Tag Archives: co-founder and CEO

Karp on the theory behind the Publish2 contest

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.”

‘Facebook Effect’ developing widgets boosts your site traffic

Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, it’s all I ever hear. But could research from Quantcast finally have made the tangible link between the social site and others that news publishers were waiting to hear?

It claims that developing widgets for the site results in increasing site traffic for  those developing the apps – ‘The Facebook Effect’
“Quantcast found a common dramatic increase in traffic for those publishers that have built and deployed widgets (“applications”) on the Facebook platform.”

“Just six weeks into Facebook’s open platform initiative, we are seeing striking results,” said Konrad Feldman, co-founder and CEO, Quantcast Corporation. “The Facebook platform is driving substantial incremental traffic to application publishers’ Web sites, as consumers find new routes to exploring their wares.”

The Quantcast charts below (figures 1 and 2) reveal the relative growth in daily uniques to three leading widget publishers, each with multiple applications running on the Facebook platform. Since Facebook’s open platform initiative began on May 25th of this year:

  • Slide, the leading personal media network, has more than tripled its global reach in Web site traffic.
    • Slide grew domestic U.S. daily unique visitors from approximately 312,000 to more than 1.1 million, an increase of 265 percent.
    • Slide grew global daily unique visitors from approximately 753,000 to more than 2.3 million, an increase of 207 percent.
  • HOTorNOT, an early leader in social media, has doubled its global reach in Web site traffic.
    • HOTorNOT grew domestic U.S. daily unique visitors from approximately 182,000 to more than 350,000, an increase of 98 percent.
    • HOTorNOT grew global daily unique visitors from approximately 289,000 to more than 722,000, an increase of 152 percent.
  • RockYou, creator and distributor some of the most popular self-expression widgets on the Web, has more than tripled its global reach in Web site traffic.
    • RockYou grew domestic U.S. daily unique visitors from approximately 145,000 to more than 521,000, an increase of 228 percent.
    • RockYou tripled its global reach, increasing global unique visitors from approximately 286,000 to more than 1.3 million, an increase of 339 percent.

Figures 1 and 2 reveal the relative growth in daily unique visitors for domestic U.S. and Global audiences, respectively:

Facebookfig1

Facebookfig2

Now, just ’cause it worked for these few, doesn’t say to me that it will work for others. Yet it shows that those talking Facebook  on its own terms are most likely to reap the benefits.