Sunday, May 31, 2009

Out with the old, in with the news

If there is any doubt that the newspaper industry is dying, just look to today’s HoCo section of the Baltimore Sun. I can honestly say that there was nothing posted there that interested me in any way whatsoever. Paper versions of newspapers have been dead to me for a long time (I have never subscribed to a paper version of a newspaper), but even the on-line versions are beginning to suck.

A fresh concept that is rising of this change in consumer tastes for information is HoCoMoJo. The concept is described as a cross between an online newspaper, a blog and Facebook. It appears to have some twittering thrown in the mix as well. Mojo is short for MObile JOurnalism, and of course it's also that stuff that Dr. Evil stole from Austin Powers.

What is different about HoCoMoJo is that the site is subsidized by readers who contribute content. That may not sound like a big deal to some, but I think that is really freaking cool. It decentralizes the flow of information and removes barriers to entry in the news biz, sort of like what Wikipedia did to online encyclopedias. Right now, the content leaves a lot to be desired and few people seem to be contributing anything. But, I am optimistic that a good framework is in place and good content will follow shortly.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you saying that writers who opine actually pay to have their "advertisements" appear as objective opinion?

Anonymous said...

Is this JessieX at hocomojo? Looks like her work with the prompts to fill out a bio.

Freemarket said...

No, and I never said any such thing.

What I mean by writers subsidizing the site with content is that writers give their content for free to the site (sort of like you gave your comment for free to this blog). Not all subsidies are based on money.

Anonymous said...

I see now. Still, doesn't go out and get people, and that whole bio thing is a turn off (obviously for me, being anon).

Seems like explorehoward.com is going to maintain status as the central hoco site for news. They're more mainstream and can appeal to all tech ability levels.

Nice site, though.

Freemarket said...

The bio stuff is a little too touchy feely. They should lax some of that stuff up for people who just want to leave comments.