Anyone brought up before the birth of the internet had no choice but to digest news the way others wanted to present it.
Manipulated headlines, misguided comment and erroneous reporting contrived to deliver a propaganda that only served up an extremely distorted view purporting to be fact.
Of course many people would speculate on what truth lay beneath a story but very few had an opportunity to sway its effect.
Luckily today we have a much more honest and direct means with which to peddle news and information. Also, we don't have to tolerate being pushed propaganda from organisations that are set to gain from any manipulation.
The revolution - OK it's a bloodless coup - has enabled news reporting to be pushed from the bottom up rather than the top down. In fact, one could even say that now the old traditional top (conventional editors and journalists) is now at the bottom and old bottom (i.e. the consumer of news) have become the new reporters and editors at the top.
Consumers of news and information within the landscape industry are no different.
Now, instead of waiting a month for outdated and hyper-bloated paid-for PR being mailed through their front door, we are finding more and more that consumers within the landscape industry are driving news and information themselves.
Traditional media, in the form of printed trade media - whilst it may still have a place - has become marginalised and outdated.
I can share some numbers to back up what I am saying.
Every Saturday, Landscape Juice sends out a newsletter to over 4,400 recipients. These recipients' profiles are made up of all sorts within the landscape industry. From freelance journalists and PR through landscape and garden practitioners to product manufacturers and suppliers.
What is more this newsletter is shared between just under 10,000 Twitter followers, +1,000 LinkedIn followers and 100-120,000 Landscape Juice monthly visitors.
The week before last the Landscape Juice newsletter was viewed over 1,200 times in a 7 day period. This current week yields over 1,000 views already.
Out of these initial engagements a further +33% engage further and often in multiple instances.
It is often the case that our newsletter is viewed over 100 times within the first 15 minutes for being sent.
Why so successful?
I can only speculate as to why our viewing numbers are so high - whether that's newsletter of website visitors - but what I know for certain is that our news isn't generated by carefully crafted paid-for PR but from the very practitioners that also consume it.
The results is that our landscape industry news doesn't become distorted in the same way as traditional media does. What's even more important is that this news is instantly consumable, fast moving and current. Unlike printed media that's already out of date when it's printed, let alone on the day it's delivered.
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