneering technology designed to support and encourage the rapid evolution of journalism in the digital age. We’re in uncharted territory.  Everything is ‘out of the box.’  An unconventional approach to hiring fits right in. We’re not hiring for a standard, well-established position. We’re creating new jobs.

“The best candidates for our job – and any job in journalism – are those who can see beyond conventional approaches. We’re looking for candidates who think, wow, this is a cool way to hire!  We’re looking for journalists who are eager to try new things, to learn and grow on the job. Everyone is facing the challenge of learning many new skills quickly. So attitude and disposition are very important. Experience is still a huge asset, but the ability to learn and adapt is increasingly important.

“In terms of specific skills, I think most important is a familiarity with the web and digital media that comes from actually using them. The best way to learn new media is to use it yourself. There are a lot of journalists on Twitter, for example. Most of them started using Twitter originally to learn about it. Some many not have understood it when they first heard about it. But they learned by doing. That’s the key skill.

“So anyone who would enter the ‘I Am The Future Of Journalism’ Contest is, by virtue of the contest format and framing, already exhibiting many of the qualities we value and that we believe are key to future success in journalism.

“Journalists can shape the future of journalism. We’re excited about that. We’re looking for people who are also excited about it.”

• Win a job in journalism! Yes, really. A whole real job up for grabs…
• Skillset’s report digested: Is there a skills gap amongst new journalism recruits?
• New Media Bytes: It’s not about survival – journalists can ‘own’ 2009
• Editor&Publisher: Versatility and commercial focus are a must for young journalists
• Hannah Waldram: ‘What journalism students need to know’

Publish 2 has had the bright idea of a contest for journalists, with the much-coveted and very rare prize of… a whole, brand new, job in journalism (paid, and everything)!

Entrants need to promote themselves as ‘the future of journalism’.

“We believe journalism has a bright future, and we’re betting everything on that belief,” writes Publish2 CEO and co-founder Scott Karp on the Publish2 site.

The winner of the ‘I Am The Future Of Journalism’ Contest will bag a job with Publish2, a site and application developed to promote ‘link journalism’ in newsrooms, as reported by Journalism.co.uk in October.

The new recruit will join a team of two existing journalists and included in the offer is a $1,000 signing bonus.

Unsuccessful entrants will also receive a boost, writes Karp: Publish2 will promote them to ‘news organizations and media companies that are looking for journalists who are focused on the future and who want to help journalism evolve’.

Entries can be video, slide show, or written (or all three) but must address ‘why you believe you are the future of journalism’.

“I am the future of journalism because…”

And then it’s down to the entrant. Further information here. Publish2 users will rate the contest entries.

The contest is open to submissions until December 30, and entries can be rated up until January 9.

• Karp on the theory behind the Publish2 contest
• US student journalism awards open for entries
• YouTube and Pulitzer announce five Project:Report finalists
• YouTube’s videojournalism competition opens for entries
• YouTube partners Pullitzer Center for journalism contest

Bookmarking: looking for an alternative to your delicious network? Publish2 is just for journalists and your bookmarked links can be sent to existing Twitter and delicious accounts. Tipster: Laura Oliver.

To submit a tip to Journalism.co.uk, use this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

• Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – analysing delicious links
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – tool for monitoring Twitter
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – Tweetdeck for iPhone
• Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – use Tagth.is to send Tweets to your social bookmarks
• Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – find other journalists on Twitter