I spent my lunch hour today with some wonderful people. I was the guest speaker at a local Rotary Club. Rotary International describes itself as a “global network of community volunteers.” I saw that first hand today.
I didn’t know much about Rotary but I quickly discovered a few things. The members of the Brea Rotary are all professional businesspeople. They care about their community enough to do something about it. They promote ethics and patriotism. They like what they do and openly shared their friendship to me as a guest.
I found that officially:
At Know More Media, we agree with the premise to serve and give back.
My topic for this meeting was the “Transformation of Media.” I discussed how all traditional media was changing at the hands of the Internet. I presented data that illustrated a decline in subscribers, profits and jobs in traditional media and the opportunity that this disruption provides to new media companies like Know More Media. I noted that we believe as one prognosticator put it,
And I introduced to this group the concept of the BLOG. Yeah, sure we live it every day and those of us participating in the blogoshpere often assume that the blogoshpere is the world. But for most of this small group of business men and women (average age probably 50), the word “blog” had never been heard. Indeed, they fell into the “62% of Americans [who] aren’t sure what the term BLOG means” category. As I told them, hopefully when I was finished, they were in the 38% that did know about BLOGS.
But I knew they would get it because at the front of the meeting hung a banner with these words
To me and to Know More Media, that is what BLOGS should be. That is what we hope our network provides. The Rotary Four Way Test is a pretty good standard for blogging and new media publishing. We seek truth and in doing so seek fairness through blog comments. We seek conversations with readers and hope to establish meaningful relationships with our audience. And we believe that if we do these things, everyone will benefit.
So while I went to teach this group about the transformation of media, I also discovered that BLOGS or not, there are those seeking truth, community and service. I came away better for that.
I didn’t know much about Rotary but I quickly discovered a few things. The members of the Brea Rotary are all professional businesspeople. They care about their community enough to do something about it. They promote ethics and patriotism. They like what they do and openly shared their friendship to me as a guest.
I found that officially:
"The object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise."
At Know More Media, we agree with the premise to serve and give back.
My topic for this meeting was the “Transformation of Media.” I discussed how all traditional media was changing at the hands of the Internet. I presented data that illustrated a decline in subscribers, profits and jobs in traditional media and the opportunity that this disruption provides to new media companies like Know More Media. I noted that we believe as one prognosticator put it,
"To adapt, journalism may have to move in the direction of making its work more transparent and more expert, and of widening the scope of its searchlight."
And I introduced to this group the concept of the BLOG. Yeah, sure we live it every day and those of us participating in the blogoshpere often assume that the blogoshpere is the world. But for most of this small group of business men and women (average age probably 50), the word “blog” had never been heard. Indeed, they fell into the “62% of Americans [who] aren’t sure what the term BLOG means” category. As I told them, hopefully when I was finished, they were in the 38% that did know about BLOGS.
But I knew they would get it because at the front of the meeting hung a banner with these words
"Of the things we think, say or do:
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?"
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?"
To me and to Know More Media, that is what BLOGS should be. That is what we hope our network provides. The Rotary Four Way Test is a pretty good standard for blogging and new media publishing. We seek truth and in doing so seek fairness through blog comments. We seek conversations with readers and hope to establish meaningful relationships with our audience. And we believe that if we do these things, everyone will benefit.
So while I went to teach this group about the transformation of media, I also discovered that BLOGS or not, there are those seeking truth, community and service. I came away better for that.
Posted by: Randy M | January 24, 2006 3:58 PM | Permalink to Comment