Perhaps you saw the trashing of Scott Monty on Jalopnik by Ray Wert (full disclosure, I did some work for Ford last summer under the Social Media Group masthead). The issue seems to be the factual questioning of Monty’s superhero status as reported in a F@st Company blog (image: tension by DCJohn).
In his trashing of the Monty, Wert purports himself as a “Journalist” and says things like “thereby getting his ass banned,” and
Which is really all this huge social media circle jerk is — an attempt to puff oneself up.
Ironically, Wert’s “proper” journalism earns him 974 RSS subs, approximately 45% of what this blog gets, and approximately 30% of Monty’s subscribers. Yeah, go old school journalism. No wonder you’re angry.
Look, let’s not overdefend Scott. He’s definitely pitching Ford pretty hard right now, but I think he’s also very open and transparent about it. If you don’t like it, he encourages you to turn it off.
What the Jalopnik piece shows me is an underlying tension. New media consumption is still rising, and old media is still the big loser. This is backed by empirical evidence of readership and trust. Some publications and journalists are having an easier time adjusting than others. Perhaps Jalopnik should get in line.
At the same time there’s a second tension brought to the fore. The accuracy of new media, and quite frankly, it’s a fair assessment, but it’s an old issue raised by Keen and others. We discussed it, too, extensively in 2007. Accuracy and new media are not synonymous, and anyone who takes social media voices as gospel, well, you get what you pay for. Eventually there will be a reconciliation. Yet, there is no doubt: Conversations are here to stay.
It seems really bizarre at a time when true ‘old’ media is finally starting to change, that now there’s an issue between bloggers and twitter/social networks. It’s definitely the kind of thing that can look embarrassing when you’re talking to established journalists and management about the changes in media.
To be fair, Jalopnik itself is a pretty big blog in the automotive world – but it does seem a very odd topic for them to cover, compared to the normal news on car launches etc.
Personally I’d have a slight suspicion that there’s either personal motivation behind the story, or it’s an attempt to capitalise on some link bait traffic.
As for ‘superhero’ status – that’s something generally put on people, not self-assigned. Scott’s seemed like a personable guy in the few messages I’ve exchanged with him, and I’ve yet to meet anyone who is serious about online marketing who refers to themselves as an expert, guru or superhero.
The second tension in all of this is actually the big opportunity. If new media raises a question over verification and accuracy, then that’s what journalists should be doing – curation of content, supply of context, and digging deeper into the story with sources that most people couldn’t reach or probe enough for information.
Thanks, Dan. I totally agree and found the blog post to be really quite nasty in a lot of ways. It’s one thing to question the facts, it’s another to get into name calling and the like. It bordered on troll-like behavior, and you are right it may have either been a personal rant or an attempt at link-bait.
And I also agree that the opportunity is outstanding for both the fourth and fifth estate. I sense that the two parties are becoming more intertwined and are wroking with each other more and more openly.