2010 - Thoughts on the year ahead

For the first post on my new blog, I thought I'd begin by looking ahead at the forthcoming year. I'm not necessarily looking at making predictions for 2010, but I wanted to focus on areas of the media which are currently of interest to me, and which I'll be paying close attention to as the year progresses.
As a journalism student I naturally have a big interest in the challenges facing the newspaper industry. Living in London, we saw the free evening newspaper landscape change drastically towards the end of last year. Firstly with the demise of the London Paper, which was quickly followed by the London Lite. The London Lite was never going to survive once it was decided the Evening Standard would become a free paper.

I couldn't see what purpose there was in the London Lite continuing to exist when up against a free Evening Standard. On the few occasions that I read the Lite, many of its stories were identical to the Standard's, it wasn't offering anything different.

In saying all of this, it looks as if there's going to be another London free paper launched later this year, so we'll have to see how successful that will prove to be.

I'm yet to be convinced by free newspapers. I can't say I've been overly impressed with the quality of content in the Standard since it dropped its 50p cover price. It now feels more like an in depth evening version of the Metro. I still believe that if you want quality journalism, then you need to pay for it!

It was a significant moment for the industry, when the Standard decided to go free, but I've heard a few rumours that the Independent could become the first national to do the same. I don't normally buy the Independent, but when I do, I've always enjoyed reading it. Again the question that concerns me is whether the quality of its content will decrease if it stops charging?

This year Rupert Murdoch intends to move News International newspapers sites behind a paywall, this is clearly going to become part of a growing trend, with other publishers taking the plunge in experimenting with paywalls in an attempt to generate more profits. The question is will it work?

The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times already have paywalls, and seem to be profiting from them, but it helps that they're niche publications. At the moment this is where paywalls are more likely to succeed. National newspapers aren't niche publications, so I'm not sure how successful Murdoch's decision will prove to be.

On a local level with regional publishers struggling, it'll be interesting to see whether hyperlocal newsites will continue to grow and fill the void left by local newspapers? A year ago I wasn't even aware of what hyperlocal news was, but I've discovered three really good examples; two in the Midlands with the Bournville blog in Birmingham, and to the north of the city in the town of Lichfield there's the Lichfield blog.

In London I quite like Greenwich.co.uk. I've heard a few commentators suggesting that this year's General Election could provide an ideal opportunity for more hyperlocal start ups to emerge, focussing on the election's impact at a more local level.

I'd suggest checking out the above mentioned sites, as I think they're some of the best examples of hyperlocal news that I've come across.

Talking about this year's General Election, the televised debates between the leaders of the three main political parties will be one of the TV highlights of the year.

Well it will be for those of us into our politics, but even if you're not, it's still a significant event in terms of British TV and politics.

This will also be the year that Social media will have a real impact on how the public experience the election. My interest in Social Media has been growing rapidly over the last 12 months.

I've become a bit of a Social Media junkie in recent years. Starting firstly with Myspace before progressing onto Facebook. Last year, I started 'twittering' on Twitter, and then I joined Linkedin to boost my professional networking.

My thoughts on Social media have changed quite a bit since beginning my journalism training. I'm always hearing about the increasing importance of Social media in journalism, particularly as a marketing and promotional tool for individual journalists. Journalists have to start viewing themselves as individual brands these days, and Social media is becoming a vital tool in doing this.

2009 was the year I started my first blog, as a journalism student I was told I needed to create a significant online presence. I linked my blog to my Facebook profile, which immediately meant that I no longer saw Facebook as just a way of keeping up to date with family and friends. My profile gave me an immediate audience to promote my blog.

But then I was told that I had to get myself onto Twitter to develop the brand futher. I have to be honest and admit I wasn't really interested in Twitter to begin with, I couldn't see the point of it!

Last year I went from Twitter sceptic, to Twitter convert! I've now begun to appreciate its value as a marketing tool and information source for a range of major brands, businesses, and individuals.

Outside the worlds of media, marketing and celebrity culture, I still think that Twitter leaves many people confused over its value, so it still has some work to do. And then you have the burning question of whether Twitter will ever make a profit?

So there's just a few of my thoughts on the forthcoming year, I'm sure I will discuss more of these topics in greater detail as the year unfolds.