Why the social media editor job may be a transitional one

Is the most up-and-coming job in journalism — the social media editor — a permanent position at news outlets, or a transitional role? At a panel discussing social media best practices at the Journalism Interactive conference this morning, The New York Times’ co-social media editor, Liz Heron, said that her own position probably falls on the side of transitional. “I think my job will probably not exist in five years,” she said.

But! That’s “not because social media will die out or fade,” Heron noted. Quite the opposite. We’re in a moment of disruption right now — social media may be slowly transforming some formerly standard newsroom practices. That won’t be the case for much longer, Heron suggested. (As Heron’s co-panelist, NBC’s Jim Long, put it: In a few years, having a social media editor will make as much sense as having a telephone consultant.) Social media, and innovation in their use, will become more of a team effort.

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Clear Channel Cuts D.J.’s Across the Country

Clear Channel Communications, the largest radio station operator in the United States, dismissed dozens of local D.J.’s this week, affecting small stations from Syracuse to Spokane, Wash., and raising fresh concerns about the homogenization of radio programming.
Clear Channel Radio, which operates about 850 stations in the United States and employs 12,000 people, declined to say how many employees were dismissed, but some of the D.J.’s said they believed that the number was in the hundreds.

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Pay Wall Won't Offset 'NYT' Print Declines

 The New York Times has raised substantial circulation revenues from its online paywall, but these are unlikely to make up for continuing losses on the print advertising side, according to Citigroup analyst Leo Kulp, who cited the company’s precarious finances in a note to investors, when he downgraded The New York Times Co. stock from “buy” to “neutral.”
 Regardless of the actual amount, however, the company will be hard-pressed to make up for losses suffered on the print side since the middle of the last decade. From 2006 to 2010, NYTCO’s total revenues declined 27.4% from $3.29 billion to $2.39 billion, due mostly to a steep decline in advertising revenue, from $2.15 billion to $1.3 billion -- a 39.5% drop in just five years.

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Facebook Is Serious TV Rival

Facebook is closing in on being a mass medium -- just like TV, according to a study by Frank N. Magid Associates Generational Strategies. More consumers use Facebook during work-day hours, 9 p.m. to 5 p.m,. than watch TV. The survey says only baby boomers are the exception, where 35% report they watching TV versus 26% who say they are using Facebook. Things are different in prime time where TV still dominates.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/161078/facebook-is-serious-tv-rival.html

Tablets Used 90 Minutes Per Day on Average

According to research conducted by the Pew Research Center and The Economist Group, the 77% of tablet owners who use the device daily are on them an average of 90 minutes a day.

What are those tablet owners — a category that now includes 11% of U.S. adults, according to Pew’s estimates — doing with their devices? After browsing the web, which two-thirds of tablet owners do on their tablets on a daily basis, the most popular activities are checking email (54%) and reading news (53%). One in four access social networks through the device, and a third play games on a daily basis. Another 17% read books, and 13% watch movies or videos.

Getting tablet owners to pay for this content is another matter, however. A mere 14% of those who regularly read news on their tablets have directly paid for content on the devices. Twenty-three percent do, however, pay for a print subscription that includes digital access — meaning that more than a third are paying for news access in some form or other.

http://mashable.com/2011/10/25/pew-tablet-news-study/

Nielsen: Nearly Half Of Americans Are Watching Online Video

One of the reasons online video is the fastest growing ad segment is because nearly half of all Americans are watching some form of streaming, according to Nielsen’s Cross-Platform report. But online video is still a long way off from attracting half of marketers’ advertising dollars.

TV is still king: For all the excitement over online video, the TV set is still the thing. But interactivity has surely helped, rather than hurt, TV viewing—quite the opposite of the cannibalization that newspapers have seen from digital.

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Revenue Declines for Big Newspapers

The nation’s largest newspaper publishers all reported continuing declines in advertising revenues in the third quarter of 2011. What’s more, digital ad revenue continues to grow at a lackluster pace -- if at all.

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