2010 AP Stylebook Defines Social Media Terms

In their 2010 Stylebook released Tuesday, the Associated Press has given meaning and further definition to words related to social and new media.  This includes the official change from “Web site” to “website” and 41 other new definitions, rules and use cases that journalists should now follow.

Some other interesting changes include the separation of “smart phone” into two words, hyphenating “e-reader,” and the addition of many of the acronyms used in texting and instant messaging.  Other terms include “trending,” “retweet” and “unfriend.”

The AP’s 2010 Stylebook, including the new guidelines for social media, is available on the AP’s website.  Let’s hope the CP’s Stylebook includes something similar.

Small Towns, Big Success

The Associated Press recently came out with a thought provoking and commonsensical article on the current status of newspapers – focusing how smaller community publications are more stable than their larger counterparts.

How is this possible?

First, it begins with the lack of additional media in small- and medium-sized towns – generally community newspapers are the only source of media. Therefore, they have been sheltered from the cataclysmic circumstances causing many big city dailies to shrink in size and scope as their print circulations and advertising sales decline.

With meager competition, the print editions and Web sites of smaller newspapers become the go-to source for local coverage. Contrastingly, newspapers in larger cities report more national and local news, while facing greater competitors, including online, television and radio mediums. These extra outlets are reporting much of the news well before the printed newspapers reach homes and newsstands. Large newspapers’ Web sites also provide the news for free a day ahead of print editions.

In addition, newspapers in smaller markets are not loosing large amounts of revenue to online classified advertising alternatives. Community Classifieds remain quite successful in reaching a targeted audience, as the local newspapers are quintessential to their surrounding neighbourhoods.

When compared to their larger counterparts, the smaller newspapers have been defying the seemingly apparent trend of financial dilemmas, based upon a new study of 125 various sized U.S. publications by the trade group, Inland Press Association.

The study found among daily newspapers, the classified ad revenue with circulations of less than 15,000 actually rose by an average of 23 percent in the five years ending in 2008. The ad revenue for newspapers with less than 15,000 in circulation rose by an average of 2.5 percent over the same peroid. Meanwhile, ad revenue dropped 25 percent at daily newspapers with circulations greater than 80,000, according to Inland Press.

For the full article, click HERE.