I recently took part in a round-table discussion on “the future of content” — not that I or anyone there has a crystal ball. At one point during the exchange it was suggested that stories written for print — that is, longer-form journalism — don’t work very well on digital platforms. I quickly took exception, knowing that 10 years ago I thought the same thing.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the data from more than 100 million articles on ReadItLater shows that consumers save articles consistently throughout the day. But here’s when they’re reading it: on computers, from 6pm-9pm; on iPhones, at 6am, 9am, 5pm to 6pm and 8pm-10pm (“the moments between tasks and locations”); and on iPads, predominantly from 8pm-10pm. And check out the ReadItLater graph just above that shows both time-shifting and device-shifting for iPad owners reading saved articles.

Forbes Blogger Steals $20,000 and 1 Million Pageviews from New York Times by Changing Headline Now how’s that for a grabber? If it got your attention it just demonstrates how important headlines are in online journalism.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but how much is a title worth? If the story that proceeds is any indicator, a title is worth over 6700 words and months of research. It all began Friday when the New York Times published an article “How Companies Learn Your Secrets“. It was an extremely long article which discussed how large companies like WalMart and Target collect data about your individual consumption patterns to figure out how to most efficiently make you happy. It was a great piece but there was one problem: it didn’t have the title it deserved.

The original title was “How Companies Learn Your Secrets.” Kashmir Hill, a writer at Forbes, realized this and quickly developed a condensed version of the article with a far more powerful title: “How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did“. It cut out the crap and got to the real shocker of the story. As of the writing of this story, the New York Times article has 60 likes and shares on Facebook versus 12,902 which the Forbes article has. The Forbes article also has a mind boggling 680,000 page views, a number that can literally make a writer’s career.

This is as clever as it gets.

Specializing in Affordable Short-Run Newspapers! Stop paying for the high cost of newsletters, leaflets or flyers! Be more professional and have more space with a newspaper! One local church profits on their newspaper—the very first day! Just one of the many benefits of a church newspaper. (less than 7 cents per paper) Teach your students not only about writing, communication, graphic arts and more, but raise much needed funds, too! (less than 10 cents per paper) Stop paying for the high cost of Menus! And stop paying for new ones when your costs go up. Turn your menu into a Newspaper!

That is going to take a lot of marketing to take off... but good concept. You could essentially curate the news and make a newspapers out of it that peope could get every Sunday morning. I would read the tech news of the week.

Project Argo is collection of tools and best practices for building topic-focused sites in WordPress.

The code and tutorials that you find on this site were designed to enable a pilot group of 12 NPR member stations to curate and report on news about specific topics of local interest.

The 12 sites the Argo suite was built for encompassed a range of topics, from climate change to local music. Overall, the sites share several key characteristics: frequent publishing, often with several posts a day; robust use of images; and a mix of curatorial and original material. Any topic-focused site that matches these criteria might benefit from our methods, themes or plugins.

Even with the right tools, it's not obvious how to reach a robust audience for a topic. In this section, we share what we've learned during Project Argo, and what we recommend to anyone taking on a topical blogging project.

Longform.org posts new and classic non-fiction articles, curated from across the web by GOOD pals Max Linsky and Aaron Lammer.

Longreads is similar to Longform, and lets you search by article length.

LadyJournos! is curated by GOOD's executive editor Ann Friedman, a go-to source for excellent writing by up-and-coming women journalists.

Give Me Something to Read is a hand-picked selection of articles and essays saved with Instapaper.

The Electric Typewriter has a bit more of an archival feel, reposting many journalistic classics along with some new stuff.

The Best of Journalism is an email-subscription service ($1.99/month) of recommended reading, curated by Atlantic staff writer Conor Friedersdorf.

Gallery of interactive graphics from corporate elearning to multimedia journalism.

And a great looking site!

Here are the keys points:

• What distinguishes sites like The Huffington Post from Google is that that instead of using algorithms to aggregate links, they use real live human beings. Much like traditional art curators, these human beings – dare we call them editors? – decide what goes up on the gallery wall and how it is presented.

• And if professional editors and clever algorithms aren’t providing this service, then consumers will simply provide it to each other.

• To remain relevant, today’s digital media offerings must use the full power of what’s out there to tell stories as effectively and comprehensively as possible, aggregating and contextualising links to both professionally produced and user-generated content.

Everybody is nowadays a journalist ("citizen") or editor because platforms like Shareist allows anyone to reproduce what The Huffington Post does.

1. Use Google Alerts and similar tools to see who’s publishing what on the web about the main topics and keywords related to your business.
2. Sign up for RSS feeds from websites in your field, such as trade associations, conference sponsors, competitors and industry media.
3. Subscribe to the top blogs in your industry to hear what the most influential voices are saying.
4. Follow key industry leaders and commentators on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
5. Sign up for email news briefs from news media specific to your industry to know the latest news and research.
6. Follow reporters at major news outlets, such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, who write articles related to your business.
7. Apply your knowledge of your industry to separate the news wheat from the chaff. Focus on information that offers meaningful insights, a new perspective or new findings on a key topic.
8. Look for patterns that could indicate potential trends. Follow top researchers and share findings that could indicate a shift in your industry or your market.
9. Filter out content that’s obviously self-promotional or “research” that’s self-serving or otherwise suspect.
10. Add your point of view so people know why you’ve selected content to share. Include comments such as “A great demonstration of…,” “Helpful tips about…,” “Important news…,” “A can’t-miss conference,” etc.

I found that as the weeks have worn on, the verification process has become incredibly important to me. I was never trained as a journalist, although I have been working in media and journalism policy for years now. In the end, I think a lot of my motivation for such rigorous fact checking comes from a simple sense of responsibility.

For some years now, I have started every online journalism course I teach with an introduction to three key tools: RSS readers, social networks, and social

When I started in journalism the answer was everywhere. I was always ripping pages out of newspapers and putting them aside to store later in the box in my flat. I would also contribute to the joint curation effort of my newsroom colleagues by suggesting material to be stored in the filing cabinet in the office. Now there are many great tools, most free to use, that offer different curation benefits.

Can we find clues about the future of news and journalism in the way a link-sharing site like Reddit operates?

I agree with Weinberger that this looks and feels a lot like a form of community journalism, or “crowd-powered” journalism. At the newspaper I used to work for, we used a live-blogging tool called Cover It Live (now owned by Demand Media) to host live discussions with people in the news — eyewitnesses to a news event, scientists who released research reports, and other newsmakers of various kinds — in which readers would ask questions and have them answered.

Great insight on individual vs collective curation, and an overview of tools out there.

The UK riots have been such a dynamic and sprawling news event. There’s been a marvellous quantity and granularity to the reporting. It has also helped that such a wide ranging news story happened in one of the great media capitals of the world where domestic and international media organisations, by and large, have some of their best news reporting resources concentrated in one place. Apart from the news reporting by professionals, there’s been an avalanche of citizen journalism – user generated content sourced from amateurs who have been recording what they see around them, in their workplaces and neighbourhoods, on their mobile phones and cameras.

Mark Cuban, Co-Owner of 2929 Productions & Chairman of HDNet - on the The Future of News...

I think the future of news is the branded curation of news.

And he follows on about niche curation...

I think the fastest growing segment of the news business will be individuals who create a brand around their name and a niche about which people trust them to educate or entertainment them.

Print media is on its way out. Long-form stories aren’t being read. We’ve all heard these laments, but don’t fret yourself too crazy. A story in The Atlantic by James Fallows says this at the beginning of an article about the future of journalism: And an essay from Paul Ford in New York Magazine argues that we still require stories to rise out of the constant flow of information. Some newer titles in journalism include social media strategist, multimedia reporter and blogger.

If you look at the list of jobs, it feels to me that journalists will either need training and understanding of SEO and social media. Well, i guess that is all to expect from the new generation.