Comments on: Web 2.0 Media & Philanthropy

By: Daniel Ben-Horin

Daniel Ben-Horin — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 18:31:37 +0000

Interesting post, Sean. As we try to build out Net2, which certainly means trying to get traditional media to pay attention, I am struck (again) by the very “niche” nature of our field, from a mainstream media perspective, and, somewhat more ominously, how quickly media-seekers (us in this case) try to adapt their pitch to what they perceive as the necessary lowest common denominator.

Bloggers’ posts about N2–whether enthusiastic like Mark Bolgiano’s or the critical ones that take the stand that nothing important has happened yet–do get at the guts and meaning of what we’re trying to do. But when we go after the mainstream we tend to play up the “American Idol” element…or the sheer volume of votes…or the money at stake. All those things are part of the mix, but they are really lagniappe compared to the real stuff of the event.

I think we have to look at ourselves as well as at the media’s proclivities. I’m trying to get our hard working comm. team to tell the more complicated story on the grounds that if we’re not going to get covered, we might as well not get covered for the right reasons.

But I think N2 will get covered. We’ll see which angle gets picked up…

Meanwhile, thank goodness for the blogs.

By: Sean Stannard-Stockton

Sean Stannard-Stockton — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 17:14:27 +0000

I think the press will cover NetSquared. I’ve already been in touch with a couple of journalists who are interested. But my point is that bloggers represent, in the words of Huffington, an Obsessive-Compulsive approach to covering items of interest compared to the mainstream media’s ADD. Since philanthropy is still a topic of niche interest, the blogs are an important tool for highlighting issues of interest that the press will only cover intermittently.

By: Bruce Trachtenberg

Bruce Trachtenberg — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:13:03 +0000

It’s important to point out, as you do, the lack of press coverage for this “groundbreaking” moment in philanthropy. Do you think, though, that the press will be able to ignore it forever? Or will they just get to the story late and end up covering what foundations and nonprofits have accomplished? Will they go back and analyze what happened, lessons learned, and thus (and finally) create larger public awareness of what for most people continues to be invisible?