How do news organizations make money in the digital economy? Crowdsourcing. In this guest lecture for a media economics class at USC, I outline a new business model for journalism built on mobile crowdsourcing that supports the production of news and provides a path to profitability for the media industry.

1. All the News That's Fit to Pay For:
Future of Journalism in the Sharing Economy
Eric Ortiz l USC Annenberg l COMM 208 l April 8, 2015

2. Everyone has a story to tell.

6. Now.

8. You could tell a story.

9. With your smartphone.

10. And get paid.

12. Way things worked pre-Internet.

13. Life in the middle is unsustainable for
most legacy media organizations.

14. This is state of our world.

15. Changing the world starts on Main Street.

16. Local news traffic is rounding error.
• Circulation/ad revenue shrinking.
• Papers can't make up difference digitally.
• News sites attract 3 percent of all Web traffic
– 85 percent for national news site, 15 percent
for local news
• Local news gets .5 percent of overall Web
traffic.
• Average local newspaper gets 5 minutes per
month per Web user.
Source: Matthew Hindman

17. Two big questions.
1. How can local news
organizations make news stickier?
2. How can local news attract
national audience?

18. Ways to make local news sticky.
• Improve technical experience of local news sites -
- speed up load times and optimize for mobile.
• Improve content recommendation systems.
• Publish one piece of content every hour.
• Do A/B testing, create content for social media,
produce more videos and multimedia content.
• Empower community members to be storytellers.

19. Solutions cost money.

20. Start with mobile economics.

21. By the numbers
• 2 billion people in world have smartphones
• More than half of people with smartphones post
original photos and videos online
• By 2020, 5 billion people in world will have
smartphones
• 99.5 of consumers use mobile devices to access
content/information
• Smartphone ownership is higher for Hispanic adults (61
percent) African-American adults (59 percent) than
white adults (53 percent)
• 75 percent of consumers use smartphones to watch
video online

22. Mobile exceeds PC Internet usage.

23. What can smartphones do?
• Text
• Take pictures
• Shoot video
• Record audio
• Detail location
• Detect infared light
• Read data
• Make money
• Turn into microscope
• Perform car diagnostics
• Connect to USB stick or mouse
• Measure distances
• Measure altitude and air pressure
• Get temperature
• Detect fever

24. Document and broadcast.

25. Crowdsource for facts.

26. What is crowdsourcing?
• Using crowd as a source – Ferguson, Boston Marathon
Bombings, MLB playoffs, in-class live blog.
• Participatory journalism – Collaborative storytelling, many
contributors, World Cup, ISIS, Ebola, Barack Obama speech.
• Sharing economy – Uber business model, digital currency,
utilitarian, practical, helpful, Crowdopolis.
• Community newsrooms -- Professional guides training
people in neighborhoods to be mobile storytellers.
• Storytellers -- Document every story that matters. They all
matter. Rashomon effect, 360-degree, interactive
narratives.
• Platforms, multimedia, network effect – Need people to
use something for it to be popular

27. See life as it happens.
• Periscope
• Meerkat
• Hang With
• Field59

28. Cover complex news in real time.
• Arab Spring
• Boston Marathon Bombing
• Ferguson
• Ebola
• Ottawa shooting

29. Collaborate to cover same story.

30. Go to remote locations.

31. 360 Degrees Live from Hong Kong

32. Get Multiple Perspectives.

33. The Rashomon Effect

34. Verify.

35. Anyone Can Be a Reporter.

36. Tell interactive stories.
With ease and speed.

37. Deliver context and coherence.

38. Master the 3 C’s
Content.
Context.
Continuous.

39. Stay charged.

40. Mobile reporting tools
• Twitter: Microblogging
• Instagram: Photo sharing
• Vine: Six-second vido
• Tout: Social video
• Videolicious: Quick, easy video editing
• audioBoom: Audio sharing
• Ustream: Live stream video
• iMovie: Edit video
• Seene Review: 3D images
• WhatsApp: Group messaging
• Pinterest: Curated visual content
• SoundCloud: Upload, record, promote, share audio

41. More mobile reporting tools
• Facebook: Social network
• Skyro: Record, play, share audio content
• DropVox: Record voice memos to Dropbox
• Evernote: Notebook. Save photos, audio files, weblinks
• Banjo: Social discovery
• Emergency Radio Free: Police scanner
• Expense Magic: Document expenses, send PDFs via
email
• CamScanner: Take photos of document, convert into
PDF
• Storehouse: Combine photos, videos, words to tell
story
• Photosynth: Panorama photo
• Portable charge: Jackery, Anker, Lumsing

42. Emerging markets

43. U.S. newspaper ad revenue: $63.5B in 2000, $23B in 2014
Google ad revenue: $70M in 2001, $50.6B in 2013
Billion dollar opportunity

44. Stories we can tell with smartphones
• Breaking news
• Conflict zones
• Geopolitics
• Protests
• Government
• Local business
• Metro coverage
• Sporting events
• Red carpets
• Trading floors
• Man on the street
• Live streams
• Profiles
• Features

45. Bellingcat.com
Grasswire.com
Demotix.com
Wikinews.org
Newsvine.com
Allvoices.com
Citizen journalism sites

46. What’s next?
• All-in-one apps: Evrybit
• Virtual/augmented reality: Junaio
• Wearable devices: Apple watch
• Unmanned video: Drones
• Digital/mobile currency: Apple Pay,
Bitcoin
• Sensors: iBeacon

47. Think Mobile

48. News business needs new business models.

49. Think innovative.

50. Crowdsource production.

51. Guide the crowd.

52. Provide best user experience for journalism.

53. Can iTunes for news model work?

54. Sell by piece.

55. Micropayments for journalism.

56. Do due diligence.

57. Let users pay what they want.

58. Consider all types of currency.

59. Embrace retail revolution.
Mobile proximity payments in U.S. will exceed
$189 billion in 2018, a compound annual growth
rate of 153 percent from 2013.
Source: Business Insider

60. Gather data on audience.

61. Establish strategic partnerships.

62. Follow Uber model for news.

63. Train community storytellers.

64. Partner with news organizations.

65. Create virtual story board
for people to post story requests.

66. Story requesters set price.

67. Use mobile-first platform.

68. Go native (advertising).

69. Facilitate native advertising
for mom and pop shops.

70. Reward high-quality content.

71. Share the wealth.
• Split ad revenue.
• Tip jar.
• Freemium
model.
• Incentivize
people to create
high-value
content.

72. Storytellers build reputation.

73. Create virtuous cycle.
Quality
content
Informed
citizens
High traffic
Generate
revenue
Strengthen
community

74. Build global network of local news
bureaus staffed by locals.

75. Say hello to new CNN.
Crowdsourced News Network.

76. Road to new CNN.
1. Train community storytellers.
2. Establish strategic media
partnerships.
3. Create virtual story board.
4. Use mobile-first platforms to
generate high-quality content.
6. Integrate native advertising into
workflow.
7. Gain trust of community members
and local businessess.
8. Reward content creators.
9. Pump money back into community.
10. Repeat in communities around the
world.
11. Build network of trusted sources.

77. Imagine the possibilities.

79. Long live journalism.

80. Contact
Eric Ortiz
Email: eric@getevrybit.com
Phone: 860-751-9771
Twitter: @erictortiz, @evrybit
Web: getevrybit.com
Blog: getevrybit.com/blog