Web Publishing Roll-Up: Good Things Come Online

Chances are if you didn't know anything about Web publishing a few months ago, you do now. News about the industry is hard to escape, and its growing popularity will continue as long as the economy spirals downward. The last few weeks have proved productive for those interested in expanding and promoting their presence on the Web.

Awards for Online Journalists

Just when journalists were turning to blogs in exchange for food, they seem to have caught a break. For the first time, the Pulitzer Prizes will accept submissions from online-only news outlets, but require that they be "text-based" submissions from news organizations that are updated at least weekly and include original reporting. Either the folks at Pulitzer have realized there may not be many print-based journalists left after the recession, or they have finally seen the merit of online journalism. Something tells us it's a little of both.

Like News on a Wire

CNN has expressed interest in creating a news wire service to compete with the Associated Press and other news wire services. They solicited newspaper feedback in a meeting in Atlanta last week, from which details surfaced via journalists in attendance via Twitter.  According to sources, the service would be much smaller than what the AP provides with approximately 8 to 10 national articles a day and a similar number of international and financial articles. Affiliates of the CNN wire would receive access to all of its content.

Magazines Stack Up Online

Print may be dying, but Google is determined to bring it back, at least in an archival state. Google has announced via its official blog an initiative to help bring more magazine archives and current magazines online, partnering with publishers to begin digitizing millions of articles from titles as diverse as New York Magazine, Popular Mechanics and Ebony. In a planned to be available via Google Book Search option, readers will be able to read articles in "full color and in its original context, just as you would in the printed magazine". Eventually, they will incorporate magazine results into Google.com search results.

My Mom's E-mails are More Believable

But that's only if you can trust Google's blog.  According to a new report by Forrester Research, corporate blogs are the least trusted information source of all. Only 16% of online consumers who read corporate blogs say that they trust them. Of course, that doesn't mean that corporate blogs aren't to be trusted. After all, 77% of respondents indicated that their most trusted source of information came from e-mails from people they know. (Let's hope those e-mails don't include forwards of the latest Nigerian scam hoax or hyperlinked virus. And though regular blog readers and bloggers trust company blogs a little more, and as a result are more likely to trust other media, the general mistrust resonates from the notion that corporate blogs have too much control over the message they are sending.

But don't take our word for it.

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Tags: associated press, cnn, corporate blogs, google book search, online journalism, online news, social media, web 2.0, web publishing

Chances are if you didn't know anything about Web publishing a few months ago, you do now. News about the industry is hard to escape, and its growing popularity will continue as long as the economy spirals downward. The last few weeks have proved productive for those interested in expanding and promoting their presence on the Web.