Craig McGinty

Words, writing and the web

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Sarah 'the glue' Hartley heads out of the MEN

Sarah-hartleySAD to see that Sarah Hartley has left the Manchester Evening News (MEN) and closed her Mancunian Way blog.

Sarah writes more about her experiences of spending the past few years heading up one of the region's leading news websites.

And I've no doubt that a rosy future lies ahead for Sarah 'the glue' Hartley, as I used to call her for bringing the different corners of the Manchester digital scene together.

What does worry me is that this is yet another retrenchment from MEN Media as they cut back regional offices, slash the number of journalists they employ and now whittle away the ties that have developed with a burgeoning digital industry sector.

The MEN seems determined to cut its journalism costs yet at the same time it is distancing itself from local communities, be they geographical or interest based, eventually though it will be swamped as these groups gather and power forward.

May 01, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (4)

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Watch out here come the Yelpers

Yelp-manchesterHERE is a quick look at some of the websites and articles I have sent through Twitter (@craigmcginty) today, as I've realised the service is becoming my personal link blog.

One way I keep track of what I've been sending around, and what others have said to me, is to subscribe to the Twitter RSS feed for my account and to set up keyword searches within Twitter, and again subscribe to the RSS feed, but anyway on to the articles.

Remember over the weekend the Sunday Times said that undertaking two searches on Google takes as much energy as boiling the kettle for a cup of tea.

They quoted physicist Alex Wissner-Gross and there was much criticism of Google especially as they are strong on all thing green.

However, it would appear that Alex Wissner-Gross wasn't exactly quoted correctly, he says himself he would have used coffee as an example instead of tea, and really his study was into the impact of computing in general not the search engine giant.

And newspapers still wonder why their sales are tumbling and advertisers are deserting them...

Last week saw the arrival of the US-based local business review site, Yelp, in the UK.

It is a simple idea, users write reviews of shops, restaurants and bars they visit, business owners can also be involved, and so fingers-crossed customers get a better service because owners have read what has been written.

For PR people with clients in the leisure and retail trade it is another destination to keep an eye on for 'brand management' purposes, and if you wonder just how influential Yelpers are take a look over Chrissy's reviews of places in Manchester and the connections she has made.

Chrissy actually lives in Philadelphia, but was originally from Manchester and you can be pretty sure should her friends on Yelp ever head this was they will be checking her out for pointers.

And I wonder how long it will be before we see out first court case brought by a business against a Yelp review?

One news piece on my list of 'must do' is an interview with Chris Anderson, he of The Long Tail, who speaks about his latest book Free: The Future of a Radical Price to BBC Radio 4.

With free in mind, it is interesting to see a piece about the improvements in micro-payments paid for via mobile phone, while elsewhere the idea of making payments via an iTunes type service has been chewed over, and rejected, by Jeff Jarvis.

Some still wonder if payments can be charged for news, I still doubt it because on a national/international level it would require all news producers to come to an agreement.

While on a local level, the costs of production are practically zero, especially if a one or two person operation is willing to cover a post code area for free and gain income from elsewhere.

Also many companies are heavily involved with online advertising through affiliate marketing and they will always need pages to appear on, so whether you could generate enough payment out of a small geographical patch to beat advertising and affiliate revenue is open to question.

And before I go here are ten things every journalist should know in 2009.

January 13, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Digital Editors' Network - legal briefing

THE next Digital Editors' Network meeting will be looking at the legal risks newspapers and media organisations face as they expand into an ever increasing array of new media platforms.

Blogs, comment boards, forums, digital archives, links to third party content and the speed of breaking news online are all providing us with fresh legal challenges as we straddle the divide between traditional media and online communities.

The meeting will welcome some high profile speakers from media law experts Wiggin LLP at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston, on October 7 where we will look at some of these issues.

Caroline Kean, Wiggin’s head of litigation, will lead the discussion at the Digital Editors’ Network meeting and draw on her experience of media lawyer, as her work has seen her act for national and regional newspapers, magazines, book publishers, television and film companies.

Caroline has been acclaimed as one of the UK's top female solicitors and is vice president of the Media Society and legal advisor to Women in Journalism.

Joining her will bysPhil Gorski, from Wiggin’s litigation team, who has extensive experience in advising on pre-publication and compliance matters and is part of the training team

The Digital Editors’ Network will also include a showcase of new ideas from around the regional media, more details on that to follow.

For more details and to book a place email nturner@cngroup.co.uk

The Digital Editors’ Network is a free event supported by the journalism department at UCLan, Preston.

September 15, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (4)

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thebusinessdesk.com launches in North West

ThebusinessdeskI AM sure a few people will be interested to click around the newly launched thebusinessdesk.com website which has opened up a North West based service alongside its existing Yorkshire site.

How-Do has a bit of background on the people behind the site and it offers a clean and crisp design, with some interesting news articles running through it.

Not too sure the request to register for a free account to read the full story is very user friendly, I think such a step dramatically reduces the chances of other sites and blogs linking to you.

Personally I wouldn't be happy sending people to a site where they were being asked to register details to read a story, the connection I have with readers is too valuable for that.

September 09, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)

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Will the role of PR change?

A NUMBER of US tech blogs have been busy pondering the future of PR and whether with simple blogging tools and community websites companies can do a better job themselves.

The conversation was started by Steve Rubel:

Does the Thrill of the Chase Make PR Obsolete?

With others soon joining in:
The Changing Role of Public Relations - Mashable
Does Good Tech Need PR? - ReadWriteWeb
The PR Roadblock On The Road To Blissful Blogging - TechCrunch

There is a definite tech bias here, but this afternoon I was only saying to a friend that I rarely go through PR people and just track down stories myself.

August 13, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (3)

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Silence is loaded, or be involved to be heard


I HAVE just spent an entertaining few hours talking about all things internet and blogging as part of an event hosted by How-Do.

The talk, titled Managing Reputations Online, aimed to look at how to track and be involved with online networks and communities.

Continue reading "Silence is loaded, or be involved to be heard" »

June 04, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Talk on managing online reputations

I WILL be taking part in a talk about how businesses can manage their online reputation in an increasingly fractured media world, where everyone can attract an audience.

Speaking from a publishing and blogging perspective I will look to highlight many of the new ways people are connecting up, as well as why that might be the case and steps that businesses can take to be part of this.

Afterwards a Q&A session is timetabled to last 45 minutes which is the bit I really enjoy and it will be interesting to listen to the experience of others and maybe point out a few solutions.

The event takes place at the offices of TBWA in Didsbury, Manchester on June 4, and tickets cost £60 (plus vat) with refreshments and lunch included.

It is backed by How-Do and more details are featured on their site:
Managing Reputations Online – a top level How-Do event on 4 June

May 14, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)

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The value of a newsletter

Newsletter list
HAVE a guess when my newsletter goes out? If there is one thing I stress to any website owner big or small it is the importance of offering a newsletter service.

Continue reading "The value of a newsletter" »

May 07, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)

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Behind the scenes of a converged MEN

HERE is interesting look behind the scenes of the Manchester Evening News following its move to a converged newsroom, UK’s Manchester Evening News: convergence’s archetype.

Plenty to interest you, including how the role of journalist has changed, but also the way the newspaper, website and local TV service Channel M work together.

Jeff Jarvis highlighted the article, who picked out a quote from the MEN's editor Paul Horrocks saying he will only employ people with both journalism and online skills.

January 16, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Crain's Manchester Business live (again)

THE Crain's Manchester Business website is now up and running so you can have a nose around to see what is being covered.

The site has plenty of news on its home page and individual stories are clearly laid out, with headlines to other stories featured in a right hand column.

Continue reading "Crain's Manchester Business live (again)" »

December 17, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

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