…but no worries. This monster is not a ‘lives in my closet’ or ‘is under my bed’ kind of monster. This monster is NewsTechZilla and KTOWN had the opportunity to interview the co-founders of the website.
Why? You may ask. I think NewsTechZilla will become a household name… and I want you to remember that you heard it here first. (actually you may have heard it here or here or here or here or here or here…first…but then you heard it on KTOWN.
NewsTechZilla (NTZ for short…that’s my nickname for it, you did hear that here first) is (in my opinion) a monster site for two reasons:
- The content. It is excellent, informative, extremely useful and practical for the audience it serves.
- The niche. It is specific, well defined, and well serviced by two authorities.
“Our plans are to write about what we know, what we want to learn and hopefully be a guide for other journalists trying to be viable in new markets. There is some fantastic information out in the blogosphere that we will spotlight all in one convenient location. We wanted to also be more than an aggregator of the beast combining news and technology, thus the name NewsTechZilla.”
Being familiar with the bloggers that founded NTZ, one is personal friend and helped me start KTOWNLOWDOWN (sadcox/Scott) and the other was someone I had been reading for some time (Newscoma/Trace), I thought I’d bring you a bit of the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of how this monster idea was ‘birthed’. And don’t make the mistake of thinking that the way this site came about is strictly about a couple of on-line folks creating a website. This is a model of how many businesses and joint ventures will be started and the efficiency at which they can operate for at least a decade. NTZ even wrote about an example of this immediacy and effiency. With all that said here’s the interview:
KTOWN: Can you describe the situation(s) around which you “met”?
TRACE: Scott and I “met” on Twitter. I found I enjoyed talking to him on that social networking service. We spoke of politics… I wrote with tongue-in-cheek one day that I needed to start my own “brand.” It opened another door where we began to talk about the media, putting my blog, Newscoma, on a hosted domain and basically my overwhelming fear that I would “screw something up” with my blog.
SCOTT: Trace’s story is that we met on Twitter, and while that explains how we “met”, the truth is that I knew about her long before that. After a few months of blogging and trying to get people to link and pay attention to you, it becomes pretty obvious who has people’s attention, and Newscoma stood out for sure. We started off talking about politics (of course), and I wondered why she didn’t run her site on her own domain (www.newscoma.com) which she owned.
KTOWN: And what was the point at which you saw the other as an authority in his/her “niche”?
SCOTT: It was evident to me pretty quickly that ‘Coma is an authority in the Tennessee Blogosphere in news and politics–actually a bigger authority than I think she realizes. I was shocked some other tech person hadn’t jumped at the chance to help her out with it. What little authority I’d built at that point mostly came from helping out friends with their blogs…
KTOWN: like KTOWNLOWDOWN
SCOTT: …and sites, but none of them were as prominent as Newscoma. What an opportunity!
TRACE: [When]…I finally did host it [Newscoma.com], I ran into a lot of issues I just didn’t understand. He pretty much walked me though things such as transferring the blog due to the volume of my comments, coming up with saucier designs that matched Newscoma. Things like that.
KTOWN: One day NewsTechZilla did not exist and the next day the idea was born. Can you describe how the idea came about?
TRACE: We were Iming (is that a word) one day and began to talk about there were a lot of people like me out there. With new media coming into the mainstream like a Tsunami, we both sort of agreed that “old-shool” journalists like myself might need some help learning the tech side of things. He had that knowledge. We also wanted to focus on what was being said about journalism and technology around the web. There is also an inherent fear that some of us in journalism have of messing things up. I’ve talked to a lot of folks about that, so in some ways we are taking my hesitation, his knowledge and what we thought might be a need to be filled by creating a community where people could talk about these things. This is, of course, from a news perspective. A lot to learn to remain relevant is one thing I’m basing my role at NewsTechZilla on and hopefully it will help other people as well.
SCOTT: It literally came about during an IM session dealing with an issue Trace was having. She mentioned other media/journalist types were probably dealing with the same issues or were thinking about starting up a blog or news site but didn’t really know where to start. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a resource that dealt with tech issues and also discussed the changes that are taking place with journalism and newspapers? It’s a hot topic right now, but most people are talking about problems. We wanted to talk about solutions. It literally was conceived in about 10 minutes on December 11, 2008: (below is the chat thread)
Trace: Do you realize what is happening here?
I’m an old school radio/news person
Scott: parallel universes?
Trace: And you have the ideas about things that are quite amazing and new to me.
Old School/New world.
Scott: I think so…but I’m only a technical guy
Trace: That may be what works. I ask a question and you answer it for those journalists out there that are getting canned and don’t understand new media technology.
I’m the rube. You are the expert.
Hold on. Phone ringing.
Scott: Hopefully that’s a canned journalist with a pocket full of money on the phone.
(pause for phone call)
Trace: Back to what I was thinking. You have an old school journalist asking questions about the new age of media technology.
Then you respond.
Scott: hmm….I like the idea
Trace: The cool thing is that politically you have an old time hippie and a libertarian as well but we can avoid that except to make it work for us, not define us.
Kinda like what Heather Solos and Ivy do at Home Ec 101 but for journalists/techies.
Vicodan in one’s cough syrup can bring out the brilliant, can’t it.
Scott: I really like it! Let’s build a site!
Trace: I like it too. I can send it to all the journalism hacks. We probably could post once a day with specific questions.
Kinda like what you’ve done with me.
On learning how to evolve in journalism through technology.
Scott: I really really really like this idea! We need a cool domain name!
KTOWN: Can you each describe the lessons learned about the other’s area of expertise?
TRACE: I return to a few factors I referenced before. Here are two people who don’t know each other from Adam, meet on Twitter, find out we are more alike than we initially knew and realized our differences could flatter and enhance an online experience. The idea just sort of came up and we realized we might be onto something. I kept telling him to use me as a guinea pig before the idea was being formed. Then it was just there and we knew it was a good one. I’m basically a communicator first, a writer second and a research hound third. I realized these were just part of me but when it came to the technical side of things, I was sorely lacking.
SCOTT: One thing I’ve learned from this process is actually a confirmation of what I already believed–there is a lot you can gain personally by being open to helping other people.
TRACE: I have found that on, and off, NewsTechZilla, I’m learning a great deal not only about my chosen profession, but I’m also finding that it’s helping other people out too.
A jewelry designer from Paducah, Ky wrote a post about how the information was assisting her in her online business and I found that to be thrilling. It’s more than just journalism and technology, it’s about helping everyone with a thirst for knowledge about new media, those intrigued with citizen journalism and for people who have a niche and want to build on it. You have to remember, I started out with wax paste-up which shows there have been a lot of changes in media since I first started out. I also use to have the only Associated Press wire in Martin, TN. Now everyone has one so why not work within those confines which is part of what we are saying. So I’m enthusiastic about Scott’s posts about how technology can help us all out, even old-schoolers like myself.
SCOTT: I am AMAZED at the response we’ve had so far with the site, and that is totally due to Trace. I could build a beautiful site with all sorts of bells and whistles and write the exact same articles, but very few people would read it. Riding on her coattails has given me a great opportunity to help a group of people who are actually interested and gaining something. I would have never been introduced to all of these folks without her stamp of approval. She’s spent a lot of time building relationships, creating great content consistently, and building a brand and reputation.
END OF INTERVIEW…
I am excited to watch and read how these ‘local’ folks use the power of their ‘authority’ to help others in and outside this niche. There’s more to learn from this joint venture than just how to start a website, but I’ll leave that to you to figure out for your own applications in your own niche. Don’t be afraid of creating a monster.
Thanks to Trace and Scott for taking the time to “speak” with KTOWN.
