New Media Trends

Just the other day I noticed a prime example of how stories - when at best - can evolve at sites, relying on user-generated content.

This is what happened: Saturday the 23rd of sept. Berlingske Tidende (one of the leading Danish dailies) breaks the news that Lotte Hansen, a leading and wellknown commentator on spin and business editor of Politiken (one of the other leading dailies) suddenly leaves  Politiken only after a few month at the newspaper, without any other job at hand.

At the small niche-website kommunikationsforum.dk, dedicated to the issues and people of the communications industry, editor Timme Bisgaard Munk (who’s the only employed) doesn’t seem immidiately grasp the news.

Signe Wenneberg, on the other hand, does. Signe is associated to kommunikationsforum as a blogger. Sometime before 2 am. she posts the news: “Lotte Hansen sacked” on her kommunikationsforum-blog.

One day later, on sunday the 24th, Timme post a message on Lotte Hansens profile at kommunikationsforum. “Could we do a quick email/telephone interview?”

Meanwhile, the debate starts growing on Signe Wennebergs blog. The users are mostly concerned about the devellopment at Politiken. How come they lay off such a talented person as Lotte Hansen, only a few month after they hired her, is the most prominent issue.

And then, wednesday the 26th at 12.52, Timme Bisgaard comments: now it’s there! Seemingly Lotte Hansen has answered back on his interview proposal, and now he is - for the first time - able to bring Lotte Hansens own version of the story. I wasn’t fired, says Lotte Hansen, among other things. We had different needs and wishes.

What’s facinating about this story-time-line is how Timme Bisgaard understands to take advantage of the reports from the “thousands ears and eyes” engaged in his community. Often usergenerated contend is viewed as appealing (through it’s personal voice) but unqualified content. But in this case we see how the responsible editor understands to go for the good story, once it¨s there, and incorporates the user observations into his own, seeking facts (at least according to the opinions of the one the story is all about) and providing us, the readers, with yet at chunk of knowledge to diggest. While the whole complex - blogs, comments, interview - as a whole gives us, the interested readers a lot of valuable information and entertainment. This is the promise of what happens, when Reader + editors unite!