Spot.us

{ November 24, 2009 @ 11:37 pm } · { Uncategorized }

Being born and growing up  in the Bay Area I was very interested in what David Cohn had to say about spot.us as most of the stories were local, usually around San Francisco and Oakland, and therefore had more to do with me then most of the people in the class. Spot.us is a great idea not only because it allows readers to read what they want but it also allows them to get involved by suggesting stories, becoming journalists, as well as funding alternative and non profit media. That was one of the biggest pluses I saw with spot.us, that a media outlet can be non profit, not having to worry about advertisement or who their audience is. Although there is a downside of relying simply on donations I cannot see a problem in the future as spot.us is a new idea, only a few years in development and the first of its kind really. No where really can you determine what you want to read simply by paying a few dollars or a whole lot. YOU determine the news, not some board of directors or the FCC or anyone looking to make a dime off a certain story. Spot.us is also local which means more coverage to stories I want to read about, the ones in my community. I can get my worldwide news and national news on other media outlets but when it comes to local news there is a lack of depth and consistency in mass media and making  spot.us is a healthy alternative. There is hardly a downside as submissions and ideas are looked at with a detailed eye by David and his associates which means the writing isn’t garbage and depending on the funding, quite in depth. I cannot see something like this posing as competition for other media outlets but it isn’t trying to as it is simply a healthy new alternative to finding the stories you want.